Exposé is a feature of the
Mac OS XMac OS X is a line of computer operating systems developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc., and since 2002 has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
operating systemAn operating system is an interface between hardware and user which is responsible for the management and coordination of activities and the sharing of the resources of the computer that acts as a host for computing applications run on the machine. As a host, one of the purposes of an operating...
. First previewed on 23 June 2003 at the
Worldwide Developers ConferenceThe Apple Worldwide Developers Conference, commonly abbreviated WWDC, is a conference held annually in California by Apple Inc. The conference is primarily used by Apple to showcase its new software and technologies for developers, as well as offering hands-on labs and feedback sessions...
as a feature of the then forthcoming
Mac OS X v10.3Mac OS X version 10.3 “Panther” is the fourth major release of Mac OS X, Apple’s desktop and server operating system. It followed Mac OS X v10.2 “Jaguar” and preceded Mac OS X v10.4 “Tiger”...
, 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.
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.
Exposé is a feature of the
Mac OS XMac OS X is a line of computer operating systems developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc., and since 2002 has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
operating systemAn operating system is an interface between hardware and user which is responsible for the management and coordination of activities and the sharing of the resources of the computer that acts as a host for computing applications run on the machine. As a host, one of the purposes of an operating...
. First previewed on 23 June 2003 at the
Worldwide Developers ConferenceThe Apple Worldwide Developers Conference, commonly abbreviated WWDC, is a conference held annually in California by Apple Inc. The conference is primarily used by Apple to showcase its new software and technologies for developers, as well as offering hands-on labs and feedback sessions...
as a feature of the then forthcoming
Mac OS X v10.3Mac OS X version 10.3 “Panther” is the fourth major release of Mac OS X, Apple’s desktop and server operating system. It followed Mac OS X v10.2 “Jaguar” and preceded Mac OS X v10.4 “Tiger”...
, 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.
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
A function key is a key on a computer or terminal keyboard which can be programmed so as to cause an operating system command interpreter or application program to perform certain actions...
key or by pressing F3A function key is a key on a computer or terminal keyboard which can be programmed so as to cause an operating system command interpreter or application program to perform certain actions...
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 Control F3
A function key is a key on a computer or terminal keyboard which can be programmed so as to cause an operating system command interpreter or application program to perform certain actions...
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 graphical computing, a desktop environment commonly refers to a style of graphical user interface that is based on the desktop metaphor which can be seen on most modern personal computers today...
. In the default preferences, this can be activated using the F11 key or by pressing CommandThe Command key, also historically known as the Apple key or open-Apple key, is a modifier key present on Apple Keyboards. An "extended" Macintosh keyboard—the most common type—has two command keys, one on each side of the space bar; some compact keyboards have one only on the...
F3A function key is a key on a computer or terminal keyboard which can be programmed so as to cause an operating system command interpreter or application program to perform certain actions...
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 MouseThe Apple Mouse is a buttonless USB mouse manufactured and sold by Apple Inc.. It was announced and sold for the first time on August 2, 2005, and a Bluetooth version was available from 2006 to 2009...
, 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 keyFn, or 'Function,' is a modifier key on many keyboards, especially on laptops, used in a compact layout to combine keys which are usually kept separate. It is typically found on laptops, since a full sized keyboard would be difficult to fit in a laptop chassis. It is also found in many full-sized...
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). It can also be activated with a four-finger gesture on the trackpad (only on the current-generation Macbook and Macbook Pro.)
Exposé also works with
SpacesSpaces is a virtual desktop feature developed by Apple Inc. which has been an integral part of Apple's operating systems since Mac OS X v10.5 "Leopard". It was announced by Steve Jobs during the opening keynote at the Worldwide Developers Conference on August 7, 2006...
, 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.
Changes in Exposé
When Exposé first premiered in 2003, it could be controlled using the F9, F10 and F11 keys.
The Exposé shortcut keys were moved to the F3 key to make room for the "rewind", "play/pause" and "fast forward" keys. On Mac keyboards made after 2004, Exposé can be activated by using the F3 key or in combination with the command key, or on the trackpad of Macbooks supporting multi-touch interface.
Mac computer keypads made after 2004 have F9, F10 and F11 keys controlling mute, lower-volume and raise-volume - this change was to make room for three new keys added to the top row: rewind, play/pause and forward.
Undocumented features
The "blob" is a hidden and undocumented interface to Exposé that was discovered by a member of the MacNN forums. 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. It also had another bug that causes an area of screen the width of the minimised preview to become unresponsive to mouse clicks requiring the windowserver to be restarted.
Using the
Shift keyThe shift key is a modifier key on a keyboard, used to type capital letters and other alternate "upper" characters. There are typically two shift keys, on the left and right sides of the row below the home row...
, Exposé can be activated in
slow motionSlow motion or slowmo is an effect in film-making whereby time appears to be slowed down. It was invented by Austrian August Musger. Typically this style is achieved when each film frame is captured at a rate much faster than it will be played back. When replayed at normal speed, time appears to be...
, just as
Front RowFront Row is media center software for Apple's Macintosh computers and Apple TV with a 10-foot user interface design for the living-room TV for viewing and downloading video, photos, podcasts, and music from a computer, optical disk, networks using iTunes or iPhoto, and the Internet using an Apple...
,
DashboardDashboard is an application for Apple's Mac OS X operating systems, used for hosting mini-applications known as widgets. First introduced in Tiger, it is a semi-transparent layer that is invisible to the user unless activated by clicking its icon in the Dock...
, the minimise effect and several other animations can. This is the same effect that was demonstrated by
Steve JobsSteven Paul "Steve" Jobs is an American businessman, and the co-founder and chief executive officer of Apple Inc. Jobs previously served as CEO of Pixar Animation Studios....
during the unveiling of Exposé during the 2003 Worldwide Developers Conference.
Similar applications
Similar effects are used on other operating systems.
CompizCompiz is one of the first compositing window managers for the X Window System that uses 3D graphics hardware to create fast compositing desktop effects for window management. The effects, such as a minimization effect and a cube workspace are implemented as loadable plugins...
and
KWinIn Unix computing, KWin is a window manager for the X Window System. It is an integral part of the K Desktop Environment , although it can be used on its own or with other desktop environments.- History :- Look and feel :...
are compositing window managers for systems using the
X Window SystemThe X Window System is a computer software system and network protocol that provides a graphical user interface for networked computers, and was initially developed as part of Project Athena...
. Both provide similar functionality to Exposé, notably the scale plugin in Compiz and the present windows effect in KWin.
Microsoft WindowsMicrosoft Windows is a series of software operating systems and graphical user interfaces produced by Microsoft. Microsoft first introduced an operating environment named Windows in November 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces...
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. On the other hand, this allows the user to see the contents of the frontmost window, while this can be difficult in Exposé, especially if the user has a large number of windows open. However, Vista's
Desktop Window ManagerDesktop Window Manager is the desktop graphical user interface system in Windows Vista and Windows 7 that enables the Windows Aero graphical user interface and visual theme. The Desktop Window Manager requires video cards supporting DirectX 9.0 and Shader Model 2.0...
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 functionality in Vista.
Microsoft's Intellipoint Software for Microsoft Mice has had a somewhat similar feature to Exposé, but one that works with static images of windows, rather than live representations as Exposé and Flip3D do. Additionally, several freeware Windows applications exist to emulate the functionality of Exposé.
See also
- Dashboard (software)
Dashboard is an application for Apple's Mac OS X operating systems, used for hosting mini-applications known as widgets. First introduced in Tiger, it is a semi-transparent layer that is invisible to the user unless activated by clicking its icon in the Dock...
- Taskbar
In computing, the taskbar is a term for an application desktop bar which is used to launch and monitor applications. Microsoft incorporated a taskbar in Windows 95 and it has been a defining aspect of Microsoft Windows's graphical user interface ever since. Other desktop environments, such as KDE...
- Zooming User Interface
In computing, a zooming user interface or zoomable user interface is a graphical environment where users can change the scale of the viewed area in order to see more detail or less, and browse through different documents. A ZUI is a type of graphical user interface...
- Exposé clone
Exposé clone is a computer software which mimics the window switching feature of Mac OS X operating system called Exposé . This type of software excludes the Mac OS X platform and is usually developed for Microsoft Windows or Linux...