Packaging Your Application for OS X
The Mac ISV (Independent Software Vendor) market is getting bigger every day. There are many great applications out there for OS X, more are coming online all the time, and there is no end in sight. It is a great time to be in the ISV market.
Having said that, some of the software out there is hobbled by some really dumb packaging. If you are thinking about writing a downloadable application for OS X, do yourself a favor and give some thought to how you want to package it.
First Impressions
A user deciding to download your application is making a commitment. They are committing to trying your application and your skills as a developer. At this point, the newly formed relationship is extremely fragile. You can easily lose them by making a bad first impression. And that critical first impression is created by what you put onto their computer.
You cannot redo that first impression. Get it right the first time, or it is lost forever. In this article I have described some of the ways you can blow that first impression, listed from the worst error to the least troublesome.
I specifically focused this article on Safari users. Safari is the default browser on OS X. And if we have learned anything from Windows, it is that users will use the default most of the time. If the user is using a different browser, it is safe to assume they will know how to handle the slightly different experience they will receive with their downloads.