Subject: Re: [Witch Talk] Slow to switch to new window after releasing hotkeys?

From: Rob Griffiths <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 11 Jul 2015 05:59:51 -0700

On Jul 11, 2015, at 1:09 AM, Asish Abraham <[email-masked]> wrote:

> Is there a way to order the windows by launch order. I know there is an option to sort by application launch order but the windows under each application are still ordered by activity order.

Not in Witch 3; we're starting to look at Witch 4, and that may be an option there.

> I would like an option to see all the windows by launch order and also with an ability to rearrange the window order manually by dragging up and down. Is this possible?

At present, you cannot reorder the list manually. We'll keep the suggestion in mind as we look at Witch 4.

regards,
-rob.

---

From: Asish Abraham <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 11 Jul 2015 01:09:58 -0700 (PDT)

Hi,

Is there a way to order the windows by launch order. I know there is an 
option to sort by application launch order but the windows under each 
application are still ordered by activity order.

I would like an option to see all the windows by launch order and also with 
an ability to rearrange the window order manually by dragging up and down. 
Is this possible?

Thanks,
Asish

On Monday, March 17, 2014 at 7:55:51 AM UTC-7, Many Tricks wrote:
>
> On Mar 17, 2014, at 7:54 AM, Tang Dustin <[email-masked] <javascript:>> 
> wrote: 
>
> > By far, I google the solution to hide app in CMD+Tab, it seems not work 
> in Mavericks. 
>
> It works fine in Mavericks: Press Command-Tab to activate the switcher, 
> press Tab until you reach the app you wish to hide, then press H. I just 
> tested to confirm, and it's working as it always has. 
>
> > But I found that I can lower down the delay of app response time to 
> 100ms, I can accept app not show if it can not response in time. 
>
> That's a good balance. 
>
> > and yes, when I open some java application, it tends to be slow. 
>
> The Java apps are very very slow at responding to our queries; I imagine 
> it's something on the OS X side of Java, but what, who knows. 
>
> regards, 
> -rob.

---

From: Rob Griffiths <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 17 Mar 2014 07:55:51 -0700

On Mar 17, 2014, at 7:54 AM, Tang Dustin <[email-masked]> wrote:

> By far, I google the solution to hide app in CMD+Tab, it seems not work in Mavericks. 

It works fine in Mavericks: Press Command-Tab to activate the switcher, press Tab until you reach the app you wish to hide, then press H. I just tested to confirm, and it's working as it always has.

> But I found that I can lower down the delay of app response time to 100ms, I can accept app not show if it can not response in time.

That's a good balance.

> and yes, when I open some java application, it tends to be slow.

The Java apps are very very slow at responding to our queries; I imagine it's something on the OS X side of Java, but what, who knows.

regards,
-rob.

---

From: Tang Dustin <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 17 Mar 2014 07:54:10 -0700 (PDT)

By far, I google the solution to hide app in CMD+Tab, it seems not work in 
Mavericks. 
But I found that I can lower down the delay of app response time to 100ms, 
I can accept app not show if it can not response in time.

thanks for you reply, I'll stick with witch.

在 2014年3月17日星期一UTC+8下午9时16分10秒，Many Tricks写道：
>
> On Mar 17, 2014, at 12:55 AM, Tang Dustin <[email-masked] <javascript:>> 
> wrote: 
>
> > For example, I only use witch to hide applications which I don't want to 
> show, it doesn't matter if I can see screenshot or windows names, 
> application icon is good enough for me. 
>
> If that's really all you use Witch for, you should (honestly) use the 
> Command-Tab app switcher. It can hide applications as you switch, too, and 
> because (a) it doesn't list windows and (b) Apple can use whatever API they 
> like, it's fast. 
>
> Witch is primarily designed to be a window, not app, switcher; with that 
> comes the need to list the windows, which means we have to find the windows 
> to list, and that takes a bit of time. For most users, the speed is more 
> than quick enough, but those who use certain Java apps, and certain other 
> programs (Chrome with Flash running, for example), may find the response 
> unacceptably slow. 
>
> > Slow response is unacceptable for an app of doing switch app... 
>
> Unacceptable but unavoidable for now unless we use an API that Apple has 
> told developers to not use, and that may not work going forward. We're 
> looking into ways to improve performance in the future, but it simply may 
> not be possible. It's certainly in our best interest to make it as fast as 
> possible, but we're limited by what the OS will let us do. 
>
> If you're not satisfied with Witch's performance, please feel free to 
> request a refund -- I certainly don't want someone trying to use something 
> they're not happy with. 
>
> regards, 
> -rob.

---

From: Rob Griffiths <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 17 Mar 2014 06:16:10 -0700

On Mar 17, 2014, at 12:55 AM, Tang Dustin <[email-masked]> wrote:

> For example, I only use witch to hide applications which I don't want to show, it doesn't matter if I can see screenshot or windows names, application icon is good enough for me. 

If that's really all you use Witch for, you should (honestly) use the Command-Tab app switcher. It can hide applications as you switch, too, and because (a) it doesn't list windows and (b) Apple can use whatever API they like, it's fast.

Witch is primarily designed to be a window, not app, switcher; with that comes the need to list the windows, which means we have to find the windows to list, and that takes a bit of time. For most users, the speed is more than quick enough, but those who use certain Java apps, and certain other programs (Chrome with Flash running, for example), may find the response unacceptably slow.

> Slow response is unacceptable for an app of doing switch app...

Unacceptable but unavoidable for now unless we use an API that Apple has told developers to not use, and that may not work going forward. We're looking into ways to improve performance in the future, but it simply may not be possible. It's certainly in our best interest to make it as fast as possible, but we're limited by what the OS will let us do.

If you're not satisfied with Witch's performance, please feel free to request a refund -- I certainly don't want someone trying to use something they're not happy with.

regards,
-rob.

---

From: Tang Dustin <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 17 Mar 2014 00:55:33 -0700 (PDT)

>From my perspective, Witch should have another way to bring list quicker.

在 2012年2月14日星期二UTC+8下午10时40分42秒，Many Tricks写道：
>
> On Feb 14, 2012, at 1:05 AM, David Yang wrote:
>
> > Hi Rob - understood.  I turned off some options and it seems to stick a 
> bit less (only showing application icons instead of document icons).
>
> Yes, that makes a notable difference. 
>
> >  Is there a list somewhere of other options that might be able to be 
> turned off to increase speed?
>
> Disabling previews (if shown on hover) can help; you can still bring them 
> up by pressing the space bar. That's about the only other setting that 
> would affect the delay. (You could try moving the application timeout 
> slider to 0 ms, but then you'd probably miss apps in the switcher panel, as 
> they wouldn't have time to reply to our inquiry.)
>
> regards,
> -rob.
>
>

---

From: Rob Griffiths <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 14 Feb 2012 06:40:42 -0800

On Feb 14, 2012, at 1:05 AM, David Yang wrote:

> Hi Rob - understood.  I turned off some options and it seems to stick a bit less (only showing application icons instead of document icons).

>  Is there a list somewhere of other options that might be able to be turned off to increase speed?

Disabling previews (if shown on hover) can help; you can still bring them up by pressing the space bar. That's about the only other setting that would affect the delay. (You could try moving the application timeout slider to 0 ms, but then you'd probably miss apps in the switcher panel, as they wouldn't have time to reply to our inquiry.)

regards,
-rob.

---

From: David Yang <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 14 Feb 2012 04:05:58 -0500

Hi Rob - understood.  I turned off some options and it seems to stick a bit less (only showing application icons instead of document icons).  Is there a list somewhere of other options that might be able to be turned off to increase speed? 

On Tuesday, February 14, 2012 at 1:33 AM, Rob Griffiths wrote:

> On Feb 13, 2012, at 10:21 PM, David Yang wrote:
> 
> > Hi Rob - thanks for the tip. It did seem to help a bit but I still feel that Witch is a bit sticky if I switch to an app and then want to switch back. When I say Sticky, I mean that it doesn't fade out fast enough on the second tab switch. I wonder if it's just a remnant of not being built into the OS or something but I definitely perceive it to be there.
> 
> Witch does a lot more than the Command-Tab switcher, and it's somewhat at the mercy of other applications -- we have to query each app to find its open windows, and we have to do this every time you invoke the switcher, as the list can change. As a result, it is slower than the built-in method. 
> 
> How much slower, though, depends on how many open windows and in which apps those windows are open (some apps are faster to respond than are others).
> 
> regards;
> -rob.
> 
> -- 
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Witch Talk group. To post to this group, send email to [email-masked] (mailto:[email-masked]). To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email-masked] (mailto:[email-masked]).
> 
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---

From: Rob Griffiths <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 13 Feb 2012 22:33:41 -0800

regards;
-rob.

---

From: David Yang <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 14 Feb 2012 01:21:55 -0500

-- 
David Yang

On Sunday, February 12, 2012 at 10:59 AM, Rob Griffiths wrote:

> On Feb 11, 2012, at 7:22 PM, David Yang wrote:
> 
> > When I say slow, I mean measured in probably 500ms-1s, but sometimes
> > when I am moving back and forth between windows rapidly, I'll release
> > Command Tab and the Witch window will remain a bit longer than I'm
> > used to with OSX's native Finder switcher. Is there a way to control
> > this?
> > 
> 
> 
> Maybe ... you can remove the fadeout effect from the panel using a Terminal command; it's detailed in Witch's help, in the Tips and Tricks section ("Disable Witch's fade-out delay").
> 
> regards,
> -rob.
> 
> --

---

From: Rob Griffiths <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 12 Feb 2012 07:59:43 -0800

regards,
-rob.

---

From: David Yang <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 11 Feb 2012 19:22:29 -0800 (PST)