5 ms·

Window switching is something there's really little to complain about on OSX. You've got sloppy window focus (scroll on a window that's not active), mission con

by nwh 13y ago

Window switching is something there's really little to complain about on OSX. You've got sloppy window focus (scroll on a window that's not active), mission control for switching and finding applications, an intelligently organised alt-tab application switcher, multiple desktops with pinning if necessary, and the Dock for even faster switching. What do you think is missing?

rwc 13y ago
I suspect the problem he's dealing with coming from windows is that the Mac OS paradigm is application switching via the dock and Command+Tab whereas in Windows the taskbar and Alt+Tab are window switching.
- nwh 13y ago
  In which case alt + ` would be a suitable replacement, as that's the command for window switching.
  - shalalala 13y ago
    'Command' + '~' switches windows in the current app.
    - jesseendahl 13y ago
      For Windows style window switching (across all applications), use Control + F4. You may also need to hold down the function key if you have your keyboard setup the default way, where things like brightness, volume, etc. are the primary uses of the function keys.
      - eyesee 13y ago
        It's worth noting that you can remap the key easily from the Keyboard panel in System Preferences. Look under Shortcuts -> Keyboard for "Movie focus to active or next window".
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
- rwc 13y ago
  Command + ` only works within the app once you've switched. You may only want to switch to one window from an application but Command+Tabbing to it brings all windows from that application on top. It takes some getting used to.
  - lmg643 13y ago
    Appreciate the sympathy. I'm used to minimizing applications to get them out of the way, and alt-tab on windows restores the window you want. on the mac, it only restores a non-minimized window, and command+~ only works if both windows are not minimized. Mission control also doesn't restore minimized windows. Windows Snapping was also a cool feature that isn't native to OSX, you need a third party tool - great to do a side-by-side on spreadsheet/document. And can we get a comment about launchpad? and widgets? considering how good the iOS experience is, the desktop launchpad is horrible. and widgets should be removed, rethought or integrated for sure. both of these strike me as afterthoughts, which is bizarre considering how central they appear when you first set up the OS.
    - nwh 13y ago
      Get used to not minimising things, it's not the flow you should be using on OSX for maximum efficiency. Widgets are antiquated and just there for legacy reasons.
    - frou_dh 13y ago
      > I'm used to minimizing applications to get them out of the way, and alt-tab on windows restores the window you want. Use Hide (Cmd-H).
    - plorkyeran 13y ago
      I use spotlight exclusively to launch applications. Launchpad I used exactly once before unpinning it from the dock. OS X widgets turned out about as well as every other attempt to make desktop widgets. Banishing them to their own virtual desktop solves the problem of it being impossible to use them due to that there's always windows in the way, but it doesn't solve the problem that apparently no one actually has any ideas for desktop widgets that are more than mildly useful.
- girvo 13y ago
  But, doesn't mission control let you switch windows of an app globally? It's the only window switcher I use (swipe up on Magic Trackpad)
shurcooL 13y ago
I really want something like Cmd+Tab, except one that lists all windows on current desktop (doesn't include minimized windows or other desktops). When comparing two things on one small screen, I want to be able to rapidly switch between two windows. Depending on if it's within same app, I have to think to use either Cmd+Tab or Cmd+`. And all the minimized apps, as well as apps on other desktops get in the way. Mission Control is unacceptable for rapid window switching because it requires me to move the mouse pointer and find the other window, when all I want to do is "select previous window".
- mgillett 13y ago
  I have the same gripe. Think about giving Switch (https://github.com/numist/Switch https://github.com/numist/Switch) a try. Cmd+Tab still functions as normal, but Opt+Tab (you can change the default keybinding) will allow you to cycle through all available windows on a single desktop. Not a perfect solution, but it's a big improvement imo over Cmd+`.
  - shurcooL 13y ago
    Thank you for that recommendation. I'm giving it a try, so far it looks like it might be an invaluable tool!
  - rjzzleep 13y ago
    you might want to try out http://contextsformac.com/ http://contextsformac.com/ i think it's a little better than switch, though not free.
- ricardobeat 13y ago
  From a comment below, Control+F4 seems to do the trick. You could remap that to your Cmd+Tab.
  - shurcooL 13y ago
    That seems to be VERY close to _exactly_ what I'm looking for, but it's not quite right (which makes it very far from useful, unfortunately). The problem is that pressing Ctrl+F4 twice in a row keeps iterating over the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. windows. So if you want to switch between two most recently windows, you have to press Ctrl+F4, then Ctrl+Shift+F4, then Ctrl+F4, then Ctrl+Shift+F4, etc.
youWontLikeThis 13y ago
> What do you think is missing? Single click access to every open window through the taskbar. See windows 95 for early reference.
davidw 13y ago
Mac OS X apparently does not have focus follows mouse: http://steve-yegge.blogspot.it/2008/04/settling-osx-focus-follows-mouse-debate.html http://steve-yegge.blogspot.it/2008/04/settling-osx-focus-fo... That's kind of old though. Have they fixed it? I doubt it's a priority.
- madeofpalk 13y ago
  It does, in a 'lazy' way. e.g. You can scroll an unfocused window when you're mose is over it.
  - twoodfin 13y ago
    This is actually one of the few things in OS X that drive me nuts. It's tremendously useful, but because there's little visual distinction between a focused and unfocused window, I'll start typing in a window I've just been scrolling and realize I'm issuing random commands to Mail.app on my other monitor. Mavericks' blessed addition of per-screen menu bars has the nice side effect of making this a little more noticeable: The menu bar is transparent on a screen without the active window. Terminal.app also can be customized to make inactive windows partially transparent. I wish that option were system-wide.
peralta 13y ago
Well, that's crippled sloppy focus as you can only scroll the background windows, but NOT type on them. Terminal.app has some sloppy focus support, but only between its own windows which makes the whole experience a pain.
- gmac 13y ago
  A.k.a. sane sloppy focus? I think I'd find it very confusing if my mouse position (which is effectively arbitrary when I'm not mousing) affected where my typing was going to appear.
  - peralta 13y ago
    I guess this depends on habit: once used to "real" sloppy focus, it is really difficult to live without it. At the same time, I've seen tons of people get confused when using my computer and accidentally moving the mouse. Still, worth a try if you haven't (and kind of impossible with OSX).
bane 13y ago
It's a mess, that's what the problem is. Just look at this thread and the number of ways that sometimes work in certain cases to do basic operations. Some of this is the added complexity of additional desktops (which I agree are awesome and sorely missing in Windows), but some, like switching windows in the same app, are a usability disaster. Here's a short list from this thread for something which is universally ctrl+tab (and shift+ctrl+tab for the other direction) in Windows: - Mission Control - cmd+tab - cmd+` - ctrl+f4 - Switch, a tool which enables Opt+tab - contextsformac - cmd+~ (only in some cases)
- gmac 13y ago
  I'm confused how this is a problem for you. Pick the one(s) you find helpful, and ignore the rest?
  - bane 13y ago
    Because they don't all work the same and they don't all work all the time. It's not like they're just different aliases for the same action. Some work in certain cases with a certain app, some work in special contexts, some don't work unless you install an app an remap your keyboard. It's kind of insane.
- shurcooL 13y ago
  Cmd+~ is the same as Cmd+`, just with shift pressed down. Doesn't make sense to list both of them (since you don't also list Cmd+Shift+Tab).

by nwh 13y ago

rwc 13y ago

I suspect the problem he's dealing with coming from windows is that the Mac OS paradigm is application switching via the dock and Command+Tab whereas in Windows the taskbar and Alt+Tab are window switching.

nwh 13y ago
In which case alt + ` would be a suitable replacement, as that's the command for window switching.
- shalalala 13y ago
  'Command' + '~' switches windows in the current app.
  - jesseendahl 13y ago
    For Windows style window switching (across all applications), use Control + F4. You may also need to hold down the function key if you have your keyboard setup the default way, where things like brightness, volume, etc. are the primary uses of the function keys.
    - eyesee 13y ago
      It's worth noting that you can remap the key easily from the Keyboard panel in System Preferences. Look under Shortcuts -> Keyboard for "Movie focus to active or next window".
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
rwc 13y ago
Command + ` only works within the app once you've switched. You may only want to switch to one window from an application but Command+Tabbing to it brings all windows from that application on top. It takes some getting used to.
- lmg643 13y ago
  Appreciate the sympathy. I'm used to minimizing applications to get them out of the way, and alt-tab on windows restores the window you want. on the mac, it only restores a non-minimized window, and command+~ only works if both windows are not minimized. Mission control also doesn't restore minimized windows. Windows Snapping was also a cool feature that isn't native to OSX, you need a third party tool - great to do a side-by-side on spreadsheet/document. And can we get a comment about launchpad? and widgets? considering how good the iOS experience is, the desktop launchpad is horrible. and widgets should be removed, rethought or integrated for sure. both of these strike me as afterthoughts, which is bizarre considering how central they appear when you first set up the OS.
  - nwh 13y ago
    Get used to not minimising things, it's not the flow you should be using on OSX for maximum efficiency. Widgets are antiquated and just there for legacy reasons.
  - frou_dh 13y ago
    > I'm used to minimizing applications to get them out of the way, and alt-tab on windows restores the window you want. Use Hide (Cmd-H).
  - plorkyeran 13y ago
    I use spotlight exclusively to launch applications. Launchpad I used exactly once before unpinning it from the dock. OS X widgets turned out about as well as every other attempt to make desktop widgets. Banishing them to their own virtual desktop solves the problem of it being impossible to use them due to that there's always windows in the way, but it doesn't solve the problem that apparently no one actually has any ideas for desktop widgets that are more than mildly useful.
girvo 13y ago
But, doesn't mission control let you switch windows of an app globally? It's the only window switcher I use (swipe up on Magic Trackpad)

shurcooL 13y ago

I really want something like Cmd+Tab, except one that lists all windows on current desktop (doesn't include minimized windows or other desktops). When comparing two things on one small screen, I want to be able to rapidly switch between two windows. Depending on if it's within same app, I have to think to use either Cmd+Tab or Cmd+`. And all the minimized apps, as well as apps on other desktops get in the way. Mission Control is unacceptable for rapid window switching because it requires me to move the mouse pointer and find the other window, when all I want to do is "select previous window".

mgillett 13y ago
I have the same gripe. Think about giving Switch (https://github.com/numist/Switch https://github.com/numist/Switch) a try. Cmd+Tab still functions as normal, but Opt+Tab (you can change the default keybinding) will allow you to cycle through all available windows on a single desktop. Not a perfect solution, but it's a big improvement imo over Cmd+`.
- shurcooL 13y ago
  Thank you for that recommendation. I'm giving it a try, so far it looks like it might be an invaluable tool!
- rjzzleep 13y ago
  you might want to try out http://contextsformac.com/ http://contextsformac.com/ i think it's a little better than switch, though not free.
ricardobeat 13y ago
From a comment below, Control+F4 seems to do the trick. You could remap that to your Cmd+Tab.
- shurcooL 13y ago
  That seems to be VERY close to _exactly_ what I'm looking for, but it's not quite right (which makes it very far from useful, unfortunately). The problem is that pressing Ctrl+F4 twice in a row keeps iterating over the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. windows. So if you want to switch between two most recently windows, you have to press Ctrl+F4, then Ctrl+Shift+F4, then Ctrl+F4, then Ctrl+Shift+F4, etc.

youWontLikeThis 13y ago

> What do you think is missing? Single click access to every open window through the taskbar. See windows 95 for early reference.

davidw 13y ago

Mac OS X apparently does not have focus follows mouse: http://steve-yegge.blogspot.it/2008/04/settling-osx-focus-follows-mouse-debate.html http://steve-yegge.blogspot.it/2008/04/settling-osx-focus-fo... That's kind of old though. Have they fixed it? I doubt it's a priority.

madeofpalk 13y ago
It does, in a 'lazy' way. e.g. You can scroll an unfocused window when you're mose is over it.
- twoodfin 13y ago
  This is actually one of the few things in OS X that drive me nuts. It's tremendously useful, but because there's little visual distinction between a focused and unfocused window, I'll start typing in a window I've just been scrolling and realize I'm issuing random commands to Mail.app on my other monitor. Mavericks' blessed addition of per-screen menu bars has the nice side effect of making this a little more noticeable: The menu bar is transparent on a screen without the active window. Terminal.app also can be customized to make inactive windows partially transparent. I wish that option were system-wide.

peralta 13y ago

Well, that's crippled sloppy focus as you can only scroll the background windows, but NOT type on them. Terminal.app has some sloppy focus support, but only between its own windows which makes the whole experience a pain.

gmac 13y ago
A.k.a. sane sloppy focus? I think I'd find it very confusing if my mouse position (which is effectively arbitrary when I'm not mousing) affected where my typing was going to appear.
- peralta 13y ago
  I guess this depends on habit: once used to "real" sloppy focus, it is really difficult to live without it. At the same time, I've seen tons of people get confused when using my computer and accidentally moving the mouse. Still, worth a try if you haven't (and kind of impossible with OSX).

bane 13y ago

It's a mess, that's what the problem is. Just look at this thread and the number of ways that sometimes work in certain cases to do basic operations. Some of this is the added complexity of additional desktops (which I agree are awesome and sorely missing in Windows), but some, like switching windows in the same app, are a usability disaster. Here's a short list from this thread for something which is universally ctrl+tab (and shift+ctrl+tab for the other direction) in Windows: - Mission Control - cmd+tab - cmd+` - ctrl+f4 - Switch, a tool which enables Opt+tab - contextsformac - cmd+~ (only in some cases)

gmac 13y ago
I'm confused how this is a problem for you. Pick the one(s) you find helpful, and ignore the rest?
- bane 13y ago
  Because they don't all work the same and they don't all work all the time. It's not like they're just different aliases for the same action. Some work in certain cases with a certain app, some work in special contexts, some don't work unless you install an app an remap your keyboard. It's kind of insane.
shurcooL 13y ago
Cmd+~ is the same as Cmd+`, just with shift pressed down. Doesn't make sense to list both of them (since you don't also list Cmd+Shift+Tab).