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What is so bad about MacOS window management? I haven't used Windows for a while, but back in the day, it did not provide any extra capabilities in this regard

What is so bad about MacOS window management? I haven't used Windows for a while, but back in the day, it did not provide any extra capabilities in this regard over MacOS. Now I use an extension to tile the desktop with windows, and it works great.

thefz 3y ago
> What is so bad about MacOS window management? MacOS is so intrusive and distracting that I can't imagine doing any meaningful work on it, feels like a toy OS.
- manuelabeledo 3y ago
  Any specific example of this?
flohofwoe 3y ago
macOS window management is "application centric", while Windows and most Linux desktops are "window centric". Mac is my primary platform since a decade now, but I still find that particular aspect quite awkward, old time Mac users seem to like it though (it's not much of an issue for me since I don't use many UI apps anyway besides iTerm2, Chrome and VSCode).
kemayo 3y ago
Windows does have some more built-in window tools these days -- it lets you snap windows into various parts of the screen by dragging them up against the edges. You can replicate that on macOS with apps like Rectangle. More-controversial is the different behavior of cmd-tab between Mac and Windows (app-level vs window-level). Once you learn that cmd-` also exists for switching between windows inside an app, I find it's a matter of personal preference and you can make arguments either way about which one is "better"...
- pxc 3y ago
  > Once you learn that cmd-` also exists for switching between windows inside an app, I find it's a matter of personal preference and you can make arguments either way about which one is "better"... Here is an example of how the app-centric model of task switching is problematic beyond personal preference: it causes focus stealing when opening GUI windows from the CLI. The apps themselves have to (partially, because that's the best they can do) work around the window manager's broken behavior. The final answer from the initiated seems to be 'you're holding it wrong'. So here we have a Certified Unix™ where something as banal as setting your $EDITOR to a GUI program is broken by default and even when 'fixed' causes your window order to be shuffled around. Examples: https://emacs.stackexchange.com/questions/24033/when-returning-from-emacsclient-to-iterm2-terminal-not-getting-focus https://emacs.stackexchange.com/questions/24033/when-returni... https://github.com/sublimehq/sublime_text/issues/4460 https://github.com/sublimehq/sublime_text/issues/4460 https://www.reddit.com/r/osx/comments/i5zqn5/focus_doesnt_return_to_iterm2/ https://www.reddit.com/r/osx/comments/i5zqn5/focus_doesnt_re... Using macOS is a barrage of papercuts like this for me, and the window manager is at the heart of many of them.

thefz 3y ago

> What is so bad about MacOS window management? MacOS is so intrusive and distracting that I can't imagine doing any meaningful work on it, feels like a toy OS.

manuelabeledo 3y ago
Any specific example of this?

flohofwoe 3y ago

macOS window management is "application centric", while Windows and most Linux desktops are "window centric". Mac is my primary platform since a decade now, but I still find that particular aspect quite awkward, old time Mac users seem to like it though (it's not much of an issue for me since I don't use many UI apps anyway besides iTerm2, Chrome and VSCode).

kemayo 3y ago

Windows does have some more built-in window tools these days -- it lets you snap windows into various parts of the screen by dragging them up against the edges. You can replicate that on macOS with apps like Rectangle. More-controversial is the different behavior of cmd-tab between Mac and Windows (app-level vs window-level). Once you learn that cmd-` also exists for switching between windows inside an app, I find it's a matter of personal preference and you can make arguments either way about which one is "better"...

pxc 3y ago
> Once you learn that cmd-` also exists for switching between windows inside an app, I find it's a matter of personal preference and you can make arguments either way about which one is "better"... Here is an example of how the app-centric model of task switching is problematic beyond personal preference: it causes focus stealing when opening GUI windows from the CLI. The apps themselves have to (partially, because that's the best they can do) work around the window manager's broken behavior. The final answer from the initiated seems to be 'you're holding it wrong'. So here we have a Certified Unix™ where something as banal as setting your $EDITOR to a GUI program is broken by default and even when 'fixed' causes your window order to be shuffled around. Examples: https://emacs.stackexchange.com/questions/24033/when-returning-from-emacsclient-to-iterm2-terminal-not-getting-focus https://emacs.stackexchange.com/questions/24033/when-returni... https://github.com/sublimehq/sublime_text/issues/4460 https://github.com/sublimehq/sublime_text/issues/4460 https://www.reddit.com/r/osx/comments/i5zqn5/focus_doesnt_return_to_iterm2/ https://www.reddit.com/r/osx/comments/i5zqn5/focus_doesnt_re... Using macOS is a barrage of papercuts like this for me, and the window manager is at the heart of many of them.