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I've never encountered any confusion of this sort with Word on Windows, nor with Windows's window-management in general. Nor have I encountered music apps ceas

I've never encountered any confusion of this sort with Word on Windows, nor with Windows's window-management in general. Nor have I encountered music apps ceasing playback just because their window is minimized... with one exception: Apple Music stops playback if you minimize it when a music video is playing. I think the issue on Macs is down to Apple forcing all applications to share a single menu, instead of putting the menu on the application's main window frame the way every other GUI evolved to. A single menu glued to the top of the screen reduces your entire desktop to one application's client area, instead of an open workspace for many applications. This weakness has historically degraded the Mac's multi-monitor experience too. Fortunately, most Mac apps have finally abandoned their penchant for barfing out a flotilla of windows all over the screen, and gone to a modern single-window design. Apple has attempted several workarounds for the window-management problem, like "Exposė" and "Stage Manager" and "Mission Control." The first thing I do with a new Mac OS install is disable all those irritating hotkeys... and STILL find windows randomly zooming out to a gallery sometimes.

hombre_fatal 4y ago
I like the Mac concept of the global menu bar that represents which application is focused thus, for example, which app will receive hot keys including cmd-Q. When you get used to it, it’s jarring to go back to Windows and realize you don’t even know the name of an unfamiliar app that is open much less which one will be alt-f4’d if you were to press it.
- pantulis 4y ago
  ANd not to mention Fitt's Law.
  - hgsgm 4y ago
    Fitt's law was for mouse (not trackpad) and for small screens where the menu was near the window. Both of these are for less common now. Also now we have Search function within menus. Nowadays it's easier to navigate menus with keyboard than pointing device.
  - BuckyBeaver 4y ago
    Hahahah, there it is, the once-inevitable "Fitt's law" trope. People citing 'Fitt's law" to defend this dumb menu design love to ignore the big D in that "law." And what does the D stand for? DISTANCE. Fitt's law dictates that the menu should be on the application's main frame, because that's closer to where the user is working (thus minimizing D). That's more true today than ever, as screen sizes and resolutions have reached new heights.
    - pantulis 4y ago
      It's the ratio of the distance and the size what matters, not the distance itself. In this sense the menubar has infinite size because you cannot move the pointer forward it, thus you cannot miss it.
- BuckyBeaver 4y ago
  Why should you have to look for the name of an application to see if it's focused? If that's true, the GUI is a failure. Knowing which app has focus does not require the entire system to be limited to a single menu. It simply requires proper visual feedback to SHOW the user which window (and attached menu) is active.

hombre_fatal 4y ago

I like the Mac concept of the global menu bar that represents which application is focused thus, for example, which app will receive hot keys including cmd-Q. When you get used to it, it’s jarring to go back to Windows and realize you don’t even know the name of an unfamiliar app that is open much less which one will be alt-f4’d if you were to press it.

pantulis 4y ago
ANd not to mention Fitt's Law.
- hgsgm 4y ago
  Fitt's law was for mouse (not trackpad) and for small screens where the menu was near the window. Both of these are for less common now. Also now we have Search function within menus. Nowadays it's easier to navigate menus with keyboard than pointing device.
- BuckyBeaver 4y ago
  Hahahah, there it is, the once-inevitable "Fitt's law" trope. People citing 'Fitt's law" to defend this dumb menu design love to ignore the big D in that "law." And what does the D stand for? DISTANCE. Fitt's law dictates that the menu should be on the application's main frame, because that's closer to where the user is working (thus minimizing D). That's more true today than ever, as screen sizes and resolutions have reached new heights.
  - pantulis 4y ago
    It's the ratio of the distance and the size what matters, not the distance itself. In this sense the menubar has infinite size because you cannot move the pointer forward it, thus you cannot miss it.
BuckyBeaver 4y ago
Why should you have to look for the name of an application to see if it's focused? If that's true, the GUI is a failure. Knowing which app has focus does not require the entire system to be limited to a single menu. It simply requires proper visual feedback to SHOW the user which window (and attached menu) is active.