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Pet peeves when switching from Windows to Mac?
- Thread starter AppleFan360
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No, definitely works, I do it regularly in 10.5.2 on my mbp.
woops, read wrong. actually, i think i just quoted the wrong reply. I need sleep.
I was just going to say. I program the two side buttons on my mighty mouse to show me all windows that are open and then switch to the one I want.
What an interesting thread. I didn't think it would get this large. Lot's of good info as well. Thanks everyone.
The lack of the home and end keys almost made me give up OS X, because I use them constantly. ControllerMate by orderedbytes (http://www.orderedbytes.com/controllermate/) is what I used to fix this. It is basically an input device shim on steroids with a GUI for configuration. I just reprogrammed the home and end keys to be ctrl + the appropriate arrow, with a little extra logic in there to handle pressing the shift key to select the text at the same time as I moved the cursor. Then you can tell it NOT to do that when applications that don't need the hack have the foreground, and everything just works. Best $15 I spent on Mac software.
My Logitech G15 keyboard works better on the Mac than with the native Logitech Windows drivers, too. It also lets me program all the fancy buttons on my non-gaming keyboard (the mail buttons and "favorites", and volume control buttons, play/pause, etc) to do anything from control iTunes (via applescript) to launching applications. The software is absolutely amazing.
One thing I DO like about the Mac is the high quality, inexpensive shareware. On Windows, shareware is very hit and miss. The average quality level for Mac shareware seems much higher.
My first peeve was not being able to use my 8 button mouse, and then I found USBOverdrive. Problem solved.
Next peeve was having to minimize windows to move between them, but the Expose feature is so much better. Being able to see all of them at once makes me very happy.
I'm sure I'll come up with more, and then find elegant solutions for them.
Next peeve was having to minimize windows to move between them, but the Expose feature is so much better. Being able to see all of them at once makes me very happy.
I'm sure I'll come up with more, and then find elegant solutions for them.
well, the mouse itself is a problem to me, i got big hands and i cant easily click the side buttons unless i remove my hand of it and take it from another position.
Couldn't you have just edited the Mac OS X Key bindings to do all that stuff instead of buying a hardware solution? I realize this is not a good solution for a novice user but sounds like the trouble you went though with the third party solution means you're not a novice user.
Sorry I was unclear. It is a software solution. It shims into the input path at some point. The problem with editing the key bindings is that not all applications treat the ctrl + arrow combination the same way, and this solution allows application specific behavior. Also, with a GUI config interface to set it up (everything is all "building blocks" that you link together), it really isn't that tough to use. Drag the pieces you want in, drop them down and it instantly starts working. Granted it may not be easy on the level of the OS X interface in general, but the people on the forums seemed pretty helpful from what I read.
Switching from Windows, it was nice to re-enable all the media buttons on the keyboards I was accustomed to as well. The web site has profiles for lots of hardware (works for USB joysticks and mice too) that has done the hard work of figuring out the hardware key IDs those non-standard buttons pass through to the input driver and gives them nice friendly names that make them easy to work with in the GUI. I found what I needed in the set of stuff that was already there, but the author apparently makes new profiles based on user requests too.
I used this a lot on Windows too. The closest thing on Mac I've found is to set up a hot corner to lock the screen.
Yeah, I would love to see this on Mac OS X too... it would be very useful. As far as I know, the hot corner method is the ONLY method of locking the screen.
If I have the same idea of "locking the screen" to you -
1) Make sure Fast User Switching is enabled (you should see a user-name or user-icon right next to the black magnifying glass in the top-right of the menu-bar) - if not, go System Preferences > Accounts > Login Options > "Enable fast user switching" > View as: Name
2) Then, click on your user-name and choose "Login Window...". You now have to log back in to gain access to your account.
Ah, yes... forgot about Fast User Switching. That works too. I wish there was a keyboard shortcut to take you to the Login Window though.
I was quickly annoyed by the same issue. I hate having to take more time to go to the beginning and end of lines while entering in URLs or editing simple things. My #1 pet peeve with the Mac is the lack of Windows style Home and End keys.
Coming from Gnome/Linux, the implementation of virtual desktops (spaces) was a little disappointing.
To be clear, I hate having to move my hands to the mouse. If it can be done through the keyboard, I will use the keyboard. So, why-o-why is there no keyboard shortcut to move the currently active window to a particular space (left, right, down, 3)? The missing keyboard shortcut ruins the entire spaces experience.
To be fair, if I just missed the way to do this, the entire point is moot of course.
To be clear, I hate having to move my hands to the mouse. If it can be done through the keyboard, I will use the keyboard. So, why-o-why is there no keyboard shortcut to move the currently active window to a particular space (left, right, down, 3)? The missing keyboard shortcut ruins the entire spaces experience.
To be fair, if I just missed the way to do this, the entire point is moot of course.
My solution to most of these problems is this:
I use WinXP on my MB 90% of the time.
No kidding, still makes sense for me as the MB so far has been the most reliable, stable and fastest PC i've ever had.
If the screen wasn't so crappy, it'd be nearly perfect.
I use WinXP on my MB 90% of the time.
No kidding, still makes sense for me as the MB so far has been the most reliable, stable and fastest PC i've ever had.
If the screen wasn't so crappy, it'd be nearly perfect.
Firefox, Yahoo!Mail and keyboard short cuts ...
This peeve is not the fault of Apple, but I have noticed and issue when using FireFox to access my Yahoo!mail via the web interface. I have to use <control>-XXX type thing to instead of the <command>-XXX type shortcut. So, Select All is suppose to be <command>-A, but I have to use <control>-A.
Is this just me?
This peeve is not the fault of Apple, but I have noticed and issue when using FireFox to access my Yahoo!mail via the web interface. I have to use <control>-XXX type thing to instead of the <command>-XXX type shortcut. So, Select All is suppose to be <command>-A, but I have to use <control>-A.
Is this just me?
Yeah, I was also surprised at how lame spaces came out when compared to what's available on Linux. I'd love to see Apple pick up the Compiz Cube. (4 desktops on a rotating cube that you can spin with the mouse wheel)
I still haven't made much of a switch to OS X even though I'm staring at my 20" iMac.
Reason? I have over 300 MSN Messenger contacts and there isn't really anything for Mac that matches the most recent Windows Live client.
Also theres a sidebar gadget for Vista that is a live rail departures board and I can't find a gadget for OSX that does the same thing.
Reason? I have over 300 MSN Messenger contacts and there isn't really anything for Mac that matches the most recent Windows Live client
.Also theres a sidebar gadget for Vista that is a live rail departures board and I can't find a gadget for OSX that does the same thing.
without a doubt what bothers me the most is how programs somehow uninstall themselves in Leopard. Many times I delete what I believe to be the installer file and the next time I try to run the program its not there anymore. The same goes for if I remove a shortcut, the program is seemingly gone forever.
My only other gripe is not being able to hit the right arrow key when using preview to look at the next image in a folder. There is also no slideshow for preview, one of the most basic features period.
Aside from these small gripes, everything else about OS X 10.5 is surprisingly similar to Windows, but far surpasses in most areas.
My only other gripe is not being able to hit the right arrow key when using preview to look at the next image in a folder. There is also no slideshow for preview, one of the most basic features period.
Aside from these small gripes, everything else about OS X 10.5 is surprisingly similar to Windows, but far surpasses in most areas.
OH MY GOD I forgot to mention the right click on the mighty mouse. 4 clicks sometimes just to get the right click options? Give me a break Apple.
Hmmm...
I've never understood the love affair with having a functional trash can. Partial delete? Auto-restore? If you want to keep it, DON'T THROW IT IN THE DAMN TRASH.
I have a hard time grasping any reason why people operate that way.
I'm not a switcher, but have used both platforms for years.
The two things I would like to see added/enhanced on OS X is an uninstall feature and more functionality with the trash can.
I realize you can simply drag applications, folders/files to the trash can, but this doesn't always get all the associated files and after time you end up with orphaned junk on your system. This type of uninstall feature isn't restricted to Windows either, on many Linux systems you have this functionality in the form of the RPM package manager.
Also, it would be nice to be able to remove items (with all their various associated files) from the trash can and have everything automatically go back to its original location if I later decide to keep them.
I've never understood the love affair with having a functional trash can. Partial delete? Auto-restore? If you want to keep it, DON'T THROW IT IN THE DAMN TRASH.
I have a hard time grasping any reason why people operate that way.
A solution for the green button problem that i can think of would be to have the little icon change to a minus when its going to minimize your screen. Like in windows when you click the maximize button the icon changes to either the "two screens" or a single screen to indicate if its maximized or minimized. Apple could also do this by having the + icon change to a - icon. I think this would help with the confusion of if its going to maximize or minimize your screen.
-Maul
-Maul