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Active Windows on macOS

ivanwi11iams

ivanwi11iams

Contributor
Original poster
Nov 30, 2014
4,507
3,066
Georgia, USA
New macOS user, moving from Windows to a MBP and Mac Mini M1.
While using and learning macOS, I noticed that I tend to have to click a window 'twice', versus on a Windows PC.

Example:
Am working in Excel, and have a YouTube video playing via Chrome, in another window. For me to see the time remaining on the video, I have to first click the Chrome window, to make it active, then click again to see the timeline/forwards/backwards/speaker button on the YouTube video.

Am I just using macOS incorrectly?
 
What Excel are you working in, A web-browser version or an installed version, or a virtualized version?
I can't seem to replicate your issue using just the latest version of Safari on Catalina,
But I can see how frustrating this may be,
I can't tell you if its just you yet, or a general Mac OS thing. (Without more info on Excel)

Try Using Firefox or Safari, as a first step in isolation of what is happening.
 
not using it incorrectly - I tried for "fun" to have an RSS reader open and reading news there whilst having the new She-Hulk trailer playing in Google Chrome. When I hover the Google Chrome window - nothing happens then by moving/just hover my cursor over the video I get all the buttons you mention.

So I just had to activate Chrome and not a second click. Extension causing issue?
 
Cide said:
What Excel are you working in, A web-browser version or an installed version, or a virtualized version?
I can't seem to replicate your issue using just the latest version of Safari on Catalina,
But I can see how frustrating this may be,
I can't tell you if its just you yet, or a general Mac OS thing. (Without more info on Excel)

Try Using Firefox or Safari, as a first step in isolation of what is happening.
Click to expand...
Installed Excel. But, that is merely an example. I could be working in any application OTHER than Google Chrome, and it seems to be two clicks to perform the action I mentioned.

I will add, if I press the pause button on the keyboard, that does prevent me from having to click on Chrome, then clicking again to see remaining time on the video. Maybe that is the way around it, as I learn to use macOS 'properly'.
 
allan.nyholm said:
not using it incorrectly - I tried for "fun" to have an RSS reader open and reading news there whilst having the new She-Hulk trailer playing in Google Chrome. When I hover the Google Chrome window - nothing happens then by moving/just hover my cursor over the video I get all the buttons you mention.

So I just had to activate Chrome and not a second click. Extension causing issue?
Click to expand...
So, to confirm, you still needed to 'activate' the Chrome window, no?
 
This is something that seems to vary by app. Even with Apple's own apps, some require a click to activate, while with others the click will 'fall through' to the underlying widget. I haven't been able to find any guidance in the HIG (developer guidelines) for this, so it seems to be up to the individual app developer to pick a behaviour.
 
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Nermal said:
This is something that seems to vary by app. Even with Apple's own apps, some require a click to activate, while with others the click will 'fall through' to the underlying widget. I haven't been able to find any guidance in the HIG (developer guidelines) for this, so it seems to be up to the individual app developer to pick a behaviour.
Click to expand...
At least I know am not totally losing it. I was beginning to think it was something I was doing...
 
Drag the "Now Playing" icon into the menu bar, click on it and you can see the time remaining.
 
circatee said:
New macOS user, moving from Windows to a MBP and Mac Mini M1.
While using and learning macOS, I noticed that I tend to have to click a window 'twice', versus on a Windows PC.
Click to expand...
I was always annoyed by this on my work computer. Because that first click actually did something, I had to pay close attention to where I was clicking to bring a window in focus. Love the way Macs do it! I have only "wasted" about 27 minutes of my life having to do that second click. But, for each occurrence, the time difference is not noticeable. I suppose my index finger will wear out an hour or two earlier than if I had Windows at home. But, if my eyes go first, that won't matter.
 
There are modifier shortcuts that you can use to change the behaviour of the left click on inactive windows:
  • command (⌘) + left click: this performs a click on a control (e.g. button) in an inactive window, without making that window the active window
  • control (⌃) + option (⌥) + left click: this changes the active window, without ordering it to the front.
Perhaps one of these is a solution?

Nermal said:
This is something that seems to vary by app. Even with Apple's own apps, some require a click to activate, while with others the click will 'fall through' to the underlying widget. I haven't been able to find any guidance in the HIG (developer guidelines) for this, so it seems to be up to the individual app developer to pick a behaviour.
Click to expand...
Older versions of the HIG had a short section about this (the last version I found is the one for Mavericks). Apple called this “click-through”. It depends on the control in question whether this is supported (standard AppKit components have this, but an app like Chrome with custom UI components might not) and whether the developer took measures to avoid click-through behaviour where it is undesirable, e.g. the delete/trash toolbar button in Mail.
 
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KALLT said:
There are modifier shortcuts that you can use to change the behaviour of the left click on inactive windows:
  • command (⌘) + left click: this performs a click on a control (e.g. button) in an inactive window, without making that window the active window
Click to expand...
This one works great. Thanks for sharing...
 
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