unfamiliar with no fixed taskbar

morning

morning

supernew
Hi,
Sorry if this is a silly question, but I am thinking about buying a mac tomorrow and I only know how to use a pc. I am used to doing many things at once and being able to use the taskbar at the bottom of the screen to flit between applications or windows. it seems as though you have to minimize the window you are working in in order for it to show up in your dock taskbar. Can you adjust the settings to make each window appear in the taskbar without having to minimize them?
When I opened the internet explorer browser, (no firefox) and opened new windows, I had to minimize them in order to have them represented on the taskbar.
I did see the enable tab option in safari, but this pales in comparison.
 
Macs work very differently in this regard to PCs. In general people use expose to see what is happening in all their windows, or apple-tab between applications. Activate expose with F9 (all windows) of F10 (all windows for one app), though personally i like to bind these to the extra buttons on my mouse.

What you are askign to do isn't possible, you can't have windows both open and also in the dock, but as a piece of advice, it doesn't really help to try and find direct equivalents to ways you worked on a PC when starting out on Mac. Apple use different interface mechanisms, which trust me are very effective, but very different to PC. If you are going to switch you really have to go with it for a while and see how you come to best use your Mac rather than trying to make it imitate a PC.
 
The first thing switchers (or potential switchers) should learn is that that the Dock is not the task bar, and should not be considered an equivalent at all. They're superficially similar, but they really serve different purposes.

Like Ora said, there's Exposé and command-tab ("apple" key = command). There's also a user-definable shortcut for cycling through windows of the active app (by default it's command-`). Also, all applications should have a "Window" menu that lets you switch between windows.
 
Thanks,
And I do respect that it is a different operating system, and that I will of course have to learn to accomplish my tasks within it. I just fear that I am too scattered in my manner of working to keep track of things without an account of everything that is going on at once. I suppose like anything it is hard to visualize the unknown.
And I guess I can't be afraid of changing my ways....
 
Yeah, more than that they are 'live thumbnails',so if one is a video it will keep playing when in expose-mode. :)
 
Other aspects about the dock that can be useful for you... by clicking and holding (or ctrl-clicking or right clicking) on an active application's icon in the dock you should get a menu with a list of open windows within that application.

In the case of a browser like Safari or IE, you get the page title as the name of the window in the list.
 
I was unsure about this, too, but after playing with Expose for a while - just squeezing the mouse to activate it - it becomes second nature.
 
As mentioned, it really comes down to habits. I never switched from PCs to MAC, just recently switched to a mighty mouse. It took a little bit of patience to get use to a two button mouse. Now, as Knight885 says, it becomes second nature. You will find the MAC to be more efficient in these regards in the long run.
 
I simply have a hard time working on a PC. ;) ... No, but seriously: You won't miss the taskbar for long. Since switching between applications is quite fast (if you have enough memory for the open apps), you'll probably simply switch to the one you want to monitor for the moment and then hit Cmd-H to hide it again.
 
Must admit: Witch is cool. Never heard of it before today. Wish I could replace Cmd-Tab with it, but there seems no way to do that...
 
I long ago remapped Exposé to F12 on my PowerBook, I reversed the order of F8 through F12 and I only ever used Exposé (F12) anyway.

So once I started using Witch I defined (using Quickeys) Command F12 to Witch (down) and Command F11 to Witch (up).
 
morning said:
Hi,
I am used to doing many things at once and being able to use the taskbar at the bottom of the screen to flit between applications or windows.
Click to expand...

In the long run, you will notice that Mac OS X is designed for, and enhances, multi-tasking much more than Windows. except for some of the more complex apps, most programs on OS X aren't designed to be maximised (taking up the entire screen).

From the people whom I've helped switch to Mac, I've found the #2 thing they have a hard time with is dealing with floating windows, rather than maximised (the #1 problem being "where's solitaire??!!!"). But floating windows, along with beautiful hi-res, widescreen displays, along with Exposé, will allow you to multi-task much more efficiently than Windows.

powermac said:
As mentioned, it really comes down to habits. I never switched from PCs to MAC, just recently switched to a mighty mouse. .
Click to expand...

<SLAP>

That's for typing Mac as "MAC", like it's an acronym.
 
flipped cracker said:
i have a hard time not being able to use expose on a pc. i miss all my hotspots when i'm on a pc.
Click to expand...
Hotspots are something that it seems not many people use, or they just don't talk about it on here. I have the upper-right corner set to show Dashboard, the lower-right set to Expose, and the upper-left set to show the Desktop. The lower-left is set to start the screen saver.

When I'm using my WinXP machine, I constantly find myself trying to move the mouse to one corner or the other. It's so incredibly useful that I can't live without it now.
 
I despise hotspots. Too often I accidentally push my mouse away into some corner when I start typing. ;)
 
my favourite way, and one that i think is the most efficient way of working, is two hotspots and the third button on my mouse (the scroll wheel).

Scroll Wheel: Exposé all Windows (easy navigation without having to to even touch the keyboard, especially useful for just quick passing attention to the mac). very lazy.

Bottom Left Hotspot: Exposé Application Windows, very usefull for working with multiple files in illustrator/photoshop etc, or switching between webpages or finder windows. bottom, because the top corners have the apple menu and spotlight too close to the corners, which make for accidental activation of hotspots.

Bottom Right Hotspot: Exposé Show Desktop, as this is the side where all the icons are, and all the mounted drives reside, for easy navigation into the finder when dragging and dropping, or just finding files that have just been created on the desktop (downloads, screengrabs etc)

try it like this for a bit. it becomes so second-nature...
 
Morning - the task bar is quite a handy feature when you only have a few things running, but once you've got multiple apps and windows open, exposé knocks the task bar into a cocked hat.
Missing Manuals is a very good book for demystifying unfamiliar features for us converts.
Happy switching...easterhay
 
:) You know, you were all so right about the ease and flow of the mac design. I love my hotspots, and the command-tab rocks! I just read about that witch and I can't wait to try it. It really is a different feel huh? I feel like I am in there physically moving things around. I was really a chicken at the beginning. But it was wisely pointed out to me that I have to patiently explore the OS. Of course I didn't learn Windows in a day, or a week. I have to admit, I threw Virtual PC into my system, and that made me feel better (I can install some old fave's). However, I hardly ever open it anymore.
I am using a laptop though, and I rarely plug in a mouse, and I am finding the control-click very awkward, is there an easier way to right click? Or even better yet, since I mainly tap the scroll pad, could I set up the click button to right click?
I gotta say it
I think I 'm feeling it...I think I'm loving my Mac.

one other thing, if anyone can suggest something..
I still can't get used to not having an explore side window though.. am I missing something? I would just like to easily drag items directly into the folder of my choice, not just the larger folder like music or pictures.


btw, I have order themissing manuals, pickin' it up tomorrow! might stop asking so many Qs
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top