<i>> You might come across a situation, where you want to switch to an application or open a new instance of it. You press (Command ⌘ + Tab) combination. and you don’t get your window, just the title in the menu bar!</i><p>If you're having that problem then you're not using the Minimize command correctly. Never use Minimize when you intend to switch between apps.<p>You only use Minimize when you explicitly do <i>not</i> want to see a window when its app is active. Typically, it's a rarely used command, but it can occasionally useful when you're working in an app that has a lot of windows open (like, say, Terminal) and you want to set some of the windows aside for awhile.<p>More often, you should use the Hide command. (Command+H, select "Hide" from the app menu, or Option+Click a dock icon.)<p>This will hide the active app and activate the next app in order. When you return to the hidden app via Command+Tab, the app and its windows will be restored just as you left it.<p>In the old NeXTSTEP days, the Hide and Quit commands were top-level menu buttons and always just a single click away. It's unfortunate that those commands were moved to a sub-menu in Mac OS X.<p>I actually wrote a little app that puts Quit and Hide buttons in the top left and right corners of the screen. It gets a lot of use.
I don't know what this person is talking about... maybe it's another version of OSX. On mine, you get this effect by pushing up arrow... you don't have to stop cmd-tab or do anything else, just hit up arrow and it shows you that window. not what you want? keep going with cmd-tab.<p>Once you've hit up arrow, it's like a mode switch, now you are in app window switching mode. Use use tilde (on english keyboards) instead of tab, and it will switch apps in this mode.<p>go back to tab, and you are back to icon switch mode.<p>This is on 10.11.6 anyway.<p>Edit:
Oh, and while just playing around now, it appears instead of up arrow, you can hit cmd-1. So single handed, no gyrations.<p>CMD-TAB to bring up the icon switcher. Hit 1 while holding CMD, switch to window switcher. Hit Tilde while holding cmd, to switch apps in window switcher.<p>Edit2:
It has its flaws. Doesn't show "full screen" apps, doesn't seem to work if you are viewing a full screen app.<p>I always stick with cmd-tab anyway, and for windowing I use BetterSnapTool. OSX needs a lot of help for that.
This is interesting, though I'd be wary of calling it sane - you have to press cmd, then tab, release tab, then press option (without releasing cmd!).<p>What it appears to do it trigger the "reopen" command on an application, which tends to open a new window if one does not exist.<p>The "reopen" event is described here:<p><a href="https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/Cocoa/Conceptual/ScriptableCocoaApplications/SApps_handle_AEs/SAppsHandleAEs.html" rel="nofollow">https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/Cocoa/...</a><p>and here:<p><a href="https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/Cocoa/Reference/NSApplicationDelegate_Protocol/#//apple_ref/occ/intfm/NSApplicationDelegate/applicationShouldHandleReopen:hasVisibleWindows" rel="nofollow">https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/Cocoa/...</a>:
Some other keys that work while using Cmd+Tab:<p>- Press "q" to quit the selected application<p>- Press "h" to toggle hiding the selected application<p>- Press "1" to show all open windows for the selected application<p>Does anyone know if there is a built-in way to only switch to the frontmost application window (by default Cmd+Tab puts all app windows in the foreground)? Sometimes I need to switch between two windows of different applications which I both want to keep visible on the screen, but switching to the destination app with Cmd+Tab ends up covering the entire screen because that application has other windows.
As a long time user of both I don't think there's any doubt that OSX's window manager is inferior to Microsoft Windows'. Windows can handle things like multiple monitors and full screen modes much more seamlessly with less confusion. If it wasn't for the Unix layer, and the occasional need to open XCode, I personally would have ditched Macs.
I am a very happy user of HyperSwitch: <a href="https://bahoom.com/hyperswitch" rel="nofollow">https://bahoom.com/hyperswitch</a><p>Allows tabbing through individual windows (one icon per window, not just one per app) and doesn't have the problem of not showing anything after the selection. Downside: it does not include minimized windows.<p>Although it seems to have been in "beta" since forever, I've never really encountered any problems.
I have literally never encountered this specific UX issue. Having using OS X and macOS for just about its entire fifteen year lifespan, I don't even know how or why it would happen, to be honest.<p>The only issue I encounter here and there is if I have windows scattered across spaces and full-screen windows, switching just to the app usually picks the wrong window, and then because of the full-screen window complications, I can't simple Command+` around, I need to use Spaces shortcuts to navigate to the left or right.<p>Edit: I think I understand the scenario after thinking a few more minutes: you've closed all the windows of an application, but you have not exited the application entirely. I agree with the existing behavior. I don't want apps spawning new windows every time I go to them. If I want the window later, I don't close it. If I just don't want to see it, I hide the app -- but not minimizing it in the Dock either. Hiding it is like turning the other way, minimizing is like folding it up and putting it in my pocket. If I just hid it, I can just turn back to it when I want it. If I folded it up, I have to go through the "pain" of unfolding.
Steve Jobs is dead. Can we finally fix this? Or can someone convince me that the behavior we have suffered through for ages has more value than frustration?
This happens a lot with Mail.app. What I do now is just use Cmd+0 to show the main Mail window, or Cmd+1 for other apps - Evernote and Skype come to mind.<p>Another thing that annoys me to no end: alt-tabbing to Finder takes you to an open window in another desktop! I want to open a new window on this desktop. I guess the linked trick may help with this behaviour.<p><i>Edit:</i> Found a solution. Alt+Cmd+Space brings up a Finder search window on your current desktop. Good enough.
The slightly confusing window manager was one of my reasons to switch back from Mac OS to Linux 6 years ago. With a tiling window manager I never looked back. Everything can be customised to match your workflow. Regular setups with floating windows feel awkward now.
I gotta say, most of these things complaining about macOS UI read like people expecting it to behave exactly like Windows, rather than any objective flaws in how it works.
I love all of the advanced functionality hidden just beneath OSX's user-friendly veneer. Sadly, it's been one of the first casualties in the post-Jobs Apple. Every new release of OSX along with Apple's own apps, the first thing I check is holding down the alt/option key while clicking the various menu items to see what nuggets of alternate functionality appear. Every day, every release - less and less, if any at all. So sad.
The simple fact that there are NUMEROUS third party solutions to make OS X window management more like Windows and that there are NONE that try to make Windows or Linux window management more like OS X speaks volumes.<p>Apple got it wrong.