Re: Lack of window control in MacOS

In article <141020051347557099%nospam@xxxxxxxxx>,
Elliott Roper <nospam@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> In article <ant141053868fNdQ@xxxxxxxxxxxx>,
> James Taylor wrote:
> >
> > No doubt there are Mac-ish ways of working that at least
> > partially compensate for this lack of window control (such
> > as Expose or cmd-`) but I haven't yet been told of one that
> > will allow me the instant omnipotence that RISC OS does.
> >
> > I would love to hear more productivity tips, however basic
> > they may seem to you, because as a newcomer to MacOS I'm
> > obviously not "getting" it yet.
>
> I've been following your rants with interest.

Oh dear, do they really qualify as rants?
That must be a sign I've gone too far.

> Working on a 12" PB does wonders for window discipline. I hate
> touching the mouse. With that in mind, here's some of my
> idiosyncratic navi-methods:-

Thanks for these.

> cmd-opt-h hides all but the current application's windows

Can you give an example of how you would use this in a
common situation where windows are out of reach or otherwise
obscuring each other?

> cmd-' and cmd-shift-' you already know about

I think you mean ` (backquote) rather than ' (single quote).

I can't quite work out what is happening when I use this.
It certainly brings each window front in turn, but what is
it doing with the other windows? Is it sending them behind
the backmost window of the current application?

> cmd-tab cycles through running applications (variations are
> cmd-shift-tab and ' while still holding the cmd key down, and
> cmd-left/right which usefully repeats while held)

Yes, those are all useful ways of making a particular
application the current one. In fact, I'm not aware of any
other way of switching applications if they don't have open
windows to click on. You can click on the dock icon of course
but this tends to have side effects like opening new windows
or fronting existing ones, so is not ideal.

I recall using MacOS a long time ago and there being a menu
in the top right of the screen with which you could switch
to any of the running applications. Isn't there any such
menu in OS X?

> It is possible to do a finder drag and drop with the keyboard and fewer
> windows, and while it is not quick, you definitely stay in control.
[snip multi-keystroke method]

Wow, that's certainly *one* way to do it. Perhaps I'll learn
all the keyboard shortcuts for all the applications and get good
at using them, but for the moment I'm really just looking for
a way to manage windows that gives the user (me) proper control.

> I have lots of other keyboard tricks but they are harder to describe
> because I have idiosyncratically remapped everything to keep various
> operations apart in my head.

Sounds like I could learn much from you. Have you thought
of writing a beginner's article for one of the magazines,
or even to put up on the web?

> The best class of keyboard nav is the main menu bar in Panther and
> beyond. I mapped ctrl-M to enable the menu bar, then every menu and
> sub-menu can be reached from the keyboard.

The default keystroke for that is Ctrl-F2.

> e.g. ctrl-M fo <space>wa gets me about 200 fonts down to
> Warnock Pro in Word[2]. Or ctrl-M <right><space or down>s
> gets secure empty trash from the finder.

I'd forgotten that you could type letters to find menu entries.
Good tip.

> There will be plenty with divergent opinions, but one of
> the reasons I like flying round Mac OS X with the keyboard
> is that it does give me a feeling of being more in control.

Can someone tell me how you keep a menu open while making
selections from it? I assume there's a modifier key.

Is there a keyboard shortcut for deleting the contents of a
textbox? In RISC OS it's the same as the command line,
Ctrl-U, which is the same on the Unix command line in fact.
Unfortunately MacOS doesn't seem to follow this tradition.

--
James Taylor, London, UK PGP key: 3FBE1BF9
To protect against spam, the address in the "From:" header is not valid.
In any case, you should reply to the group so that everyone can benefit.
If you must send me a private email, use james at oakseed demon co uk.

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: How to set focus
    ... That's how Windows is supposed to work. ... Creating New Desktops and Running Applications ... plenty of error trapping If your app crashes and leaves the user with no ... Programmers are naturally control freaks... ...
    (microsoft.public.vb.general.discussion)
  • Re: OpenVMS, eXursion, Laptop
    ... navigation in a Firefox window and fat-fingered a Tab (to the Send ... button) and then space bar. ... While superior to Windows in many ways, ... biggest pet peeve is keyboard navigation. ...
    (comp.os.vms)
  • Help Cannot install windows. Keyboard freezes
    ... Windows will not install, keyboard locks! ... Change the boot priorty to 1.44" FDD, After the system boots and comes to ... FAT32 try to install the OS. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • Re: Num/Caps/Scroll Lock: ON/OFF notification in windows
    ... Sounds like some feature added via your keyboard driver. ... Microsoft MVP [Windows] ... | ATI Control centre and Razer control centre), and i'm unable to find any ...
    (microsoft.public.win2000.general)
  • Re: freeze
    ... >> I have a wireless keyboard and mouse I am having problems ... >> have windows XP. ... Scan for spyware and viruses. ... Windows Update; 7) run a firewall. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)