Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

AltTab – Windows alt-tab on macOS

alt-tab-macos.netlify.app

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 144 posts

Re: AltTab – Windows alt-tab on macOS

#51

Post by philsnow »

alin23 wrote: post #48
behnamoh wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish something similar to Autohotkey was available for mac. Karabiner comes cloes, but it's not quite the same thing.

How about skhd? https://github.com/koekeishiya/skhd I use it to simply bind hotkeys to shell commands in a single config file. Given the full power of the shell, you can even use AppleScript (through osascript) if you want to automate the UI/system like AutoHotkey does. It can also send key events using the -k flag so you can remap keys to other key combinations.

I haven't used Autohotkey or skhd but I use hammerspoon for any kind of macos UI automation and it's pretty great, and uses lua instead of applescript.

Re: AltTab – Windows alt-tab on macOS

#52

Post by wccrawford »

therealmarv wrote: post #45
krferriter wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. There is no way to get MacOS to be able to switch between open windows on a desktop via a keyboard shortcut without installing 3rd party software that adds this basic functionality.

not true: ⌘ Command + `

Not quite. That will switch between windows of a single app.

The AltTab thing here will switch between all windows of all apps.

I actually like having them separate like OSX does it, even though I'm generally a Windows guy.

Re: AltTab – Windows alt-tab on macOS

#53

Post by oneeyedpigeon »

jonny_eh wrote: post #36
yodon wrote: post #23

For Mac users asking "how is this different from the keystrokes I already have", this app is designed to give you Windows-style switching which is subtlety but fundamentally different from OSX-style window switching. MacOS is app-centric, so you have a keystroke to switch between apps and a keystroke to switch through the windows of the app. Windows is window-centric rather than app-centric, with a unified window sta…

As a former Windows, but now Mac, user I find Mac's system to work just fine. Especially once you learn that cmd+~ switches between the current app's windows. Plus, 4-finger swipe up shows all the current open windows.

I wish window switching worked in the same way as app switching, though. The former acts like a stack while the latter acts like a queue - I have no idea why.

Re: AltTab – Windows alt-tab on macOS

#54

Post by alphachloride »

klodolph wrote: post #47
yodon wrote: post #23

For Mac users asking "how is this different from the keystrokes I already have", this app is designed to give you Windows-style switching which is subtlety but fundamentally different from OSX-style window switching. MacOS is app-centric, so you have a keystroke to switch between apps and a keystroke to switch through the windows of the app. Windows is window-centric rather than app-centric, with a unified window sta…

> The difference is largely a historical artifact of the Macintosh operating system not originally supporting "multitasking." This is a nice story, but reading on it seems like you're saying that the way app switching works on Windows as the Obvious and Correct thing to do, and that the Macintosh way of doing things is nothing more than a choice that was made too long ago to change. Honestly, that's absurd. The Macin…

With window-specific menus, I can directly click on and open the menu button of another app/window without first having to focus it first to see the menu options. I find that to be more intuitive.

I have always been a windows user and my intuition was shaped accordingly. So to me that is the obvious and correct thing to do.

Re: AltTab – Windows alt-tab on macOS

#55

Post by zamadatix »

klodolph wrote: post #47
yodon wrote: post #23

For Mac users asking "how is this different from the keystrokes I already have", this app is designed to give you Windows-style switching which is subtlety but fundamentally different from OSX-style window switching. MacOS is app-centric, so you have a keystroke to switch between apps and a keystroke to switch through the windows of the app. Windows is window-centric rather than app-centric, with a unified window sta…

> The difference is largely a historical artifact of the Macintosh operating system not originally supporting "multitasking." This is a nice story, but reading on it seems like you're saying that the way app switching works on Windows as the Obvious and Correct thing to do, and that the Macintosh way of doing things is nothing more than a choice that was made too long ago to change. Honestly, that's absurd. The Macin…

What's the connection between the menu bar and window switching?

Re: AltTab – Windows alt-tab on macOS

#56

Post by krferriter »

therealmarv wrote: post #45
krferriter wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. There is no way to get MacOS to be able to switch between open windows on a desktop via a keyboard shortcut without installing 3rd party software that adds this basic functionality.

not true: ⌘ Command + `

Nope, that doesn't do it. If I have 2 Chrome windows and 3 terminal windows and 2 text editor windows open on MacOS, there is no way to merely switch from a Chrome window to a specific terminal window. You have to switch to the terminal application, which raises all 3 terminal windows to the top of the window stack on whichever display they are on, then switch between terminal windows. To enable the basic feature of switching directly between windows, you have to install 3rd party software.

Re: AltTab – Windows alt-tab on macOS

#57

Post by jeffbee »

SOTGO wrote: post #6
gms7777 wrote: post #4

Some feedback from a mac user (if this is your project): The only description of the functionality on the page is "brings the power of Windows’s “alt-tab” window switcher to macOS." As someone that hasn't used Windows in years, this doesn't actually tell me anything. What does this do that command-tab and command-` don't already do in mac?

It eliminates the hierarchy of windows being necessarily part of an application. Alt-Tab on windows shows only open windows ordered by last time as the focused window with no grouping by application.

It doesn't really eliminate it because you are still going to have to switch modes to navigate a tabbed interface within a window.

Re: AltTab – Windows alt-tab on macOS

#58

Post by Shacklz »

klodolph wrote: post #47
yodon wrote: post #23

For Mac users asking "how is this different from the keystrokes I already have", this app is designed to give you Windows-style switching which is subtlety but fundamentally different from OSX-style window switching. MacOS is app-centric, so you have a keystroke to switch between apps and a keystroke to switch through the windows of the app. Windows is window-centric rather than app-centric, with a unified window sta…

> The difference is largely a historical artifact of the Macintosh operating system not originally supporting "multitasking." This is a nice story, but reading on it seems like you're saying that the way app switching works on Windows as the Obvious and Correct thing to do, and that the Macintosh way of doing things is nothing more than a choice that was made too long ago to change. Honestly, that's absurd. The Macin…

> This is a perfectly reasonable justification for having a foreground application.

Except when you start having multiple monitors. Then it's an utter mess, and I have no idea how the Mac-enthusiasts are putting up with it. And as far as I'm aware, most actually kind of don't - the few mac-enthusiasts that I know all use their customized setup that heavily relies on third-party-tools.

Re: AltTab – Windows alt-tab on macOS

#60

Post by lupire »

jonny_eh wrote: post #36
yodon wrote: post #23

For Mac users asking "how is this different from the keystrokes I already have", this app is designed to give you Windows-style switching which is subtlety but fundamentally different from OSX-style window switching. MacOS is app-centric, so you have a keystroke to switch between apps and a keystroke to switch through the windows of the app. Windows is window-centric rather than app-centric, with a unified window sta…

As a former Windows, but now Mac, user I find Mac's system to work just fine. Especially once you learn that cmd+~ switches between the current app's windows. Plus, 4-finger swipe up shows all the current open windows.

Works fine until half your "apps" are actually browser windows, and exhausting trying to remember which key do you use based on which app you need to switch to.
Post reply on HN