Lion kinda gives the fullscreen mode, but I lose the dock and the menu.

I like to see as much data and features and functions as possible on my spreadsheets (with statistic plug-ins that aren’t available on the Mac) or programming interfaces or databases or graphic design screens, because I do very detailed work and I use up all the space I can get on the screen. Using 1 window maximised at a time I often have 20-35 windows open at any given moment for my forensic research work or programming of complex functions, and I work on 2 or 3 computers concurrently from 1 desktop to manage demanding tasks and to avoid 1 machine being inaccessible while the other is doing a simulation or graphic rendering. I switch between those simply by using ALT+TAB. Minimising all windows is fast with WIN+M. File Explorer is easy with WIN+E. Saving a file CTRL+S. etc. There is also the simple 1 right-click option to align 2 or more windows vertically or horizontally in equal parts on the screen!

What I fund puzzling on the Mac is the separation of the Menu bar from the application window; why fragmenting the user interface instead of consolidating its functions?

I also don’t understand why the dock cannot be moved to the top of the screen like I can do with the Task bar in Windows. I find that for space reasons the bottom of the screen should not be used up by the dock (and it’s the 3rd feature panel aside from the Menu bar and the application bar), and looking down at it so many times encourages the head and neck to bend down instead of staying straight!

And what’s the story with Mac users always referring to using the keyboard and the mouse together (using both hands) for doing quick steps when in Windows shortcuts can be accessed by standard in every app with 1 hand?!

Or why do the Apple displays have to be so shiny as to reflect one’s white shirt or background lights when truly it’s much healthier and more relaxing for the eyes to use the computer with a non-reflective screen? I for one have 2 precious eyes only that I’d like to keep safe, it’s just common sense!

Finally, people say the Mac is faster but I have yet to see a Mac in action which is nano-seconds faster than Windows in rendering certain basic recurring GUI functions (open app, max window, show right click options).

Many application windows have toolbars on their top sides, because that is intuitive and makes sense, yet each window’s menu is inconveniently placed on the top part of the screen, and only the active window’s menu can be seen at any time. Maximizing a window -for whatever strange reason the user might want to do it- is quite an adventure (in iTunes, the button with a plus sign on it actually makes the window much smaller), and having the OS tile two or more windows automatically is just not an option; one has to do it manually, with the added frustration that only the lower right corner of each window allows resizing, which involves dragging the whole window to fit the top-left corner, and then dragging again the bottom-right corner to actually resize it. The “bring to front” option in some applications’ menu is often silly, since in order to access the menu of the application you might want to bring to the front, you need to bring it to the front beforehand; otherwise that menu won’t be visible (however, I must admit I haven’t yet used enough applications to find that option useful). Alert windows with more than one button seem to require usage of the mouse; moving the focus from one button with the arrow keys is not possible, nor are there intuitive keyboard shortcuts for each option displayed by the alert window (try copying a file to a folder that already contains a file with the same name, and completing the operation without using the mouse). Closing an application does not actually close the application; you need to find it on the dock, or via cmd-tab, and then close it from a menu. You can’t modify the columns shown on a search result window because they’re all disabled on the viewing options window. Browsing the local network to find other computers hooked to it is a nightmare. The power button is conveniently hidden in the back of the screen, along with the USB ports and the headphone socket. The SD-card slot is dangerously located very close to the DVD slot, and both somewhat hidden on the side of the screen (I’ve already had to use a pin to extract a card placed by mistake into the DVD slot) …

I’m sure there’s a long etcetera, but as I said, I’ve only had my pretty (frustrating) computer for three weeks; I’m sure it still has plenty of nuisances waiting for me to discover them. To be fair, though, I’m also sure I’ll eventually learn how to use the freaking machine :D

Sorry about the rant, I only really popped in to say hello :)

I tend to get annoyed with my mac when trying to maximise (like many people, I find multiple windows frustrating and tend to lose my focus). When maximising, two drag and drop operations are required – each one of them carefully, to line up the edge of the window with the edge of the screen.

A snap to grid feature would mean that it would be a much quicker operation (within the accuracy of the mouse) to line a window up with the screen edge – maybe making it less irritating to manually maximise.

KDE does this very well – it’s also very easy to line two windows up next to one another side-by-side without maximising

Windows 7 has significantly increased productivity and usability with the Aero Peak feature. It feels really natural and helps manage many fullscreen Windows.

But the worst part is that some apps do it that would *never, ever, ever* need the full screen (Firefox, yeah I can kinda see that it would be useful for it to occupy your whole screen in a limited number of circumstances, and also when I use my laptop). As a example, the Last.fm scrobbling app does it. Wtf? It only needs a very small window. I now only bother with this button on apple-created software – it’s just annoying that I’m not Apple’s biggest fan.

I’m a 3D artist, and I use a Wacom pen rather than a mouse. I also sometimes use remote access over logmein.com which can be sluggish and slow, depending on the connection.

The thing about using a Wacom pen is that it is great for carpal tunnel, but it is difficult to plant your pointer in a steady place.

Even when you can CMD or option-click to full size, sometimes I’ll click on the title bar to raise the window and the window will move, and replacing it in the middle of the screen over a remote session is a laggy pain in the butt. A way to maximize and _lock_ the window in place would be very helpful for apps that should always stay full screen and in place.

At least a bit of a snap tolerance at the edges would be nice. I don’t care about how to get the window to full screen, I just sometimes want it to stay there.

ALT+TAB switches between applications
CTRL+TAB switches between windows/documents within an application

Further to this, adding SHIFT to either key combo does the same in both cases, but reverses the direction – so you can go back and forth at will.

SHIFT also reverses the TAB function when navigating text entry areas in forms, or buttons on a website for example.

So now no Mac users can complain that there isn’t an equivalent to the CMD+TAB combo.

Hope this helps :-)

(Incidentally, I use both Windows and Mac OS and find many things about the Mac UI extremely frustrating. Maximise and menus, mostly. If only the UI was as customisable as Windows, then I could choose the behaviour I prefer/require and get on with my bloody work!)