Old Exposé in Snow Leopard

[Raptor007]

I used Expose so regularly in Tiger and Leopard, I bound it to my mouse's side buttons. However, I find that I'm not using it much in Snow Leopard because it's not as helpful as it used to be.

I sent feedback to Apple asking for the old Expose window arrangement back.

 

[blueeye]

Are you kidding me? No need to change Expose? Do you ever code? Use Photoshop? Write up Word documents? Do useful stuff with your computer other than surfing internet and watching youtube? The old expose was USELESS when you had many documents open, as they would all shrink to unreadable sizes and you had to scroll over them one by one. Ditto with coding which is even worse because it'll give you a headache to try to find the section of code you're working on since it all looks the same so you need to scrub through every single window, which aren't aligned by the way and aren't always in the same position either.

The new Expose is amazingly useful now. Although only a few things need improving (the ugly blue outline, tiny window sizes taking up too much room and no app sorting on default) it's a much better implementation compared to the original expose. You can alphabetically sort them for better arrangement of documents compared to the random scatter. I mean seriously, in 10.5 expose, open 25 windows of safari, you get 1 row of 25 tiny windows. That's better??? Are you bonkers?

I believe the new Expose was designed with the engineer in mind rather than the consumer. Because it lets you do a lot more document related work compared to just surfing the web or making movies. I think you guys are just complaining about change. There is nothing to indicate there is less usage and intuition, and there are hundreds of reasons why the new system is much better.

I code in XCode and Coda as part of my job and I use photoshop virtually every day with LOTS of windows open for testing websites in various browsers. I hate the new exposé, it makes my workflow much slower. I need the relative sizes of windows et cetera and the was nothing wrong with the old exposé, I loved it. This one is just useless.

 

[dyn]

However, because they *move* windows to targets, and *change* the position of windows, Expose simply won't allow spatial recollection in most workspaces, reverting to a visual search.

That's the entire idea behind Exposé: a visual reference of all the windows in your workspace. In Snow Leopard it adds the ability to type the window title you're looking for. Since it now displays the labels of every window by default there is no need to hover over every window just to find the window you were looking for. You can now look instead of using the mouse to search for it. That is a big improvement.

The old Expose was a trade-off, because windows resized proportionately, and your brain would 'intercept' the animation based on your knowledge of where the window was and approximately how big it was.

The problem with the old version is that it put windows randomly on the screen and you had absolutely no idea what it was. You had to use your knowledge of where a window was to be able to guess what window is what. You actually had to pay attention to where windows were put on the screen by Exposé. Now that is something that is terrible regarding userfriendliness. The biggest problem is that Exposé was meant as a tool to get to windows more easily but unfortunately it didn't because you had to memorise where windows went. It's like using a car to fly.

Right now it's a simply and clean grid on which windows get positioned. Windows are labeled and you can search by label just by typing (find as you type). You can sort it alphabetically or by program so it has more tools to find the window you were looking for. The old version had none, it depended heavily on the users memory and ability to spot the window. That way of doing things might work with a small amount of windows but with a lot of windows is completely useless. It makes finding what you're looking for really hard.

The other disappointing aspects of Snow Leopard's expose are a) that in the single-app version, all other app's windows disappear - which is highly frustrating, and b) that dock-expose can't be activated by a hover and button press - holding down for a second or two slows workflows down dramatically.

The single app mode has always been that way, hence it's the single app mode. It does what the name implies Pressing F10 or ctrl-F3 is the same as press and holding the primary mouse button on the app icon in the dock. Since Snow Leopard you also have the ability to add apps so it becomes a multi-app selection. Just another way of searching for the window you're looking for by narrowing down the search results (less results makes you find things much easier and quicker). It even works with apps on other spaces (I really like that one since that really improves the use of spaces). The downside is press and holding the primary mouse button because that slows things down. It's not much, maybe a second or two. If you do want Dock Exposé by using key presses try cmd-tab and then press cmd arrow up/down.

It seems to me like Apple need to invest a little more in HCI research and evaluation of these interfaces before they pump them out. Then they might find out bugs like the attached image. Sigh. Not to mention the bloody app incompatibilities I'm experiencing.

I actually think Apple did do a lot of HCI research and you didn't. The only thing I see is someone who is frustrated with Snow Leopard typing away without every really thinking about why things are what they are. Exposé is meant as a tool to find a window you're looking for. SL improves the Leopard version by using a grid, the ability to type the label, displaying the labels by default, etc. It's like as if they added some spotlight functionality to Exposé. If you want to switch apps than you're using the wrong tool. Switching apps is done by using cmd-tab or clicking the icon in the dock. Exposé is only for window mangement, not app management. A lot of people seem to forget this and use it as an application switcher. I think a lot of people need to readjust their ideas about Exposé as well as the way they were using it. In the end it's all about either liking or disliking it, nnot about it being wrong and needing better HCI research because it clearly isn't.

 

[lordthistle]

[...]
I actually think Apple did do a lot of HCI research and you didn't. The only thing I see is someone who is frustrated with Snow Leopard typing away without every really thinking about why things are what they are. Exposé is meant as a tool to find a window you're looking for. SL improves the Leopard version by using a grid, the ability to type the label, displaying the labels by default, etc. [...] Exposé is only for window mangement, not app management. [...]

HCI research does not always produce good results. If you think about the initial implementation of the 'Stacks' (10.5.0, 10.5.1) you can see that some 'reasonable' features were missing. I think Microsoft does HCI research too, but their products do not always represent the best solutions everyone can think about.

Anyway, HCI is hardly a science: some prefer labels or other structured information, others prefer size, color and other non-structured info. Since a window can preserve the same visual features while changing its title (label - e.g. Mail), may be a little bit of attention to the visual aspects would be useful.

HCI engineers in Apple should start evaluating the importance of the 'options' in their software: it's called HumanCI, not RobotCI.

-- thistle

 

[dukebound85]

i need relative sizes

 

[TheSpaz]

You know… I'm starting to wish we had the old Exposé back as well…

At first I liked the new Exposé because it was very organized but I'm starting to get angry at the different window sizes that it creates. I'll hit Exposé with Safari open and I'll see a HUGE iChat buddy list and an itty bitty Safari window.

Yeah, I think they should go back to relative sizes again. They could at least give us a choice. I never really thought about relative sizes in the past, but now that I'm aware of it… I can't help notice how much the new Exposé makes no sense visually.

Apple should at least give us a choice between old style and new style.

 

[friedmud]

My Apple Report

Here is what I just reported to Apple via: http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html


-----------------
Hello... I'm writing about the changes to Expose introduced in Snow Leopard. I'm not exactly sure why Expose was targeted for changes... but we really need the ability to switch back to the old style.

Expose is a core piece of my workflow. I use it literally _thousands_ of times a day... and the changes in Snow Leopard are destroying my productivity. In particular:

1. The "spreading animation" is too fast... not allowing enough context about where the windows came from and went to. It's also much rougher... where in Leopard it was smooth as silk.

2. The grid of windows forces windows to move further away from where they started... combined with #1 it's hard for me to predict where the window I want is going to land.

3. Relative window sizes are broken. I usually know the general size of the window I am looking for... and being able to visually filter the windows by size was a big part of why Expose was so fast in Leopard. Now in Snow Leopard that is completely broken. No longer can I just squeeze my mouse and grab my huge browser window... now I have to carefully look through the grid of same-sized windows to see which one was my browser. Same for small windows like iChat.

All in all... I don't understand the changes. They seem like they are targeted at people who never used to use Expose, which, as a dedicated long-time customer angers me.

Finally... just give us the choice. I know that OSX isn't big on choice... but in this one section of critical workflow (something many of us interact with every few moments while using the computer) a small amount of customizability will lead to HUGE productivity gains.

Thank you,
Derek

 

[feuerschlange]

I installed SL to benefit from the reported speed increases in Lightroom and work with big files in Photoshop.

I was surprised though, SL broke my most used OS X feature, to work more efficiently.

The old Exposè had one basic design concept, that entirely backed its usability principle:
It showed all open Windows in their relative size and moved them in place in a smooth motion, so the eye of the user still got track of which window is which.

The new Exposè snaps into a lined up homogene grid view, leaving out every clue for better recognisation after being invoked.

The sole concept of existence of Exposè has been nuked.


My post to apple feedback:

"I use a MBP as my only computer professionally and in private.
I have regularly not less than 20 Windows open, while working with no less than 5 different applications.

I have mapped one hot corner to show all open windows and another hot corner to show the desktop.
I have mapped Spaces to one programmable mouse button.

I use 4 different spaces, to differentiate from different workflows (web surfing in one Space, post processing in another one, communications in another one, VMWare Fusion in another one).

The old Exposè was perfect in every way - responsive, easy to identify the different windows by shape, size, color. I even read mails, stickies in Exposè without even focussing to this window, to speed up my workflow even more.

The new Exposè brake ALL benefits, I use Exposè for:

-it is very unresponsive, clunky
-it shows a "focus" (blue glow), that is not needed at all - I know, which Window, I am working with!
-it shows minimised windows (I minimised them, because I do not want to see them in the first place!)
-it unifies size of all windows, resulting in unreadability of fonts and a much harder identification
-it is very unresponsive, clunky
-it is very unresponsive, clunky
-it is very unresponsive, clunky

PLEASE PROVIDE THE OPTIONAL INSTALLATION OF THE OLD EXPOSÈ! DO NOT JUST ALTER THE NEW EXPOSÈ, TO OLD FEATURES - JUST GIVE THE LEOPARD EXPOSÈ BACK."

 

[Donvindbare]

... I think a lot of people need to readjust their ideas about Exposé as well as the way they were using it. ....

I think apple needs to give me the option to do what I want. It's a matter of preference I think. The OS should adapt to the user, not the other way around.

 

[dyn]

The old Exposè had one basic design concept, that entirely backed its usability principle:
It showed all open Windows in their relative size and moved them in place in a smooth motion, so the eye of the user still got track of which window is which.

The point is that windows you see are not lost. The number one reason why people use Exposé is to find a window they have lost. The second one is getting on overview. Before Snow Leopard both things were something Exposé did really really badly. Windows that were hidden behind another view is something that you can resolve by using Exposé. In this case it really has no use whatsoever to track it visually (it's hidden so that already makes it impossible).

Exposé is about finding the content you were working on, not about seeing where windows on your screen went. Try tracking 20 windows on a 13" screen when using Exposé in Leopard and even Tiger. That's just completely useless since due to the small screen all windows are stacked behind each other. Positions on the screen are nearly the same so that does not help you in finding the window. Those 20 windows got scaled down so Exposé showed the maximum amount of windows (no, Exposé does not always show all windows, it is limited in that due to the screen size) making those windows tiny and thus impossible to identify (they all looked nearly the same). In other words: the basic concept of Exposé as you define it fails miserably on such screens and that is because the size of the screen plus resolution are the limitations in this case. Due to those limitations a visual way of tracking your windows is quite useless. It only works on big screens with high resolutions.

In case of the small screen example you really had to go check those open windows one by one by either hoovering over them so you could see the label (or use the option key) or use the tab key. A better way of doing it was using show all application windows aka F10.

Other things Exposé couldn't do was sort by application, find as you type (type the name of the label and it will be highlighted) and show minimised windows. The last one is a big improvement because that fixes the situation where the user has minimised a window, forgot about it and is now looking for it.

The new Exposè snaps into a lined up homogene grid view, leaving out every clue for better recognisation after being invoked.

The sole concept of existence of Exposè has been nuked.

The sole concept of Exposé was nuked in previous OS X versions but has now finally been fixed. Visual recognition is very unreliable, especially on laptops with small screens and lot of windows. However, the grid view does need some improvement, the spacing is quite large and should be a bit smaller. The scaling problem only exists when there is not enough screen to display all the windows. The grid has invisible boxes in which it puts the windows. The size of those boxes are limited. That's why the scaling is awkward when you have a lot of windows and a too small screen. It's a compromise: you can now display more windows when using Exposé but the window sizes are really awkward. They could have done it the old way but then you have windows with sensible sizes and a very broken Exposé since it is now unable to display a lot of windows. If you're looking for a window (which is the sole purpose of Exposé) you have to have some luck: the window you're looking for has to be among the displayed windows.

-it shows a "focus" (blue glow), that is not needed at all - I know, which Window, I am working with!

And that is absolutely the most dumbest thing I've ever heard/read. It is not about the window you're working with, it's about the window you've selected!
The blue colour is for highlighting a window. It's about showing the user which window has been highlighted. It's a visual reference so the user has a confirmation that whatever he wants highlighted is actually highlighted. It is also used in various other parts of the OS, applications and even things as websites (pulldown menus and such).

-it shows minimised windows (I minimised them, because I do not want to see them in the first place!)

It shows them because if you're looking for a window it might well be one of those minimised windows. It is especially useful when you have enabled the option to minimise windows to the corresponding dock icon. In that case there is no other way of knowing you have windows minimised.

-it unifies size of all windows, resulting in unreadability of fonts and a much harder identification

Exposé has always done that: make things unreadable and really hard to find. It did that when I used 10.4 and it still did when I used 10.5. Unfortunately I was stuck with that, there was no alternative. In 10.6 I'm still stuck with it but Apple finally gave me an alternative as I can now search the labels and use Dock Exposé (cmd-click on other dock icons is really nice, custom made Exposé). I can now actually find windows so no need to hide apps any more.

I think apple needs to give me the option to do what I want. It's a matter of preference I think. The OS should adapt to the user, not the other way around.

That would be ideal and also instant hell. If you have a lot of options people will get lost. Linux has the thing you want (it adapts to the user). Unfortunately it is also the number one reason why it fails: users hate the enormous choice they have. They just want to get one with it and not waste their time by having to go through all of those options. The problem is you can not satisfy every user which makes an OS that adapts to the user impossible. A very good example at what different users want is the continuing flamewar between KDE and GNOME.

But you're right, it really is a matter of preference and has a lot to do with the way people work. The main thing is that Exposé was always meant as a tool to let users find the windows they want: it's all about window management. OS X itself is a very windows based OS unlike Windows and windowmanagers like GNOME and KDE. Some people use Exposé differently, they tend to use it as a visual references to what window is where and they know what is inside a window and/or what it represents. That is quite differently from what Exposé is actually for. Maybe in this case just the option "use old Exposé" will be enough.

 

[miknos]

dyn,

Now I get it! To use the new exposé you need a massive screen! Do you have a 30'+ to like the new exposé?

The idea is nice to be inline/order BUT it leaves too much space unused. I wish I had a 10.5 installed to show how better is comparing to SL, anyways...

An example with only a 4 windows opened:
Example
Browser; The most important window is the most difficult to locate.

Now with many (it get even worse):
Example 2
In this one skype simply disappear. The only one you can recognize is the calculator.

 

[lordthistle]

Since you use disco, have you ever noticed its blue glow?

 

[devburke]

I miss the old Exposé too. In fact, it was the first thing that "wow"ed me about OS X and started me down the path that eventually led to me switching. The window scaling now is just flat-out, undeniably ridiculous. Little iChat buddy lists are taller than huge Safari windows. Having the titles under the windows is a nice touch I guess, but with the old-style scaling and placement, I could almost always find my windows instantly, visually. Sure I can identify windows by title now, but it's more of a search, whereas with old Exposé I could tell where my window was immediately, and switching windows occurred in one smooth motion (invoking Exposé and selecting the window). Now it's more like invoke, pause while I find the window, maybe check the titles or use the spacebar preview, select the window. Plus the windows are way too far apart now, wasting space and forcing the windows to be even smaller! Before they'd only be as small as they needed to be to fit on the screen.

Now new Exposé does have its points. For example, the titles under the window are a nice touch. Having the option to use spacebar to get a full size window is good too. I actually do like the blue highlight. I think showing minimized windows makes all the sense in the world when people are minimizing to the app's dock icon. Dock Exposé, while I don't really use it much, seems nice (and I do use it when dragging files between apps). Organization with cmd-1 or cmd-2 seems like it should be useful, but to me honest it just slows me down even more.

But all of its positives are minor, and in fact could be worked into the old-style scaling and placement. Give us the option to use old Exposé, with windows keeping their relative size and place and being closer together, while also putting the titles with them, allowing spacebar previews, showing minimized windows, allowing Dock Exposé, and what the hell, give us a blue outline too.

Sure old Exposé had a couple flaws. For example, if I only have Safari windows open, but have a ton of them, here's what I get (I'm on my parents' old Tiger machine now):

But if I show one other non-Safari, differently sized window, it gets a lot more useful (or would be if most of these windows were actually showing something other than Top Sites):

But those are fixable bugs, and ultimately old Exposé is still a lot more useful. I too would like a choice.

 

[devburke]

And I just submitted that above post almost word-for-word (obviously some things needed tweaking) to Apple at http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html. I suggest everyone who feels the same way submit feedback too.

 

[miknos]

Since you use disco, have you ever noticed its blue glow?

Seems like Disco "uses" that extra space for the smoke effect. It's not the best application but I like the easy drop & burn.

-------------------------------------

Devburke is right; EVERYONE (who is not pleased of course) should send a feedback to Apple. Put a rant here might be useful too because it gets more exposure. I believe somebody might come with a hack before Apple fix it.

The new exposé is "better" when you have a million windows open. I saw many users giving the example of many Browser windows. For that you should use TABS. If you use MANY apps at the same time, try using Spaces.

Having a "normal" amount of applications open, the "old" exposé makes you find the window you want instantly, specially, if they are from different sizes (another reason why you should use tabs).

 

[devburke]

I saw many users giving the example of many Browser windows. For that you should use TABS.

Exposé is precisely the reason I never use tabs in anything! It’s a lot easier to find the window I want in Exposé when I can see the whole thing than it is when I just have a little tab with the title of the page written on it. Plus, Exposé gives a much bigger mouse target. Even SL Exposé is better than tabs, IMHO.

 

[feuerschlange]

Exposé is precisely the reason I never use tabs in anything! It’s a lot easier to find the window I want in Exposé when I can see the whole thing than it is when I just have a little tab with the title of the page written on it. Plus, Exposé gives a much bigger mouse target. Even SL Exposé is better than tabs, IMHO.

I am a hundred open window guy during my work. That involves a lot of open windows at once (including safari windows) and the use of tabs, to sort sites into each window after a main topic.

Right now, I have a free day at home and only have 4 safari windows open:
one for surfing different internet boards, one for shopping on a Chinese ebay type site for different items, one for reading news on several news sites and one for casual search and find surfing.

I work very similar in Spaces. When I do post processing and web building I have set one space to have several related finder windows, Adobe Lightroom, Photoshop, one Safari window with server access and different uploaded pages for bug fixing open.

In another Space, I might have the casual other Safari windows open mentioned before.

Without a properly working Exposè (read: the old Exposè) I am toast.
Snow Leopard gave me a quite reasonable more snappiness in some places (boot and shut down is incredible fast, Lightroom is much more snappy,…) but in the whole picture slowed down my workflow immensely in having to jump hoops with the much more clunky new Exposè.

I hope, Apple fixes this and gives the optional old Exposè back for the people, who need it (and not a tweaked new Exposè with some old functionality).

 

[BlueTrance]

There it goes another petition of the old Exposé functionality...

I use Exposé to work, not to make some cool screenshots.

 

[devburke]

There it goes another petition of the old Exposé functionality...

I use Exposé to work, not to make some cool screenshots.

So do we all. And a lot of us worked more efficiently with the old Exposé.

 

[professorjay]

I'm torn. I like the new expose in that I like having the ability to see minimized windows/apps, but agree that it coiuld be a pain if you had a lot of minimized apps. If there were an option to turn off 'show in expose while minimized' for each app, I would be happy.

I personally disliked the different sized winodws of 'old' expose. Made me think that someone had upchucked on the screen.

Tom

That's funny. To me it doesn't seem very logical to show minimized apps, because I minimized them for a reason. Obviously different strokes for different folks. I agree a 'show in expose while minimized' would be a good solution for everyone.

What really gets me is that expose will show a minimized app even if it's in another space, which makes even less sense.

 

[lordthistle]

[...]
I use Exposé to work, not to make some cool screenshots.

Yes, that's exactly the reason why many people are complaining.

-- thistle

PS. Window labels are available also in Leopard. It's enough to press the 'option' key while in Expose and they appear.

 

[Richard1028]

To me it doesn't seem very logical to show minimized apps, because I minimized them for a reason.

Ditto this. Plus, the area to display these minimized apps takes up half the display... even if it's just one minimized app. Not good on a small 13" screen.

I'm also trying to figure out the Expose window-swapping logic. When going in and out of 4 different windows, I wish they'd just stay in the same position so I don't have to hunt for them. It's really not intuitive at all. (But I think Leopard did this to).

 

[wixberry]

I minimise into the applications icon rather than a new one in the dock so i like it, i really like the new expose.

+1 for that...

it makes the dock more simple and easy to accsess, click an icon and all the windows theres..love it

 

[Shodan]

I'm sorry, but some of the people here should return to their PC's.

"I hate the fact that Exposé shows my minimised Windows"

Exposé shows all Windows in use, minimised Windows are still being used - minimising them simply clears desk space.

If you want to hide a window, cmd+H is your friend!

C'mon people, this is OS X, not ****ing Windows.

Snow Leopard's Exposé was a big improvement over the original - do not expect Apple to revert change's to accommodate people who cannot use their Mac properly.

 

[lionheartednyhc]

I'm sorry, but some of the people here should return to their PC's.

"I hate the fact that Exposé shows my minimised Windows"

Exposé shows all Windows in use, minimised Windows are still being used - minimising them simply clears desk space.

If you want to hide a window, cmd+H is your friend!

C'mon people, this is OS X, not ****ing Windows.

Snow Leopard's Exposé was a big improvement over the original - do not expect Apple to revert change's to accommodate people who cannot use their Mac properly.

cmd h hides the entire program. Not the same thing.