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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

• 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.
      • wrs 3y ago
        Aaaah, minimized windows, a feature I only use by accident. I always “disable” the cmd-M shortcut. (“Disable” meaning set it to cmd-opt-shift-ctl-M for all apps.) But still, switching to the app does show all the non-minimized windows. And minimizing a window is explicitly asking for it to be hidden. So it would be wrong to show it every time you switch back to the application.
• kristiandupont 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. In the case where you need to switch to a window that you haven't been using for a while, perhaps. But switching back and forth on the other hand, is infuriating because the z-order is polluted. And I also find it incredibly frustrating that all the other windows are brought to the top just because they happen to share a process.
• prewett 3y ago
  Launchpad can also be started by taking four fingers spread out and bringing them together into one spot. I think that is enabled by default. (Control panel, at least in older versions, also had a little animation for all the gestures, and you can assign different functions to them) You can also swipe up with three fingers to get a view of all the windows on your current desktop (and also select other Spaces). Normally I just use Cmd-Tab, but if your window is very visible this can be faster. I keep my source control app's window hidden behind Xcode, and then 3-swipe-up to click on it when I need to commit something.
• djfdat 3y ago
  Desktop Peek: I'll try setting this up on a hot corner and see how it works for me. I don't think I'll use it with a keyboard shortcut, so maybe I can remember to use it this way. Alt+Tab: Using Ctrl+` tab switch between windows of an application is annoying second layer to me. I'm going to have to live with it, because the half-dozen or so third-party applications that I've tried to recreate Windows behavior either fail, work differently than I want, or have been abandoned. Browser: I was specifically saying not this. I really really try to like Safari, but every time I start trying to use it as my primary browser, I start running in to annoying roadblocks that insist I work in the "Apple way". Launch Pad: I forgot about this, I removed it from the dock. Doesn't open as easily as the start menu, with it's own dedicated button, and organizing it is terrible. Just like Launchpad on iOS. Start Menu Tiles and the ability to mix files/apps is way more powerful and behaves the way I expect. I do really like Raycast/Alfred, but I miss the comfort of an organized start menu. Uninstall - I do think that this is fine, but an uninstall wizard is sometimes helpful. For Backup settings mostly, but I guess there really should just be a better way to do that. Function Key Row - I do have this swapped to function keys by default, but what I was referring to was the touchbar macbook models. Terrible design choice that was thrust upon users. Settings: Fair points on the different styles, but that doesn't bother me much. Like I said, I've been Windows for a really long time, so the familiarity outweighs the inconsistency. System Preferences was okay, but had options scattered where they shouldn't be. And System Settings now is definitely worse.
• ankurdhama 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. Sure, it may save you some keypresses but it introduce the cognitive overhead of - do I need to switch to the window of current app or other app and then decide which key combination to press.