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command-tab & del key.

N

newbie2macosx

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 2, 2006
30
0
Hi,

I'm trying to tab between open programs or applications using command-tab however open windows aren't being tabbed, not sure if that makes a lot of sense but command-tab shows Firefox, Finder, Safari but the selected window isn't coming to the front of the open programs or applications. Can someone please advise where i'm going wrong?.

Is there a key for correcting spelling mistakes, typographical errors etc similar to the del key for deleting characters that precede text as opposed to deleting text using the delete button (hope i'm explaining this correctly).

Thank you.
Kind Regards.
 
1) Cmd-Tab switches between open, non-hidden applications, not windows there of. You need to look into Exposé a bit (Check your System prefs for your keys for Exposé). The 2nd option will tile all windows of the current app.

2) Nope. This isn't really the "Mac way". Just one of the little things that switchers have troubles with.
 
yellow said:
1) Cmd-Tab switches between open, non-hidden applications, not windows there of. You need to look into Exposé a bit (Check your System prefs for your keys for Exposé). The 2nd option will tile all windows of the current app.

2) Nope. This isn't really the "Mac way". Just one of the little things that switchers have troubles with.
Click to expand...

Hi Yellow,

Thank you for your reply. Think you're right, I need to work out what exactly Exposé is and how to use it as well. Think that F8, F9 and F10 are mean't to be Exposé keys however i'm not sure what exactly they're doing. Found pressing Fn+F9 lists all open windows however am not sure whether or not this a part of Exposé. Is there a newbie guide to Exposé that you can recommend at all please?.

By the way, how did you get the é represented correctly on the word Exposé (copied the one that you'd written but would like to know how this is selected).

2) Nope. This isn't really the "Mac way". Just one of the little things that switchers have troubles with.

Don't think that this is a major problem. Thank you for advising anyway.

Really impressed with Mac OS X Tiger over-all so a niggly little thing like no del key or function isn't a worry I don't think. Saving .html pages to .PDF is the best feature that i've found but no doubt there are many other features on OS X that i've no idea about.

Kind Regards.
 
Re: deleting characters that precede text, doesn't the delete key that 's in the location where a pc's backspace key do that? Does for me on my Apple keyboard.
 
newbie2macosx said:
Hi Yellow,

Thank you for your reply. Think you're right, I need to work out what exactly Exposé is and how to use it as well. Think that F8, F9 and F10 are mean't to be Exposé keys however i'm not sure what exactly they're doing. Found pressing Fn+F9 lists all open windows however am not sure whether or not this a part of Exposé. Is there a newbie guide to Exposé that you can recommend at all please?.

By the way, how did you get the é represented correctly on the word Exposé (copied the one that you'd written but would like to know how this is selected).
Click to expand...

Go to the Finder, select Mac Help from the Help pull-down menu, search for Expose and select the "Seeing all your windows at once" entry.

option-e and then e again gives you é.

Perhaps I didn't understand you correctly and Timmac has.. clearly you have a laptop of some sort. The delete key on the keyboard = backspace on Windows. fn-delete = del on Windows.. but only in some applications. Most Mac apps (AFAIK) don't honor the "del" key as it's used on Windows. If that's what you meant.
 
With regards to the first part of your question, you can use cmd-tab to switch between applications, and cmd-` to switch between open windows of the active application.

With regards to the second part, if you're using a laptop, in order to delete characters in front of the cursor, hold down the fn key and hit delete, otherwise, on a standard keyboard, you can just hit the del key right underneath the help key.

I'm not sure if I've answered either of your questions, as I'm not sure I follow them exactly, but I thought I'd try. :)
 
For what it's worth, I tried forward delete (fn-del on Apple notebooks) and it works in Cocoa apps (i.e. pretty much everything Apple gave you -- Mail, Safari, etc) and also in MS Office 2004. So it should be readily available. Unless you mean something else?

asqerqwe^sffsadfqwer

Hit fn-del where the ^ is and the "s" after the ^ (as opposed to the "e" before it) is deleted.
 
timmac said:
Re: deleting characters that precede text, doesn't the delete key that 's in the location where a pc's backspace key do that? Does for me on my Apple keyboard.
Click to expand...

Hi Tinmac,

Thank you for your reply. I'm confusing myself and causing confusion I think. Apologies. I'm happy with being able to delete text by moving the cursor to the right of a word for arguments sake that needs to be deleted (by pressing the delete button) however i'd like to know whether or not there's a button for (or keystroke) for deleting text or characters to the right of where the cursor is positioned (hope this makes more sense). i.e. supposing i'd like to correct a typographical error in the word bandwidth that's been spelt "bandwitdh", as opposed to positioning the cursor to the right of the "h" and deleting the text to make the necessary corrective action can the cursor be positioned to the left of the "t" and the characters "t" and "d" be deleted and corrected accordingly?.

Thank you :).
Kind Regards.
 
You got it...several people above answered the question you're asking.

delete = backspace (delete what's in front of the cursor)
fn + delete = forward delete (delete what's after the cursor)
 
Dessert Whip said:
??????
Click to expand...

Apologies. Causing confusion. Niggly little thing = minor cause of annoyance (not really a problem). Terminology that's probably been made up.
 
mkrishnan said:
For what it's worth, I tried forward delete (fn-del on Apple notebooks) and it works in Cocoa apps (i.e. pretty much everything Apple gave you -- Mail, Safari, etc) and also in MS Office 2004. So it should be readily available. Unless you mean something else?

asqerqwe^sffsadfqwer

Hit fn-del where the ^ is and the "s" after the ^ (as opposed to the "e" before it) is deleted.
Click to expand...

Hi Mkrishnan,

Thank you. Excellent!. That does exactly what i've been trying to explain :).

Kind Regards.
 
WildCowboy said:
You got it...several people above answered the question you're asking.

delete = backspace (delete what's in front of the cursor)
fn + delete = forward delete (delete what's after the cursor)
Click to expand...

Thank you :).
 
looks like you've got the delete issue worked out, but now let me see if I can help some for the tabbing issue.


As has been stated above, when you cmd+tab, you tab through applications (not individual windows). When you're in an application, say, Firefox, you can tab through the different windows by pressing cmd+` (the little key beside the "1" key).

Now, that can get annoying, because you have to first tab to the application and then "tilde" through the windows. However, there is a preference pane called Witch ( http://www.petermaurer.de/nasi.php?section=witch )
Install that, and then go to its pref pane and enable it. By default, you press cmd+[right arrow key] to use it. It will allow you to cycle through all open windows, whether they are minimized or not. If you choose a minimized window, it will pull it up out of the dock, unless cmd+tab. It's a really handy little tool. Now, personally, I have the keyboard shortcut set to cmd+opt+tab. This way I can cmd+tab as normal, but if I do happen to need a specific window, I can just add the option key to the mix and get to it easily.

Hope this helps
 
elbirth said:
looks like you've got the delete issue worked out, but now let me see if I can help some for the tabbing issue.


As has been stated above, when you cmd+tab, you tab through applications (not individual windows). When you're in an application, say, Firefox, you can tab through the different windows by pressing cmd+` (the little key beside the "1" key).

Now, that can get annoying, because you have to first tab to the application and then "tilde" through the windows. However, there is a preference pane called Witch ( http://www.petermaurer.de/nasi.php?section=witch )
Install that, and then go to its pref pane and enable it. By default, you press cmd+[right arrow key] to use it. It will allow you to cycle through all open windows, whether they are minimized or not. If you choose a minimized window, it will pull it up out of the dock, unless cmd+tab. It's a really handy little tool. Now, personally, I have the keyboard shortcut set to cmd+opt+tab. This way I can cmd+tab as normal, but if I do happen to need a specific window, I can just add the option key to the mix and get to it easily.

Hope this helps
Click to expand...

Hi elbirth,

Thank you for your reply.

I'd read something about pressing the cmd+`keys but hadn't any idea what the ` key was but you have now explained this - Thank you :). Can tab between open Firefox windows for example as you've suggested (works great!). Shall go to The preference pane website and download what you've suggested straight away.

Kind Regards.
 
the Western zoo said:
hey people...

I'm using a MacBook with a danish keyboard and there is no "`"-key next to the "1"-key so I was hoping some one here knows where I might find that key... :)
Click to expand...

I believe this is the correct Danish keyboard?

z88kb-dk.gif


If so, it should be the key just above your right "shift" key that has a "~" (tilde) on it. However, due to the awkward positioning of it in relation to this shortcut combination, you might want to remap it to something more easily usable.
 
the Western zoo: On the danish keyboard, use apple+< to switch between windows in an app. Also, see the keyboard system preferences for other system wide keyboard shortcuts.
 
gekko513 said:
the Western zoo: On the danish keyboard, use apple+< to switch between windows in an app. Also, see the keyboard system preferences for other system wide keyboard shortcuts.
Click to expand...

super!! thanks a million!! Exposé is great(!) but sometimes a bit slow compared to pressing two keys...
 
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