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User profile for user: disco_bob
disco_bob Author
User level: Level 1
10 points

Would this rightly be considered a bug?

I did not remember this behaviour in Leopard but I'm not sure.


Anyway this is what happens in Lion currently 10.7.4


Say you have 3 apps, each one locked to it's own desktop by using the option found when holding the icon for the app in the Dock where you have the opportunity to select "Assign to this Desktop"


OK so we have for example Mail, Safari and Quicktime locked respectively to Desktops 1, 2 and 3.


I will use in this demonstration two different ways to switch application. One by clicking on the Dock and the other is using the Cmd + Tab shortcut. I also note that using the Cmd + Tab shortcut repeatedly will keep toggling back and forth between two apps which is a particularly handing feature that is ruined by this particular bug I'm about to describe.


First the Dock behaviour. I'm watching a movie on Desktop 3 and I hear that an email has been received. I hit the spacebar to stop the movie and click the mail icon in the Dock, OR I press Cmd + Tab which has the same effect. Either method will switch the focus to the Mail app (I'm assuming that the last app used was Mail).



In my opinion if the 'Assign to this Desktop' is working correctly (or was working as what would be it's common sense obviously expected default behaviour) then at the same time that either of the above two methods switches focus from Quicktime to Mail, the Desktop should also switch from Desktop 3 to Desktop 1.


The reason I think it is a bug is that the Dock is not meant to have to be double clicked on. It's meant to operate as a button, just like the Launcher app in OS 9 (or the Actions in Photoshop for that matter, when they are being used in 'button mode')


It appears to be a bug because there is no conceivable reason to switch focus without switching to the correct Desktop. If it were not possible to assign an app to a particular Desktop then this is the behaviour I would expect because there could be instances of open windows on the particular app you switch to on different desktops.


Apple has allowed the possibility to lock an app to it's own desktop and it is particular this ability that makes the point of Spaces in Mission Control useful.


If the Dock is used to switch applications then one has to click the Dock icont TWICE. The first time changes focus and the second one switches to the correct Desktop. This is the main reason that I think this is a bug because it does switch Desktop on the second click, so it has been designed with that behaviour in mind, so if that is the case there is no reason that it did not switch desktops on the first click when it switched the focus.


If the Cmd + Tab is used then once you have switched focus there's nothing more to do other then click the Dock. Therefore Cmd + Tab becomes redundant.


I also think it is a bug because in Leopard when using the Cmd + Toggle shortcut to toggle back and forth between two apps on their own desktops the Cmd + Tab shortcut would toggle the focus and switch the desktops in one go.


I've sent a bug report to Apple but I dont' know if they are even going to bother.


I am astounded that this behaviour has not been noticed because it flies in the face of normal apple guidlines regarding human behaviour and how the interface works.

iMac (27-inch Mid 2011), Mac OS X (10.7.3)

Posted on Jun 12, 2012 11:23 PM

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User profile for user: softwater
softwater
User level: Level 5
5,556 points

Posted on Jun 12, 2012 11:34 PM

Have you tried checking:


 > System Preferences > Mission Control > When switching to an application, switch to a space with open windows for the application

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User profile for user: disco_bob
disco_bob Author
User level: Level 1
10 points

Jun 12, 2012 11:52 PM in response to disco_bob

Hold The Presses.


I have just checked and now I'm sure it's a bug.


Why? Because now that I have ticked the box, when I click on the icon in the dock it indeed switches focus and switches to the correct desktop in one go.


HOWEVER it does not work this way if using the Cmd + Tab shortcut.


The Cmd + Tab shortcut would be the preferred way to do this because if as per my example I was watching a movie I first stop it with the Spacebar which is the normal way to pause and as I'm at the keyboard it's only natural to use the Cmd + Tab to switch rather than (in my case) to pick up my wacom pen and move it near the edge of the screen and wait for the hidden Dock to pop out and then click on the icon.


If you can give me any reason that even with the box ticked that using Cmd Tab to switch focus does not also switch to the correct desktop, then it must necessarily be a bug. Does that make sense.

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User profile for user: fsbox
fsbox
User level: Level 1
5 points

Jun 13, 2012 1:31 AM in response to disco_bob

I would answer your original question heading this thread by "NO". I hope I understood the question correctly... but I think the concept behind the default behaviour you describe for switching apps is illustrated in the following fictive example:

- I work on a presentation for work in Desktop 1. I have used Safari to get information for this presentation and have two Safari windows open. I have no Mail window open but have to send out an email when my presentation is done.

- I take a break. I use Desktop 2 for private stuff including email. Apple Mail is open. My spouse sends me an email to ask me about something I need to get from the internet. I click once on Safari (or use cmd-tab) - with the default configuration I stay on Desktop 2, am now "in Safari", and with cmd-N can open my new Safari window. I answer the email in Desktop 2.

- I get back to work and use Mission Control to get to Desktop 1. I finish the presentation and have to send the email mentioned earlier. I click on Mail (or use cmd-tab). With the default behaviour, I stay on desktop 1, am "in Mail", and with cmd-N get the new email window.

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User profile for user: disco_bob
disco_bob Author
User level: Level 1
10 points

Jun 13, 2012 2:42 AM in response to softwater

You wouldn't believe it but after I ticked the box and checked it was fine in the dock I then checked the tab cmd way and noted it didn't work. But after rechecking I now find that it does. So basiclly all is right with the world again.


Thanks for your help. I've been trying to get an answer to this on a couple of mac forums but got no response, they were too busy arguing with each other about nothing. I should have come here straight away, which is what I will do in the future.


thanks

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User profile for user: disco_bob
disco_bob Author
User level: Level 1
10 points

Jun 13, 2012 7:34 PM in response to disco_bob

OK I have found out the anomoly which I'll post here for the sake of completeness.


It only switches desktops if there is an application window open. Otherwise using Cmd + Tab only switches the focus. It's not a big deal but it makes for a jarring user experience.


Sure there's no window open but there's no point in switching apps unless you intend to open a window if there is none already open.


After a while I get used to Cmd Tab shifting the whole desktop as I'll usually have a window open, then every now and again I'll, say, maybe decide to send an email so I hit Cmd Tab and nothing happens, it makes for a moment of confusion.


I see no reason that if an app is assigned to a particular desktop that when the switch desktops when switching apps is selected that it should not always switch to the desktop, whether there's a window open or not.


So while I'll accept this is not a bug, it does cause a discontinuity in the user/brain coordination.


I'm open to any reason why it matters whether an app has a window open or not that the OS decides to switch desktops when an app has been locked to the said desktop.


@fsbox I don't understand your post.

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User profile for user: disco_bob
disco_bob Author
User level: Level 1
10 points

Jun 13, 2012 10:22 PM in response to fsbox

NEW INFORMATION: The bug is back on.


Ok so how about this, I think it's all sorted. Mail on Desk 1, Safari on Desk 2, and Quicktime on Desk 3 each app locked to it's own Desktop as well as 'Switch to a space with open window for the app' ticked in Mission Control prefs. And naturally the finder is on all Desktop. Mail has a window open on Desk 1.



OK are you with me.


Right I'm now on Desktop 3 I open a finder window, navigate to a movie put the movie into full screen. A mail comes in so I pause hit Cmd + Tab and I'm whisked over to Desktop one with the focus on Mail, exactly as is supposed to happen...


BUT my quicktime movie followed me. I couldn't believe it I had to check all the settings and they were all correct so how did this happen? You know what it was? Because I opened the movie from a Finder window on Desktop 3 and because the Finder is set to all Desktops, naturally, the Finder window that was still open behind the movie came over to Desktop 1 and... almost as some kind of torment, dragged the frikken movie window with it.


What is this? Is there some sort of symbiotic relationship with the Finder window and the movie such that it has to override the system preferences and the Dock preferences and bring the Quicktime window along what the hail is all that about, what is the quicktime window doing on Desktop one when it's locked to Desktop 3.


I check the options in the Dock for Quicktime while I was on Desktop 1 in the Mail app and yup it says "Desktop 3", well then what the (expletive deleted) is the Quicktime window doing on Desktop 1 then even the Dock says it's not supposed to be there.


SURELY THIS IS A BUG. This is fully reproducible.

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Would this rightly be considered a bug?

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