Re: Apple GUI Bug

From	Alan <nuh-uh@nope.com>
Newsgroups	comp.os.linux.advocacy, comp.sys.mac.advocacy
Subject	Re: Apple GUI Bug
Date	2026-05-10 21:42 -0700
Organization	A noiseless patient Spider
Message-ID	<10trmoj$s464$2@dont-email.me> (permalink)
References	<10tqodl$kc60$3@dont-email.me>

Cross-posted to 2 groups.

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On 2026-05-10 13:05, Lawrence D’Oliveiro wrote:
> I remember coming across this little quirk in the early days of OS X.
> That was decades ago. And then when I asked about it a few years
> later, someone confirmed it was still there. I haven’t touched a
> (newer) Mac lately, so I wonder if it’s fixed yet: feel free to try
> and let me know.
> 
> In normal multiwindow GUIs, windows are independent of each other in
> the stacking order, even if they might be owned by the same
> application. Not so on macOS: there seems to be some weird connection
> between windows belonging to the same application, which doesn’t
> really make sense from a UI standpoint.
> 
> To illustrate, let’s say you have two windows, A1 and A2, belonging to
> application A, and a single window B1 belonging to application B.
> Let’s say their stacking order, from top to bottom, looks like this:
> 
>      A2
>      B1
>      A1
> 
> So in this stacking, window A2 is the active (topmost) one. Suppose
> the user closes window A2: which window becomes active next?
> 
> You would expect B1 to be the active window now. And in all normal
> multiwindow GUIs (including regular Unix and Linux ones), this would
> be true. But on macOS, it’s not: instead, the next window to become
> active is the next window from the same app, namely A1!
> 
> Where is there any sense in this from a UI standpoint? I can’t think
> of any. If the user chooses to stack the windows in that order, surely
> they did so for a reason, so why should the system behave otherwise?
> If they wanted A1 to be the next window to come forward after A2, they
> can choose to stack things that way. And on normal GUIs, they have the
> choice.

By "bug" you mean:

"mode of operation I don't agree with".

Just to be completely clear.

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Apple GUI Bug Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-05-10 20:05 +0000
  Re: Apple GUI Bug Brock McNuggets <brock.mcnuggets@gmail.com> - 2026-05-10 20:34 +0000
    Re: Apple GUI Bug Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-05-10 22:41 +0000
      Re: Apple GUI Bug Brock McNuggets <brock.mcnuggets@gmail.com> - 2026-05-10 22:58 +0000
        Re: Apple GUI Bug Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-05-10 23:07 +0000
          Re: Apple GUI Bug Brock McNuggets <brock.mcnuggets@gmail.com> - 2026-05-10 23:42 +0000
  Re: Apple GUI Bug CrudeSausage <crude@sausa.ge> - 2026-05-10 17:45 -0400
    Re: Apple GUI Bug Brock McNuggets <brock.mcnuggets@gmail.com> - 2026-05-10 22:36 +0000
      Re: Apple GUI Bug Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-05-10 22:38 +0000
        Re: Apple GUI Bug Brock McNuggets <brock.mcnuggets@gmail.com> - 2026-05-10 23:03 +0000
          Re: Apple GUI Bug Jim <slimjimmy1959@yahoomail.com> - 2026-05-10 23:47 +0000
            Re: Apple GUI Bug Brock McNuggets <brock.mcnuggets@gmail.com> - 2026-05-11 00:08 +0000
  Re: Apple GUI Bug Nick Charles <none@none.none> - 2026-05-10 22:56 -0400
    Re: Apple GUI Bug Brock McNuggets <brock.mcnuggets@gmail.com> - 2026-05-11 03:26 +0000
    Re: Apple GUI Bug Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-05-11 03:27 +0000
      Re: Apple GUI Bug Brock McNuggets <brock.mcnuggets@gmail.com> - 2026-05-11 05:18 +0000
        Re: Apple GUI Bug Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-05-11 05:42 +0000
          Re: Apple GUI Bug Brock McNuggets <brock.mcnuggets@gmail.com> - 2026-05-11 05:50 +0000
            Re: Apple GUI Bug Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-05-11 06:19 +0000
              Re: Apple GUI Bug Brock McNuggets <brock.mcnuggets@gmail.com> - 2026-05-11 06:44 +0000
                Re: Apple GUI Bug Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-05-12 02:46 +0000
                Re: Apple GUI Bug Brock McNuggets <Brock.McNuggets@gmail.com> - 2026-05-12 03:04 +0000
          Re: Apple GUI Bug Alan <nuh-uh@nope.com> - 2026-05-11 11:34 -0700
            Re: Apple GUI Bug Brock McNuggets <Brock.McNuggets@gmail.com> - 2026-05-11 18:47 +0000
              Re: Apple GUI Bug Brock McNuggets <Brock.McNuggets@gmail.com> - 2026-05-11 18:59 +0000
                Re: Apple GUI Bug Brock McNuggets <Brock.McNuggets@gmail.com> - 2026-05-11 19:25 +0000
                Re: Apple GUI Bug Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-05-11 22:40 +0000
                Re: Apple GUI Bug Brock McNuggets <brock.mcnuggets@gmail.com> - 2026-05-11 22:53 +0000
                Re: Apple GUI Bug Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-05-12 02:50 +0000
                Re: Apple GUI Bug Brock McNuggets <Brock.McNuggets@gmail.com> - 2026-05-12 03:07 +0000
                Re: Apple GUI Bug Chris <Christech@protonmail.com> - 2026-05-12 01:41 +0000
                Re: Apple GUI Bug Brock McNuggets <brock.mcnuggets@gmail.com> - 2026-05-12 01:45 +0000
  Re: Apple GUI Bug Alan <nuh-uh@nope.com> - 2026-05-10 21:42 -0700

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