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I've seen online many people asking how to make Command+Tab work more like in Windows, such as this post. I guess I don't understand the rationale of why Apple would implement the functionality the way it did in the following use case:

I have many windows open: some minimized, some not. I can Command+Tab cycle through the open applications. When I stop on a window that is un-minimized, it brings it to the foreground. I'm on-board with that functionality. When I stop at a window that is minimized, nothing happens.

It seems like I have issued a command to my machine but there is no effect after I'm done. People just take this to be 'how Apple did it', but it sounds more like a bug to me. Whats the rationale for this being the expected behavior?

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Carlos Bribiescas
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Tetsuyin tried to explain it already but you are not “getting” it.

Let me try :-)

First coming from Windows you must learn (when working with OSX) that OSX makes a difference between the application and the “user” windows spawn from this application (usually by choosing “new” in the application menu bar) The application menu bar is the bar on TOP of your screen. When hitting command tab you will see (when having multiple applications open) the menu bar changing. Now this is the crucial one: the application menu bar does NOT reside inside the windows spawn by the app but OUTSIDE these windows. Hence command tab only switches the menu bar when no (not minimized windows) are available. However by hitting command tab you DID switch the application (look at the top of your screen). If you want to loop over your windows (minimized or not) I suggest you take a look at witch.app (http://manytricks.com/witch/)

hth

Bart

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