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For me, a big problem with Address Book in Lion is that there is no longer any way to adjust the size of the display text! In Snow Leopard, there was a "Font Size" preference for small, medium, large. In Lion -- none. The text is too small on the dense pixel display of my MacBook Air, making the app unusable. Why did they remove the font size option?????

It's OK, no huge changes that I can see. I, and I'm sure along with everyone else over the age of 40, wish I could make it bigger.

What's the deal with making address book and iCal look "retro" -- like actual books? Isn't this the 21st Century? The digital age? Why does my address book now look like a Franklin Planner from the 1980s and my calendar looks ratty at the top because someone can tear the previous month off completely?

Awesome! I was just the other day bemoaning the fact that there was such an obvious omission in the connection between iPhoto's Faces and the Address Book. It seemed so odd that iPhoto could give me names from Address Book to assign to faces, but Address Book couldn't return the favor by showing those faces next to a contact's name.

jad713, on 21 July 2011 - 09:38 AM, said:

Ditto that... and you can no longer display groups, contacts and contact info without flipping the page....

How can an application already poor (address book was arguably Apple’s worse app) can get so much worse? and no third party apps to help in a meaningful way.

I would be looking to resolve at least these issues:

1- Revert to original 3 pane view
2- counter present for every folder to give number of entries in a given group (now you have to scroll to the bottom of the group to see it)
3- Icon to distinguish entries between companies/persons
4- removal of alphabetical letter grouping as option
5- changing that horrible leather skin for both address book and ical
6-allow font selection to facilitate reading and page display
7-display contacts in table view for quick bulk editing

really seems they have given over the app to develop to some kids that could not think of anything better than making a book view â€�" the long awaited table view for quick editing is still missing… And no serious apps to compensate for this, address book is a real disaster with Lion

This address book is so bad Apple has not even de-bugged the previous version and replicated the same bug that has been around for over 2 years: if you want to print a set of contacts (company type) that belong to a group in list mode and you want to see the name of the person along with the company basic request!) you cannot do that. By selecting “Name” in the print dialog list, the “Introduced by” appears instead. This I have written to Apple about 2 years ago. Pathetic.

Can we have 3 panes back?
Why should we have to click twice?

Let's make it a tri-fold book.

It really is horrifyingly ugly. And worse, the book metaphor constrains the app's functionality in a host of ways, as others have pointed out. I use a computer to do more than I can on paper -- not to replicate the limitations of paper. And I use an Apple computer so that I can use good-looking software while doing it. Double fail. Argh!

Hmmm, based on the previous comments, this sounds like another reason for me NOT to update to Lion. I hope Apple will allow the option to view in 2 pane/3 pane and different skins (the classic book look, newer more modern and other styles)in future updates. I think this would satify many people preferences if this was in the preference pane.

So let me get this straight: One on hand, Apple is stripping color and UI feedback (see Finder, iTunes) and on the other hand, gives us a full-blown 90's look with a virtual calendar and address book.

Hey Apple: Pick a direction already!

For those complaining about the Address Book and iCal apps: neither are intended as anything other than basic contacts databases.

If you need more functionality, there are CRM tools you can buy, like Jumsoft's "Relationship".

Apple's basic free apps are designed for casual, not business, usage. Use the right tool for the job.

SeanBaggaley92rz, on 21 July 2011 - 12:15 PM, said:

And maybe you should actually read the criticisms before you comment. Though functionality is an issue, it's the LOOK of the thing people can't stand the most. I 100% agree with them. It's incredibly ugly. I buy a Mac to have beautiful products and that includes attractively designed bundled software. iCal and Address Book both had sleek, simple designs in Snow Leopard which fit harmoniously with the whole OS. Now you have this idiotic "real world" look. WTF? Most of the people I know use their iPhones, iPads and other electronic devises to look at their PIM info. Why in God's name would you want to make it look like something people don't even use any more, by and large?

As far as functionality, this is an issue for me too. You say "use the right tool" but it WAS the right tool. They removed functionality, for pete sake! Why? What is the point of making a software LESS functional?

But I might have been able to get used to the functional changes were iCal and AB not so ugly. I live in my cal and AB all day long and I don't want to look at that piece of you know what all day. Now that BusyCal syncs with MobileMe (iCloud), Google Calendar and CalDAV in general, I'm all over it. It looks modern and it's functionally superior to iCal in some ways. There are little issues, but no deal killers. If and when I move to Lion, I will stick with BusyCal. I may be willing to put up with the changed AB, but I'll wait for a few releases of Lion to see if it gets a face lift.

SeanBaggaley92rz, on 21 July 2011 - 12:15 PM, said:

Apple's basic apps connect with every other app, so you have access to contacts systemwide. Using third party apps cuts out that functionality. So unless apple creates some sort of hooks to the system for other apps to be part of the system like Address Book and iCal are, we need to demand high quality functionality from Apple for their native apps.