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Impressions from a first-time Mac user

loganmarchione.com

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Re: Impressions from a first-time Mac user

#241

Post by Szpadel »

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?

Most often when you need to type something in one application basing on info from second one. Also virtual workspaces do not work that well when you have a lot of windows open, as Linux user i after use workspaces as window type category, eg I have one for IDE where I often end up with 10+ windows, and having that many workspaces would be way to difficult.

I'm little surprised that author complains about alt + ` as this is exactly how it works in gnome and it's actually really handy.

Re: Impressions from a first-time Mac user

#242

Post by nneonneo »

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…

Cmd+` switches between windows of the same app, and it's actually more convenient (IMHO) than using Alt+Tab to switch between every one of your windows from every app. There are also a handful of trackpad gestures for showing all the windows in the current app or all of your windows.

Re: Impressions from a first-time Mac user

#243

Post by kitsunesoba »

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…

This is where the value of electron wrappers and web apps installed as PWAs comes in. It offloads app management duties from your browser and puts them back in the hands of the OS.

The former of those two can also get rid of redundant menubars (as seen in e.g. Figma) which is a nice bonus.

Re: Impressions from a first-time Mac user

#244

Post by ricardobeat »

lbrito wrote: post #209
darkteflon wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cannot at all relate to this perspective. If you like PopOS, that’s great. But this nonsense about Mac fans being blinded by their love of the brand is the edgelord meme that will not die. MacOS is fine. PopOS is fine. Windows is fine. They each ask you to adopt a UI paradigm because how could they not. It’s natural that transitioning between them is costly. Every time I see comments like this I’m reminded of this gr…

>nonsense about Mac fans being blinded by their love of the brand is the edgelord meme that will not die. Thank you for the completely unemotional comment that totally does not add to the notion I was alluding to that some fans are a bit sensitive about criticism. Joking aside, our points are basically the same. I totally agree that nothing we create is intuitive "by definition"; that's my whole point. I would never…

See, Mac users rarely turn the device off. It can stay on for months without issue. Laptops can sleep for weeks before they run out of power. The power button is more like a reset switch, and doesn't need to be front and center.

A lot of these first impressions are just that, first impressions, and can be quite different from feedback coming from daily users.

Re: Impressions from a first-time Mac user

#245

Post by kitsunesoba »

forbiddenvoid wrote: post #238

I am overwhelmed with how many of the comments in these discussions are of the form: 'this thing is super hard to do on a Mac' responded to by, 'actually it's super easy; all you have to do is cast this magic spell.'

The same sort of exchange is pretty common when discussing Linux and Windows as well, especially the former.

Re: Impressions from a first-time Mac user

#246

Post by brimble »

webmobdev wrote: post #202
ryukafalz wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The options for package management on macOS aren’t great in my experience, coming from using Linux on all my personal machines. Homebrew exists but it always feels bolted on and I’ve had things break in interesting ways using it. Nix might be better, I don’t have much experience using it on macOS. Also, tiling window managers.

That's because most mac users fall to the well-crafted publicity of Homebrew, and remain ignorant about the better https://www.macports.org/ package management system. MacPorts was inspired by the FreeBSD Ports Collection, is created by Apple engineers, used by Apple internally, is unix-y and has more packages than Homebrew. (But yeah, I think both Homebrew and MacPorts still fall behind Linux / xBSD packaging system…

I started as a MacPorts user, and moved because it managed to break itself about quarterly over the two years or so that I used it, usually in some way weird enough that it was easier to just remove all my packages (rm the whole directory) and start over than try to fix it. HomeBrew's done that zero times for me, in about eight years.

I've extensively used Portage (gentoo), rpm (Fedora, Mandrake), and dpkg/apt (Debian and Ubuntu), and MacPorts, plus put in a smaller amount of time with several others. HomeBrew is, overall, my favorite.

[EDIT] And this in particular:

> But yeah, I think both Homebrew and MacPorts still fall behind Linux / xBSD packaging systems in terms of the number of packages they have

HomeBrew has failed to have a package the fewest times of any I've used. AFAIK only Arch and Portage even come close.

[EDIT]

Downvoted for countering someone's passive-aggressive insult ("people who don't like the software I do must be gullible morons, it can't be that they have good reasons") with my own, honest anecdote, in a respectful tone. I know, I know, don't complain about DVs, but man HN, sometimes....

Re: Impressions from a first-time Mac user

#247

Post by rbanffy »

webmobdev wrote: post #202
ryukafalz wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The options for package management on macOS aren’t great in my experience, coming from using Linux on all my personal machines. Homebrew exists but it always feels bolted on and I’ve had things break in interesting ways using it. Nix might be better, I don’t have much experience using it on macOS. Also, tiling window managers.

That's because most mac users fall to the well-crafted publicity of Homebrew, and remain ignorant about the better https://www.macports.org/ package management system. MacPorts was inspired by the FreeBSD Ports Collection, is created by Apple engineers, used by Apple internally, is unix-y and has more packages than Homebrew. (But yeah, I think both Homebrew and MacPorts still fall behind Linux / xBSD packaging system…

I second that. MacPorts is amazing and makes the Mac a very decent Unix environment.

Re: Impressions from a first-time Mac user

#248

Post by kitsunesoba »

smaddox wrote: post #224
olyjohn wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't get used to the fact that I can't alt-tab to a minimized window. Nor can I figure out how to switch to any particular minimized window. You have literally no way of knowing that a minimized window exists other than right-clicking the dock icon, or going to the "Window" menu after you switched to the application. The dock was fine 20 years ago when they released OSX, but they've literally done nothing to make…

Instead of minimizing windows, put them on a separate virtual desktop. Or close them. I never minimize windows on purpose. I think the only reason the concept exists is because it predates virtual desktop switching. Also, instead of Alt-Tab, flick four fingers up or down and select the window of interest.

Yes, under macOS minimizing windows is conceptually more like putting them away in the cabinet for later retrieval whereas under Windows it’s closer to setting them aside momentarily. The level of friction is accordingly different.

Re: Impressions from a first-time Mac user

#249

Post by rbanffy »

brimble wrote: post #246
webmobdev wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's because most mac users fall to the well-crafted publicity of Homebrew, and remain ignorant about the better https://www.macports.org/ package management system. MacPorts was inspired by the FreeBSD Ports Collection, is created by Apple engineers, used by Apple internally, is unix-y and has more packages than Homebrew. (But yeah, I think both Homebrew and MacPorts still fall behind Linux / xBSD packaging system…

I started as a MacPorts user, and moved because it managed to break itself about quarterly over the two years or so that I used it, usually in some way weird enough that it was easier to just remove all my packages (rm the whole directory) and start over than try to fix it. HomeBrew's done that zero times for me, in about eight years. I've extensively used Portage (gentoo), rpm (Fedora, Mandrake), and dpkg/apt (Debia…

I had exactly the opposite experience. Homebrew chewed up my computer a couple times back when it installed everything alongside OS files. The only sane way to get rid of it was to reinstall the OS.

Re: Impressions from a first-time Mac user

#250

Post by zmmmmm »

paxys wrote: post #10

File management is another one I'd like to add to the list of macOS screwups. How can viewing lists of files and moving them over from one place to another be so complicated?

Most annoying for me is there is no simple way to simply search for files matching a name in a folder.

Attempting to search using Finder insists on bringing up a giant system wide search that indexes content of files, emails, every stupid thing that contains anything like the phrase I looked for.

So imagine I am sharing my screen and I try to just find a simple file and it's spewing the contents of my private emails in front of everyone. So aggravating.

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