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Impressions from a first-time Mac user

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Re: Impressions from a first-time Mac user

#231

Post by forbiddenvoid »

ChicagoBoy11 wrote: post #2

Despite the warning, I didn't find it nearly as "ranty" as the author cautioned, and instead seemed like a fairly comprehensive and fair take on his experience. Having gone through the same thing myself several years ago, the UI aspect of it is something that I'd be curious to see how it develops for the author. I think it is not uncommon for Windows folk to find the windowing experience on macs rather painful, at le…

I'm now on 7 years since the first MBP provided to me by an employer.

It's just as terrible as ever. I would not use an Apple product outside of work, despite some thousands of hours using one over the last several years. Everything about using a Mac feels patronizing and intended to make me work harder than I should to do the most simple tasks.

Re: Impressions from a first-time Mac user

#232

Post by plutonorm »

ChicagoBoy11 wrote: post #2

Despite the warning, I didn't find it nearly as "ranty" as the author cautioned, and instead seemed like a fairly comprehensive and fair take on his experience. Having gone through the same thing myself several years ago, the UI aspect of it is something that I'd be curious to see how it develops for the author. I think it is not uncommon for Windows folk to find the windowing experience on macs rather painful, at le…

I've been using a Mac as a work machine for 2 years and I still think its painful to use.

Re: Impressions from a first-time Mac user

#233

Post by mkl »

kemayo wrote: post #48

I actually like the command+tab behavior, and miss it when I use Windows. I'll explain: if you have a lot of windows open, I think it's nice to silo them. When I have ten Firefox windows and six Sublime windows and three iTerm windows, and a few other random applications, it's generally easier to go first to the app I want and then find the window inside it, rather than always having to shuffle through 19 different w…

It's nice to silo windows when you have lots open, but I think grouping all browser windows together is not a sensible way to do it. Some browser windows go with my IDE, some with spreadsheets, some terminals, etc. Grouping all browser windows (including web apps, email, etc.) because they happen to use the browser is like grouping all windows whose title starts with "A" or something.

Re: Impressions from a first-time Mac user

#234

Post by foobarian »

traceroute66 wrote: post #17

The author makes a big deal of lack of snapping. Frankly I've never seen the utility of it on OSs that do have it, infact I've always felt it more of a hinderance than a help (gets in the way, tries to snap when you don't want it to). The author makes a big deal that you have to do Command+Tab to switch applications, and then Command+` to cycle between windows in that application. Well, frankly I think thats the bett…

> Let's say (as you do) you have a dozen browser windows open (maybe in more than one browser) ... do you REALLY want to sit there hitting Command+Tab dozens of times ? No. Its quicker to switch to the desired app and then cycle within the app. That way you don't cycle through the browser when you don't need to.

I'll see your use case and raise you a:

Let's say you now have two dozens of browser windows open on two desktops. And you also have a dozen terminal windows open also across two desktops. You've just googled something on desktop 1, and trying it out in terminal 1, now you get a beep from Slack on desktop 2, which is not maximized because you were communicating something from your workspace there so it was needed on the right half of the screen. You read the message, you alt-Tab back to the terminal... and end up in a different terminal on the current workspace.

It feels like this was done to work around the fact that windows are grouped by application in MacOS, so that Alt-Tab between a browser and terminal always stayed on the same workspace.

Re: Impressions from a first-time Mac user

#236

Post by gknoy »

joeman1000 wrote: post #204

Nice article. Coincidentally we have the same computers, even the same specs. I’ve been on macOS for 11 years now, so I’m biased. On window snapping: why on earth would you want to obscure your desktop with two huge panes? I usually have ‘small’ applications on my desktop ‘workspace’ (terminal, reminders, messages, finder). I always see ex-windows users cluttering their desktop workspace and not utilising more worksp…

> On window snapping: why on earth would you want to obscure your desktop with two huge panes?

I use Spectacle do this _all the time_. I use an external monitor with my laptop, and put IntelliJ on the left half, and my terminal on the right half of the monitor every single time I plug it in. I'll do it with Chrome + the Dev tools, as well.

I even use it when I am just using the laptop's screen by itself. While my editor and terminal are _nearly always_ in a window sized to the full screen (again, with Spectacle), I will often use left/right half arrangements (or 2/3 and 1/3 arrangements) when doing something like a video call (2/3) where I want to also take notes (1/3). I find this substantially more convenient than the mac's builtin screen splitting behavior, since with Spectacle it's a single key chord to change between them.

(Edit: This is all in addition to using virtual desktops as well, so they are not a replacement.)

Spectacle (and, I suppose, Iterm2) is a Must Have app for me on Mac. It's possible I just haven't found the "mac way" of doing it yet, but this feels convenient and useful enough that it helps my workflow.

Re: Impressions from a first-time Mac user

#237

Post by alimov »

NoraCodes wrote: post #92
scns wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

M1 coming secong at 10 watts shortly after a Ryzen at several times that? Check out the reviews on anandtech.

There is nothing inherent about having a bad window manager that makes it more power efficient; Apple could implement a better desktop environment and still have low power use.

You could also install a window manager such as rectangle or magnet if window management is a big deal for you. People switching OSs expect some things to roll over and then forget that they can google for potential solutions when things don’t work the way they expect/want.

Re: Impressions from a first-time Mac user

#239

Post by rictic »

Aardwolf wrote: post #216
rwc wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not that it's right or wrong, but the behavior dates back to the very first implementations of Mac OS and Windows. Mac OS has always been an application switching interface, and Windows has been a window switching interface. Takes getting used to the paradigm shift.

I'm not a mac user (but a linux user who chooses desktops with the windowing paradigms of like windows 2000 or so plus multiple desktops) so have no idea how it's like in practice, but: These days it's very common for more than half your work to take place in a browser, with many browser windows, each having many tabs Every window of the browser almost is like its own application for the user, yet they're all from th…

Desktop PWAs and "open as own window" shortcuts help a lot with this, letting you (from a UI perspective at least) run a web app as though it was its own application rather than within the browser.

Re: Impressions from a first-time Mac user

#240

Post by lwkl »

daok wrote: post #188
Tagbert wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is complicated about it? I typically keep a handful of tabs open in Finder and drag and drop between them or to applications. You can also always do CMD-C and then either CMD-V to copy a file somewhere or OPT-CMD-V to move a file.

I like that in Windows I can copy-paste the location from one File Manager windows to another one. Something that you cannot do in MacOs File Manager

This is possible but needs to be done with shortcuts instead of selecting the paths in the address bar:

1. Ctrl + Cmd + C to copy the folders path

2. Cmd + N to open a new Finder window

3. Shift + Cmd + G to open the "Go to folder..." menu

4. Cmd + V to paste the path

5. Enter to go to the pasted path in the new finder window

The other option is to right click the folder and open it in a new tab. But this doesn't open a new window.

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