Single Application Mode: My favorite hidden feature of OS X | Hacker News Reader

Single Application Mode: My favorite hidden feature of OS X

zackshapiro.com

14 pointszashapiro25 comments

Alternatively, hold Command+Option when switching apps to toggle "single app" mode. I.e., you switch apps and hide all others in a single step. I use it all the time.

Thanks! I didn't know about this. Personally, I like Single Application Mode so that I don't have to think about it. I throw every computer I have into Single App Mode when I get it.

Another alternative approach - fullscreen. Gives me more room on the 13" Macbook, and as the article says, you can just cmd-tab.

This works fine for browsers, terminals, but afaik the OSX builds of emacs don't ship with a fullscreen mode; so you just do M-x server-start, and in a fullscreened terminal run /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/MacOS/bin/emacsclient -nw

There is a working patch somewhere out there that adds lion fullscreen support to emacs.

Yes - in fact there are several. You can even do it with external apps (http://chpwn.com/apps/maximizer.html). But meh, this ancient macbook runs hot if you even ask it to show a flash video, I'm not going to set it on fire by asking it to compile emacs or run more stuff.

A week ago I finally got myself to patch my Emacs (24.1.1) using the procedure described here:

http://www.sanityinc.com/full-screen-support-for-cocoa-emacs...

Although that post (and the patch) is a bit dated, it worked fine for me (one hunk didn't apply cleanly but after reviewing it I decided it's obsolete, so I just ignored it.)

The result is just what I expected, I can't believe I waited that long before giving it a try. Highly recommended, if like me you prefer native Emacs over one running in a terminal.

(Somehow it even manages to avoid that annoying full-screen animation which so far I didn't manage to completely turn off for iTerm.)

Alternatively to the dock / defaults changes, you can just press Command+Alt+H

Nice find! Thanks chbrown.

My inkling is that your Hide Others and the basic Hide are seriously underused by OS X users.

Minimizing a window in to the Dock is only worth it if the app has another window(s) that you want to remain visible. If instead you Hide the app, it doesn't take any clicks to get it back, you just Cmd-Tab.

This article looks like an edited down version of this http://tidbits.com/article/10624

With no mention or link to the original work.

That was my mistake. I must have closed the tab by accident. Updating now. Thanks for catching this, cadooo.

Updated!

I usually just go fullscreen. One of the biggest peeves I have is that Chrome doesn't show the Omnibox (nor does it let you type a new url) while in fullscreen mode.

I do love Sublime Text 2's distraction free mode.

Chrome doesn't show the Omnibox

It does:

- View > Enter Full Screen mode -- with Omnibox and tabs.

- View > Enter Presentation mode -- without Omnibox or tabs.

Or click the little button on the right to switch between modes: http://i.imgur.com/GD1LX.png

Am I crazy or just stupid? I can't find (nor did I know there existed) anything like that.

I'm usually switching between Ubuntu and Windows 7.

I think I need to dig deeper in to the chrome settings.

Edit: Never mind, looks like an OSX only feature.

Oh, sorry, I thought you were talking about OS X and its recently introduced full screen mode, which Chrome initially supported without showing Omnibox.

I use CTR+tab to switch between windows, anything that would work for me?

I'm not familiar with single application mode for Windows. Sorry, grim :(

The question wasn't about Windows. The single-app setting only works when you use the Dock to switch apps, not when you use Command+Tab. I would like to know if there's a way to affect the latter as well.

Let me do some digging. I suspect not. I use Command + Tab to switch apps and then when I want to isolate I pull up my dock and click an icon (my dock is usually hidden).

Is there any xmonad alternative for mac?

yo zach, you from baltimore? go ravens!

I am indeed! Are you? Go Ravens!

yessir! also live in SF—our apartment is adorned with all sorts ravens paraphernalia.

We should hang out then! Shoot me an email zack @ zackshapiro.com and let's grab coffee and meet up! Maybe we'll end up watching a Ravens game together in the Fall!

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