Exposé (Mac OS X)
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Exposé is a window management tool built-in to releases of the Mac OS X operating system starting with 10.3. It allows a user to quickly see open windows by two different sets of criteria, or to hide all windows and show the desktop without the need to click through many windows to find a specific target. A number of Exposé clones exist as separate applications for other operating systems.
Usage
Exposé includes three separate functions for organized windows:
- Exposé can show all open and unhidden windows, shrinking their appearance so they all fit on a single screen. By default, this can be activated using the F9 key.
- Exposé can show 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.
- Exposé can move all windows off the screen, giving the user clear access to the Desktop. In the default preferences, this can be activated using the F11 key.
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 PowerBooks and iBooks, or even a mouse button on multiple-button mice (such as Apple's Mighty Mouse).
Exposé can also be activated by simply moving the mouse to a corner of the desktop using a feature called hot corners.
The Quartz Compositor ensures that the animations and rescaling are quick and smooth.
Exposé blob
The "blob" is a hidden and undocumented interface to Exposé. When clicked, it enables the "Application Windows" mode. When Option+clicked, it enables the "All Windows" mode. Holding down Shift and clicking or Option+clicking causes the Exposé effect to occur in slow motion.
To enable the blob, enter the following commands in Terminal (/Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app):
defaults write com.apple.dock wvous-floater -bool truekillall Dock
true with false.Clones
Exposé was introduced with Mac OS X v10.3 ("Panther") in October 2003. Since then, several applications for Microsoft Windows and X Window System (i.e. Unix/Linux) have duplicated its functionality. A new feature in Microsoft's upcoming Windows Vista operating system, "Windows Flip 3D", also bears a slight resemblance to Exposé. Similar features are also available on Unix/Linux systems with Komposé, an Exposé clone for KDE, and Compiz, which contains built-in Exposé functionality.See also
External links
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