Window Shade Effect

Question

Level 1

39 points

Window Shade Effect

I have always been annoyed by the Mac OS X window shade effect in the "Save as..." dialog. It usually ends up hiding information in the underlying screen that I need to look at to title my "Save as..." dialog, such as date, names, titles, etc. However, I have learned to live with this annoyance.

Now I've discovered another reason to dislike that effect. I have a MacBook Pro with a 15" screen, so there is not that much screen real estate. When I go to Mail Preferences and select "Rules" there is an item named "News from Apple". Click on it and select "Edit". The window shade effect pops into action and, since there are so many rules for this item, the bottom of the window where all the buttons are located falls off the bottom of the screen and can't be seen.

I can't figure out a way to get out of this window without quitting Mail.

Is there a way to dismiss this window if the "Cancel" or "OK" buttons can't be reached?

Does this window shade effect annoy anyone else also??? As much as I hate to suggest this but, why can't this be a separate window that can be moved around the screen like in Windows?

MacBook Pro 2.4 G Core 2 Duo, Mac OS X (10.6.5)

Posted on Nov 17, 2010 11:41 AM

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Answer 1

Sam M.

Level 3

604 points

Nov 17, 2010 2:08 PM in response to plcmms

Hello. Perhaps we are talking about different things, but when you say "window shade" are you referring to the gradual darker contrast immediately surrounding the border of the window? This is on nearly all windows in Mac OS X and is a core system feature. However, as the contrast is transparent and only several pixels in size, how has this impeded your performance?

To address a window that you cannot dismiss, (specifically the edit rules dialog), try dragging the entire Rules window all the way to the top of the screen. Even with a 15" screen, this is more than enough space to see the bottom buttons (unless you're resolution is set to something very unusual). If, under rare circumstances, you still cannot see the buttons, try hitting the escape key (esc, upper left corner of keyboard) and almost all windows in OS X will slide away and ignore any changes. You can also hit enter/return to accept the changes and dismiss the window. Both work in the rules window.

Hope this helps.

-SM

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Answer 2

plcmms Author

Level 1

39 points

Nov 17, 2010 2:53 PM in response to Sam M.

Maybe window shade is not the best way to describe it, but when you "Save as...", or select the "Edit" in the Rules window of Mail, a window slides down from the Toolbar area at the top to display the next window. To me it looks just like a window shade. In my Mail application there are 22 Rules for "News from Apple" that are preloaded with the OS, and when I choose Edit the "window shade" shoves the buttons off the bottom of the screen.

And for the "Save as..." selection it aggravates me that it hides the window underneath. I hate to say it but Windows uses a window that can be moved out of the way to show the window underneath.

Escape does dismiss the window so thanks for the help.

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Answer 3

Sam M.

Level 3

604 points

Nov 20, 2010 6:11 PM in response to plcmms

My apologies for misunderstanding. The different applications and screens you work in on your Mac are called windows, and I thought you meant "shade" as in contrast and darkness (ie that is a dark shade of green). You actually meant a literal shade! I see what you mean now, it does look like that. 🙂

As I mentioned before, there should never be any circumstance that you are unable to see the buttons on the bottom of a window, especially on your large 15" screen. What is your [screen resolution set to|http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2490#l2]? The higher up the list (and smaller the numbers,) the more magnified everything will be and consequently less screen real estate will be available. Remember, you can always reposition a window to the top of your screen so you can see the whole thing by simply dragging the menu bar (the top title bar, where the red yellow and green circles are) anywhere you like.

It is true that these sliding windows, or window shades, such as the Save as dialog will prohibit you from interacting from the main window. There is no way around this, but what exactly would you be trying to do with the main window while simultaneously saving it? It slides right back up as soon as you save it.

-SM

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