At risk of digging up an older thread, the Mac OS X website feedback is largely useless in my opinion. If you really want to kick up a fuss start submitting radar tickets to the devs -
http://radar.apple.com.
And further, I can't let this slide.
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.
Missing the point. There are two primary strategies here - a) visual search, and b) memory recollection. We have very strong spatial memory capability (e.g. remembering the position of things relative to something - in this case a screen). Because of it's dynamic nature, expose can't really utilise spatial memory THAT much, other than keeping windows close to their original locations to remove some of the search area (sometimes the old version failed at this, but the algorithm clearly tries to keep them close). What happens is that we degrade to a visual search technique (i.e. we don't know where the thing we need to click is and have to inspect on a one-by-one basis each element until we find it - SLOW).
While working, we know the position of our windows (largley) - this is our powerful spatial memory at work. In old expose, these windows moved a minimal amount from their locations and displayed visual cues about a) position, b) relative size of the window, and c) contents. The window title is largely irrelevant because we aren't actively aware of it, and it the window size, shape and contents give higher entropy. The idea seemed to be that our spatial memory should give us a base area to look for the window in, then we would have to visually search that area of the screen in the expose view for the exact window. The new expose extends this base area to the whole screen, instead of a small part, and removes some of the most important cues used to identify and differentiate window thumbnails.
Now I haven't researched this, but with an educated guess I'd say that in general, the size and shape of the window are the most important cues, followed by the relative position, and finally the actual contents. With the new expose, apple has effectively removed our ability to ascertain the shape and size of windows and
forced us to a contents or title search. This technique is slower (for me, and I suspect for many others given how many are complaining) than the old technique.
Typing, sorting, even reading the title are all techniques that basically mean expose has failed in its job. With the old expose, i
never had to use these functions, and would have
already switched by the time I need them in 10.6.
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.
A second or two is a lifetime in UI interactions. I'm well aware that the single mode has always worked that way. What I'm saying is that the new functionality they added is useless and poorly conceived.
Apple's way:
- Locate the target (open loop, maybe 100ms)
- Accurately fix on the target (closed loop, maybe another 100ms)
- Click (20ms)
- Hold (1000ms)
- Re-orient yourself. Approx total: 1200ms
A better way:
- Locate the target (open loop, maybe 100ms)
- Accurately fix on the target (closed loop, maybe another 100ms)
- Button press (20ms if it's on the mouse, 50-100ms if it isn't)
- Re-orient yourself. Approx total: 300ms
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.
Yeah, I'm frustrated. But I'm not just blurting - HCI is my area of expertise - task switching is too, in fact - I've done plenty of research and unlike many I can identify exactly why the new expose is slowing me down in comparison to the old.
Let's not get dogged down in semantics here. Expose's primary use is to find a window very quickly and interact with it - whether that involves switching to said window, or dragging a proxy onto it, the point is the same. The new expose slows this process down to a point where I'm finding myself hugely frustrated with it even a month after SL's release.
It's not up to the user to 'readjust' their ideas about expose. It's a tool, and while tool designers have an idea about what they think their tool should be used for, ultimately it's up to the end user. As a tool designer I would be hugely arrogant if I expected my users to conform to MY model alone.
That's why HCI research is around - to find out how users interact with tools and measure these interactions. It's something Microsoft knows a LOT about (Robertson, Horvitz, Baudisch et al take a bow), and Apple consistently seems to shunt (publically, at least).
