Apple Event: May 7th at 7 am PT

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Rotating thru Safari windows with Command-` behaves oddly in v.5.0. Why?

If one has several Safari windows open at once, one can one-by-one "flip through" them by pressing Command-` (backward-accent/tilde), in turn bringing each new window to the front.

In earlier versions of Safari, Command-` behaves in a very predictable and useful way -- it rotated through all the windows unidirectionally if you keep pressing. So, for example, if you had 7 windows open at once, and kept pressing Command-`, you would first see page 1, then page 2, then page 3, etc., up through page 7, and from page 7 then you would keep going "forward" to page 1 again. The windows would go in a cycle. +This would remain constant even if you closed windows once you arrived at them.+

That's the way it always has been (in my memory), and the way I like it.

HOWEVER, I now have Safari 5.0 with 10.6.4, and it behaves differently! And not at all to my liking.

Instead of rotating through all the windows in order, Command-` now "bounces" back and forth in its direction if you perform any action to any window.

So, for example, now if you have 7 pages open, and want to rotate through them all to see what they are, and if unwanted, close them, the following strange and ANNOYING behavior happens as you repeatedly press "Command-`":

If you're on page 1, you then go to page 2, then page 3 -- and then if you close page 3, and press Command-` again, you DON'T go to page 4, but rather back to page 2 again, then page 1, then page 7 -- and if you close page 7, you then bounce back to page 1, page 2, etc.

This also happens if you do ANY action to the top page -- move its location, enter text in a field, close it, whatever.

Why does Safari do this now? It's totally counter-intuitive and incredibly bothersome, because it's no longer a simple task to flip through all open windows and close the unnecessary ones. Instead, one constantly is bouncing backwards and forwards like one is in a rubber room. And I end up feeling like I'm in a rubber room.

Has anyone else noticed this new manner of Safari behavior? And if so (and most importantly): *Is there any way to change it back to the way it used to be?*

This is important to me because I dislike using tabs and I often have several windows open for a project, which I then often want to (mostly) close and start a new project, etc. I takes way too much time and confusion simply trying to see all open windows with the new behavior.

15" MacBookPro, Mac OS X (10.6.3)

Posted on Jun 23, 2010 2:03 AM

Reply
16 replies

Sep 20, 2011 9:36 PM in response to TylerDeane

I've noticed this annoying behavior as well. My guess is that it's a feature, second-guessing which direction you want to cycle the windows. For instance, consider the case where you want to copy/paste info from one window to another, meaning you'll want to toggle back and forth between two windows. It's almost always a bad idea to second-guess the user because the consequence is less predictability and confusion.


But that's not the worst of it. In Safari 5.1, it's gotten even worse. It doesn't cycle through all the windows any more. If I have 5 windows, A through E, it will cycle in this sequence: A-B-C-D-E-D-C-D-E-D-C-D-E...


So, I'm forced to mouse up to the Window menu to find the window I want. Or as tomleim said, use cmd-shift-`, which is a pain to use.


On top of that, performance has degraded hugely in 5.1. Sometimes I wonder if Apple is trying to kill Safari.

Rotating thru Safari windows with Command-` behaves oddly in v.5.0. Why?

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple ID.