single-application mode
Single-Application Mode via Daring Fireball
I haven't heard of this feature, but it makes me think that is where the iPhone went, despite everyone not liking it on the Mac OS X. The small screen space of the iPhone almost necessitates the focus of one application at a time, so even if, in the future, the hardware is powerful enough to permit background processes, it will maintain the single-application mode, with the Home button being the Finder that quits each application as you switch.
I did not know what it was called, but now I understand that it is what Apple wants--and it represents one of the differences between Mac and Windows.
For example, suppose I have two Safari windows and a Mail window open, and the first Safari window is on top of the Mail window, which is on top of the second Safari window. I would attempt to minimize the first Safari window to get access to the Mail window, only to be frustrated by the second Safari window popping up.
I found this to be annoying (and I'd say I still find it so, because I prefer to minimize rather than click on the Mail app in the Dock), but at least I understand the purpose. It is part of Apple's obsession with keeping users focused on one application at a time, until the users are explicitly switching to another application. It presents applications as the main focus of attention, with clear delineations from each other. In contrast, Windows presents everything as being subsumed under the single category that is--I suppose--aptly titled "windows." In this case, every application is a mere window, and priority is given by which was last used. So, if you used Outlook, and then click on Firefox, and then minimize it, Outlook as the last used window then becomes the foregrounded application. That in the Mac OS X applications are to be the main focus is a necessity probably born of the conscious UI choice made in the 1980s of putting the menu bar on top rather than in every window.
After all, it would be very odd to see the menu bar changing application identity by virtue of minimization (and it might not even be desirable). In contrast, Microsoft Windows puts the menu bar in every window, so that the application is the focus only in each window. This methodology permits a certain degree of flexibility, but perhaps sacrifices clarity, because non-technical people don't get the sense of what an application is as distinct from what an operating system is. It becomes all "Windows" to them.
I haven't heard of this feature, but it makes me think that is where the iPhone went, despite everyone not liking it on the Mac OS X. The small screen space of the iPhone almost necessitates the focus of one application at a time, so even if, in the future, the hardware is powerful enough to permit background processes, it will maintain the single-application mode, with the Home button being the Finder that quits each application as you switch.
I did not know what it was called, but now I understand that it is what Apple wants--and it represents one of the differences between Mac and Windows.
For example, suppose I have two Safari windows and a Mail window open, and the first Safari window is on top of the Mail window, which is on top of the second Safari window. I would attempt to minimize the first Safari window to get access to the Mail window, only to be frustrated by the second Safari window popping up.
I found this to be annoying (and I'd say I still find it so, because I prefer to minimize rather than click on the Mail app in the Dock), but at least I understand the purpose. It is part of Apple's obsession with keeping users focused on one application at a time, until the users are explicitly switching to another application. It presents applications as the main focus of attention, with clear delineations from each other. In contrast, Windows presents everything as being subsumed under the single category that is--I suppose--aptly titled "windows." In this case, every application is a mere window, and priority is given by which was last used. So, if you used Outlook, and then click on Firefox, and then minimize it, Outlook as the last used window then becomes the foregrounded application. That in the Mac OS X applications are to be the main focus is a necessity probably born of the conscious UI choice made in the 1980s of putting the menu bar on top rather than in every window.
After all, it would be very odd to see the menu bar changing application identity by virtue of minimization (and it might not even be desirable). In contrast, Microsoft Windows puts the menu bar in every window, so that the application is the focus only in each window. This methodology permits a certain degree of flexibility, but perhaps sacrifices clarity, because non-technical people don't get the sense of what an application is as distinct from what an operating system is. It becomes all "Windows" to them.
posted by Alan at October 07, 2009
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