Re: Help! from jms

In article <87iqp1s2pr.fsf@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Kathryn Huxtable <kathryn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:


For any power Windows user debating switching to Mac, here are my
three biggest beefs:

1) It's an application-centric interface rather than a
document-centric interface. That is, Cmd-Tab switches between
applications, not windows. E.g., if you have two Safari windows open
and an editor window, Cmd-Tab will switch between the editor and
Safari. To switch between the two Safari windows you need to press
Cmd-` (the key above the tab). I find this quite frustrating and
generally a bad idea. Going to a document-centric interface was a
genuinely superior move on Microsoft's part.

I think this is a matter of taste; I personally find the Windows model
counter-intuitive, especially since it's not consistent. (On Windows,
some programs are document-centric, some have one window with subwindows
inside it for each document, some are half and half...)

You can also use Expose to switch active windows on the Mac with OS X
10.4 and later. Push F10 (or, if you have the Aluminum Keyboard and
you're using the default function key setting, Control-F3), and every
window of the active application is shown, reduced to fit as necessary.
You can then use the arrow keys to select the window you wish to raise
(or, of course, just use the mouse). The other windows return to their
original positions.

Expose can also show you every open window in every application in the
same fashion. Oh, and the windows are "live" -- the contents update
while they're shrunk and repositioned. Unlike Vista, the windows are
shown face-on and with no overlap, so you can see the contents of
everything.

One thing Expose can do that Windows XP can't -- one keypress shoves all
open windows off the edge of the screen so you can see your desktop, and
a second press _puts them all back where they were._ The XP "Show
Desktop" command is really a "Minimize Every Window" command, and
there's no "Maximize Every Window" to get you back to where you were.

2) Insufficient key accelerators for menus. On Windows there is a
standard, supported in the API, for designating menu accelerators. On
the Mac there is not. There may be some third-party extensions, but
they won't be as good as Windows because the apps won't have planned
for them.

The Apple Human Interface Guidelines specify "keyboard shortcut"
standards, to use Mac parlance. Not all application developers are good
about using them consistently.

However, at least on OS X 10.5, you can assign keyboard shortcuts to
_any_ menu command in _any_ application using the Keyboard & Mouse
System Preferences pane. Open System Preferences, click Keyboard &
Mouse, and select the Keyboard Shortcuts tab. Click the + button
beneath the list to add a new shortcut. In the sheet that appears,
select the application that you want to add a shortcut to. Type in the
exact name of the menu item you want to add a shortcut to, and the
shortcut you want to add. Presto, new shortcut -- no third-party
software required. The shortcut will function exactly as if you had
selected the menu item with the mouse.

This user interface is relatively new to Mac OS X, but the capability
has existed since OS X 10.0 -- and even back to "classic" Mac OS 1.0.
However, you had to use a programmer's utility to do it, or a
third-party editor.

3) This only applies to laptops, but I'd really like a right mouse
button. There are ways of emulating one and they're not bad, but
they're not really a right mouse button, either.

With any currently-sold Mac laptop, you can right-click by tapping the
trackpad with two fingers. (Note that the latest MacBooks don't have
_any_ mouse buttons -- the entire trackpad "clicks" to be the button.)
The new MacBooks also support other "gesture" commands similar to the
iPhone. For example, a two-finger pinching motion can be used to zoom
in and out in applications that support such a thing.

For older Mac laptops, there's shareware that lets you use the same
gesture, or use it as a modifier if you don't like tapping the trackpad
as a click. (That is, you'd need to rest two fingers on the trackpad
and then click the trackpad button to register a right-click in that
mode.)

--
Rob Levandowski robl@xxxxxxxxxxx


.

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