Windows issue

[Wotcher]

[quote=Matt][quote=PhaseDMA][quote=Matt]Do windows key - tab (like alt-tab, but shift your thumb over one key). Mind. Blown.[/quote]

That's pure eye candy, and is actually pretty useless to me compared to alt+tab. With alt+tab I feel like I can find things much faster, and they have titles which is more useful then a big picture of 3 screens that are mostly the same exact color.[/quote]
Yeah it's useless to me too. But for someone who doesn't know the feature it's really cool.[/quote]


what i'm sad about is that Macs have a button that does the same thing, except it's extremely functional and beautiful at the same time.

[PhaseDMA]

I doubt you can be more functional then the way I operate alt+tab, and I don't give to shits about Apple's "pretty" factor.

[Wotcher]

[quote=PhaseDMA]I doubt you can be more functional then the way I operate alt+tab, and I don't give to shits about Apple's "pretty" factor.[/quote]


have you ever used a mac with expose before? i don't give TWO shits about Apple's pretty factor (they're damn good at it, tho) either, but Apple's Expose is fundamentally more efficient than alt-tab: if you have 5 windows open in Microsoft Windows, you have to hold alt and press the tab button four times. On a Mac, you press that special Expose button and all of your windows neatly arrange themselves in front of you; the next step is just a single click on the window you desire. that totals 2 "actions" for absolutely any window you desire, as opposed to 4 "actions" on Windows. Expose basically does what windows does with windowskey+tab, but it forgoes the silly overlapping 3D environment.

the flaw in my argument is that, when you hold alt+tab, you don't *have* to "tab through" all the windows; you can just hold down alt+tab once, and then click on the thumbnail you want from the rectangular container displaying your open windows. so, from this perspective, alt+tab and expose are 99% identical; the only difference being that Apple figured out a better way to help you recognize the windows, since they aren't thumbnails. some may call this a "pretty factor," however I view this as primarily a functionality improvement, not "eye candy."



also hey thermite, check this out, see if it helps: http://forums.techarena.in/windows-xp-s ... 631118.htm
also try a new keyboard first!

[PhaseDMA]

...Except you can click on the window you want by doing Windows+Tab too...

And alt+tab is still faster because a geek's hands should pretty much never leave the keyboard.

PS - You can also click the window you want from alt+tab

[plasma2002]

[quote=Wotcher]if you have 5 windows open in Microsoft Windows, you have to hold alt and press the tab button four times[/quote]

or press Alt-Shift-Tab once

[Wotcher]

[quote=plasma2002][quote=Wotcher]if you have 5 windows open in Microsoft Windows, you have to hold alt and press the tab button four times[/quote]

or press Alt-Shift-Tab once [/quote]


you clever man! thanks for that, wasn't aware you could do that.

also phase thanks for restating those points i made! you can indeed click on the windows in both alt-tab and windows tab, like i said in my post, i think!

[PhaseDMA]

[quote=Wotcher]

also phase thanks for restating those points i made! you can indeed click on the windows in both alt-tab and windows tab, like i said in my post, i think![/quote]

Then I'm not sure what your point is. Windows and Apple do almost exactly the same thing. The presentation is slightly different, but the size of the windows are pretty much the same.

[Wotcher]

[quote=PhaseDMA][quote=Wotcher]

also phase thanks for restating those points i made! you can indeed click on the windows in both alt-tab and windows tab, like i said in my post, i think![/quote]

Then I'm not sure what your point is. Windows and Apple do almost exactly the same thing. The presentation is slightly different, but the size of the windows are pretty much the same.[/quote]

what? we already went through this loop, i thought. i'm of the opinion that the minor difference in the way Apple presents (tiles) its windows in Expose is an important functionality difference that I would love to see in Microsoft Windows. you don't agree with that, which is fine, but you haven't explained why you'd rather click on a small thumbnail than a slightly-smaller tile resize of the full window.

fin

[PhaseDMA]

I'm still trying to find out why you use the clicking function at all. I didn't know it existed in Windows, and now that I do I probably will never use it.

I think this Apple function looks like a cluttered mess. I also think the Windows+tab looks like a cluttered mess, albeit a nicer looking cluttered mess.

[Wotcher]

oh! interesting. i find the 3D "slivers of windows" idea to be terribly headache inducing. seems more reasonable to my eyes to tile them out all nicely.

anyway, i was making the case For Generality, not for myself.

i probably use alt tab just like you do, with fingers of lightening.