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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?

#321

Post by shantara »

shrumm wrote: post #24

my favourite feature is how the title bar icon in any app that’s editing a file (textmate/ word etc) is a pointer to the actual file unlike windows. - you can drag that file anywhere to move it. - CMD click it to see a breadcrumb menu showing where it is and navigate to the folder on a similar vein, dragging a file into an open file modal box makes it browse to the containing folder. In windows, dragging a file would…

>- CMD click it to see a breadcrumb menu showing where it is and navigate to the folder

Similarly you can right click the window title (click with two fingers on the touchpad) for this functionality. It's very useful to navigating up in the folder hierarchy in Finder without adding any new icons to the toolbar.

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

#324

Post by nabeards »

fedorareis wrote: post #287

I learned recently that in any terminal you can option click to move the cursor to a specific location in a command. It’s really great when you want to reuse a command but with a small change.

This is my top discovery this year, been using it for a few months now.

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

#325

Post by michaelbuckbee »

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…

I recently made the switch from Mac to Windows and have been using MacType - https://github.com/snowie2000/mactype to ease the transition.

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

#326

Post by zeisss »

zenexer wrote: post #194

- 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 additi…

> - While a menu is open, hold Option;

For the app icons in the top right, clicking while Option is pressed also shows different menus. For example, the wifi icon now has options for diagnostics or the battery icon has a battery quality indicator.

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

#327

Post by scarface74 »

Vincenttermini wrote: post #47

Marking a file as "Stationary Pad" will create and open a copy every time you open the original. Good for templates or any other file you don't want to accidentally save changes to. - Get Info on file. - Check Stationary Pad box.

I did not know that feature was still around. I just got a work MacBook after not owning a Mac for years. That was a feature of System 7 - in 1992.

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

#329

Post by donarb »

Tempest1981 wrote: post #282

Is there a method to the modifier key "madness"? I'd like to form a mental model of when to use Shift vs Ctrl vs Option in various shortcuts being mentioned.

In the beginning there was a sort of hierarchy with the addition of modifier keys, it goes cmd, shift, option, control.

Basic commands use the command key with a letter. Adding the shift key usually reverses the command, like cmd-Z in Finder is Undo, cmd-shift-Z is Redo.

The addition of the option key is supposed to add an alternative or extension to the basic command like when you see commands whose text contains an ellipsis (which means that the command will bring up a dialog for more information before executing). Adding the option key can remove the ellipse and just execute the command with the last parameters that were set. In the Finder, cmd-W closes a window, cmd-option-W closes all windows.

Rarely would you find a command that uses all four modifier keys, it's just hard to press them all at the same time.

Of course over the years and the proliferation of apps and developers, these ideas have faded and don't always hold up, but that was the general idea.

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

#330

Post by tksb »

Solstinox wrote: post #16

Double click text to select a word. Triple click text to select the whole paragraph. For decades I assumed that there’s some weird fluky behavior when trying to select a word and accidentally selecting the paragraph.

Along the same lines for text navigation and manipulation:

opt + [arrow keys]: To move through text respecting word boundaries.

cmd + [arrow keys]: To move through text respecting line boundaries.

Add shift to either of those and now instead of navigating, you're selecting the text.

opt + delete: deletes full word behind cursor

cmd + delete: deletes full line behind cursor

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