Switched - New Mac User Frustrated!!!

I picked up a used macbook because I didn't want to spend the money on a new one since I have been a PC Windows user since Win95. So I found a decent deal on a used black macbook with snow leopard 10.6.4, and 2 GHz Intel COre 2 Duo with 4 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM and a 500 GB HD......whether or not that's all good for me to start off on and learn OS X, I don't know but it seems good coming from a PC user.

Anyways, I spent the past week learning the OS X Snow Leopard and all the bells and whistles about it but the main things that frustrate me each and every time I use this macbook is "closing tabs in Safari" and also "close, minimize, expand windows"

What I mean is, on Safari I find it difficult to X out (close out) a tab. Sometimes I have to click multiple times on the X on the tab that gets pushed down to close. I would like larger X on the tab to make it more user / mouse friendly.

As for closing, minimize, expanding windows....no matter how good I can put the tip of the mouse curser on the (X - +), I still find the need to have to try multiple times to do either task. There has to be a better way but I can't seem to find an answer.

Now one more gripe I have is that being a new mac OS X user switched from PC Windows, if OS X is supposed to be the most advanced user friends OS, then why can't they put an option on the Safari browser for "icons with text"???.....I find it a pita to constantly have to guess or waste time hovering over a toolbar icon just to see if that is the one I want to press.

Um, you DO realize that no one has forced you to use Safari, right ? I use Firefox as my main browser, and Opera as a secondary browser because I use it to view my web page while editing it from within FF in real time. (logged in as admin on FF, and logged out in Opera)

I personally don't like Safari all that much, but it's not that bad. It has recently gotten a bit better with its WAY overdue extensions functionality, but IMO still has a ways to go. As for expanding, minimizing and closing, you should look into an app called "SizeUp". Tis pretty awesome. It's free forever, but limited to 'x' amount of uses before a pop up asks you to purchase it, which simply makes the pop ups go away. I haven't bought it, and the pop up doesn't bother me much.

Doug

command + w = close window (or tab if there's more than 1)

Tat2 said:

What I mean is, on Safari I find it difficult to X out (close out) a tab. Sometimes I have to click multiple times on the X on the tab that gets pushed down to close. I would like larger X on the tab to make it more user / mouse friendly.

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As Doug said no-one is forcing you to use Safari .... There is Firefox or Chrome as well...

But use the Keyboard shortcut cmd-w to easily close your Safari window ... Simple

....and could red, yellow & green possibly be more intuitive?

I never said Anyone is forcing me to use ANY certain browser, I simply was stating my opinion as a NEW USER who switched from a PC to a Mac....so on that note, I see how the people on this forum operate, one just like the other.
As for red, yellow, green.....color may not matter to one who may be color blind.
Thanks for everyone's input, the welcome to this forum and the mac world is much appreciated

Tat2 said:

I never said Anyone is forcing me to use ANY certain browser, I simply was stating my opinion as a NEW USER who switched from a PC to a Mac....so on that note, I see how the people on this forum operate, one just like the other.
As for red, yellow, green.....color may not matter to one who may be color blind.
Thanks for everyone's input, the welcome to this forum and the mac world is much appreciated

Click to expand...

Sarcasm and insulting people is going to get you really far.

People are just pointing out things to you. You came here to complain about how you don't like Safari...and well people don't take kindly to whiners.

I don't see where your opinion is being stated in your post. All I see is a block of text that is whining about how a certain feature is not working the way you want it too, and comparing it to how things work in Windows.

Tat2 said:

I picked up a used macbook because I didn't want to spend the money on a new one since I have been a PC Windows user since Win95. So I found a decent deal on a used black macbook with snow leopard 10.6.4, and 2 GHz Intel COre 2 Duo with 4 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM and a 500 GB HD......whether or not that's all good for me to start off on and learn OS X, I don't know but it seems good coming from a PC user.

Click to expand...

Welcome aboard. It does take a bit of getting used to, keep in mind that you didn't learn your Windows habits overnight, so it will take a bit of getting used to develop new Mac habits.

Anyways, I spent the past week learning the OS X Snow Leopard and all the bells and whistles about it but the main things that frustrate me each and every time I use this macbook is "closing tabs in Safari" and also "close, minimize, expand windows"

Click to expand...

One of the things that you have to wrap your brain around is that OS X is very keyboard shortcut intensive. The big ones to remember is that you'll use Command + W to close tabs/windows (the program remains running) and Command + Q to quit (totally close) applications.

What I mean is, on Safari I find it difficult to X out (close out) a tab. Sometimes I have to click multiple times on the X on the tab that gets pushed down to close. I would like larger X on the tab to make it more user / mouse friendly.

Click to expand...

Agreed. I actually prefer Firefox, you might want to give that a whirl.

As for closing, minimize, expanding windows....no matter how good I can put the tip of the mouse curser on the (X - +), I still find the need to have to try multiple times to do either task. There has to be a better way but I can't seem to find an answer.

Click to expand...

I think one of the main frustrations for new users is exactly what you've described. Windows users are accustomed to Close/Minimize/Maximize buttons. The OS X buttons don't exactly correspond to those functions. Generally, the red button closes the window (but doesn't quit the program), the yellow minimizes the window to the Dock and then green button expands the window out to take up as much screen space as is needed to display the content of the window. So, it's not a maximize in its truest sense. Just one of those eccentricities that takes some getting used to.

Now one more gripe I have is that being a new mac OS X user switched from PC Windows, if OS X is supposed to be the most advanced user friends OS, then why can't they put an option on the Safari browser for "icons with text"???.....I find it a pita to constantly have to guess or waste time hovering over a toolbar icon just to see if that is the one I want to press.

Click to expand...

One of the basic tenants of OS X is the streamlined design of the user interface. I also prefer the text under the buttons, but I guess it's part of "taking your Windows hat off, and putting on your Mac hat".

I think the thing to remember is that most of us switched because we wanted something different. So, don't be surprised when it is indeed different. For some people, it will click - others will need some time to adjust -- particularly if the majority of your computer using experience is limited to Windows. Some of us cut our teeth on Commodore 64s, early Macs, Amigas, etc. I'd imagine for those that grew up solely on Windows, the adjustment can be a lot more difficult.

Anyway, I know some of the responders have been a little short here -- and to those folks, I'd say to remember that this is the Switchers forum. For many, this is the first taste a lot of folks are getting of the Mac community. Cut them some slack and try to be welcoming. Remember, if you have nothing nice to say, don't say it at all.

Back on topic - welcome to Mac-Forums and I hope you'll also cut some of our more seasoned users some slack because as you might imagine, we see these kinds of questions frequently, and at times it can be frustrating to rehash the same things time and again.

Hey, I wasn't meaning to be rude or short. I'm the last person who would fault a new Mac user, considering where I've come from only 2 short years ago in my beginning stages of using a Mac. I was VERY frustrated with a lot of things, not just Safari. In fact, I hated Safari at the time, and simply chose to stick with what I was used to and what I loved, which was FireFox, and that's why I said what I did.

Just because you're using a Mac now, is not reason enough to use Safari if you don't like it. Sure it comes with OS X, but it's not a requirement to have to use it. That's all I meant.

Another tip, you can set up your trackpad to minimize any window (the only one that doesn't work for me is Songbird for some reason) by double tapping on its top border. To re-instate the minimized window, there are a few ways to go about it. CMD+Tab will cycle through a list of available apps/windows, and if you've got spaces set up a certain way, letting go on an icon will bring it back up. I think that only works for setting apps up in separate windows.

But you can bring up any app from anywhere, regardless of whether or not it's minimized by doing CMD+Tab to the app, then let go of tab while still holding down CMD and pressing alt/option.

Do yourself a favor and learn how to utilize spaces/exposé in conjunction with your keyboard and trackpad. OS X is all about the shortcuts and makes things incredibly fluid once you get the hang of it all. There is no right or wrong way to do things, as it's all personal preference.

I have different types of apps open in different spaces, and use a total of 8 spaces. I use the space 1 for my browsers. Space 2 for Instant messaging clients, third for audio (Songbird, which is an iTunes alternative) fourth for Transmission (torrent client) 5th for Lightroom and 6th for Photoshop (having both open in one window is silly to me) 7th window for video applications and 8th for boring work stuff like Office applications etc..

And when using an bluetooth mouse along with exposé, I middle click my mouse which brings up every window at once and I can use my mouse to either scroll to the window I want and then middle click again, or I can mouse click it. Or I can do this same thing by using corners too. So many ways to skin a cat. Which is easiest, is up to you.

Doug

Fodge said:

....and could red, yellow & green possibly be more intuitive?

Click to expand...

Red yellow and green is absolutely counter intuitive if you come from windows, or any other OS for that matter. Red just closes the window in OSX - whereas in Windows it quits the program usually. The minimize yellow is the only one that does the same thing. The green button is about as far away from maximize that you could be. So yes it could be more intuitive - or at least to help ease us in have a windows button mode. And what happened to shade?

By intuitive I did not mean "like windows". If I meant "like windows" I would have chosen a much different word.

Tat2 said:

Now one more gripe I have is that being a new mac OS X user switched from PC Windows, if OS X is supposed to be the most advanced user friends OS, then why can't they put an option on the Safari browser for "icons with text"???.....I find it a pita to constantly have to guess or waste time hovering over a toolbar icon just to see if that is the one I want to press.

Click to expand...

Apple expects customers to *know* what those icons mean. A picture is worth a thousand words. Hovering the pointer over those icons reveals a little yellow rectangle that has text within it. It may not come as easy to Windows users as Apple may expect, but for most, it clicks.

Thank you very much for everyone's information, I will take it all one day at a time as well as learn the use of the keyboard over the mouse for certain things that need to be done like closing and opening new tabs easier, minimizing windows, etc.
And after trying Safari out when I first got the laptop, yes I was frustrated with it and decided to load Firefox since that is what I used on a PC all the time but once again, to close a tab with a X in a square box on Safari was just as a pita to close a tab with a X in a circle in Firefox, lol....but now I know Mac was more towards a keyboard user friendly.
As for the text / icons wishing it was an option on Safari, I did mention in my original post that hovering over the icon just takes too much time to for guessing if that's the right icon for me to want to press.
But we all can have everything so on that note, thanks.

I think there is a program out there that allows you to change the delay time on the pop-up text.

To Tat2:

You might want to have a look at this essay, particularly item #2. If you're having trouble with Safari, that's a good enough reason to look afield. Luckily, the Mac is loaded with alternative browsers. You'll find one you like.

Have fun!

chas_m said:

To Tat2:

You might want to have a look at this essay, particularly item #2. If you're having trouble with Safari, that's a good enough reason to look afield. Luckily, the Mac is loaded with alternative browsers. You'll find one you like.

Click to expand...

But it's not about just browser's that I have a problem getting used to, it's the over all of closing windows down, minimizing them, etc.
Let me explain a bit more,....ok so now I know Mac was more keyboard user friendly with it's commands rather than using a mouse but I am a photographer who relies on the use of my mouse a lot especially in photoshop which I have installed. So when I have multiple photos / windows open in photoshop, trying to get things done fast enough is now actually slowing me down due to the fact that it's now a learning curve to now use a mouse and a keyboard when editing or developing graphics.

I've installed Better Touch Tool so whether on Safari or my usual browser Opera, I just use a simple touchpad gesture to close a tab (and other gestures to open a new one, go back/forward, open link in new tab, change to tab to the left/right).

Well worth looking in to.


Coops

Fodge said:

By intuitive I did not mean "like windows". If I meant "like windows" I would have chosen a much different word.

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You are in a switcher's forum and the OP is complaining about frustrations.

Plus I said any OS - not just windows. Most Linux distributions do not work that way, nor does Solaris, BeOS, etc, etc. If you are coming over to Mac from anywhere it is counter-intuitive from what you've experienced anywhere.

Fodge said:

By intuitive I did not mean "like windows". If I meant "like windows" I would have chosen a much different word.

Click to expand...

If you didn't mean intuitive as in Windows what did you mean then? Traffic signals are Red Amber and Green therefore are you saying the "user" should stop get ready then go? Just a different view on intuitive.

One of the things that you have to wrap your brain around is that OS X is very keyboard shortcut intensive

Click to expand...

Thanks for the "heads up" on that one. I'm just sourcing my first Mac, probably a Mac Mini. I have been using computers since Windows 3.1 so as you see not new to computers.

However, the passage I quote from has got me somewhat concerned. I had an accident many years ago which makes it very difficult for me to retain certain items of knowledge. Whilst I can do most things and do them well I just cannot remember keyboard shortcuts and never use them for Windows always relying instead on mouse clicks.

Does this mean I will not be able to use or get on with OS X? I would like to be sure where I'm going with this before I part with a lot of cash.

Thanking all genuine replies in advance.