[cwillu]

Probably the biggest one for me is alt-tab switching between windows, without regard for whether its the same app or not. This matters, because keeping track of whether the documentation I'm referring to are currently in a gvim window vs a vim terminal vs a browser, and whether the work I'm currently doing _with_ the documentation is in a gvim window, a terminal, or a browser, is enraging.

The key to bring back the last window I looked at should not change depending on whether the app name happens to be different.

[philsnow]

> The key to bring back the last window I looked at should not change depending on whether the app name happens to be different.

This is a great formulation of an annoyance that I've had for 10 years but hadn't put into words.

If you happen to use virtual desktops / "spaces" or whatever macos calls them these days, it's annoying that the default cmd-tab switcher will switch to apps that have no windows on the current workspace. I know, that's part of Mac's app model and it is self-consistent (especially since even if you don't use virtual desktops, you can still have an app running with no open windows, switch to it and usually cmd-N to get a new window) and that it's at odds with Windows's model (where usually closing the last window of a program closes the program).

A sibling comment suggested Witch to get app-agnostic window-switching, I haven't tried Witch but you can do almost all things with Hammerspoon, including window-switching. I cribbed from a bunch of other peoples' configs and made a simple switcher: https://gist.github.com/philsnow/ef8532c3fa3304336ffb0198163... . I think it's worth investing in learning Hammerspoon because of the sheer amount of things that you can integrate.

[nehal3m]

By default the hotkey for tabbing through app instances is Cmd + ~

I bound it to Option + tab though, more intuitive to me.

[cwillu]

You're just re-describing the behaviour I already described as irritating; did you perchance reply to the wrong comment?

Scenario: I'm in a terminal doing something, and I have a second window I'm switching back and forth between that contains the man page for a command. In isolation, I haven't given you enough information to tell whether I should be pressing opt-tab or cmd-tilde to swap windows: maybe the man page is in a browser, or maybe it's in a second terminal.

Scenario: I'm switching back and forth between an editor and some reference document in another window; you can't tell which key I should press to swap without knowing if I'm looking at the document in another editor instance or a browser window.

Scenario: I'm switching back and forth between a terminal and some reference document from a cloud provider. You can't determine which key to press to swap without knowing if I'm ssh'd in a terminal or using a web-based cloud terminal.

Scenario: I'm switching back and forth between an image editor and a client's low-resolution logo they emailed me. You can't determine which key to press to swap without knowing if I'm looking at the reference image in another image editor window or a browser.

I run into this constantly.

[nehal3m]

There are some apps that change that behavior if you want. [0]

I didn’t reply to the wrong comment, I was just trying to be helpful.

This OS behavior has seemed second nature to me ever since browsers implemented tabs. Like in each of your described scenarios I usually forget which browser tab is in the foreground when I switch, I will have to Ctrl+tab until I find the relevant one. It will stay on top once I do though.

That is what MacOS does; the window of an app you had in focus last will stay on top of the stack. It makes intuitive sense to me personally but I agree it does make finding stuff a little onerous.

In your scenarios, you know which applications you have your relevant documents opened in so once you have them on top switching is easy. But again, I understand that a decade of muscle memory and using a different paradigm will make this behavior infuriating.

[0] https://superuser.com/questions/193922/is-there-any-program-...

[aseo]

^ b/c of this, I actually like how MacOS separated app and window switching. It's a bit more fine grained, and I can use either of the two depending on the specific intention.

[nox101]

that doesn't actually solve the OP's problem as it still requires you to be aware of all your windows and which ones are in current app vs which ones are in different apps.

[zoky]

I haven’t tried it, but Contexts (https://contexts.co/) seems to do what you want.

[cwillu]

It wasn't a request for assistance; when was required to use a mac for work, I found a plugin. It's still irritating that I _have_ to use a plugin.

[slb_]

Does it matter? It’s a helpful response for those facing the same issue as you, but aren’t aware of possible solutions.

[zoky]

Well, if you weren’t asking for assistance, then why use something that ultimately comes down to personal preference as an example of an OS feature not working the way it objectively “should”?

I mean, I’d argue that the way Windows does it is illogical and confusing, and if I used Windows regularly I’d want a plugin to make window switching work the way it does on MacOS, which I find far more convenient. But that doesn’t make the way Windows does it objectively wrong, and it wouldn’t justify my irritation at the OS not working the way I would prefer it to.

All of the issues you’ve described are limited to your particular use case, and as has been pointed out by myself and others, are easily solvable with a relatively inexpensive program. So your entire argument really boils down to “I don’t like the way MacOS does something by default, but fortunately it’s an easy and cheap fix so it’s not really a huge deal”.

[cwillu]

> So your entire argument really boils down to “I don’t like the way MacOS does something by default, but fortunately it’s an easy and cheap fix so it’s not really a huge deal”.

…yes, and?

Somebody was asking for an example of the sort of plugin someone might want to install, I provided an example. There was no argument being had, no claims that OSX is objectively wrong for doing things that way, just a pile-on of people not reading the context.

[zoky]

So, what, you’re just complaining about an easily solvable problem that ultimately comes down to not everybody agreeing with your personal preference? Don’t you have, like, a cloud you should be yelling at?

You could have just said, “I don’t like the way MacOS does X, and here’s the plugin to use to change it so it does Y.” Instead, you went on a long-winded screed about why your view was obviously the correct one, while providing no solution to the problem (and implying that there was no obvious solution, because you “run into this problem constantly”) and strongly implicating that anyone who dared to suggest otherwise was clearly wrong.

And then you wonder why people thought you were being argumentative.

[RussianCow]

I'm going to chime in here with another solution to the alt+tab problem, since I have the same gripe about macOS. I've been using the FOSS AltTab.app and have been really happy with it so far. It's a really simple yet superbly useful piece of software.

https://alt-tab-macos.netlify.app/

[ttepasse]

There are multiple 3rd party window switchers, Witch is a popular one, afair:

https://manytricks.com/witch/