7 ms·

Show HN: AppGrid, macOS window manager with Vim–like hotkeys

33 points by _sdegutis 9y ago

_sdegutis 9y ago
Thanks to everyone who encouraged me yesterday to polish this app and submit it. It may not be a big app, but I've used it every time I'm at my computer for probably the past 5 years straight. Hope some of you find it useful too!
sduff 9y ago
I've built similar functionality using Hammerspoon, configuration described at http://simonduff.net/hammerspoon/ http://simonduff.net/hammerspoon/ However, I normally find myself lazy, and normally end up using the trackpad to drag windows to corners and edges to resize (also built with Hammerspoon)
- sduff 9y ago
  Oh wow, I've just realised your that Steven Degutis, author of Mjolnir, of which Hammerspoon is based!!! Any reason you've built a stand-alone app for this, given Mjolnir (and Hammerspoon) can do this pretty easily?
  - _sdegutis 9y ago
    Coincidentally I answered this in a sibling comment at the same time you asked. Long story short this doesn’t require configuration and is pretty lightweight.
  - foodie12345 9y ago
    Steven Degutis is a registered sex offender. Moreover, he's a REPEAT sex-offender. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-sex-offender-arrested-woodstock-met-20160613-story.html http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-sex-off...
    - dang 9y ago
      You can't do this on Hacker News, and we've banned this account. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- _sdegutis 9y ago
  Interestingly enough, AppGrid started out as my custom Slate configuration. But I know there’s something to be said for the convenience of not having to configure anything, and having an app Just Work[tm]. Even after I created Zephyros and Hydra and Mjolnor, I always come back to just using AppGrid for its simplicity.
lsiebert 9y ago
I use spectacle myself (https://github.com/eczarny/spectacle https://github.com/eczarny/spectacle)
- _sdegutis 9y ago
  The main difference is that AppGrid allows slightly more flexibility (Spectacle can be considered a 2x2 grid in AppGrid) but without having to learn a disproportionate amount of keyboard hotkeys.
na85 9y ago
>Keys default to Mash (cmd + ctrl + opt) I'm an emacs guy, not a vim guy: what does this mean?
- nathyong 9y ago
  By default the key bindings are cmd+ctrl+opt+{h,j,k,l} to move windows around left/down/up/right respectively.
  - na85 9y ago
    Why is that called Mash?
sachleen 9y ago
For anyone using Windows with vertical monitors, I made something in AutoHotKey that helps snap windows to top/bottom half or third of the screen. This is useful if you regularly use Win+Left/Right key to snap windows to the left/right screen on landscape monitors but miss the feature on portrait monitors. https://gist.github.com/sachleen/6ee644b25d77eac49b0b1f8ee4be5c45 https://gist.github.com/sachleen/6ee644b25d77eac49b0b1f8ee4b...
noway421 9y ago
I'm a very happy spectacle user myself, and find it more than sufficient for me, I am wondering what are the use cases for more than 2x2 grid. I can see aligning 80x25 terminals edge to edge a very neat layout, but that's stacking AFAIK, not grid. When using grid, it would just resize them to grid and desirable 80x25 sizes would break. And apart of seeing a lot of terminals at once in alignment what are other useful work layouts for you?

33 points by _sdegutis 9y ago

Thanks to everyone who encouraged me yesterday to polish this app and submit it. It may not be a big app, but I've used it every time I'm at my computer for probably the past 5 years straight. Hope some of you find it useful too!

sduff 9y ago

I've built similar functionality using Hammerspoon, configuration described at http://simonduff.net/hammerspoon/ http://simonduff.net/hammerspoon/ However, I normally find myself lazy, and normally end up using the trackpad to drag windows to corners and edges to resize (also built with Hammerspoon)

sduff 9y ago
Oh wow, I've just realised your that Steven Degutis, author of Mjolnir, of which Hammerspoon is based!!! Any reason you've built a stand-alone app for this, given Mjolnir (and Hammerspoon) can do this pretty easily?
- _sdegutis 9y ago
  Coincidentally I answered this in a sibling comment at the same time you asked. Long story short this doesn’t require configuration and is pretty lightweight.
- foodie12345 9y ago
  Steven Degutis is a registered sex offender. Moreover, he's a REPEAT sex-offender. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-sex-offender-arrested-woodstock-met-20160613-story.html http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-sex-off...
  - dang 9y ago
    You can't do this on Hacker News, and we've banned this account. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
_sdegutis 9y ago
Interestingly enough, AppGrid started out as my custom Slate configuration. But I know there’s something to be said for the convenience of not having to configure anything, and having an app Just Work[tm]. Even after I created Zephyros and Hydra and Mjolnor, I always come back to just using AppGrid for its simplicity.

lsiebert 9y ago

I use spectacle myself (https://github.com/eczarny/spectacle https://github.com/eczarny/spectacle)

_sdegutis 9y ago
The main difference is that AppGrid allows slightly more flexibility (Spectacle can be considered a 2x2 grid in AppGrid) but without having to learn a disproportionate amount of keyboard hotkeys.

na85 9y ago

>Keys default to Mash (cmd + ctrl + opt) I'm an emacs guy, not a vim guy: what does this mean?

nathyong 9y ago
By default the key bindings are cmd+ctrl+opt+{h,j,k,l} to move windows around left/down/up/right respectively.
- na85 9y ago
  Why is that called Mash?

sachleen 9y ago

For anyone using Windows with vertical monitors, I made something in AutoHotKey that helps snap windows to top/bottom half or third of the screen. This is useful if you regularly use Win+Left/Right key to snap windows to the left/right screen on landscape monitors but miss the feature on portrait monitors. https://gist.github.com/sachleen/6ee644b25d77eac49b0b1f8ee4be5c45 https://gist.github.com/sachleen/6ee644b25d77eac49b0b1f8ee4b...

noway421 9y ago

I'm a very happy spectacle user myself, and find it more than sufficient for me, I am wondering what are the use cases for more than 2x2 grid. I can see aligning 80x25 terminals edge to edge a very neat layout, but that's stacking AFAIK, not grid. When using grid, it would just resize them to grid and desirable 80x25 sizes would break. And apart of seeing a lot of terminals at once in alignment what are other useful work layouts for you?