I couldn’t begin to do an “all about Lion” article. Every few minutes I discover a new feature. So, instead here’s a summarization of some of Lion’s best (and worst) features.

First off, Lion changes a lot about your Mac. You’ll notice small differences everywhere. Windows look a bit different, buttons are smaller, everything is more gray (in a classy way), quick look has been vastly improved, and the scroll bars are gone, only appearing when you’re scrolling. Those are system wide changes, and so far, every single one has been a welcome change.

Another cool system wide change you’ll notice is that autocorrect has found its way into Mac OS. If you type something that is commonly misspelled, it will be corrected, and a wavy blue line will appear beneath the corrected word, allowing you to choose a different correction, or revert it. It quickly corrects many common typos and spelling errors and is seamless. I’ve been using Lion all day, and I wrote this article, and yet I haven’t had a single issue with an incorrect replacement. It’s just one of those many small improvements that you’ll quickly wonder how you lived without it.
Applications have been updated. Mail saw the biggest change, taking inspiration from the iPad Mail app. A list of messages displays on the left, and the selected message appears on the right. If the message is part of a thread of emails, the entire thread will appear on the right side. It’s a convenient design, and it won’t take you long to get used to it. The new app looks just like the iOS app, with a few additional features.

iCal, Address book, and a number of others also received updates. Safari was updated, and the reading list has been released. Downloads now appear in a tab on the top of the right side of the window. There’s also an animation when downloading something. Safari also launches new windows with the new “zoom” animation, that makes the application appear as though it’s coming from within the desktop. It’s a visually appealing feature, and adds to the “freshness” of Lion.
Now, on to some of the bigger changes. First off, Mission Control. Mission Control replaces Expos, Spaces, and the Dashboard, by pulling the features together in one app, and vastly improving upon them. You can evoke mission control by swiping 4 fingers upward on the trackpad or clicking the Mission Control icon. Here you can see your open windows, as well as your spaces and your dashboard. Switching between spaces is as easy as sliding 3 fingers to the left or right, which is also how you can get to the dashboard. Spaces are now aligned in a single row, and you can add or subtract spaces as you see fit. Mission Control has quickly become one of my favorite features of Lion, and it alone is worth the for Lion. But wait, there’s more!