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Comment by macintux | Hacker News Reader

> Very hard to do multi tasking with it.

I think that's one of the appeals to full-screen mode: the ability to focus with limited distractions. I don't think it's designed for multitasking.

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No, many of my colleagues do this, using desktops. They use the four finger swap left/right to switch between the different fullscreen apps. It's their main multitasking method.

I think it's partly because alt + tab does not exist on Mac. Command + tab is between applications rather than windows. Command + ~ is between windows within an application. I had to downloaded HyperSwitch to get the same functionality.

edit: HyperSwitch is free. HyperDock is what I paid for.

https://alt-tab-macos.netlify.app/ (free, GPLv3) is one of the first things I install on any macOS setup.

(and of course, ⌘ ` opens the terminal on all of my machines)

Three/four finger swipe is unbearably slow for me. I'm ready to interact with 0.3s but then I have to watch the image slide the last 10 pixels for another 0.3s before focus switches (and if I use the keyboard before it's finished switching the input goes to the now-99%-invisible app that was previously focused!!)

[numbers made up, I don't know the exact values, but the general point still stands, and you can't change the speed!!]

In full screen mode, there’s even a split-screen feature.

I use shortcuts to split windows with rectangle app all the time it’s really more powerful than split screen

Fwiw I discovered rcmd a few years ago and it changed my workflow to attribute an app to a shortcut. I switch through cmd-tab less often and I’m really more productive. I can’t live without it now

https://lowtechguys.com/rcmd/

Losing right cmd isn’t great IMO (e.g. if you want to press ⌘ P, you need both hands now). I’ve tried doing both cmds for launching apps, but settled on ⌘+⌥ (and use it for very common apps only: browser, mail, Telegram, Finder).

Both variants (and of course an rcmd-like setup) are easy to do with Karabiner (free, Unlicense): https://karabiner-elements.pqrs.org/

Edit: looks like rcmd also includes a quasi-modal app switcher - if it works like I imagine (type the name of the app you want), that’s pretty neat. But not that different from just typing it into Spotlight I guess?

Yes I sacrificed the right ⌘ but the gain I have all day compensate for the few times I have to do ⌘ + p in one hand. You can cycle through and have a switcher yes. It’s really instantaneous to switch apps for me and I gain so much time for the main apps I use. You can summon them from any screen and virtual screen and it goes right to it without an other modal in the middle. All other tools I tried didn’t offer the same flawless UX

Agreed. I personally reduce distractions and maximize screen space by setting the dock and menu bar to auto-hide, and by maximizing windows to achieve a full-screen-like effect while still allowing quick window switching with Cmd+Tab.

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