What hurts me (or maybe I'm blind or a dummy) is, it's not obvious which window is in focus because the dock doesn't highlight anything. The dock has a little dot under the icon if it's running, but that's all you get. Most of the icons have the same dot, but aren't in focus. This can be confusing. Windows highlights the running program in the start bar. Also, Windows lets you minimize or restore by clicking on that. The Dock is inferior to the Windows equivalent jn functionality. One hopes it's made up with the window/taskbar at the top.
How Intuitive Are Macs Really?
491–500 of 638 posts
Re: How Intuitive Are Macs Really?
#492Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's better than nothing, and yeah, probably better than the competition as well. But then there are core features like "a file icon on a document window can be dragged exactly like a file icon in the finder" that you can use macOS for years and never find. That's before they started hiding the file icons in Big Sur! macOS is packed with little things like that.
It still works in Big Sur! Just hover over the window title and the icon (called the "document proxy icon") will appear. I think it's fine that they hid it, since even before, the things you can do with it (dragging, cmd/ctrl-clicking) were already hidden. The only old functionality that is lost with Big Sur is that you could glance at the icon to see if there are unsaved changes (if so, the icon would be dimmed). Bu…
I had no idea one could do this!
Re: How Intuitive Are Macs Really?
#493Earlier quoted context omitted.
Also, by default Finder seems to hide directory structure from you. This seems to be Apple thinking it'll confuse people if they can see 'up' directories, but I think just as often it confuses people like me who are trying and failing to go up. I use all three major desktop OSes regularly now, and overall Windows just feels like the most user-friendly and straightforward, though of course it too has issues (e.g. vari…
I agree that Finder is somewhat weird in regard to hierarchies, but it all makes sense if you get to know it: basically, you can move around with CMD+Arrow. Up goes up a directory, down goes down a directory (or opens the file). Left / Right go forward / back in history, like a browser. I'm not sure Windows is such a great example in the conversation about file systems, what with its "collections" and abstract hierar…
> basically, you can move around with CMD+Arrow. Up goes up a directory, down goes down a directory (or opens the file). Left / Right go forward / back in history, like a browser.
This is really helpful to know - it's one of my biggest bugaboos about using Finder & navigating the Mac GUI.
On the other hand, I suspect this kind of obscure key-based shortcut is a big part of why Macs don't feel intuitive to a lot of users. How could I have known this shortcut exists? It's not broadcast anywhere obvious. My options for finding all these obscure shortcuts aren't great. I could scroll through a submenu in the Settings pane, hoping to find something that looks like it says the thing I'm trying to do (and then that I can figure out what keys it means, since Apple key symbology is VERY arcane). I could stumble across a mention of the shortcut in a forum like this. Or I could Google in the hope of finding something - though that assumes I believe it's doable in the first place, which I didn't in this particular case.
It would also help if Apple chose easier / more intuitive keyboard shortcuts. A "shortcut" which both is the only way to do something, and also requires pressing a minimum of four seemingly-random keys, is not a shortcut at all - it's a mental load on the user that they just have to hold in their heads forever.
Re: How Intuitive Are Macs Really?
#494I have worked professionally with both.
Let compare some features. Sticky notes, windows wins. Simpler, does not change background color of pasted text.
Keyboard layout, crtl key is simply more ergonomically placed on a windows keyboard.
Keyboard shortcuts for browsers, some of the shortcuts appear to be missing on Mac.
MS office suite, no comparison.
More hardware choice.
Updates are less of a hassle on Mac, her iOS wins imo.
Peripherals and price is windows all the way.
Search and settings appear better to me on windows, this could be subjective.
More freeware on windows.
Desktop management is better on windows.
Cortana and Siri equally suck.
Mac's look better on average, only the top of the line windows machines look and feel equal or better.
Re: How Intuitive Are Macs Really?
#495What infuriates me the most is the behaviour of the end and home keys.
In IntelliJ they work like they should. In some other applications also - editing some text, home moves to beginning of line, end to the end of line.
But noooo. Some Apple designer thought that when you press End then you really want to get to the end of the current document, whatever that is. For example - writing a bug report/story in the browser in the text area, want to correct something or change the first word on the line, I press Home to get there, like I would do on Linux or Windows, but on Mac it takes me to the beginning of the website. Why on earth would anyone ever want that to be the default behaviour? Same with the End key. This is just beyond stupid. I guess I can get there with cmd-left/right arrow, but why not make the most used functionality the default?
Re: How Intuitive Are Macs Really?
#496Earlier quoted context omitted.
> It's called "Clean Up By". Available in right click menu and in the top menu probably. And you cannot apply it to all folders across the entire system. Why they still haven't fixed tis, is beyond me.
You can. View menu --> Show View Options. Customize to how you want it, and click the "use as defaults" button.
I've seen people mention it on the internets for the past few years. I've never had this button on any MacOS version. Currently on Catalina: https://imgur.com/a/D9Kbob1
Re: How Intuitive Are Macs Really?
#497With Big sur and more permissions, it's harder. I understand them, I appreciate them but I hate how every app has to ask my permission and how I have to go into the settings menu to allow stuff.
At this point, SElinux sounds usable as a daily driver.
Re: How Intuitive Are Macs Really?
#498Earlier quoted context omitted.
There's nothing at all wrong with the behavior, and it's perfectly logical once you understand what is going on, but it's certainly not intuitive. It's a bit of an odd mental model that's (as far as I can tell) specific to OSX. I find OSX to be generally pretty logical and easy to understand, but certainly no more _intuitive_ than something like Windows. Another way of saying this: if I took someone who didn't know h…
I don't think desktop GUIs can or should be 'intuitive'. They should be consistent, discoverable, and customizable. I give macOS full marks for consistency, and a passing grade for customizable, but it's hardly discoverable! I read these kinds of HN posts because of all the little tips and tricks I find. Operating systems used to come with a thick manual, and you could buy an even thicker "missing manual" book at the…
I don't find key bindings in MacOS consistent. The first thing I started missing from Windows is the F2 button for renaming things. I can do that everywhere in Windows. In Mac there's no keyboard shortcut for it, so probably I could add it in Finder, but it probably won't work in other file dialogs (or maybe yes).
Re: How Intuitive Are Macs Really?
#499Earlier quoted context omitted.
Just tested and QuickTime Player stayed open, not sure I've ever seen this happen.
Did you open and play back a video first? If you just open QuickTime Player and don't interact with it, it does stay open if you switch apps. If you open a video, then close it, the app closes if you switch to a different app. I just tried it again and that's how it behaved. (I'm running Catalina still, so they may have fixed it in Big Sur.)
Yup. Is this a recent change? I still need to use some 32 bit programs for work so I'm on macos 10.14.6 quicktime player 10.5
Re: How Intuitive Are Macs Really?
#500Earlier quoted context omitted.
Did you open and play back a video first? If you just open QuickTime Player and don't interact with it, it does stay open if you switch apps. If you open a video, then close it, the app closes if you switch to a different app. I just tried it again and that's how it behaved. (I'm running Catalina still, so they may have fixed it in Big Sur.)
Yup. Is this a recent change? I still need to use some 32 bit programs for work so I'm on macos 10.14.6 quicktime player 10.5
No idea. I've seen it behave this way for at least the past year. I just tried it on a different Mac and it behaves similarly, except this other Mac causes QT to open up the File Open dialog immediately on launch. (Version 10.5 of QuickTime player for me too. macOS 10.15.7 though.)