Now, about those full-screen applications. When you make an application run in full screen, the Dock is no longer available to you nor do the Hide commands work. Lion demands that the application is everything and it does this by placing that full-screen application in an environment all its own. If you want to switch applications, you must use the Command-Tab shortcut to bring up the application switcher, use Mission Control, or pull the application out of full-screen mode and switch as you normally would. Of course you could simply avoid throwing applications into full-screen mode. Photo Booth launches in that view by default, but other applications launch in the normal view.

I’m quite keen on auto-hiding applications I’m not actively working with, but I find Mission Control cumbersome. You have a few options here. My colleague Dan Frakes recommended Ben Willmore’s ( Macworld rated 4 out of 5 mice ) to me and it’s very slick. With it you can automatically hide inactive applications as well as completely hide the Desktop. Ben requests a donation for his work.

I’m also a fan of James Thomson’s $29 ( Macworld rated 4.5 out of 5 mice )—a palette-based application launcher. Among its many features is the ability to auto-hide all but the active application.