Impressions from a first-time Mac user • Hacker News Board

Re: Impressions from a first-time Mac user

#641

Post by loginatnine » Tue, Apr 12, 2022, 12:48 PM UTC

twobitshifter wrote: post #392

loginatnine wrote: post #297

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Keyboard shortcuts are IMO superior to gestures and are objectively faster. The whole virtual desktop can get quite clunky fast when you have multiple windows opened or ephemeral programs that you temporarily need.

In the case of alt+tab window switching I suspect it’s only faster if you are going to the last used window. If you’re hunting for an app through multiple alt tabs, you’re almost certainly going to take more time than using the mouse gestures to switch.

Unless I have dozens of app no because the beauty of alt-tab is the fire-hold-release which is always quicker than getting the mouse and clicking.

Re: Impressions from a first-time Mac user

#642

Post by loginatnine » Tue, Apr 12, 2022, 12:49 PM UTC

dsego wrote: post #555

loginatnine wrote: post #297

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Keyboard shortcuts are IMO superior to gestures and are objectively faster. The whole virtual desktop can get quite clunky fast when you have multiple windows opened or ephemeral programs that you temporarily need.

All gestures on macos regarding virtual desktops and windows have corresponding keyboard shortcuts.

Still, it's not alt tab with the press-hold-release which is always quicker than doing gesture->arrow to select something->enter.

Re: Impressions from a first-time Mac user

#643

Post by amits1995 » Tue, Apr 12, 2022, 12:50 PM UTC

as an Ubuntu user, I also got a new Mac in my new place. I survived a day before switching back to XPS+Ubuntu. I have a list of things that were horrible but I'd like to add one in particular which is that dock auto-hide is a complete mess, so not intuitive and when you want it to show it doesn't show and vice versa.

Re: Impressions from a first-time Mac user

#644

Post by sonjaqql » Tue, Apr 12, 2022, 12:51 PM UTC

and0 wrote: post #193

ysleepy wrote: post #87

My recommendations for Mac Users: * Put the Dock left or right, vertical space is precious (trust me, do it for a week and then decide) * Setup Hot-Corners (Settings -> Mission Control -> Hot Corners) - Upper-Right Corner as Mission Control (Must be upper right so spaces are immediately shown) - Lower-Left Corner as Application Windows - just fling your mouse curser into the corner (use std. gestures on the trackpad)…

I couldn't imagine navigating macOS without gestures. Great on touchpad, non-existent on any comfortable third-party mouse (the magic mouse is made for toddlers apparently.. I don't even have particularly large hands). Thankfully someone made an LUA script for the Logitech G app to use one of the random buttons on my gaming mouse to imitate three-finger swipes, which feels great: https://github.com/mark-vandenberg/g-…

I've been driving gestures since my 2008 MBP. Gestures have become an integral part of my workflow, and using BetterTouchTool [1] I use CMD+4 finger swipes to throw windows to either side of the screen, or to maximize them. CMD+4-finger-click runs ffmpeg on the last captured screen recording, and produces a Jira- and Slack-friendly GIF, which is draggable from the dock.

My Windows machine is for mostly for updating and gaming, in that order.

[1] https://folivora.ai/

Re: Impressions from a first-time Mac user

#645

Post by zild3d » Tue, Apr 12, 2022, 12:51 PM UTC

Xevi wrote: post #568

Rant I switched to a Mac Mini M1 in December and it has been a complete pain in the ass. First of all, to even be able to use it I had to switch out my monitor, mouse, keyboard and speakers because Apple didn't like them. And then I had to buy an extra dock to get more ports. On top of that I've also had to install a bunch of third party software to get basic functionality like window snapping (Moom), and a functioni…

What monitor, mouse, and keyboard did not work with mac?

Most of the complaints makes it sound like you aren't actually trying to do everything the "Apple way", rather wishing macOS way worked like what you're used to and comfortable with from Windows.

Re: Impressions from a first-time Mac user

#646

Post by domepro » Tue, Apr 12, 2022, 12:54 PM UTC

hn_99 wrote: post #627

I moved from windows to Mac when I switched jobs a few months ago. The biggest thing I miss is the ability to have a separate Taskbar entry for each window of a program. I have many windows of the same IDE open at once and I'd like to be able to switch between them quickly. Is something like this possible in Mac, maybe through a FOSS app?

command + ` (native) is the bind to swap through same-app-windows

Re: Impressions from a first-time Mac user

#647

Post by nerdjon » Tue, Apr 12, 2022, 12:57 PM UTC

loganmarchione wrote: post #310

colinmhayes wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yea, I think what OP is missing is that macOS was designed to be used with a trackpad. I think three fingers up is what they want when they alt tab. The green button makes the window full screen because using three fingers sideways and the occasional three fingers up is the best way to manage windows on small laptop screens. Even on my external monitor I have every window fullscreen. This was admittedly hard to get u…

> Yea, I think what OP is missing is that macOS was designed to be used with a trackpad. OP here. Yes, I'm starting to get that from reading these comments. Does everyone who uses a Mac with an external display also purchase the Magic Trackpad?

I would say a pretty good portion, enough that it is becoming more common that if IT either has a dedicated Mac person or they use Mac themselves... a new hire will likely just have a trackpad on their desk when they start. At least that has been my experience in recent years.

But even if not, I know I have had conversations many times of people being frustrated with something (especially if they primarily use their Mac as a desktop) and a trackpad (and gestures) largely fixing it.

As someone else said, Mac as long had a fantastic trackpad experience. Partially hardware for sure, but software is a major part of that. So they leaned into that and using a trackpad as a desktop initially felt like a really weird idea. But the ability to use the same control setup regardless of how I am using my laptop is awesome.

I personally use a Mac Keyboard and Magic Trackpad. And I got https://www.twelvesouth.com/products/magicbridge from TwelveSouth that basically just turns it into one single piece.

I would be completely lost if it wasn't for the trackpad. I tried the magic mouse and... it worked but it wasn't the same.

Re: Impressions from a first-time Mac user

#648

Post by pschastain » Tue, Apr 12, 2022, 1:03 PM UTC

DoingIsLearning wrote: post #574

2143 wrote: post #396

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought Mint came with Cinnamon. (Wow that was a funny sentence :D) > macOS can use different backgrounds for different monitors, GNOME can't That'd be the least of my problems. Also, on xfce you can set different backgrounds for different monitors.

That's the thing GP is missing in his Linux criticism. Whatever you don't like you can just change. You can change to a different DE, change WM/themes/icons/dotfiles whatever you want, you can change. You are not constrained by a perscribed UX philosophy. To me personally that is very liberating.

I tried KDE and had different but equally frustrating issues. People say you can "just fix it yourself" with Linux but that's not always feasible or worth a person's time.

Re: Impressions from a first-time Mac user

#649

Post by josephd79 » Tue, Apr 12, 2022, 1:04 PM UTC

djkoolaide wrote: post #183

urbandw311er wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok, so you can actually do this but the keyboard sequence is a bit bonkers. * Hold down Command and press Tab until the application icon representing the minimised window is highlighted. * Release Tab but DONT let go of Command. * Now press Option too so you are holding down Command + Option * Now release Command so you are just holding down Option * Finally release Option Amazingly this will then maximise the window…

You've literally improved my life with this comment. Thank you.

Holy crap. Same here, I never knew this keyboard shortcut existed.

Re: Impressions from a first-time Mac user

#650

Post by BlueTemplar » Tue, Apr 12, 2022, 1:06 PM UTC

pdpi wrote: post #619

neoneye2 wrote: post #591

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I prefer binding "Move focus to next window" to the F12 key. Since Cmd+` is a hard keyboard combo on non-american keyboards.

I kind of gave up on non-US keyboards. The Portuguese layout sucks horribly for programming, especially on the Mac (brackets in horrible places), and the U.K. layout (where I’m based) sucks horribly for writing Portuguese in. The US international just works for all my purposes (including writing tiny amounts of other languages besides Portuguese and English)

Have you tried this one ?

http://norme-azerty.fr/en/