What kinds of window management changes would you like to make? Iirc you can make some decently radical adjustments using brew but I’m not extremely knowledgeable about them because I like to keep it normal.
I want it to stop hanging up when I drag windows from one monitor to the other.
When I switch screens I want it to switch when I click on it and not click, wait, and click again.
I want the dock to disappear and stop consuming screen real estate, but I also want it to come back up when I need it.
I need the red x to actually close the window instead of just minimizing it.
All of these things sometimes happen and sometimes don’t, with seemingly no reason, which is the most frustrating part, and this inconsistent behavior spans iOS as well.
In the version before sequoia you can choose to uncheck “draw window contents while dragging”, that will make it only draw an outline until you release the drag. In my experience that setting stops a lot of slowdown and hanging when moving between monitors.
I can’t say for sure, because idk which 2017 you have or what monitor you have, but it may also be related to the monitor not supporting the same dpi or colorspace as the built in does. In those circumstances a hang when moving windows between screens comes from the video card swapping resources in and out furiously to show everything.
I don’t know what you mean when you say “switch screens.” Like in Mission Control or switching workspaces?
The last two that you’re talking about can be alleviated by hotkeys. Option command d toggles the dock, option q quits and option command esc force quits. Make sure you have the correct program up front before you do this.
If you absolutely cannot live without clicking the red button and knowing the program closed, there’s a bunch of little programs out there that change the behavior to what you want. I don’t recommend this though, because you’ll feel lost when working with a computer that isn’t your specific customized device.
What’s kinda funny switching between windows, macs and different Linux systems is that the windows and Linux gui elements act mostly the same but the hotkeys are all different and the mac and windows hotkeys are mostly the same but the gui elements act real different.
My apologies for not having definitive links and answers like above, I’m not in front of a million computers at the moment and you can’t trust what you just read online.
I want it to stop hanging up when I drag windows from one monitor to the other.
That might be caused by a few things, such as the virtual arrangement of screens, but it’s not typical.
When I switch screens I want it to switch when I click on it and not click, wait, and click again.
Also unusual. Something odd about your setup.
I want the dock to disappear and stop consuming screen real estate, but I also want it to come back up when I need it.
Dock hiding is a basic setting. It could work better because I can trigger it showing by accidentally mousing to that edge. The Dock is kind of for beginners, and limited in functionality though, it won’t anticipate your needs. I advise moving to the left side and shrinking it.
I need the red x to actually close the window instead of just minimizing it.
It closes the window, not minimizes. That’s a misclick, or a broken app. On one-window apps it also quits the app.
All of these things sometimes happen and sometimes don’t, with seemingly no reason, which is the most frustrating part, and this inconsistent behavior spans iOS as well.
Again, your experience is unusual in these specific respects, so I suspect you are importing habits from other OS’s.
First, I hate Apple nearly as much as MS, and I am defending the common experience rather than company.
The dock does what it’s designed to do; “properly” needs to be defined. It is crappy, limited software and since it is mouse-oriented, slow and inefficient and merely one way to do things like open apps. Use spotlight or the app switcher with the keyboard instead and save time. (Spotlight has its own problems but is still much better than the dock!)
If the red button doesn’t close the window, the app isn’t using the developer interface guidelines. Also, try Command-W, it might work better for you.
Also, switching desktops (screens as you said) is trackpad oriented and one smooth gesture , no delay. Using a mouse is more clicky, yes, but normally no delay. Keyboard commands might be what you want here? Also, are you using oddball apps that are fighting the OS?
Regarding your sample set of experiences, I believe you, but trust that my sample set is unusually large due to doing user support for a long time, and few users with a healthy typical install of the OS overall have those complaints:
setting default apps normally works consistently
red button closes window on mainstream macOS apps, rarely otherwise
dragging windows is pretty smooth between monitors (I have to demonstrate this after showing people how to arrange monitors)
What kinds of window management changes would you like to make? Iirc you can make some decently radical adjustments using brew but I’m not extremely knowledgeable about them because I like to keep it normal.
I want it to stop hanging up when I drag windows from one monitor to the other.
When I switch screens I want it to switch when I click on it and not click, wait, and click again.
I want the dock to disappear and stop consuming screen real estate, but I also want it to come back up when I need it.
I need the red x to actually close the window instead of just minimizing it.
All of these things sometimes happen and sometimes don’t, with seemingly no reason, which is the most frustrating part, and this inconsistent behavior spans iOS as well.
For reference I’m running Sequoia on a 2017 iMac.
In the version before sequoia you can choose to uncheck “draw window contents while dragging”, that will make it only draw an outline until you release the drag. In my experience that setting stops a lot of slowdown and hanging when moving between monitors.
I can’t say for sure, because idk which 2017 you have or what monitor you have, but it may also be related to the monitor not supporting the same dpi or colorspace as the built in does. In those circumstances a hang when moving windows between screens comes from the video card swapping resources in and out furiously to show everything.
I don’t know what you mean when you say “switch screens.” Like in Mission Control or switching workspaces?
The last two that you’re talking about can be alleviated by hotkeys. Option command d toggles the dock, option q quits and option command esc force quits. Make sure you have the correct program up front before you do this.
If you absolutely cannot live without clicking the red button and knowing the program closed, there’s a bunch of little programs out there that change the behavior to what you want. I don’t recommend this though, because you’ll feel lost when working with a computer that isn’t your specific customized device.
What’s kinda funny switching between windows, macs and different Linux systems is that the windows and Linux gui elements act mostly the same but the hotkeys are all different and the mac and windows hotkeys are mostly the same but the gui elements act real different.
My apologies for not having definitive links and answers like above, I’m not in front of a million computers at the moment and you can’t trust what you just read online.
That might be caused by a few things, such as the virtual arrangement of screens, but it’s not typical.
Also unusual. Something odd about your setup.
Dock hiding is a basic setting. It could work better because I can trigger it showing by accidentally mousing to that edge. The Dock is kind of for beginners, and limited in functionality though, it won’t anticipate your needs. I advise moving to the left side and shrinking it.
It closes the window, not minimizes. That’s a misclick, or a broken app. On one-window apps it also quits the app.
Again, your experience is unusual in these specific respects, so I suspect you are importing habits from other OS’s.
All of these things are typical, as I have confirmed them with other users/devices.
The problem is not that I don’t have it on, the problem is that it does not work properly.
Excuse me, what!? 😂
It doesn’t.
These are all very typical complaints I’ve seen shared by other users. Apple does not need you to come to their defense.
First, I hate Apple nearly as much as MS, and I am defending the common experience rather than company.
The dock does what it’s designed to do; “properly” needs to be defined. It is crappy, limited software and since it is mouse-oriented, slow and inefficient and merely one way to do things like open apps. Use spotlight or the app switcher with the keyboard instead and save time. (Spotlight has its own problems but is still much better than the dock!)
If the red button doesn’t close the window, the app isn’t using the developer interface guidelines. Also, try Command-W, it might work better for you.
Also, switching desktops (screens as you said) is trackpad oriented and one smooth gesture , no delay. Using a mouse is more clicky, yes, but normally no delay. Keyboard commands might be what you want here? Also, are you using oddball apps that are fighting the OS?
Regarding your sample set of experiences, I believe you, but trust that my sample set is unusually large due to doing user support for a long time, and few users with a healthy typical install of the OS overall have those complaints: