thanks for that! It really cleared up some of my main questions about OSX. One more question (that doesn't require a movie , is that I saw you have Safari open, but why did that not show up when you used Expose?
thanks for that! It really cleared up some of my main questions about OSX. One more question (that doesn't require a movie , is that I saw you have Safari open, but why did that not show up when you used Expose?
<this is wrong but still useful I think>
I believe it is because he doesn't have any safari windows open.
(that part I think is I think answering what you asked)
Getting into the differences further as I stated earlier, Mac OS being application centric, you can close all the window to a program without the program quitting. This is one thing I love about the Mac OS.
*wimpers when he realizes that he's not going to get it for 5 or so years*
Hmm, hope it won't be too hard to change a family from windows to mac, because that would be my best bet to get it ASAP. Cool vid, though. It really could've used some "Strong Bad Sings"
Actually, let me revise something I said a few minutes ago:
Cmd-tab is primarily an application switcher.
The Dock is both an application switcher and window switcher...
...as well as an application launcher.
Exposé is primarily a window switcher.
Cmd-tab is perfect for app switching.
Exposé is perfect for window switching.
The Dock does them both, but it isn't the "best" at either. It is a nice mix, though.
Each part has its place. The reason the Dock does both but neither really well is that originally that's all Mac OS X had for both of these tasks. Only recently were the centered app-switcher and Exposé introduced. The Dock used to be inundated with having to do everything (not too unlike the Windows taskbar sometimes is).
The current solution is much cleaner and reflects Apple's attitude of "the right tool for the right job" rather than "everything and the kitchen sink in one tool", the latter of which is clearly Microsoft's attitude. For examples of this difference between Mac and Windows in programming paradigm, look at Outlook vs Mail+Address Book+iCal+iSync. Also, there's taskbar+app switcher vs Dock+menu extras+app switcher+Exposé.
ast3r3x is also right about Mac OS X being far more application-centric than Windows. In Windows, the document usually is the app. Close the document and the app is gone. There are a few exceptions like Adobe's apps on Windows (probably since they were first and most popular on the Mac and consistency had to be preserved) and some apps that follow the MDI model, but they still don't closely mimic Mac OS X.
Although this wasn't the case in the example of Safari just now, in the first movie you might have seen me switch to Mail but not see any windows pop open. That's because Mail didn't have any open windows, but it was still running, checking for messages on a regular interval. A simple click on the Mail icon in the Dock would have opened up a message viewer.
That's another difference between the app switcher and the Dock. The app switcher preserves the state of an app when you switch to it. If there are open windows, it will bring them all to the front. If there are no open windows, it will bring the app to the foreground (the menubar will switch to the app's) but it won't open any new windows for you. Clicking the Dock icons, however, is slightly different. Because the Dock also serves the purpose of an app launcher, if you click an app icon that has no windows open, it will tell the app to open a default window. For Mail it's a message viewer, for TextEdit a blank document, for Safari a browser, etc.
That may sound confusing at first, but believe me, once you actually use it for 5 minutes, it makes perfect sense and comes naturally.
One big advantage to this is that you can keep apps running and not have to relaunch them when you close a document and open another later. You can reduce clutter by closing all the open windows, but everything is still immediately available to you.
A hidden feature you can enable via "defaults" or TinkerTool if you like silly GUIs.
EDIT: echo echo echo
This "defaults" thing you speak of. How do I go about doing this, I don't want to use tinker tool, I would rather do command line, but I'm not very good at it yet. Thanks.
A hidden feature you can enable via "defaults" or TinkerTool if you like silly GUIs.
EDIT: echo echo echo
You think it's silly? I've always thought it was a great way to illustrate what apps are hidden and which ones aren't. Sometimes apps can be left open without any windows, and it's a good way to distinguish between an app that's open with no windows and one that's hidden. *shrugs*
I think Eugene is just facetious about doing this through the GUI instead of through the command line.
FWIW, "defaults" = preferences (basically). You can open your preferences files in TextEdit and some of these options, aka, defaults, are in there with simple true/false keys to activate them. There are a fair number of apps that have hidden defaults you can alter easily too. (A fair number of third parties actually document what these "hidden" defaults are in their help files.) Apple seems to exclude some of these hidden options from their preference files though, so for example, there's no "show hidden apps" string in the Dock's preference file if you look; you have to add it.
Comments
thanks for that! It really cleared up some of my main questions about OSX. One more question (that doesn't require a movie
Originally posted by psgamer0921
One more question (that doesn't require a movie) , is that I saw you have Safari open, but why did that not show up when you used Expose?
Hidden apps don't show with Exposé. Only the visible ones do. In that case, Safari was probably hidden.
I'm glad to hear this helped.
The Dock and cmd-tab are primarily application switchers.
Exposé is primarily a window switcher.
That's why Exposé doesn't show hidden apps. It's suited for a slightly different purpose.
Oh, and here's a video showing drag-and-drop across Exposé from none other than the creator of Snapz Pro X (the tool I used to make my videos):
spx2_panther_expose_drag.mov
Originally posted by psgamer0921
Rock on...
thanks for that! It really cleared up some of my main questions about OSX. One more question (that doesn't require a movie
<this is wrong but still useful I think>
I believe it is because he doesn't have any safari windows open.
(that part I think is I think answering what you asked)
Getting into the differences further as I stated earlier, Mac OS being application centric, you can close all the window to a program without the program quitting. This is one thing I love about the Mac OS.
<wrong but useful maybe>
I hope I made sense.
MY
GAWD
I WANT PANTHER NOW!
*wimpers when he realizes that he's not going to get it for 5 or so years*
Hmm, hope it won't be too hard to change a family from windows to mac, because that would be my best bet to get it ASAP. Cool vid, though. It really could've used some "Strong Bad Sings"
Cmd-tab is primarily an application switcher.
The Dock is both an application switcher and window switcher...
...as well as an application launcher.
Exposé is primarily a window switcher.
Cmd-tab is perfect for app switching.
Exposé is perfect for window switching.
The Dock does them both, but it isn't the "best" at either. It is a nice mix, though.
Each part has its place. The reason the Dock does both but neither really well is that originally that's all Mac OS X had for both of these tasks. Only recently were the centered app-switcher and Exposé introduced. The Dock used to be inundated with having to do everything (not too unlike the Windows taskbar sometimes is).
The current solution is much cleaner and reflects Apple's attitude of "the right tool for the right job" rather than "everything and the kitchen sink in one tool", the latter of which is clearly Microsoft's attitude. For examples of this difference between Mac and Windows in programming paradigm, look at Outlook vs Mail+Address Book+iCal+iSync. Also, there's taskbar+app switcher vs Dock+menu extras+app switcher+Exposé.
ast3r3x is also right about Mac OS X being far more application-centric than Windows. In Windows, the document usually is the app. Close the document and the app is gone. There are a few exceptions like Adobe's apps on Windows (probably since they were first and most popular on the Mac and consistency had to be preserved) and some apps that follow the MDI model, but they still don't closely mimic Mac OS X.
Although this wasn't the case in the example of Safari just now, in the first movie you might have seen me switch to Mail but not see any windows pop open. That's because Mail didn't have any open windows, but it was still running, checking for messages on a regular interval. A simple click on the Mail icon in the Dock would have opened up a message viewer.
That's another difference between the app switcher and the Dock. The app switcher preserves the state of an app when you switch to it. If there are open windows, it will bring them all to the front. If there are no open windows, it will bring the app to the foreground (the menubar will switch to the app's) but it won't open any new windows for you. Clicking the Dock icons, however, is slightly different. Because the Dock also serves the purpose of an app launcher, if you click an app icon that has no windows open, it will tell the app to open a default window. For Mail it's a message viewer, for TextEdit a blank document, for Safari a browser, etc.
That may sound confusing at first, but believe me, once you actually use it for 5 minutes, it makes perfect sense and comes naturally.
One big advantage to this is that you can keep apps running and not have to relaunch them when you close a document and open another later. You can reduce clutter by closing all the open windows, but everything is still immediately available to you.
Heh, I'm glad we've whet your taste buds.
It's time to start saving for that new PowerBook!
(The Powerbook's coming out of my college fund)
Originally posted by Paul
command-` is also a window switcher
Yes, but only within an app, not between apps.
Originally posted by Eugene
A hidden feature you can enable via "defaults" or TinkerTool if you like silly GUIs.
EDIT: echo echo echo
This "defaults" thing you speak of. How do I go about doing this, I don't want to use tinker tool, I would rather do command line, but I'm not very good at it yet. Thanks.
To set the option in your dock preference list:
defaults write com.apple.dock showhidden -bool true
To restart the Dock and have it go into effect:
killall Dock
To revert back to the original way:
defaults write com.apple.dock showhidden -bool false
killall Dock
Originally posted by Eugene
A hidden feature you can enable via "defaults" or TinkerTool if you like silly GUIs.
EDIT: echo echo echo
You think it's silly? I've always thought it was a great way to illustrate what apps are hidden and which ones aren't. Sometimes apps can be left open without any windows, and it's a good way to distinguish between an app that's open with no windows and one that's hidden. *shrugs*
FWIW, "defaults" = preferences (basically). You can open your preferences files in TextEdit and some of these options, aka, defaults, are in there with simple true/false keys to activate them. There are a fair number of apps that have hidden defaults you can alter easily too. (A fair number of third parties actually document what these "hidden" defaults are in their help files.) Apple seems to exclude some of these hidden options from their preference files though, so for example, there's no "show hidden apps" string in the Dock's preference file if you look; you have to add it.