On Monday, March 3, 2003, at 08:25 PM, Eric D. wrote: > Hello, I am being driven nuts by OS X's command-tab behaviour. It > works in a > near-random fashion. Is there any way to turn off the tab to previously > accessed application? > > I have a number of apps open at once and TRY to use command-tab to > switch > between them but with very little success (if I have to go to > something more > than the previously used app I use the mouse -- it's faster when you're > running 10+ apps). There is no logical relationship to the currently > open > app after the first command-tab (it's all relative to the previously > used > app) and that's what I need (it's not logical to go relatively to the > previously used app since you (a) have to remember what the previous > app was > and focus on it, and then (b) have to figure out where the desired app > is > relative to that new focus -- not sensible or efficient). > > This is a pretty annoying GUI fault which Apple will probably fix in > the > long term but in the short term I need a kludge to get around it.
i don't find this to be a fault, actually, and i'm fairly sure Apple doesn't either ... it's actually an intentional design choice. it works like this... first tab -> last application used next tab -> order of open icons on dock, starting from the position of first tab the reasoning is this: when multitasking (and I mean truly multitasking, not randomly moving from one app to another), you tend to move quickly between only 2-3 applications at a time. if, in a situation where I have 10 apps running at a time (which isn't many, for me... i probably usually have 15-30 running), any other method of command-tabbing could make me have to hit the tab key THIRTY times every time I wanted to get to whatever's at the end of the Dock. The way Apple does it, if i've used the icon at the end very recently, it only takes one press... since it's far more likely i'm going there next, anyway, it saves me much time. > Anyone know of a way to reset the dock (for some reason it seems to me > that > earlier versions of OS X didn't do this, but, then again, Apple isn't > known > for dealing with OS X problems overly quickly). none that i'm aware of.... and I STRONGLY disagree with you on Apple's speed at dealing with OS X "problems". for issues that truly ARE problems, they've been very, very quick to address them. for a design feature that someone just doesn't like... that may not ever get "fixed" because technically it's not broken. > PS Is there a windows-like dock extender available (so that you can > have a > list of the open apps appear in the middle of the screen with text > rather > than at the edge with just icons)? i use LaunchBar religiously. in use, you hit a trigger key sequence (in my case, control-space) and then the first few letters of the app you want... for instance, typing IE will open Internet Explorer. TERM will open Terminal. SAF will open Safari. SP will open System Preferences. -- G-Books is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- Check our web site for refurbished PowerBooks | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> G-Books list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-books.html> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/g-books%40mail.maclaunch.com/> --------------------------------------------------------------- >The Think Different Store http://www.ThinkDifferentStore.com ---------------------------------------------------------------
