Help! Old PC dog has to learn new Mac tricks

[JT Smith]

I think in this context it is less about the implementation and more about the user experience. Tabs and windows aren't the issue. It's about independence. Tabs are by nature bound to a single app instance/entity. But whether a window is part of a group of windows or stands alone has to do with how it works. The question is whether the window stands alone or is bound to the others in some way.

An example: I open a text file in Windows. Then another. They are completely separate from one another. With a Mac, opening the first file opens the app that then remains open even if I close both of the files. There are a set of menus at the top of the screen that work at the level of the app, not the individual windows.

 

[Algr]

Keeping a program open without documents is useful if the program is complex and takes a lot of time and memory to load. If you close one document and then open another, you won’t be reloading the program again.

Multiple instances of programs also seems like a waste of ram. Why load the same code twice?

Sure - if they were designed badly and buggy. And the same can be said for tabbed programs where multiple files are opened by one app: if it's not designed to handle that usage, it will break!

Badly designed programs are a fact of life. But if a program opens multiple documents then you can be certain that the programmers considered that situation. It isn’t something that just automatically happens. But if ANY program can be open in multiple instances, then you can’t be sure that the programmers have considered everything that could go wrong in this situation.

 

[DaveC426913]

Multiple instances of programs also seems like a waste of ram. Why load the same code twice?

With all due respect, just because it seems that way to you doesn't make it so. You don't know or speak for the habits of others, or the programs they use.

Many programs are not RAM intensive. Small utilities, such as Command Prompt are very handy to have open as multiple independent apps running. That's just one example.

 

[JT Smith]

You can be nearly certain that programmers have NOT considered everything for all but the most trivial of programs. But code that can be used simultaneously by multiple processes is an old idea. Do you think each app has a separate copy of the OS?

I don't know what Windows did or does now when a new "instance" is opened. I suppose one could monitor memory usage and see if it's a problem. I never had a problem twenty years ago when I was using Windows 2000 on what would now be unusably primitive hardware.

 

[DaveC426913]

How does one move files between folders on a Mac?

This is my finder:

I want to move that top image into a "nephew" folder: Documents/LindenHallProject/

I see no way of accessing the target folder without moving away from and losing the source folder.

In File Explorer on a PC, that left pane would show my drive(s) and would allow me to drill down to any folder and then simply drag-and-drop from the right pane to the left pane.

 

[DaveC426913]

If you're talking about a Mac it's command-tab that shifts focus between all of the apps and tabs that are open. If you just want to cycle through the tabs of a particular app it's command-`. I can't remember the keyboard shortcuts for Windows.

Cmd-tab is weird. It looks like it's cycling between open apps, but if I choose one it is as likely to not bring-to-front.

Example:
I have six apps open: Chrome, Slack, Outlook, Notes, Finder and Teams.
Cmd-Tab shows me all six.
I am currently viewing Chrome.

• I Cmd-tab over to Teams and release, nothing happens - I'm still looking at Chrome.
• I Cmd-tab over to Slack and release, nothing happens - I'm still looking at Chrome.
• etc.
• I Cmd-tab over to Finder and release and boom - I'm viewing Finder, as expected.

What chicken-bones-and-tea-leaves configuration determines which I get to tab to and which I don't?

A feature that behaves erratically is worse than no feature at all, since it works just often enough that I keep trying it, only to waste my time madly cycling through my apps until I realize how fruitless it is and give up.

 

[jtbell]

How does one move files between folders on a Mac?

Open a second Finder window. In it, navigate to the destination folder. Drag the file from the first Finder window and drop it in the second one.

To get the second Finder window, first make sure "Finder" appears at the left of the menu bar at the top of the screen (if it doesn't, click on the Finder window that you already have open) , then choose File > New Finder Window, or hit command-N.

 

[DaveC426913]

Open a second Finder window.

Why is everything on a Mac so laborious?

Even taking simple screenshot is laborious. It dumps it on my desktop - which is fine - but why not put in my my clipboard while you're at it?

 

[DaveC426913]

So, when all is said and done, what is the preferred way to "tab" between open apps? Cmd-tab is highly inconsistent, so there must be a way Mac-adept users do it.