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- Peek at desktop - Quick hide-all-windows to copy something from your desktop to your clipboard, then bring everything back - Alt-tab, especially when it com

by djfdat 3y ago

- Peek at desktop - Quick hide-all-windows to copy something from your desktop to your clipboard, then bring everything back - Alt-tab, especially when it comes to apps with multiple windows, and windows in different states, such as minimized - A modern/fully-featured default web browser without a locked down extension ecosystem. - A start menu for seeing all your applications - A taskbar with application grouping - File Explorer is much more full-featured than Finder - Better settings, especially when it comes to relevant settings being in one place - The concept of uninstalling an application vs just deleting the application - In some cases, an actual function key row That said, I've used Windows for almost 15 years now, and I think many of its choices are second nature to me. Many of my friends are masters of switching windows with Expose, which I absolutely despise. And I still use Windows for work, but use Mac in personal usage. I usually end up frustrated at things that work on Windows but don't on MacOS, but rarely vice versa.

jitl 3y ago
Desktop peek: Part of “Mission Control”: spread thumb and 3 fingers, or press Fn+F11. Alt tab: press cmd-tab to cycle applications, then cmd-` to cycle windows of that application. This typically has better number-of-keypress to get the window you want compared to Windows alt-tab which requires iterating over all windows in the worst case. Browser: Safari is fits your criteria Start menu to see all apps: this is called “Launchpad”, and is in the Dock by default for new macOS users, but can be removed. Uninstall vs delete: apps installed from the Mac App Store can be uninstalled from launchpad. Otherwise, isn’t “apps are files, drag to install, cmd-delete or drag to trash to uninstall” objectively simpler than using a wizard to install, and digging around in a control panel to uninstall? Function key row: you can swap the behavior of the fn row so that the keys send Fn1-Fn12 by default, and needs the fn key held down to send commands like “volume up”. Settings layout: this one is opinion; I’ve always found Windows settings horribly organized. From 2001-2007, there’s no contest that System Preferences is better organized than Windows XP’s control panel. From 2007-2015, the Vista-era control panel split things awkwardly between the “new style” Vista panels and old-style windows XP/2000/98 panels. Since Windows 10 things are on more even footing in my view, although some details in macOS Network and Displays are annoyingly hidden in some versions.
- Gunnerhead 3y ago
  Also for desktop peek you can customize “hot corners” to show the desktop when you put your cursor in one of the corners.
  - djfdat 3y ago
    I... should have thought about this. Will give it a try!
- karaterobot 3y ago
  > Alt tab: press cmd-tab to cycle applications, then cmd-` to cycle windows of that application. This typically has better number-of-keypress to get the window you want compared to Windows alt-tab which requires iterating over all windows in the worst case. Except that you can select a window with cmd-tab and then have absolutely nothing happen as a result. It will show windows that it does not let you muster on screen, except with a secret key combination it does not tell you about. The existence of this secret method of actually getting the application to do what you expect it to in no way excuses the default behavior of not doing what it should do.
  - wrs 3y ago
    I'm not sure quite what situation you're describing with the secret key thing, but in case it's relevant: Cmd-tab selects applications, not windows. If the application has no windows open, then when you cmd-tab to it, you won't switch to a window (but you will see the menu bar switch). The situation cannot occur in Windows because it insists that an application must have at least one window open to interact with it at all.
    - karaterobot 3y ago
      You can see a description of the problem, and its obscure (in the sense of being hidden) solution, in this stackoverflow thread. https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/112350/cmdtab-does-not-work-on-hidden-or-minimized-windows https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/112350/cmdtab-does... All applications are open in this case. MacOS just doesn't display anything in certain quite common cases, such as one of its windows being hidden or minimized. There is a mechanism to display these windows (the obscure, well-kept secret does work) but Apple chose not to apply it.
Gigachad 3y ago
> The concept of uninstalling an application vs just deleting the application Uninstalling is a workaround for the failure of windows to actually contain an apps data. The way macos handles it is much better.
- djfdat 3y ago
  But isn't there app data still left around on the disk somewhere in Library? Aren't apps able to generate and save off app data outside of the .app?
  - Gigachad 3y ago
    They can, though I guess it depends on what the user is actually trying to do when they remove a program. I'd say the user wants to free up disk space and to not have the app start up on boot or run in the background consuming resources. Deleting the .app does this while on Windows, the uninstaller is the only way I know how this would be done. The fact that the app might leave some documents and configs behind seems inconsequential. If you delete Word, you wouldn't want it to wipe out your documents with it for example. The fact that some configs remain in system dirs doesn't really matter when they take up no space.

by djfdat 3y ago

jitl 3y ago

Desktop peek: Part of “Mission Control”: spread thumb and 3 fingers, or press Fn+F11. Alt tab: press cmd-tab to cycle applications, then cmd-` to cycle windows of that application. This typically has better number-of-keypress to get the window you want compared to Windows alt-tab which requires iterating over all windows in the worst case. Browser: Safari is fits your criteria Start menu to see all apps: this is called “Launchpad”, and is in the Dock by default for new macOS users, but can be removed. Uninstall vs delete: apps installed from the Mac App Store can be uninstalled from launchpad. Otherwise, isn’t “apps are files, drag to install, cmd-delete or drag to trash to uninstall” objectively simpler than using a wizard to install, and digging around in a control panel to uninstall? Function key row: you can swap the behavior of the fn row so that the keys send Fn1-Fn12 by default, and needs the fn key held down to send commands like “volume up”. Settings layout: this one is opinion; I’ve always found Windows settings horribly organized. From 2001-2007, there’s no contest that System Preferences is better organized than Windows XP’s control panel. From 2007-2015, the Vista-era control panel split things awkwardly between the “new style” Vista panels and old-style windows XP/2000/98 panels. Since Windows 10 things are on more even footing in my view, although some details in macOS Network and Displays are annoyingly hidden in some versions.

Gunnerhead 3y ago
Also for desktop peek you can customize “hot corners” to show the desktop when you put your cursor in one of the corners.
- djfdat 3y ago
  I... should have thought about this. Will give it a try!
karaterobot 3y ago
> Alt tab: press cmd-tab to cycle applications, then cmd-` to cycle windows of that application. This typically has better number-of-keypress to get the window you want compared to Windows alt-tab which requires iterating over all windows in the worst case. Except that you can select a window with cmd-tab and then have absolutely nothing happen as a result. It will show windows that it does not let you muster on screen, except with a secret key combination it does not tell you about. The existence of this secret method of actually getting the application to do what you expect it to in no way excuses the default behavior of not doing what it should do.
- wrs 3y ago
  I'm not sure quite what situation you're describing with the secret key thing, but in case it's relevant: Cmd-tab selects applications, not windows. If the application has no windows open, then when you cmd-tab to it, you won't switch to a window (but you will see the menu bar switch). The situation cannot occur in Windows because it insists that an application must have at least one window open to interact with it at all.
  - karaterobot 3y ago
    You can see a description of the problem, and its obscure (in the sense of being hidden) solution, in this stackoverflow thread. https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/112350/cmdtab-does-not-work-on-hidden-or-minimized-windows https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/112350/cmdtab-does... All applications are open in this case. MacOS just doesn't display anything in certain quite common cases, such as one of its windows being hidden or minimized. There is a mechanism to display these windows (the obscure, well-kept secret does work) but Apple chose not to apply it.

Gigachad 3y ago

> The concept of uninstalling an application vs just deleting the application Uninstalling is a workaround for the failure of windows to actually contain an apps data. The way macos handles it is much better.

djfdat 3y ago
But isn't there app data still left around on the disk somewhere in Library? Aren't apps able to generate and save off app data outside of the .app?
- Gigachad 3y ago
  They can, though I guess it depends on what the user is actually trying to do when they remove a program. I'd say the user wants to free up disk space and to not have the app start up on boot or run in the background consuming resources. Deleting the .app does this while on Windows, the uninstaller is the only way I know how this would be done. The fact that the app might leave some documents and configs behind seems inconsequential. If you delete Word, you wouldn't want it to wipe out your documents with it for example. The fact that some configs remain in system dirs doesn't really matter when they take up no space.