Leopard and Layout Switching
Having recently moved from Windows to Mac OS X Leopard, I, of course, ran into a lot of unusual things. Numerous differences of this system make you think a lot, because it becomes interesting: why the developers have done just that. Because from them - from developers - you expect a thorough approach to the details of the interface. I would like to think about one such detail out loud and listen to knowledgeable people. This is a keyboard layout switch.
One of the differences between Mac OS and Windows regarding keyboard layouts is that in Windows, when you switch to another application, the current layout is remembered, and then restored on return. (I read somewhere that the same behavior was also characteristic of Tiger). Why is Leopard wrong?
Perhaps the reason lies in the desire to avoid the regimes (which I personally like). Here is what Jeff Raskin writes about:
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That is, so that the user doesn’t have to keep track of which application is active, so that the layouts do not switch as if spontaneously, perhaps it was done the way it was done.
But then the question arises, why is it not possible to customize keyboard shortcuts to switch to a specific layout? (Or simply I did not find where). You can configure switching to the next and previous layouts, but this also generates modes. Before typing something, I have to check which layout is now enabled, because it is not always "located in the locus of attention" or "in short-term memory."
Somehow it does not work out very consistently: in one place they got rid of the regimes, but not in the other, because of which, as a result, you have to endure some inconveniences.
What do you think about this?
One of the differences between Mac OS and Windows regarding keyboard layouts is that in Windows, when you switch to another application, the current layout is remembered, and then restored on return. (I read somewhere that the same behavior was also characteristic of Tiger). Why is Leopard wrong?
Perhaps the reason lies in the desire to avoid the regimes (which I personally like). Here is what Jeff Raskin writes about:
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If you are developing a modal interface, keep in mind that users will always make modal errors, except when the value of the state controlled by this mode is in the user's locus (and he can see it) or in his short-term memory. The task of the developers is to show that this mode is used correctly or that the advantages of this mode outweigh its inevitable disadvantages. However, it is safer to always avoid the use of modes in the design of interfaces.
"Interface: new directions in the design of computer systems", 3.2.2
That is, so that the user doesn’t have to keep track of which application is active, so that the layouts do not switch as if spontaneously, perhaps it was done the way it was done.
But then the question arises, why is it not possible to customize keyboard shortcuts to switch to a specific layout? (Or simply I did not find where). You can configure switching to the next and previous layouts, but this also generates modes. Before typing something, I have to check which layout is now enabled, because it is not always "located in the locus of attention" or "in short-term memory."
Somehow it does not work out very consistently: in one place they got rid of the regimes, but not in the other, because of which, as a result, you have to endure some inconveniences.
What do you think about this?
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/25285/
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