After updating to 10.5.3, Spaces now treats Finder as an application. So if you navigate to a page with no applications running and then back to a page that has applications running, Finder has the focus instead of the frontmost app.
It works as you prefer if you switch to the application itself. Then the switch will be to the specific application. I don't recall what the default was before this version as I don't commonly use it.
You can file a request for a feature change here:
Feedback.
I concur this is annoying. I don't switch applications. I switch spaces. So now if you have finder open in any space and you're moving between a couple of spaces to get work done now you have to perform two actions instead of one EVERY TIME.
Well, Apple's implementation of "multiple desktops" is pretty backward compared to what most UNIX desktops had 20 years ago.
Most people want to switch desktops, not applications, and Spaces is heavily geared toward one app per space.
Trying to use Spaces to organized your different tasks where you use a mix of applications on each desktop is pretty painful.
X window managers like fvwm had this done right over 10 years ago and that's high on my wish list for Spaces: desktop/task based, not application based.
I'm not seeing this behavior. I usually switch applications, but I did switch spaces to test this. In every test, the Finder was not the focus, the running application was when I switched as indicated in the initial post.
Help me out here. I -think- Spaces is messed up now but perhaps it's just an odd change in behavior. If I am in Mail in Space1 and choose Lightroom which is in Space2 by going to the Dock and clicking on Lightroom, then Lightroom should come to the front with it's window in front and Mail should disappear. Correct? I think it did this with 10.5.2 but now I get a LR menu bar showing but the LR window is still not visible and the Space still shows the same number (the Mail Space in this example). If I go to the Spaces menubar and pull down to Space2 I will get the applications to show properly and it appears that using Control-Arrow will work. Does this jive with your experience? I don't use a mouse at all and keep a Wacom pen in my hand so clicking with a pen on a dock icon is far preferrable for me. Can others change spaces via clicking on a Dock icon properly? If so I'll try playing with plists and a re-install or some nonsense. Other than that all I can say is "Snappier!" ;0).
There seems to be a distinct difference between how spaces work in 10.5.2 and 10.5.3:
Before the update the focus would be on the frontmost application in the space you go to - this is only the case in 10.5.3 if you do not pass any empty space (ie. only desktop visible) or a finder window along the way. If the mouse "sees" the desktop or a finder window on your way from the starting space to the destination space, finder will "stick" as the active application no matter what is the frontmost application at the destination. I also find this new/changed behaviour very, very annoying - you have to explicitly command-tab or click with the mouse to get the application under the mouse focused. Currently, I create an alias for "Macintosh HD" everytime i switch to my Safari space and press command-L to enter an URL...
/ncbp
The new Spaces behavior is very annoying indeed. Spaces is one of the best features in Leopard and I use it _all the time_. However, as I mostly use applications where you input text (Safari, Word, Mail etc.), and are working on several documents in several spaces simultaneously, I need the text cursor to stay in each space where I left it. Now, as soon as you leave a space, and pass an empty space or a space with a finder window, the Finder grabs the focus.
I don't know what benefits Apple thinks the new behavior has, but for me, it makes Spaces useless. As the Finder grabs the focus most of the time when I leave a space, now I have to click with the mouse every time I return to a space to continue writing. I could also use Cmd+Tab, to get the focus of the application I want, but if I wanted to use Cmd+Tab, I wouldn't be using Spaces in the first place!
Apple, please make a checkbox in the Spaces preferences where we can turn this new feature on or off.
I really want to upgrade my machines to 10.5.3, as I noticed Safari was considerably faster, but I am so dependent on the old behavior of spaces, as I switch spaces hundreds of times a day, that I will have to stay with 10.5.2 for now.
Same for me. Finder windows stay in the background, behind other apps, if that is where I put them, even if the Finder is the frontmost window in an adjacent Space. I see no change in Spaces behavior between 10.5.2 and 10.5.3. As someone else said, maybe the issue is in the settings?
It depends how you are switching spaces. If you use F8 and click on the desired space it works fine. The problem happens when you use the arrow or number keys to switch. Then, if Finder is your current app, it remains your current app on the next desktop.
I use 3 methods to switch Spaces. I click on the dock icon, use a hot corner to see all 6 spaces and then click on the one I want, or use Option - number to switch directly. Using all 3, Finder stays in the background, and the open app in the foreground. Really.
