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It is unbelievable how bad window management is at macos. Specially if you use multiple desktops it's impossible to not kill your workflow with the inconcisten

It is unbelievable how bad window management is at macos. Specially if you use multiple desktops it's impossible to not kill your workflow with the inconcistencies. You press a dock icon and you have no clue if it will open a new window in the current desktop or if it will switch to another desktop and show you an already open window.

Lawand 3y ago
[dead]
jwells89 3y ago
I don’t think I’ve ever encountered a program that opens a new window when other windows are already open on some other desktop/monitor. The behavior I always see is switching to the desktop with the window, with multiple dock icon clicks cycling through each desktop that program has windows on.
- whatever1 3y ago
  You have to remember if there is a window open in any of the desktops, because the dock does not even provide info on this. It just tells you that it has a program in memory, like it can help my workflow. Dock in macos is a useless process manager, not a taskbar.
  - asystole 3y ago
    I like macOS's window management in general but this is a good point. The dot indicators on the dock tell you whether an application is running, which on macOS doesn't necessarily mean it has any windows open. Clicking a dock icon results in a different action based on whether the application does have open windows, which is not visually indicated.
daemonologist 3y ago
My window management style changes completely when I switch operating systems - on Windows I use the taskbar (with actual named windows, not just the default icons), because the desktop switching and "overview"/view all windows feature are atrociously laggy. On Mac and Linux (Gnome), as you say, the dock is useless for finding your windows so I make extensive use of desktops and the overview, which both perform flawlessly.
- jwells89 3y ago
  Virtual desktops on Windows still feel pretty hacked on, don’t they? Hopefully that’s a focus point for Windows 12.
DavideNL 3y ago
I use the Contexts [1] app, couldn't live without it (not affiliated...) It shows me all open Windows and in which Desktop, in its Sidebar (I've disabled the macOS dock.) Also the Cmd-Tab functionalities are nice, and i can use "Fn + [a single key] " shortcut to focus an app. Would recommend. [1] https://contexts.co/ https://contexts.co/
- whatever1 3y ago
  HOLY COW! Thank you so much internet stranger!

Lawand 3y ago

[dead]

jwells89 3y ago

I don’t think I’ve ever encountered a program that opens a new window when other windows are already open on some other desktop/monitor. The behavior I always see is switching to the desktop with the window, with multiple dock icon clicks cycling through each desktop that program has windows on.

whatever1 3y ago
You have to remember if there is a window open in any of the desktops, because the dock does not even provide info on this. It just tells you that it has a program in memory, like it can help my workflow. Dock in macos is a useless process manager, not a taskbar.
- asystole 3y ago
  I like macOS's window management in general but this is a good point. The dot indicators on the dock tell you whether an application is running, which on macOS doesn't necessarily mean it has any windows open. Clicking a dock icon results in a different action based on whether the application does have open windows, which is not visually indicated.

daemonologist 3y ago

My window management style changes completely when I switch operating systems - on Windows I use the taskbar (with actual named windows, not just the default icons), because the desktop switching and "overview"/view all windows feature are atrociously laggy. On Mac and Linux (Gnome), as you say, the dock is useless for finding your windows so I make extensive use of desktops and the overview, which both perform flawlessly.

jwells89 3y ago
Virtual desktops on Windows still feel pretty hacked on, don’t they? Hopefully that’s a focus point for Windows 12.

DavideNL 3y ago

I use the Contexts [1] app, couldn't live without it (not affiliated...) It shows me all open Windows and in which Desktop, in its Sidebar (I've disabled the macOS dock.) Also the Cmd-Tab functionalities are nice, and i can use "Fn + [a single key] " shortcut to focus an app. Would recommend. [1] https://contexts.co/ https://contexts.co/

whatever1 3y ago
HOLY COW! Thank you so much internet stranger!