Moving from Classic to OS X naturally brings many enhancements to the Helix interface. Most of them are obvious. Only enhancements that are significant departures and minor enhancements that may be overlooked are noted.

These Options dialogs have been redesigned and now feature popup selection of options instead of slot machines.

The Form Query specification dialog — aka: the Query Term Specifier — has been redesigned and now features popup selections instead of the multitude of radio buttons. View a technote with video demonstration.

In OS X, Helix typically saves so quickly that the Last Save Length and Average Save Length statistics are sometimes reported as ‘0 seconds’. In Helix 6.1, saves are reported with 0.1 second accuracy.

One of the keys to maximum performance in OS X is to minimize the use of Virtual Memory. VM usage is best gauged by the pageins & pageouts statistics. These are now available in the Collection Info window, under the Machine Info tab, to make it easier to determine when VM may be hampering performance.

OS X includes the ability to define custom key commands via the Keyboard System Preference panel. Keyboard commands assigned from within Helix itself take precedence over OS X keyboard commands.