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Ask HN: What feature did you find after years of using macOS?

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Re: Ask HN: What feature did you find after years of using macOS?

#191

Post by DrJokepu »

egypturnash wrote: post #131
donatj wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve been sad since they were introduced that they don’t work at the file system level, hence not in CLI applications. Support for them in desktop apps that open directories is also spotty. I would LOVE them if they were reimplemented as a fuse style file system instead of a userland macOS trick.

I wonder if there is a list somewhere around Apple of "Annoying Edge Cases We'd Have To Support If Smart Folders Worked At The Filesystem Level", and how long it is. Like, you're in a smart folder that contains files whose name includes "foo", and you try to create a file whose name does not include "foo", what happens? Do you get an existing filesystem error? Do you get a new "can't create new files in smart folders…

Also, duplicate filenames due to two files in two different locations both getting picked up by the smart folder.

Re: Ask HN: What feature did you find after years of using macOS?

#194

Post by zenexer »

- Ctrl + Cmd + Shift + 4 will let you take a screenshot of a region of your screen and copy it to the clipboard. It can then be pasted directly into most applications, from email clients to chat clients. No random screenshots sitting around. If you want to capture a whole window, press Space after the initial shortcut, then click the window.

- While a menu is open, hold Option; if you're lucky, you'll get some additional options. This works after right-clicking an item in Finder, for example, or after right-clicking an icon in the Dock.

- Magnet for window management. This is a third-party application, but you'll wonder how you lived without it. If you've used Spectacle, Magnet is similar, but I find Magnet to be a bit more graceful.

- Sidecar and AirPlay. Want a second screen? Got an iPad or Apple TV? You can effortless treat it as a second screen with very low latency. It "just works."

- Cmd + Space to open Spotlight. Most power users are already familiar with this; if you're not, try it.

- Cmd + Shift + G in Finder to go to a folder by path. You can also use it to copy the path to the current folder.

- Return/Enter to rename the currently-selected file in Finder. If you're coming from Windows/Linux and are accustomed to pressing F2, you might not know about this one.

- Similarly, to open the currently selected item in Finder, press Cmd + O. To navigate up a directory, press Cmd + Up.

- Ever installed a new drive in your Mac? You don't need to manually download macOS installation media beforehand; with the right key combination at boot, you can install it via the internet. There are a few different related combinations with differing functionality; it's worth looking them up and choosing the right one for your situation: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201255

Re: Ask HN: What feature did you find after years of using macOS?

#195

Post by samelawrence »

frankjr wrote: post #90
frankjr wrote: post #68

Smart Folders (Finder -> File -> New Smart Folder). It's not exactly hidden but I never paid too much attention to it. It's essentially a way to create a folder whose content is dynamically updated based on your search conditions. For example, you can create a smart folder that contains all PDF files matching a certain name pattern within a given directory (or the whole disk) [0]. You can get really advanced, there's…

Oh and I almost forgot - there's also a similar concept of Smart Playlists within iTunes (Command+Option+N) [0]. [0] https://i.imgur.com/eXmwb42.png

As a DJ, I use Smart Playlist very heavily in iTunes. I genre tag all my music as it comes in, and then let the logic take over from there.

Re: Ask HN: What feature did you find after years of using macOS?

#196

Post by soylentgraham »

mproud wrote: post #167

When typing or editing text, Option-arrow to move the cursor one word to the left or right Command-arrow to move to the beginning or end of the line Combine either of these with the shift key to quickly select text.

Ive always found it frustrating there aren't quite the same number of tricks here as windows/visual studio.

Home/ctrl+home (Or end, to jump lines/doc) Ctrl+up (or down, to scroll without moving cursor)

I forget these others, but I keep trying to use these in osx.

Re: Ask HN: What feature did you find after years of using macOS?

#197

Post by unvs »

rorykoehler wrote: post #148

Mine is not a core os feature but rather a 3rd party add on. A window manager with keyboard shortcuts. Life changing and perplexing it's not the default that ships with the os.

Would be great with better builtins for this. I use yabai and skhd, but have to disable SIP to utilize fully. The instant spaces switching with no animation is so good!

Re: Ask HN: What feature did you find after years of using macOS?

#200

Post by IggleSniggle »

awinder wrote: post #166

I’ve been using windows more recently since my personal Mac bit the dust and I’m trying to decide if there’s really that much reason to own a personal Mac. So now I realize for years I’ve been using this silent feature of macs for years called “not totally jacked up font rendering”. I would never have imagined this was a feature, but apparently there is a collective insanity in windowsland where the quality of font r…

It’s the little stuff like this that is just so frustrating that we can’t do this better on all platform. macOS has similar sets of flaws, it just does it better than the others. I just wish we could have a few years without new above ground features and more cleaning up quality and consistency of UI/UX features. I’d take more of that on any platform.
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