8 ms·

Command-Q

66 points by hamrickdavid 15y ago

amikula 15y ago
"Ever hit ⌘Q and accidentally quit an application when you really meant to press ⌘W and close a window?" At first I was really puzzled when I read this sentence...Q and W are so far apart on the Dvorak keyboard! ;-)
- DarthShrine 15y ago
  But Q is right above left-⌘ (and W above right-⌘) -- convenient for accidental mashing.
stephencelis 15y ago
I would have loved to have had this a year ago, or two, etc., but my accidental quits haven't been nearly as frustrating since upgrading to Lion. I can still see this being useful, though, especially with apps that are slow to implement resume functionality.
Pewpewarrows 15y ago
Just today I was wishing that Chrome's Hold-to-Quit functionality was an OS-wide feature. Thank you very much for creating this, it was an instant purchase in my book.
- tylerhall 15y ago
  Yep - Chrome is where I got the idea from. It's a great feature I wanted to see made system wide. Looking forward to everyone's feedback.
  - jimmybot 15y ago
    One thing that Chrome doesn't do is even when there are zero windows open, you still have to hold down Command-Q to quit. If no windows are open, there doesn't appear to be any danger in quitting right away--after all, the major mis-press is when you try to hit Command-W to close a window and instead hit Command-Q, but if there are no windows open, there's no reason to be hitting Command-W.
- paulirish 15y ago
  FWIW all: in Chrome, the setting is in the Chrome menu, not in preferences. Screenshot: http://paulirish.com/i/fcba70.png http://paulirish.com/i/fcba70.png
  - mofle 15y ago
    But it should really be in Preferences...
crccheck 15y ago
Seems to suffer the same limitation of Chrome's Hold-to-quit in that it doesn't work while in the application switcher.
- tylerhall 15y ago
  True, but I actually see that as a "feature". It's the one keyboard way you can quickly quit an app without going through the hold-and-wait. But I'm sure your workflow probably differs from mine. Noted.
whichdan 15y ago
I've been wanting/needing something like this forever. One thing I noticed is that the '30 days' menu item isn't removed until the app is restarted. Maybe you could automatically restart the app after registration?
- tylerhall 15y ago
  Will do. Thanks :)
rubergly 15y ago
Very cool idea. I don't know if I'll personally use it; as a dvorak user, it's harder to accidentally hit cmd-q when you mean it hit cmd-w. Then again, it's also easier to hit cmd-q some times because the q sits just above the cmd.
Hrothgar15 15y ago
Doesn't Auto Resume in Lion render this useless?
- lawnchair_larry 15y ago
  No. Auto Resume doesn't actually do anything, as far as I can tell. Just re-opens the document.
  - dasil003 15y ago
    In a supporting app it autosaves all state, which is quite a bit more than just "re-opening documents". The ideal Apple is working towards is making the running state of an application irrelevant. They'll probably never get there entirely, but we've seen that it can work in practice on iOS. The friction for quitting is certainly decreasing by leaps and bounds.
- masnick 15y ago
  Have you tried to auto-resume a bunch of Safari tabs/windows? All the pages reload, which on my computer is anything but instant.
- anonymoushn 15y ago
  I'm not sure. I can't install Lion because it doesn't have Spaces.
  - dasil003 15y ago
    Spaces was a failed experiment, at least in Apple's eyes. At this point it would be wise to either find a 3rd-party replacement or embrace Mission Control Spaces, otherwise you'll just be stuck in time with everything else slowly growing obsolete on you.
    - anonymoushn 15y ago
      Is there anything that runs on Lion and has similar capabilities to Spaces? Right now I have 9 spaces and each is at most 2 switches away from all of the others. My impression is that if I install Lion and set up 9 spaces, the outermost ones will be 8 switches apart from each other.
shabble 15y ago
System Preferences -> Keyboard -> Keyboard Shortcuts -> App Shortcuts -> + -> select app, menu entry is usually "Quit <appname>", and set it to cmd-ctrl-q, or something similar. (There's probably a more generic way by editing your ~/Library/KeyBindings/DefaultKeyBinding.dict, but I'm not sure what the appropriate selector would be) Of course, these just change the binding, the 'hold to confirm' is quite a nice UI feature. Edit: The reference I was remembering is http://www.hoboes.com/Mimsy/hacks/disabling-quit-rewriting/ http://www.hoboes.com/Mimsy/hacks/disabling-quit-rewriting/ and appears to still work in Lion. Still on a per-app basis though.
- cpeterso 15y ago
  Since "Quit <appname>" is different for every application, my workaround is to rebind "Hide Others" (or "Show All") for all applications to CMD+Q. Every application has a "Hide Others" (or "Show All") and these menu items are pretty harmless.
  - sjs 15y ago
    I balked at it too, but then I really thought about it and I only care about this in a handful of apps so I just set each shortcut separately. I think I did iTerm2, Chrome, TextMate, and a few others. It's interesting (for me) that others are doing this too though. I didn't do it because I lost something accidentally - really which apps don't ask you to save important things? - but because I wanted to embrace Lion's hidden Dock lights, which I enabled. If it shouldn't matter if an app is running or not then I shouldn't have to quit so I'm trying to break the habit.
click170 15y ago
This seems like the kind of thing Apple will integrate into OS X in 3.. 2.. 1...
- e1ven 15y ago
  I actually think it's somewhat unlikely that Apple will add this, due to their deprecating quitting. They don't want you think about quitting applications at all, they want to hide that under the rug. Making quitting more explicit (like this app) seems to do the opposite of that.
hackermom 15y ago
The idea is definitely good, but I think the "problem" it solves might be overrated - after all, if an app has unsaved content, it will ask you to verify your action, so you never really lose anything but a second or two of time restarting the application the few times you do this mistake, if at all.
- gallerytungsten 15y ago
  There's an important exception: browsers, particularly those that don't have an option for automatically restoring all tabs from the prior session. This may be a vanishing exception, but still a possibility.
- kbatten 15y ago
  Not necessarily true. Often there is application state that you don't want to lose, which isn't saved. For example if you have open IM/IRC windows or if you have multiple opened Documents that you are reading that are saved. Though I think a better way is just to save all state when quitting no matter what your application does.
  - calloc 15y ago
    Lion is definitely on the way to fixing this.
masnick 15y ago
It would be great if there was a way to bypass or disable CommandQ temporarily. Like an option in the menu, or something else (not sure what) for people like me who have the menu bar icon disabled.
espressodude 15y ago
Exactly what I need!
fourk 15y ago
Saw this, figured that on the off-chance this saves me some aggravation that that aggravation would be worth $3.99. Saw the words "my store" and realized that in all likelihood I'd have to type out my entire credit card number, billing address, email address, potentially create a password, and came to the conclusion that that level of immediate aggravation would offset the potential of saving me future aggravation. Went to the App Store hoping that I could pay you there with a sum effort of maybe 25 key presses, total. Found that I couldn't and was disappointed. Please get this on the App Store, let me give you my money.
- neatoincognito 15y ago
  So you didn't want to fill out a form on the developer's website but you had plenty of time to come here and complain? Seriously, a minute of typing your info is too much trouble?
  - xbryanx 15y ago
    He had a minute to come here and offer some astute advice that has the potential to improve the developer's bottom line.
    - neatoincognito 15y ago
      Ok well I agree with that point. It just came off really whiny.
      - deleted 15y ago
        [deleted]
  - calloc 15y ago
    A one time complaint is much better than having to fill out the same information thousands of times when I buy new software. I much prefer the App Store these days when it comes to purchasing software.
  - fourk 15y ago
natesm 15y ago
If you're looking for other nice and useful little Mac keyboard command utilities, I implemented shake to undo: http://www.natestedman.com/post/shake-to-undo-for-mac-os-x/ http://www.natestedman.com/post/shake-to-undo-for-mac-os-x/
- kirillzubovsky 15y ago
  LOL! I didn't even bother to check if it's real or not, but just the though of shaking the life out of my laptop to make it undo sounds like fun! I'd never use it, but thinking of it makes me laugh. Thank you.
  - natesm 15y ago
    It's all real, the code is here: https://github.com/NateStedman/shake-to-undo/tree/master/Shake%20to%20Undo https://github.com/NateStedman/shake-to-undo/tree/master/Sha... As you can see, it was all committed at once, which is the proper way to develop software.
- bugsy 15y ago
  Encouraging people to shake a laptop containing a hard drive is not advisable.
softbuilder 15y ago
Doesn't work on Leopard (10.5) if you stay a wave or two behind like I do. Drat.
bugsy 15y ago
This makes no sense to me. It says it stops cmd-Q from losing your work. Every program I have seen asks if you want to save unchanged edits before it closes the window following reception of a quit. Now, Lion has a new paradigm available for quitting, but it autosaves and versions all unsaved edits, so you also don't lose your work. How are people losing their work from pressing cmd-Q? In 25 years of using Macs off and on I've never had that problem.
- pseudonym 15y ago
  The only issue I've had with this is Google Chrome, but you can reopen the program and Command-Shift-T to reopen all previously open tabs.
tluyben2 15y ago
Can I marry you ? And then divorce for asking $3.99 for it ? Great stuff, too expensive, bought anyway.

66 points by hamrickdavid 15y ago

"Ever hit ⌘Q and accidentally quit an application when you really meant to press ⌘W and close a window?" At first I was really puzzled when I read this sentence...Q and W are so far apart on the Dvorak keyboard! ;-)

DarthShrine 15y ago
But Q is right above left-⌘ (and W above right-⌘) -- convenient for accidental mashing.

stephencelis 15y ago

I would have loved to have had this a year ago, or two, etc., but my accidental quits haven't been nearly as frustrating since upgrading to Lion. I can still see this being useful, though, especially with apps that are slow to implement resume functionality.

Pewpewarrows 15y ago

Just today I was wishing that Chrome's Hold-to-Quit functionality was an OS-wide feature. Thank you very much for creating this, it was an instant purchase in my book.

tylerhall 15y ago
Yep - Chrome is where I got the idea from. It's a great feature I wanted to see made system wide. Looking forward to everyone's feedback.
- jimmybot 15y ago
  One thing that Chrome doesn't do is even when there are zero windows open, you still have to hold down Command-Q to quit. If no windows are open, there doesn't appear to be any danger in quitting right away--after all, the major mis-press is when you try to hit Command-W to close a window and instead hit Command-Q, but if there are no windows open, there's no reason to be hitting Command-W.
paulirish 15y ago
FWIW all: in Chrome, the setting is in the Chrome menu, not in preferences. Screenshot: http://paulirish.com/i/fcba70.png http://paulirish.com/i/fcba70.png
- mofle 15y ago
  But it should really be in Preferences...

crccheck 15y ago

Seems to suffer the same limitation of Chrome's Hold-to-quit in that it doesn't work while in the application switcher.

tylerhall 15y ago
True, but I actually see that as a "feature". It's the one keyboard way you can quickly quit an app without going through the hold-and-wait. But I'm sure your workflow probably differs from mine. Noted.

whichdan 15y ago

I've been wanting/needing something like this forever. One thing I noticed is that the '30 days' menu item isn't removed until the app is restarted. Maybe you could automatically restart the app after registration?

tylerhall 15y ago
Will do. Thanks :)

rubergly 15y ago

Very cool idea. I don't know if I'll personally use it; as a dvorak user, it's harder to accidentally hit cmd-q when you mean it hit cmd-w. Then again, it's also easier to hit cmd-q some times because the q sits just above the cmd.

Hrothgar15 15y ago

Doesn't Auto Resume in Lion render this useless?

lawnchair_larry 15y ago
No. Auto Resume doesn't actually do anything, as far as I can tell. Just re-opens the document.
- dasil003 15y ago
  In a supporting app it autosaves all state, which is quite a bit more than just "re-opening documents". The ideal Apple is working towards is making the running state of an application irrelevant. They'll probably never get there entirely, but we've seen that it can work in practice on iOS. The friction for quitting is certainly decreasing by leaps and bounds.
masnick 15y ago
Have you tried to auto-resume a bunch of Safari tabs/windows? All the pages reload, which on my computer is anything but instant.
anonymoushn 15y ago
I'm not sure. I can't install Lion because it doesn't have Spaces.
- dasil003 15y ago
  Spaces was a failed experiment, at least in Apple's eyes. At this point it would be wise to either find a 3rd-party replacement or embrace Mission Control Spaces, otherwise you'll just be stuck in time with everything else slowly growing obsolete on you.
  - anonymoushn 15y ago
    Is there anything that runs on Lion and has similar capabilities to Spaces? Right now I have 9 spaces and each is at most 2 switches away from all of the others. My impression is that if I install Lion and set up 9 spaces, the outermost ones will be 8 switches apart from each other.

shabble 15y ago

System Preferences -> Keyboard -> Keyboard Shortcuts -> App Shortcuts -> + -> select app, menu entry is usually "Quit <appname>", and set it to cmd-ctrl-q, or something similar. (There's probably a more generic way by editing your ~/Library/KeyBindings/DefaultKeyBinding.dict, but I'm not sure what the appropriate selector would be) Of course, these just change the binding, the 'hold to confirm' is quite a nice UI feature. Edit: The reference I was remembering is http://www.hoboes.com/Mimsy/hacks/disabling-quit-rewriting/ http://www.hoboes.com/Mimsy/hacks/disabling-quit-rewriting/ and appears to still work in Lion. Still on a per-app basis though.

cpeterso 15y ago
Since "Quit <appname>" is different for every application, my workaround is to rebind "Hide Others" (or "Show All") for all applications to CMD+Q. Every application has a "Hide Others" (or "Show All") and these menu items are pretty harmless.
- sjs 15y ago
  I balked at it too, but then I really thought about it and I only care about this in a handful of apps so I just set each shortcut separately. I think I did iTerm2, Chrome, TextMate, and a few others. It's interesting (for me) that others are doing this too though. I didn't do it because I lost something accidentally - really which apps don't ask you to save important things? - but because I wanted to embrace Lion's hidden Dock lights, which I enabled. If it shouldn't matter if an app is running or not then I shouldn't have to quit so I'm trying to break the habit.

click170 15y ago

This seems like the kind of thing Apple will integrate into OS X in 3.. 2.. 1...

e1ven 15y ago
I actually think it's somewhat unlikely that Apple will add this, due to their deprecating quitting. They don't want you think about quitting applications at all, they want to hide that under the rug. Making quitting more explicit (like this app) seems to do the opposite of that.

hackermom 15y ago

The idea is definitely good, but I think the "problem" it solves might be overrated - after all, if an app has unsaved content, it will ask you to verify your action, so you never really lose anything but a second or two of time restarting the application the few times you do this mistake, if at all.

gallerytungsten 15y ago
There's an important exception: browsers, particularly those that don't have an option for automatically restoring all tabs from the prior session. This may be a vanishing exception, but still a possibility.
kbatten 15y ago
Not necessarily true. Often there is application state that you don't want to lose, which isn't saved. For example if you have open IM/IRC windows or if you have multiple opened Documents that you are reading that are saved. Though I think a better way is just to save all state when quitting no matter what your application does.
- calloc 15y ago
  Lion is definitely on the way to fixing this.

masnick 15y ago

It would be great if there was a way to bypass or disable CommandQ temporarily. Like an option in the menu, or something else (not sure what) for people like me who have the menu bar icon disabled.

espressodude 15y ago

Exactly what I need!

fourk 15y ago

Saw this, figured that on the off-chance this saves me some aggravation that that aggravation would be worth $3.99. Saw the words "my store" and realized that in all likelihood I'd have to type out my entire credit card number, billing address, email address, potentially create a password, and came to the conclusion that that level of immediate aggravation would offset the potential of saving me future aggravation. Went to the App Store hoping that I could pay you there with a sum effort of maybe 25 key presses, total. Found that I couldn't and was disappointed. Please get this on the App Store, let me give you my money.

neatoincognito 15y ago
So you didn't want to fill out a form on the developer's website but you had plenty of time to come here and complain? Seriously, a minute of typing your info is too much trouble?
- xbryanx 15y ago
  He had a minute to come here and offer some astute advice that has the potential to improve the developer's bottom line.
  - neatoincognito 15y ago
    Ok well I agree with that point. It just came off really whiny.
    - deleted 15y ago
      [deleted]
- calloc 15y ago
  A one time complaint is much better than having to fill out the same information thousands of times when I buy new software. I much prefer the App Store these days when it comes to purchasing software.
- fourk 15y ago

natesm 15y ago

If you're looking for other nice and useful little Mac keyboard command utilities, I implemented shake to undo: http://www.natestedman.com/post/shake-to-undo-for-mac-os-x/ http://www.natestedman.com/post/shake-to-undo-for-mac-os-x/

kirillzubovsky 15y ago
LOL! I didn't even bother to check if it's real or not, but just the though of shaking the life out of my laptop to make it undo sounds like fun! I'd never use it, but thinking of it makes me laugh. Thank you.
- natesm 15y ago
  It's all real, the code is here: https://github.com/NateStedman/shake-to-undo/tree/master/Shake%20to%20Undo https://github.com/NateStedman/shake-to-undo/tree/master/Sha... As you can see, it was all committed at once, which is the proper way to develop software.
bugsy 15y ago
Encouraging people to shake a laptop containing a hard drive is not advisable.

softbuilder 15y ago

Doesn't work on Leopard (10.5) if you stay a wave or two behind like I do. Drat.

bugsy 15y ago

This makes no sense to me. It says it stops cmd-Q from losing your work. Every program I have seen asks if you want to save unchanged edits before it closes the window following reception of a quit. Now, Lion has a new paradigm available for quitting, but it autosaves and versions all unsaved edits, so you also don't lose your work. How are people losing their work from pressing cmd-Q? In 25 years of using Macs off and on I've never had that problem.

pseudonym 15y ago
The only issue I've had with this is Google Chrome, but you can reopen the program and Command-Shift-T to reopen all previously open tabs.

tluyben2 15y ago

Can I marry you ? And then divorce for asking $3.99 for it ? Great stuff, too expensive, bought anyway.