i am now using a macbook pro at work and a pc for my personal computer (i always had a pc for my personal computer). both are fine. but i haven't used a mac for a long time, so i've had a slightly higher stress level the past few days as i do everything on my work computer and frequently get stuck on the smallest little things i can't do because i don't know how to make the mac do them. it's funny because people say the mac is more intuitive, but i don't know if it's really true. i don't think it is. it just depends on what you are used to. and maybe it depends on the way you think.
for example,
1. one big thing that bothers me about the mac is that it is more spatial. if you are a spatial thinker, it would be pretty awesome. i am not. you can do this cool thing where you can see small versions of all the windows you have open at once, but then you have to look at all of them and find the right one and click on it. on a pc, i can easily see everything that is actually open on my computer by looking at the taskbar. on the mac i feel like things disappear and i have to find them again. and usually i have a lot of things open at once, especially at work, so it's extra confusing.
2.a. you can alt-tab on a mac as well, but it only goes between each program, not each window you have open within each program. so by using alt-tab on the mac, i often don't end up at the window that i actually wanted and i have to go search for the window i wanted (see above).
2.b. also, alt-tab will show you programs that are still running but which you don't actually have any windows open for. what is up with that? and what is up with closing all the windows in a program and a program is still running? i don't understand the reasoning behind that at all. it doesn't seem useful in any way to me.
2.c. AND if you minimize something, you can't use alt-tab to get to it. i like keyboard shortcuts, so these things bother me.
3. the command key (mac) and control key (windows) are on different places on the keyboard, but both keys have the same function for keyboard shortcuts. i love keyboard shortcuts (did i mention this?), so it confuses me when i switch between computers at home and at work.
4. i actually like a lot of things that the trackpad on a mac can do. it bothers me a little that there is no actual right click button, but i can get over that. i will be interested to see if i still like keyboard shortcuts as much after using the mac trackpad for awhile. so far though, the lack of some keyboard shortcuts really bothers me. especially the lack of a home and end key actually on the keyboard of a mac. there *is* a shortcut for that but it's command-arrow, which is not as convenient as just pressing one key. and i use home and end ALL the time when i'm composing documents or emails. so i feel limited and stuck and like i'm wasting time when i compose a document on a mac. but i suppose it will get better with time.
5. there doesn't seem to be a way to make a window fill the whole screen on a mac, without dragging the window to the size of the screen. this bothers me a lot because i like to see as much as possible at once. i also don't like to see a bunch of little things at once (other windows behind the one i'm currently using). i want to see one thing at a time, that i'm working on (but still know where the other things are if i need to get to them). if i need to see 2 things at once, then i can adjust the window sizes, but usually that is not the case. all the little things one behind the other on the mac screen that you can't really easily get to (in my opinion) is bothering me so far.
my conclusion from all this is that i am not a spatial person, i am more of a list person. i think more linearly, or at least in a flow chart kind of way. i like to visually be able to see where things are, not just know that they are around somewhere. my house or stuff is not necessarily "organized" but it's organized to me because i know where everything is. the pc seems orderly to me, while i feel like the mac is hiding things from me in their attempt to be intuitive. this is partially related to the fact that i'm still adjusting to the mac, but it's also just part of the way the mac works--i really do think it's more spatially oriented and not as linear/list-like. and my mind just doesn't work like that. i can see why other types of people would really like it. i'm not sure that one way is actually better than the other. another example that comes to mind is there is powerpoint that is for linear presentations, but there is also other presentation software that is non-linear. i haven't experimented much with non-linear presentation software though, so i'm not sure if my reaction would be like this, or if i would like it.
anyway, i'm very curious what other people think about all of this.
P.S. i'm also learning to use an ipad and HOW do you hover over something on an ipad, like if there is normally something to read on a website if you hover with the mouse over something? this was really bothering me today.
for example,
1. one big thing that bothers me about the mac is that it is more spatial. if you are a spatial thinker, it would be pretty awesome. i am not. you can do this cool thing where you can see small versions of all the windows you have open at once, but then you have to look at all of them and find the right one and click on it. on a pc, i can easily see everything that is actually open on my computer by looking at the taskbar. on the mac i feel like things disappear and i have to find them again. and usually i have a lot of things open at once, especially at work, so it's extra confusing.
2.a. you can alt-tab on a mac as well, but it only goes between each program, not each window you have open within each program. so by using alt-tab on the mac, i often don't end up at the window that i actually wanted and i have to go search for the window i wanted (see above).
2.b. also, alt-tab will show you programs that are still running but which you don't actually have any windows open for. what is up with that? and what is up with closing all the windows in a program and a program is still running? i don't understand the reasoning behind that at all. it doesn't seem useful in any way to me.
2.c. AND if you minimize something, you can't use alt-tab to get to it. i like keyboard shortcuts, so these things bother me.
3. the command key (mac) and control key (windows) are on different places on the keyboard, but both keys have the same function for keyboard shortcuts. i love keyboard shortcuts (did i mention this?), so it confuses me when i switch between computers at home and at work.
4. i actually like a lot of things that the trackpad on a mac can do. it bothers me a little that there is no actual right click button, but i can get over that. i will be interested to see if i still like keyboard shortcuts as much after using the mac trackpad for awhile. so far though, the lack of some keyboard shortcuts really bothers me. especially the lack of a home and end key actually on the keyboard of a mac. there *is* a shortcut for that but it's command-arrow, which is not as convenient as just pressing one key. and i use home and end ALL the time when i'm composing documents or emails. so i feel limited and stuck and like i'm wasting time when i compose a document on a mac. but i suppose it will get better with time.
5. there doesn't seem to be a way to make a window fill the whole screen on a mac, without dragging the window to the size of the screen. this bothers me a lot because i like to see as much as possible at once. i also don't like to see a bunch of little things at once (other windows behind the one i'm currently using). i want to see one thing at a time, that i'm working on (but still know where the other things are if i need to get to them). if i need to see 2 things at once, then i can adjust the window sizes, but usually that is not the case. all the little things one behind the other on the mac screen that you can't really easily get to (in my opinion) is bothering me so far.
my conclusion from all this is that i am not a spatial person, i am more of a list person. i think more linearly, or at least in a flow chart kind of way. i like to visually be able to see where things are, not just know that they are around somewhere. my house or stuff is not necessarily "organized" but it's organized to me because i know where everything is. the pc seems orderly to me, while i feel like the mac is hiding things from me in their attempt to be intuitive. this is partially related to the fact that i'm still adjusting to the mac, but it's also just part of the way the mac works--i really do think it's more spatially oriented and not as linear/list-like. and my mind just doesn't work like that. i can see why other types of people would really like it. i'm not sure that one way is actually better than the other. another example that comes to mind is there is powerpoint that is for linear presentations, but there is also other presentation software that is non-linear. i haven't experimented much with non-linear presentation software though, so i'm not sure if my reaction would be like this, or if i would like it.
anyway, i'm very curious what other people think about all of this.
P.S. i'm also learning to use an ipad and HOW do you hover over something on an ipad, like if there is normally something to read on a website if you hover with the mouse over something? this was really bothering me today.
All those things would bug me too. I don't use Mac's or iPads enough to be able to answer your questions.
ReplyDeleteI can't tell you how many times I have had to reminds kids in the computer lab in junior high that they have to cancel out of the program and not just close the windows. Why Mac people think this is a good idea completely baffles me.
ReplyDeleteI think a lot of the hang ups for you are the fact that you're so much more used to a PC than a Mac. I'm also a linear list person, but I love my Mac 'cos I've been using Macs for yeeeears. I've also used PCs for work off and on (and am using one now). There's a bazillion Mac shortcuts that I use, and I'm having to learn all the PC ones. It'll take time and hopefully then you'll be more comfortable with your Mac. As far as filling the screen with a window, isn't there a little green dot next to the yellow minimize and red close dot in the corner? That should expand the window to fill the screen. I don't have an iPad so I can't help you with the hover issue. Good luck! :)
Delete-Stacey
I just got a work phone, but they just gave me the phone and the charger, which means I have to figure out how to use it by guessing... :-/ I have a really old Mac, so I don't have issue #1. For 2a, if you are in a program, you can find all the windows for that program if you click on "Window" at the top. Do you use the dock? You should be able to find any window you have open there and bring it up with one click. For #4, if you hold the ctrl button when you click, you get a menu that is similar to right clicking, not all the same options, though. I second clicking the green circle at the top left corner of the window to fill the screen. Sorry, no ideas on how to use an ipad.
DeleteLianne
Stacey, sadly the little green button does not always actually cause the window to fill the whole screen. it may fill the screen to the bottom, but not to the sides, and sometimes it seems to me that button just causes the window to randomly change sizes. i'm sure there is some consistent thing it does (i hope), but i will have to experiment with it more.
DeleteMany of the window management things that you mentioned bug me on a mac (cmd-tab not cycling through windows of an app, only app to app).
ReplyDeletehere are a few handy shortcuts:
2a: Use cmd and tilda (~) to cycle through windows within a single app
2c: Use cmd-H to hide a window, but keep it in the cmd-tab list! (i never minimize windows on a mac anymore, since it gets removed from cmd-tab list.
4. For double clicking.. I assume you have enabled two fingers to activate right-click? That's super handy and I now prefer that to having actual left and right click buttons below a trackpad like on PCs (i.e. touch once for left click, touch w/ two fingers for right click)
5. The green plus button doesn't always maximize to full screen (Chrome and Safari are the worst offenders), but in general that works. With Lion and Mountain Lion OS, you can also use cmd+shift+F to go totally fullscreen on most apps, if you want to totally get rid of everything else!
ipad: websites that hover functionality (and no fallback for touch devices) are due to poor development practices.. there's no way to do "hover" on an ipad. the ipad does let you tap on many things (tooltips that pop a hover window) to activate hover behavior..but obviously if that control has both hover and is a link to go elsewhere, that won't work, but again it's up to the website developer to provide better experiences for touch/mobile devices.
nick, this is awesome! i will definitely be trying all these things tomorrow. thanks for taking the time to suggest these things! cmd-tilda especially will probably make me feel somewhat better.
Deleteand yes, i do have it set up for two fingers to be a right-click. it's just different, so i'm getting used to it, but i am starting to like it, possibly better.
do you know if there is a way to change settings so that when i swipe up with 3 fingers (at least that is the way it works on mine) so that i can see all the windows at once but smaller, to change it so that the windows within one program are not stacked but each one is shown separately? i searched through all the settings and couldn't find any way to change the way that works, so maybe that's just the way it is on this version of the mac. it's a macbook pro and i think the OS is lion.