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 Screenshot of the Exposé feature in Mac OS X 10.5 illustrating the "all windows" function. |
Exposé is a feature of the Mac OS X operating system. First previewed on 23 June 2003 at the Worldwide Developers Conference as a feature of the then forthcoming Mac OS X v10.3,[1] Exposé allows a user to quickly locate an open window, or to hide all windows and show the desktop without the need to click through many windows to find a specific target.
Exposé makes extensive use of undocumented features of the Core Graphics framework.
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Usage
Exposé includes three separate features for organizing windows:
- The "All windows" feature shows all open and unhidden windows, shrinking their appearance so they all fit on a single screen. By default, this can be activated on older keyboards using the F9 key or by pressing F4 key on the newer Apple aluminum keyboards and the Macbook keyboard.
- The "Application windows" feature shows all open and unhidden windows for the currently active application. Again, the windows shrink to appear on the screen together, but generally they shrink less because there are fewer windows in a single application compared to the system as a whole. During this mode, the user can conveniently cycle through windows of different applications by pressing the tab key. In the default preferences, this can be activated using the F10 key on older keyboards or by pressing Option F4 on newer Apple aluminum keyboards and the Macbook keyboard.
- The "Desktop" feature moves all windows off the screen, with just the edges of the windows visible at the side of the screen, giving the user clear access to the Desktop. In the default preferences, this can be activated using the F11 key or by pressing control F4 on newer Apple aluminum keyboards and the Macbook keyboard.
In the first two cases, after Exposé is activated, the user can select any window by clicking on it or selecting it with arrow keys and pressing Enter. Exposé then deactivates, leaving the selected window in the foreground. Using Apple's Mighty Mouse, it is possible to select a window using the Scroll Ball, by scrolling in the direction of that window.
The key used for activating Exposé can be customized to be any of the function keys, the shift, control, option or command key, the fn key on Mac laptops, or even a mouse button on multiple-button mice (including Apple's Mighty Mouse).
Exposé can also be activated by moving the mouse to a corner of the desktop using a feature called Active Screen Corners (which is off by default).
Exposé also works with Spaces, a new feature in Mac OS X Leopard, so that a user can see the windows in each desktop scaled down while looking at a scaled down version of each space.
Undocumented features
The "blob" is a hidden and undocumented interface to Exposé that was discovered by a member of the MacNN forums.[2] When clicked, it enables the "Application Windows" mode. When Option+clicked, it enables the "All Windows" mode.
Another undocumented feature of Exposé is for the show desktop function. It places all the open windows in a small box on the screen that can be moved to anywhere on the screen. Unfortunately this function has some bugs, after exiting the show desktop mode, the foremost window will not have a shadow and the user will not be able to move the window. However, this easily fixed by using the show all function (which is set to default F9).
Using the Shift key, Exposé can be activated in slow motion, just as Front Row, Dashboard and the minimise effect can. This is the same effect that was demonstrated by Steve Jobs during the unveiling of Exposé during the 2003 Worldwide Developers Conference.[3]
Similar applications
Similar effects are used on other operating systems.
Compiz is a compositing window manager for systems using the X Window System. This provides some similar functionality to Expose, notably the scale plugin.
Microsoft Windows Vista provides a feature called Windows Flip 3D, which has a vaguely similar purpose. Flip 3D allows a user to flip through all open windows in a manner similar to how the application switcher works (alt+tab). A downside to this method is that the frontmost window covers a significant portion of the other windows, unlike Exposé. However, Vista's Desktop Window Manager exposes a public API that allows any application to access the same thumbnail representations that Flip3D uses, and so there are a number of third party add-ons that are able to provide Exposé-like in Vista; most prominently Switcher [1].
Microsoft's Intellipoint Software for Microsoft Mice has had a somewhat similar feature to Expose since 2002; but one that works with static images of windows, rather than live representations as Expose and Flip3D do.
The Korean website www.docs.kr [2] produces freeware applications that perform Exposé-like tasks with similar graphics in Microsoft Windows XP.
See also
References
- ^ "Apple Previews Mac OS X “Panther”". Apple Press Release Library (June 23, 2003). Retrieved on 2006-08-19.
- ^ Luke Sands (October 9 2003). "wvous: 'Hidden' Dock Feature". MacNN forums. Retrieved on 2006-08-20.
- ^ "Mac OS X Panther - Expose". YouTube (September 7, 2007).
