Scroll bars have also undergone a metamorphosis in OS 8.5. Using a new feature in the Appearance control panel, you can opt for a double-headed arrow at one end of each scroll bar (instead of one arrow at each end). That feature may please big-monitor owners—but not as much as double-headed arrows at both ends of each scroll bar would have. (Apple inexplicably removed that feature late in the beta-testing process.)
That same special–scroll-bar option also turns on a new, Windows-like proportional scroll-box option. When you turn this option on, the square handle you drag in the scroll bar changes size to reflect the amount of the document that’s currently visible in the window. If, for example, the scroll box is one-third as high as the scroll bar, you’re seeing one-third of the document in your window.
Windows have also been enhanced in two other tiny but effective ways: If you command-drag inside a window, your cursor becomes a tiny grabber hand that lets you scroll—a great time-saver, since you can now scroll in two directions at once. And title bars now also sport a tiny icon next to the window name; dragging this icon is exactly like dragging this window’s folder, meaning that you can move a window’s corresponding folder (to another disk, another folder, or the Trash) without first closing the window.