archcommus
Diamond Member
As you probably know Vista comes with Flip 3D, so to tab between windows you can either use the old style Alt-Tab, or the new 3D Win-Tab. Both have their advantages: for quickly toggling between only two applications, Alt-Tab is better, whereas to get a better visual of everything you have open and to thumb through that stack, Flip 3D is better.
However, awhile ago I came across Switcher, an excellent free application written by Bao Nguyen that allows Mac OS X Expose-like functionality on Vista along with the ability to customize almost every part of the experience (and even two other viewing methods if you don't like Expose). Anyway, I like Expose, and definitely see its advantage over Flip 3D: no parts of windows are ever obscured, and everything can be seen immediately without thumbing through anything.
For awhile I played around with both methods trying to figure out which I wanted to stick with, I couldn't decide. I found that in different circumstances I preferred one over the other. Finally, I think I've sorted it out and decided on a good way to use both.
I realized that Alt-Tab/Flip 3D and Expose are inherently different methods of switching between windows and shouldn't be tried to be used for the same circumstances. Whereas Expose shows every window for you to choose from laid out next to each other, Alt-Tab and Flip 3D give you a stack or list to thumb through, a stack that you can see the order of plainly. Whenever you want to use the keyboard to thumb through applications, this is the preferred method, since with Expose it's not obvious which window is "next," and even with something like giant numbers to indicate this, it's still awkward to keep hitting tab and be randomly jumping through a big pile of windows in front of you.
However, when you want to use the mouse and not the keyboard, "thumbing" through windows is not the way to go. It's better to see what you want, and select it. In this case Expose is the preferred method.
So I have it set up like this: when I want to use the keyboard, I use Alt-Tab or Win-Tab. When I want to use the mouse, I hover over the bottom right corner of the screen by the clock, and Expose activates just like on a Mac. I click what I want and I'm done.
This was a long post to describe what seems like a pretty simple thing, but it's interesting to investigate such things about using a UI effectively.
What are your thoughts?
However, awhile ago I came across Switcher, an excellent free application written by Bao Nguyen that allows Mac OS X Expose-like functionality on Vista along with the ability to customize almost every part of the experience (and even two other viewing methods if you don't like Expose). Anyway, I like Expose, and definitely see its advantage over Flip 3D: no parts of windows are ever obscured, and everything can be seen immediately without thumbing through anything.
For awhile I played around with both methods trying to figure out which I wanted to stick with, I couldn't decide. I found that in different circumstances I preferred one over the other. Finally, I think I've sorted it out and decided on a good way to use both.
I realized that Alt-Tab/Flip 3D and Expose are inherently different methods of switching between windows and shouldn't be tried to be used for the same circumstances. Whereas Expose shows every window for you to choose from laid out next to each other, Alt-Tab and Flip 3D give you a stack or list to thumb through, a stack that you can see the order of plainly. Whenever you want to use the keyboard to thumb through applications, this is the preferred method, since with Expose it's not obvious which window is "next," and even with something like giant numbers to indicate this, it's still awkward to keep hitting tab and be randomly jumping through a big pile of windows in front of you.
However, when you want to use the mouse and not the keyboard, "thumbing" through windows is not the way to go. It's better to see what you want, and select it. In this case Expose is the preferred method.
So I have it set up like this: when I want to use the keyboard, I use Alt-Tab or Win-Tab. When I want to use the mouse, I hover over the bottom right corner of the screen by the clock, and Expose activates just like on a Mac. I click what I want and I'm done.
This was a long post to describe what seems like a pretty simple thing, but it's interesting to investigate such things about using a UI effectively.
What are your thoughts?
