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Comment by monkeynotes | Hacker News Reader

IMO cmd+tab is far superior since it requires less movement from the rest position. I can navigate contexts extremely efficiently. I also use cmd+~ a lot for in-app window switching.

I do like the idea of having the touch-bar as a notification center though, that would be pretty helpful.

I have my Macbook on a stand with an external keyboard. Besides being ergonomically better like that, I also missed the physical esc button way too much and would often accidentally hit the touch escape with my left pinky. Being a touch button all you need to do is graze it and ESCAPE!!1

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I find that cmd+tab switching beyond 2 or 3 applications is not "superior" as it requires more recall of state than should be necessary. I've started using Alfred more often to switch to specific apps so that it doesn't matter where I'm coming "from" to get where I want to go "to."

I also use Karibiner to switch the capslock key to "escape when pressed once" and "ctrl" when used in combination with any other key. Completely agree that a missing escape key was a stupid design decision.

Swipe up on the trackpad and just pick your window. Better than alt-tabbing all over the place.

I use this all of the time. I love the trackpad workflow. Now—if you are using an external keyboard and don't have the magic trackpad, then it's a larger PITA.

I have bound those commands to keys as well. So in my case I can swap workspaces by using CTRL+<arrow> and get that same view with CTRL+UP (but then still have to switch to mouse to select. I bought the apple trackpad recently because I prefer it that much—being able to do this actions one-handed. That said I'm also testing an ergonomic mouse so I lose some of that again—as I'm sure some of the case is for a lot of people. Hence all these other workarounds.

I use USB overdrive to bind the swipe up motion to one of the extra buttons on my mouse. I'm using a basic wireless ergonomic mouse. I have a magic trackpad but I absolutely hate it compared to a mouse.

I'll check that out—thanks.

That said I love the magic trackpad already. To each their own!

What I typically do is cmd+tab then use the cursor to select the application from the popup.

To its credit, cmd-tab is more than just an application switcher. It's also a quitter, and hider, and window previewer/switcher, and drop target, and "click dock icon" (not sure if this even has a name), and probably other things. It offers basically all the functionality of (the top half of) the dock, but in an MRU-ordered and (somewhat) keyboard-friendly way.

I am not saying there are not better methods than cmd+tab, just 'for me' I feel it would be way better than reaching for a dock in the touch strip. Alfred is definitely very powerful and a lot of people have great workflow with it, I use a mix of both.

> it requires more recall of state

The state is right there in the display, same as it would be on the touch strip. You can either mouse to an icon or keep tabbing to it. Either way I haven't had to reach for the touch strip and interrupt my flow.

You can also use the mouse in the cod+tab switcher (if you didn’t know already)

Coming from a rich context switcher from the Linux world, I've found Contexts [0] an absolute requirement for using Mac efficiently, especially in complex window arrangements or workflows that require many open applications or many windows of a specific application.

[0] https://contexts.co/

If you are a keyboard-centric mac user, Contexts is wonderful! For such users, I also recommend checking out ShortCat: https://shortcatapp.com/

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