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This is probably a matter of preference. Personally, the OS X way is often more elegant. When I am working with a lot of windows in a particular program (say, f

This is probably a matter of preference. Personally, the OS X way is often more elegant. When I am working with a lot of windows in a particular program (say, five text files) and have another application I want check in on (say, an instant message conversation), the OS X way is wonderful. Not having to worry about the IM window getting in the way of my documents saves me from a lot of confusion. The OS X way definitely does add complexity to the UI, but I just think it is worth the trouble.

kstenerud 15y ago
Usually when I'm doing work, I'm switching between different apps, copy/pasting stuff (graphics, sounds, text), moving files or just referencing something. I do this far more often than switching to an IM client (for which I just click on the bouncing icon in the dock, then alt-tab back to my work). The problem is that I want to switch between a few windows that are not necessarily in the same application. In Windows (and Linux), it's a no-brainer. Alt-tab and I'm done. In Mac, I end up changing within the app when I want to change between apps and vice versa. I don't care if they're within the same app or not. I just want to do stuff between windows A and B and maybe C. Example: I'm writing some code. I look something up in my browser. I also have a second window in my IDE with some more code I'm using as a template for what I'm building. In Windows or Linux, it's very easy to alt-tab between those 3 windows. Alt-tab, Alt-tab-tab. In Mac, I'm always fumbling with which is the right key combination to get the right kind of window switching and is this a text wrangler window or an xcode window? Aargh!
zephjc 15y ago
It's funny that they mention BeOS because I think it had a nice solution to keyboard app switching: Alt-tab switched programs (it had the same Mac-like app-centric design), and it looked somewhat like the traditional Windows. With Alt still pressed, you could use the up/down arrow keys to move within windows for that app. I wish I could find a screenshot of it.

kstenerud 15y ago

Usually when I'm doing work, I'm switching between different apps, copy/pasting stuff (graphics, sounds, text), moving files or just referencing something. I do this far more often than switching to an IM client (for which I just click on the bouncing icon in the dock, then alt-tab back to my work). The problem is that I want to switch between a few windows that are not necessarily in the same application. In Windows (and Linux), it's a no-brainer. Alt-tab and I'm done. In Mac, I end up changing within the app when I want to change between apps and vice versa. I don't care if they're within the same app or not. I just want to do stuff between windows A and B and maybe C. Example: I'm writing some code. I look something up in my browser. I also have a second window in my IDE with some more code I'm using as a template for what I'm building. In Windows or Linux, it's very easy to alt-tab between those 3 windows. Alt-tab, Alt-tab-tab. In Mac, I'm always fumbling with which is the right key combination to get the right kind of window switching and is this a text wrangler window or an xcode window? Aargh!

zephjc 15y ago

It's funny that they mention BeOS because I think it had a nice solution to keyboard app switching: Alt-tab switched programs (it had the same Mac-like app-centric design), and it looked somewhat like the traditional Windows. With Alt still pressed, you could use the up/down arrow keys to move within windows for that app. I wish I could find a screenshot of it.