The confusing art of installing apps

John Gruber of Daring Fireball recently wrote an essay about quirks and user confusion around the application install process on Mac OS X. He had read a post from Alexander Limi's blog about the Firefox install experience, and decided to address it as a system-wide discussion.

After this, Andy Kim posted the methods The Hit List follows for installation -- when it's run from a non-standard location, the app asks if it should move itself to the Applications folder. Andy has placed his code for moving the app into the public domain so that other developers can take advantage of it.

With so many ideas around application install strategies, we wanted to take the time to examine the current app installation structure and propose an idea for how it could be better. You could ask, "Why does it matter where my app is installed?" OR "What if I don't want my applications in Applications?" If you're asking the first question, we suggest that you read on. If you're asking the second question, you're probably pretty obsessive about app organization and this post will be covering old ground for you.

What installation methods exist at the moment? The majority of Mac app installations would fall into these categories:

Disk image installers
Disk image drag-and-drop
Archive drag-and-drop

Read on for an in-depth look into the current installation methods, and why they need to change.
Let's dive into disk image installers first. Most of these applications prompt you to mount a disk image and then open up an Installer application that will walk you through all of the necessary steps for installation. Think of VISE X, Apple applications, Microsoft Office (optional, Office 2008 also works as a drag-and-drop install), or even HP's printer setup. They're all great, easy-to-use installers that seem to work very well for the user. But when you have an application like Firefox or Skype, you don't need a complicated Installer... that's where the next two options appear.

Disk image drag-and-drop is a method where the developer will package an application and put it on a disk image in ready-to-run format. Double clicking that file will mount a virtual disk on your Mac, and you can see the application icon (often alongside an alias to the Applications folder, with directions for copying). At that point, you're supposed to drag that application to Applications with the option to create a dock shortcut from there.

Archive drag-and-drop is quite similar to Disk image drag-and-drop, but the file downloads to "app.zip" or another type of archive format. From there, you double click the archive file and it will place that application in the same folder as the original archive (Downloads, Desktop or wherever you have your downloaded files). Some browsers will even decompress the file so you don't have to mess with the archive, just the application itself. You then move or copy the application from the archive destination folder to your Applications folder, and you're done.

These last two options require the user to know what to do with that application after it's been extracted from the archive or once the disk image has been mounted. The problem is that many users have no idea what to do or how to do it -- leading to a variety of problems. Many developers have added backgrounds to their disk images to help illustrate the proper drag-and-drop procedures, but even that isn't a fail-safe solution. Disk image installers help alleviate problems, but not every app needs a dedicated installer to make it work correctly.

Here's a real world example. I see my customers bring in computers that have Firefox or Skype in the dock... but when you click them, a disk image mounts and the shortcut opens the applications from the DMG instead of from Applications. I also see people who just launch applications directly from the Desktop or Downloads folder. "Big deal, they don't know how to organize apps... so what?" Maybe launching an application from your Desktop is only an organizational nightmare... but launching them from the disk image can really destroy the user experience by causing ridiculous load times and other, more complicated issues.

Andy explains another problem in his post: users tried to drag the application to Applications after they already launched the app from their downloads destination. He explains that this caused the application to have the "ground...cut from under its feet" by breaking essential links between application files and eventually causing the app to crash.

Ultimately, this isn't something that individual developers should have to combat in every application. This is a perfect example of how Apple tries to make the user experience easy but, in a few cases, ends up making it more complicated. If something needs be done to help remedy this problem, what should it be?

Alexander Limi's current solution: just create an installer for the Firefox application (leaving the option to drag-and-drop intact for more advanced users). Andy Kim's current solution: build the code into the application so it recognizes improper locations and offers to move itself to Applications. Given the ability to choose one or the other, I'd have to get on board with Andy's idea. It's a simple, quick test that runs only the first time the application launches... if the user wants to leave it where it is, they can. The big clincher here is that it *should* help the average user realize that having an app in Applications is going to create the best app experience.

The ultimate solution would be for Apple to incorporate a feature into the operating system or the development tools that would automatically install or offer to install applications into the Applications folder. In pre-OS X days, ~~every~~many apps had an installer, which was much more work for expert users than a simple drag-and-drop, but at least there was consistency in installation processes. Apple seriously needs to devote some time to this key part of the user experience to make application installation easy and consistent. We don't want to see companies like Mozilla back track to old install methods when it could be as easy as including a standardized check upon first launch of an application.

We'd love to hear you weigh in on this topic, so feel free to leave your comments below.

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Source: http://www.potionfactory.com/node/251

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John Gruber of Daring Fireball recently wrote an essay about quirks and user confusion around the application install process on Mac OS X....

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Mr Lizard

For once, real player does something right.

When you run the app from the disk image for the first time, a dialog asks if you want to move it to the applications folder instead.

October 10 2009 at 5:38 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

scojac

I've only had my Mac about a year, but from the get go I didn't have a problem with the whole idea of installs. I found it pretty obvious that once I download an *application* it should go into the Applications folder. And since packages don't look like applications, I double-clicked them and got...an installer. The only person I've ever had to explain how this works to is someone who doesn't yet have a Mac, but is considering buying one. I spent about one or two minutes explaining and it was clear.

I love AppTrap, by the way!

September 27 2009 at 10:23 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Colin

When I bought my first mac a little over a year ago, my biggest issue was not in installing apps but uninstalling. I still wish there was an uninstaller like Windows uses.

Some apps just drag to the trash. Other apps have coinciding folders and config files. So after dragging the app to the trash I'm off looking for any folders or files that may be left behind.

September 24 2009 at 12:17 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Jonathan

I really don't think it should be up to Apple to tell devs how to install their software. It should be the developers responsibility to make it easy for the user. While Apple should highly encourage the installer approach it shouldn't mandate it.

September 22 2009 at 1:42 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Janichsan

From all these posts, I see there are mainly two problems:

1. Switchers don't know they can install apps via drag and drop.
2. Apps can be run from disk images.

None of these is a reason to drop the recommended drag and drop installation method in favour of an obligatory installer.

Well, the solution to 1. is simple: make the switchers learn that MacOS is different from Windows. I also see people coming from Windows being confused that the menu bar is not at the top of the windows, or that there is no "Start" menu. No reason to change that just to appease the Windows crowd.

Number 2 is actually a problem. What's needed is a mechanism to prevent apps from running from the disk images. Admittedly, that somewhat contradicts the idea that disk images are equivalent to real disks (like your hard disk), but considering that most dmgs are write protected it could be as simple as a check whether the disks the app is running from is write-enabled.

September 22 2009 at 3:45 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

toidol

I'll get my first Mac today and I had no idea I'd have to drag and drop. I have to admit, I'm a bit OCD about file locations and this article just saved me a lot of frustration.

September 22 2009 at 2:10 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Richard

That's completely right! I DO NOT want all my apps in the Applications folder. As a developer, a reviewer and "new apps enthusiast" I download tons of apps everyday and want to review each of them for their user experience. I prefer to run them from the mounted disk image, while I test ride them and see if I like it. If I do then depending on the apps category they fall under, I put them in on of the folders that I have organized for Major apps (Applications Folder), Smaller Apps and Nifty Utilities (Separate from Utilities Folder).

If all were to crowd your Applications Folder then you'd be pretty much lost. Yes I do launch apps from spotlight (I don't see any reason for any other app launcher apps)

And obviously, I don't like it when the application behaves like it knows its place on MY system. Requesting a place in Applications folder is OK, assuming you belong there is not.

September 22 2009 at 12:14 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Ron

I would also like to relate something that I find hilarious! (but totally understandable).

One person in my family was trying to install MSN app on the family Mac.

They downloaded the installer disk image (which was actually just the application inside the disk image).

Once they downloaded it, they double-clicked it and it opened the disk image window.

They then proceeded to double-click on the MSN icon to launch the application.

They then left the disk image mounted and continued to use the app out of the disk image icon.

Once I realized this was happening, I dragged the app into the apps folder, and dismounted and trashed the original download.

A couple of days later, I go to the Mac, and the disk image was back! I thought maybe someone downloaded an update and did the same thing, so I then tried to do the same cleanup and realized the same version app was already in the app folder!

Totally confused... I realized that the user actually thought they were SUPPOSED to launch the app from the disk image and realizing it was gone, proceeded to download ANOTHER copy of MSN so they could launch it from the disk image.

It ended up happening several times until I finally found out that 3 SEPARATE people were doing the exact same thing!

Does this sound like something that can be ignored by Apple for this long??

September 21 2009 at 10:27 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Ron

It's incredibly stupid that after all of these years of MacOS development, and even after Snow Leopard was supposed to improve things that Apple STILL has this goofy disk mounting procedure to open disk images.

If you do any type of support, or have a family of inexperienced users, you will notice almost on a daily or weekly basis a disk mounted on the desktop where the user has launched the application directly from the mounted image.

Users are not instructed (by many) application installers to actually put the application into their system before launching it, and they are not automatically dismounted or the original installers trashed.

Therefore, there are three major side effects of this approach:

1) Disks get mounted and stay mounted, even when they are not needed anymore!

2) People think they HAVE to mount a disk image to launch an application, each and every time!

3) The installers are all still sitting in the user's download folder, taking disk space and being completely useless!

I personally think it's embarrassing to think that Apple prides themselves on user friendliness, and still allows developers to get away with allowing apps to launch from disk images, and does nothing to clean up the misunderstandings - or the wasted disk space!

(Yes, I know, some of these things may go against the user interface standards for developers, but the fact is it still happens the majority of the time!)

September 21 2009 at 10:17 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Khyros

What I truly truly truly hate about some developers is when they add an apple bundle inside a DMG. Fair enough, this is how it works. Yes. But they they ZIP the dmg. So when you download you have a .dmg.zip, first unzip, then mount, then move the app to the applications folder.

What's the POINT of zipping a dmg file? First I thought .. file compression. Well.. NO.. dmgs can be thelselves be in a compressed form. Most of the time 99% the size difference between the zipped dmg and the uncompressed dmg is just a few bytes.

September 21 2009 at 8:13 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply