How do I get to minimised applications? + using F10.
I have 5 applications open.
I minimise 2 of them.
When I command tab... I only see the 3 applications that haven't been minimised.
How do I get to the other applications without using the mouse and going down to the bottom?
I have loads of windows open of the same application.
I press F10 and I see a line of small windows for me to choose from.
Is it possible to get 2 lines? How about 3 lines?
(Or am I being greedy!?)
Browsing for example: I have a zillion different windows open at anyone time.
The cool interface and usability of the F10 feature is then all lost with too many windows since you can't see what's what.
Thanks.
OM
I minimise 2 of them.
When I command tab... I only see the 3 applications that haven't been minimised.
How do I get to the other applications without using the mouse and going down to the bottom?
I have loads of windows open of the same application.
I press F10 and I see a line of small windows for me to choose from.
Is it possible to get 2 lines? How about 3 lines?
(Or am I being greedy!?)
Browsing for example: I have a zillion different windows open at anyone time.
The cool interface and usability of the F10 feature is then all lost with too many windows since you can't see what's what.
Thanks.
OM
Comments
F10 is one of the Exposé features where you can see all the open windows of ONE application... And of course you can't switch from one open window to another by pressing command-tab like in MS Windows, you can only switch applications by pressing those buttons. At least in OS X.
So if you could please clarify your question? Thx.
Mac OS X. Why else would I post in here? Lol.
>> do you mean "hiding" applications or minimizing the application's window
>> using the yellow button top left or by using command-m?
Yes. Say you have 5 Safari windows open.
You minimise 2 of them.
I press commad tab - and it will only cycle through the 3 windows that haven't been minimised.
Or if I press F10 it will only show the 3 windows that haven't been minimised.
So, my question: can I get to the minimised windows without using the mouse and restoring the window from the bottom (I forget what the name for this is)?
Does that make anymore sense?
>> F10 is one of the Exposé features where you can see all the open windows of ONE
>> application... And of course you can't switch from one open window to another by
>> pressing command-tab like in MS Windows, you can only switch applications
>> by pressing those buttons. At least in OS X.
Not sure you understand. Say I have 10 Safrai Windows open. I press F10... and I get a line in the middle of the screen with 10 small icons of the windows I have open. When you have 10 windows... it is very hard to see the contents of the windows.
What would help is if those 10 windows where spread out over say 3 rows on the screen: then there would be space to make each window bigger: and thereby seeing more of the contents... and thereby making it easier to choose the right window to navigate to.
My question: when pressing F10 can I make it so that windows appear NOT in just one middle line but spread around the whole screen space.
Stop press: I just tried it now... and as if by magic... it's doing what I wanted - it's making all my Safari windows appear spread out around the screen!
But... erm... how do I control this? Can I dictate whether I get the line in the middle or spread out?
Thanks.
The F10 thing: I found out something: in Safari if all the windows are placed at the very top of the screen (just below the menu bar), they will be aligned in a row when F10 is pressed. If, however, one single window is not placed directly under the menu bar, they will get spread out all over the screen. In Word, where not all the new windows are placed in the same spot (but slightly lower and more to the right), everything gets spread out nicely over the entire screen.
Strange, huh?
Edit: Well, it's even easier: F10 aligns all the windows in a row when every window goes all the way from the top of the screen to the bottom (like my windows do in Safari). The width of the windows is not important, the height is.
hmmm very annoying i think.
how can they leave out such obvious needs?
linux: has anyone seen the latest versions?
kewl interface... lots of gui... doesn't come near to giving macs any competition... but a damn good try.
you install linux. what you get is something that is very 'clunky' and looks and feels rubbish to use.
but: spend 500 hours of your life searching and researching... and installing 3rd party apps and you'll end up with a really nice system.
apple macs from my *very little* experience so far is the same.
(expect you do start off with a very good system.)
why why why?
ctrl f3 turns the sounds on and off.
what am i doing wrong?
i'm using a mac book.
ctrl f3 turns the sounds on and off.
what am i doing wrong?
You have the F keys swapped, as is the default on a MacBook. Use ctrl-fn-F3 instead.
thanks.
thanks for the replies.
hmmm very annoying i think.
how can they leave out such obvious needs?
Odd, because the fact that if I minimize windows in XP, then they still pop up in the alt-tab switcher drives me nuts. If I minimize the window, it's because *I'm not working with it*. I don't want it polluting my list of quick-switch windows.
but i disagree.
when i minimise... more often than not it's because i don't want to see the window anymore - BUT i dont want to close it... i still want it open for going back to if necessary.
in windows... i think ur getting confused with the minimise and closing fucntionalities.
when you want to close: close.
macs: for the novice and new user it's a pain in the backside trying to figure out where the window went to!
i definitely think i'm onto something here.
i'm writing a letter to steve jobs as we speak.
i'm also going to take out a patent to protect my idea... well... it's not really an idea... more of a complaint. but i'm going to patent it anyway.
i'm going to sell my complaint to apple.
If I minimize, I am specifically saying "I don't want to work with this window right now, but I will later." Having it appear in the Alt-Tab picklist is silly in that case - I already said I'm not currently interested in it (by the act of minimizing) so why have it clutter up the list of active windows? If I want it to be active, I will unminimize it and bring it back into rotation.
As with many other bad UI decisions in Windows, it tries to second guess specific actions I take ("You didn't *really* mean that...").
As for knowing where the window went to... that's what that very explicit 'genie effect' is for when you minimize the window. It doesn't just disappear (ala Windows), but it shows you *EXACTLY* where it goes. I'm not sure how you're going to make it more explicit than that, without resorting to a brain-dead and anti-user approach like putting the minimized windows into the Alt-Tab list.
Good luck on that patenting.
Good luck on that patenting.
lol. thanks.
let's agree to disagree.
i still like windows.
but mac's the winner for me (despite some minor things!).
lol. thanks.
let's agree to disagree.
i still like windows.
but mac's the winner for me (despite some minor things!).
Fair enough.
Definitely keep asking questions here though.
Fer instance... your question above about the F keys? Mac applications don't use the function keys but very rarely, so Apple decided to make the screen, volume, etc behaviors the default. Those are much more useful for most people. You need to press the Fn key, lower left, to turn them into function keys. Windows apps use the function keys because back in the DOS days, those were the way for triggering additional behavior outside of the DOS environment. The Mac never had that legacy use for them, so they are primarily hardware/system function triggers, but the Fn modifier allows you to use them as function keys for those rare times when you need them.
I'd like to see Apple make some advances with window minimization and maximization (currently the near-broken "Zoom") in OS X. IMO it's the OS's weakest element.