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I cannot agree more with this post. I like Apple, probably more than most, but the MacOS UX is not good right now. The author won’t list the issues so I will:

I cannot agree more with this post. I like Apple, probably more than most, but the MacOS UX is not good right now. The author won’t list the issues so I will: 1. Windows Management - Windows should snap to a grid like they do in Windows 11. 2. Fullscreen Mode - It is bad! Do I want to be in full screen mode or not? Some features are nice in fullscreen, but sometimes I can’t do things in fullscreen and that feels bad. And some apps don’t support it and that also feels bad. 3. The Dock - It takes up too much room on modern high resolution displays and if you hide it it is finicky. So you end up using fullscreen and that is finicky too, but then You miss the dock and then go back to it and get frustrated all over again. 4. The Finder - it isn’t really that bad, but it isn’t really that good either. For some reason I always feel like it takes me longer to navigate around in the finder. Maybe someone else knows why I feel this way. Maybe I need to enable the path as another commenter mentioned. MacOS does a lot of good stuff, but it is all old stuff that it has done well for years, spotlight, command shortcuts, Automator, fonts, animations, OS stability. The newer UX changes are always nice in theorybut cumbersome in practice and some other elements just feel in need of a rethink. I think with modern high resolution and multi monitor displays a tiling windows mode would be interesting where you can save setups.

rsfinn 4y ago
Re the Dock: it may not be easily discoverable, but you can resize the Dock by hovering over a vertical bar between icon groups, then dragging up and down. Hold down the Option key to snap to (what I presume is one of a number of) unscaled icon sizes. One of the first things I do on a new install (as well as turning on the Finder status bar) is option-clicking on the Dock and shrinking it down by one step (or maybe two on a 13" MacBook).
- klodolph 4y ago
  The option key won’t snap to the unscaled icon sizes. The unscaled icon sizes are just too far apart—there’s 48 px, but the other sizes are powers of 2.
matchbok 4y ago
What do you use the dock for? CMD-Tab is all you need. I do feel like the yearning for tiled windows or things like that are the result of trying to make OS X into Windows. Mac has Expose and virtual desktops - you don't need tiled windows.
- thomasahle 4y ago
  If you want to have two windows side by side, each maximized to half the screen, how would you do it with Expose?
- cute_boi 4y ago
  clicking in dock is way easier than doing cmd-tab because cmd tab order keep changing . In dock we can easily discover the app as they don't move around. I think Cmd-Tab is really bad if you end up using lot of apps. Alfred is way better for such purpose imo.
  - Hnrobert42 4y ago
    How do you use Alfred to replace cmd-tab?
    - rbinv 4y ago
      You can sort of use Alfred as an app switcher - by entering the name of the app you want to switch to. The first letter is usually enough (e.g. to switch to Chrome, invoke Alfred, hit C, hit Enter). If you have to cmd-tab through many open apps, using Alfred can be faster.
- klodolph 4y ago
  I drag documents into the dock to open them with a specific application. There are a lot of document types that I deal with where there’s no one-size-fits-all default—stuff like media files especially.
  - jongala 4y ago
willgleich 4y ago
Re 1: My life has fully changed by purchasing "Magnet" for window snapping and window move hotkeys.. it blows my mind that this isn't a default feature or option for MacOS.
- jiqiren 4y ago
  as soon as Apple adds window snapping features we'll be reading blogs on this site about Apple stealing all these third-party developer ideas.
  - skohan 4y ago
    Isn't it an IP issue? I thought maybe MS patented this
- whoooooo123 4y ago
  Was about to post the same thing. Magnet is one of the first things I install every time I get a new Mac. Can't live without it. And it only costs $2.99, what's your excuse?
  - saagarjha 4y ago
    https://twitter.com/_saagarjha/status/1508799491058589701 https://twitter.com/_saagarjha/status/1508799491058589701
    - whoooooo123 4y ago
      > Ever noticed random apps on your Mac hang sometimes when you click on them, or having events lost entirely? No
  - hypfer 4y ago
    > And it only costs $2.99, what's your excuse? My excuse is that I prefer using an Operating System that provides such productivity features out of the box over paying third parties to augment an effectively broken social media machine.
mmis1000 4y ago
Yep, you somehow can't drag items into fullscreened app. I sometimes need to un-fullscreen vscode just to drag a damn file into it. This is the most silly limit in my opinion. And the finder always interrupt your fullscreened app instead of open it in other screens. Make it doubly unusable. Wtf? I just want to move a file. But i need to. 1. Return focus to vscode because the focus is stolen by finder. 2. Unfullscreen vscode. 3. Find the damn finder window. 4. Drag file. 5. Fullscreen vscode back. 6. Fix desktop order that was destroyed by the un-fullscreen action i did. Can't you just allow me to overlay finder on it and drag file in???
- ubercow13 4y ago
  Yes you can, you just drag the item to the top of the screen, to the fullscreen app's desktop, and onto the app.
polalavik 4y ago
finder is so unintuitive coming from windows. Where can i type a damn path in?? Some of the UI assumes all users are creatives that only navigate the computer visually.
- grzm 4y ago
  cmd-shift-G (Go to Folder) is what I usually use.
- sbuk 4y ago
  It's not personal, but I've seen similar comments all the way down this thread. This is not what unintuitive means! What you mean is that you are used to using Explorer and Finder follows different paradigms that you're not used to and thus confused. And that's OK! What it isn't is "unintuitive"; it's "different".
urbandw311er 4y ago
A quick plug for BetterTouchTool here which has fantastic window management tools, including snapping and also “move the window under my mouse if I’m holding down a hot key.” I couldn’t get work done without it. And it’s well maintained. Plus a barrel load more.
vvillena 4y ago
About point 3. As a long-time Mac user, I usually leave the dock hidden, allowing me to use the space. If I want to use it to access any shortcut, I just use the global shortcut for it (Cmd+Opt+D) to quickly show it, and hide it once I'm done.
m463 4y ago
a few points (keep in mind I also agree with the post, but "paused" my mac ecosystem around 10.12) I agree fullscreen mode is really annoying -- except for movies. With movies every other computer/device in the world screws that up by putting something other than the movie on the screen (including just about every cable channel with "coming up next" overlays). Really, nothing except the movie. Nothing on top, nothing around the movie. sheesh. The dock is fine on the left. or right. at the bottom ugh. The finder is just ok. except imho one of the best features of macos is finder + spacebar to quickly preview just about anything.

rsfinn 4y ago

Re the Dock: it may not be easily discoverable, but you can resize the Dock by hovering over a vertical bar between icon groups, then dragging up and down. Hold down the Option key to snap to (what I presume is one of a number of) unscaled icon sizes. One of the first things I do on a new install (as well as turning on the Finder status bar) is option-clicking on the Dock and shrinking it down by one step (or maybe two on a 13" MacBook).

klodolph 4y ago
The option key won’t snap to the unscaled icon sizes. The unscaled icon sizes are just too far apart—there’s 48 px, but the other sizes are powers of 2.

matchbok 4y ago

What do you use the dock for? CMD-Tab is all you need. I do feel like the yearning for tiled windows or things like that are the result of trying to make OS X into Windows. Mac has Expose and virtual desktops - you don't need tiled windows.

thomasahle 4y ago
If you want to have two windows side by side, each maximized to half the screen, how would you do it with Expose?
cute_boi 4y ago
clicking in dock is way easier than doing cmd-tab because cmd tab order keep changing . In dock we can easily discover the app as they don't move around. I think Cmd-Tab is really bad if you end up using lot of apps. Alfred is way better for such purpose imo.
- Hnrobert42 4y ago
  How do you use Alfred to replace cmd-tab?
  - rbinv 4y ago
    You can sort of use Alfred as an app switcher - by entering the name of the app you want to switch to. The first letter is usually enough (e.g. to switch to Chrome, invoke Alfred, hit C, hit Enter). If you have to cmd-tab through many open apps, using Alfred can be faster.
klodolph 4y ago
I drag documents into the dock to open them with a specific application. There are a lot of document types that I deal with where there’s no one-size-fits-all default—stuff like media files especially.
- jongala 4y ago

willgleich 4y ago

Re 1: My life has fully changed by purchasing "Magnet" for window snapping and window move hotkeys.. it blows my mind that this isn't a default feature or option for MacOS.

jiqiren 4y ago
as soon as Apple adds window snapping features we'll be reading blogs on this site about Apple stealing all these third-party developer ideas.
- skohan 4y ago
  Isn't it an IP issue? I thought maybe MS patented this
whoooooo123 4y ago
Was about to post the same thing. Magnet is one of the first things I install every time I get a new Mac. Can't live without it. And it only costs $2.99, what's your excuse?
- saagarjha 4y ago
  https://twitter.com/_saagarjha/status/1508799491058589701 https://twitter.com/_saagarjha/status/1508799491058589701
  - whoooooo123 4y ago
    > Ever noticed random apps on your Mac hang sometimes when you click on them, or having events lost entirely? No
- hypfer 4y ago
  > And it only costs $2.99, what's your excuse? My excuse is that I prefer using an Operating System that provides such productivity features out of the box over paying third parties to augment an effectively broken social media machine.

mmis1000 4y ago

Yep, you somehow can't drag items into fullscreened app. I sometimes need to un-fullscreen vscode just to drag a damn file into it. This is the most silly limit in my opinion. And the finder always interrupt your fullscreened app instead of open it in other screens. Make it doubly unusable. Wtf? I just want to move a file. But i need to. 1. Return focus to vscode because the focus is stolen by finder. 2. Unfullscreen vscode. 3. Find the damn finder window. 4. Drag file. 5. Fullscreen vscode back. 6. Fix desktop order that was destroyed by the un-fullscreen action i did. Can't you just allow me to overlay finder on it and drag file in???

ubercow13 4y ago
Yes you can, you just drag the item to the top of the screen, to the fullscreen app's desktop, and onto the app.

polalavik 4y ago

finder is so unintuitive coming from windows. Where can i type a damn path in?? Some of the UI assumes all users are creatives that only navigate the computer visually.

grzm 4y ago
cmd-shift-G (Go to Folder) is what I usually use.
sbuk 4y ago
It's not personal, but I've seen similar comments all the way down this thread. This is not what unintuitive means! What you mean is that you are used to using Explorer and Finder follows different paradigms that you're not used to and thus confused. And that's OK! What it isn't is "unintuitive"; it's "different".

urbandw311er 4y ago

A quick plug for BetterTouchTool here which has fantastic window management tools, including snapping and also “move the window under my mouse if I’m holding down a hot key.” I couldn’t get work done without it. And it’s well maintained. Plus a barrel load more.

vvillena 4y ago

About point 3. As a long-time Mac user, I usually leave the dock hidden, allowing me to use the space. If I want to use it to access any shortcut, I just use the global shortcut for it (Cmd+Opt+D) to quickly show it, and hide it once I'm done.

m463 4y ago

a few points (keep in mind I also agree with the post, but "paused" my mac ecosystem around 10.12) I agree fullscreen mode is really annoying -- except for movies. With movies every other computer/device in the world screws that up by putting something other than the movie on the screen (including just about every cable channel with "coming up next" overlays). Really, nothing except the movie. Nothing on top, nothing around the movie. sheesh. The dock is fine on the left. or right. at the bottom ugh. The finder is just ok. except imho one of the best features of macos is finder + spacebar to quickly preview just about anything.