I find the current macOS implementation of Focus rather wanting. It needs to have a broader concept of what an “in-use” application means.
For example:
I have a Focus mode called “Remote Meeting” in which if applications like Webex, Jabber, ZOOM, MS Teams is activated, it would stop notifications from other apps.
On macOS, when I have a ZOOM meeting, I’m also often working on an MS Word document either taking notes for the meeting or actually taking meeting minutes. The problem is that whenever MS Word is the active program, macOS regards this as no longer in Remote Meeting focus mode even though right next to my MS Word doc is the ZOOM meeting that is going on.
Looks to me that the way macOS understands whether an application is active is if it is in the frontmost foreground. However, I don’t want to add MS Word as an application in the Remote Meeting Focus because there are many times when I am using MS Word and not actually in a Remote Meeting.
There are a number of ways to solve this, I am sure, of which here are some of my ideas:
1. Focus Mode can have a more nuanced approach by using “if this, then that” statements. For example:
a) If ZOOM, or Jabber, or Webex is running and MS Word is running too, then focus mode is Remote Meeting
b) If ZOOM, or Jabber, or Webex is running, then focus mode is also Remote Meeting
2. Another way is to determine which programs are visible on the screen and not just active. The issue with this is that it is possible that there are times when the ZOOM application is hidden in the background while the meeting is going on because the user is navigating a document or something else to assist or supplement the meeting. So this method, while better than the existing implementation isn’t great.
3. Another way is expand the definition of “active” such that any time one of those meeting programs is open (even in background) then Remote Meeting is active. This is still better than the existing implementation but still lacks somewhat.
What do you guys think? What are better ways to implement focus on macOS.
For example:
I have a Focus mode called “Remote Meeting” in which if applications like Webex, Jabber, ZOOM, MS Teams is activated, it would stop notifications from other apps.
On macOS, when I have a ZOOM meeting, I’m also often working on an MS Word document either taking notes for the meeting or actually taking meeting minutes. The problem is that whenever MS Word is the active program, macOS regards this as no longer in Remote Meeting focus mode even though right next to my MS Word doc is the ZOOM meeting that is going on.
Looks to me that the way macOS understands whether an application is active is if it is in the frontmost foreground. However, I don’t want to add MS Word as an application in the Remote Meeting Focus because there are many times when I am using MS Word and not actually in a Remote Meeting.
There are a number of ways to solve this, I am sure, of which here are some of my ideas:
1. Focus Mode can have a more nuanced approach by using “if this, then that” statements. For example:
a) If ZOOM, or Jabber, or Webex is running and MS Word is running too, then focus mode is Remote Meeting
b) If ZOOM, or Jabber, or Webex is running, then focus mode is also Remote Meeting
2. Another way is to determine which programs are visible on the screen and not just active. The issue with this is that it is possible that there are times when the ZOOM application is hidden in the background while the meeting is going on because the user is navigating a document or something else to assist or supplement the meeting. So this method, while better than the existing implementation isn’t great.
3. Another way is expand the definition of “active” such that any time one of those meeting programs is open (even in background) then Remote Meeting is active. This is still better than the existing implementation but still lacks somewhat.
What do you guys think? What are better ways to implement focus on macOS.