Screen Sharing in Lion

[Xairbusdriver]

Apparently, when one connects to another Mac's screen in Lion, the shared screen opens in a new "Spaces" 'page/window/space/whatever' they are called. I don't understand why one would want to do that, but it's Apple's new way, I guess.

So, how would one disconnect from that shared screen? There is no menu bar in a Spaces window/view/whatever, so there is no longer the very convenient "Quit Screen Sharing" menu item. I suppose there must be some way to delete/destroy/erase/trash a Spaces space/window/view/whatever?

As you may notice, I never use Spaces/Exposé/whatever it is now.

[TuleTrooper]

Just move your curser to the top of the screen and your menubar will appear. This is true for any app that is in full screen mode.

[Highmac]

Most new posters start with a question; often a plea for help.

So, TuleTrooper, a warm welcome to Techsurvivors and thankyou for starting with such a helpful response

[Xairbusdriver]

First, Welcome Aboard, TuleTrooper!

Secondly, thanks! I can never grasp the simplest things. Yet I wonder why users have to stumble upon these kinds of actions? Absolutely nothing about it in the "Help" system (which seems due for its tri-annual update...) Similar to the new 'invisible' scroll bars; I can see many users not even knowing there may be something below the bottom of the window they may be looking at...unless they accidentally hit the scroll ball or their two fingers accidentally move upwards on their track pad/magic mouse.

My question remains, why do I only get the shared screen in a completely empty "space?" In my humble opinion, this is simply another change that should have been a user preference...and that list is growing almost daily.

BTW, you may have guessed I haven't found a use for a "full-screen" app, I've always marveled at Windows users who seem to think that is the only method available. Although Elements has operated that way for several years...and I still find it bothersome and almost useless.

[TuleTrooper]

Thank you for the welcome. I have been reading this forum for several years and finally decided to register. As to your second question, when you move your curser to the top of the screen and the menubar appears, click on the arrows in the blue box in the righthand corner. This will bring you out of full screen mode and into windowed mode. Clicking on them again (they are now in the corner of the window's title bar and no longer in a blue box) will toggle you back to full screen mode. Any application capable of full screen can be toggled in this way.

[Xairbusdriver]

OK, I went back to try the Screen Sharing thing, again. Mainly because I read somewhere that there is actually a "Screen Sharing" app. I finally found it in /System/Library/Core Services. Of course, it's the app that does all the work when one clicks the "Share Screen..." button in a Finder window.

Clicking the "Share Screen..." button is the only way any normal person would use the "Screen Sharing app, in my opinion. I'm not sure why anyone would search through the System files for the actual app. And clicking the button is how I pulled up my wife's MBP screen just now, exactly how I did it last week. HOWEVER, it simply opened a window with her screen, just like it used to this time! What?!

That's right, no putting the window in a "space" of its own! Everything is exactly like it used to be in Leopard/Snow Leopard! Except for the ability to use the Full-Screen option, of course. I checked the app's menu and they look the same. And, of course, the menus are fully available because all the other menus of whatever is running are still there, no putting with Spaces at all.

How or why the window opened in Spaces last week is a mystery and one I hope to never need to solve again. OTOH, it may be a new Lion feature: Shared screens open either in Spaces or a normal window depending on the day of the week or whether it is an odd or even day of the month. Makes as much sense to me as opening the shared screen in Spaces...

[Xairbusdriver]

Just did some more testing...Screen sharing now has a couple of options that are slightly different from those in the Leopards. The major one is being able to sign in to an account that is not actually open in the other computer. This will, no doubt, slow things down a little on that computer, but the user may not know about it, otherwise.

But another option is one that gives the other user complete control by allowing them to block sharing for a while. There is an option to "Connect: By asking for permission" which pops up a screen on the other computer, of course. I tried that method just now as I think that's how I had done it last week. I thought maybe that is why Spaces got involved with the screen sharing. Nope, that method works just like the 'old' way. After the other user clicks the OK button, their screen opens in a regular window, just as it always did.

Only good thing is that I don't have to bother with Spaces again, at least I hope so...

Bottom line, Spaces/Exposé/Full Screen/Screen Sharing are four different and only marginally connected functions/ Thank goodness!