Fun tricks with OSX Panther's Command-Tab switcher.
Panther has a new Command-Tab application switcher. The gory details of the history of this switcher are discussed elsewhere but the basics are this:
- Hold down Command and press Tab to start the switcher. This brings up a transparent window across the middle of the screen. All open applications displayed horizontally in the order you last used them. With your current application at the far left and any hidden applications on the right.
- The initial Tab press selects the second app in the list.
- The switcher stays on the screen as long as you keep Command held down (Or if you click on an app with the mouse).
- You may cycle forward through the apps by continuing to press Tab.
- You may cycle backwards through the apps by hold down Shift and pressing tab or by pressing ` (The Grave accent mark/Tilde key).
- You may quit any app without leaving the switcher by pressing Q.
- You may hide any app without leaving the switcher by pressing H. Oddly any apps hidden this way do not join the other hidden apps at the right-end of the switcher during any subsequent invocations.
All of which are very handy and noble things for an app switcher to do. But my favorite part is the seamless mouse integration. You may switch to any app by clicking directly on it. Or even better (and faster) simply release Command while the mouse is hovering over the app you want to switch to. Using Q and H to quit and hide also works while hovering.
I used to ctrl-click apps in the dock to quit apps with out taking the time to switch to them individually. This is quite a time saver. For most app switching it even beats out Exposé.
Beautifully done.
Update: Dragging also works through the switcher. Draging something, start up the switcher, hover over the app you want, release Command and drop where you want to. Works very well.
Xian 03:40 AM, 11.20.03 - p-link
Comments: Fun tricks with OSX Panther's Command-Tab switcher.
I’d be more excited about this new functionality if it hadn’t been in windows (at least 90% of it) since the DAWN OF TIME.
osX still doesn’t have a full featured taskbar analog in the dock. Far as I’m concerned it’s still behind in the UI race until it gets rid of that handicap. The real reason I want Expose and tab program switching is because the dock ultimately fails at it’s job.
n0sh - 08:11AM Thursday, 11.20.03
I don’t love it because it’s a new thing. Because it certainly isn’t. I love it because it is elegant and useful. It’s better than the windows Alt-Tab switcher because it only shows one icon per open application. Whereas Windows lets you Alt-Tab to any open window displaying (sometimes duplicate) icons for every window, but only shows you the title-text for the currently selected window. So it is impossible to know exactly what window you want to switch to without Tabbing to it.
Exposé and Command-Tab do fill needed holes in OSX, but they are holes that the Dock had no business trying to fill in the first place. The dock is just that. A place to dock stuff.
Xian - 02:36PM Thursday, 11.20.03
i think it’s cool thanks for the tip
Dad - 05:41PM Thursday, 11.20.03
This switcher duplicates the functionality of the Windows switcher very nicely. It’s been pointed out to me previously that “windows” doesn’t necessarily mean “good”, but I have always liked their implementation of “alt-tab”. Your opinion may vary. Anyway, as a former Windows user very familiar with this functionality, it was natural for me to try hitting the Escape key while using the switcher for those times when I realize I actually don’t want to switch when the switcher is up (like when you’re already in the app you want to be in but hit command-tab out of habit, or you just decide to do something different). It seems like I do that all the time, which is probably an emotional issue far beyond the scope of any software. Anyway, nobody had mentioned this, so I thought I would.
readparse - 10:11AM Monday, 02.02.04
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