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I daily drive this and my verdict is: it's the best way to manage windows on a Mac, but falls short of i3/sway. In particular, support for re-arranging windows

I daily drive this and my verdict is: it's the best way to manage windows on a Mac, but falls short of i3/sway. In particular, support for re-arranging windows by dragging them to positions relative to one another is extremely limited in that it's not able to create new vertical or horizontal splits the way you can in sway, which forces me to take awkward detours with keyboard commands to get to the window layout I want most of the time. Like, say I have two windows side-by-side, and I want to split one of them vertically. In sway I'd pop open the new window, then drag it to the top or bottom half of the window I want it to share horizontal space with, and bam, all done. With aerospace the best way I've found to do this is to open the new window, then switch all three windows into a vertical stack, then focus the window that was originally on the left and invoke the 'move left' command on it.

nbobko 2y ago
If you have normalizations enabled, you don't need to "switch into a vertical stack" Given this layout: h_tiles ├── window1 (focused) ├── window2 └── window3 `move left` will produce this layout: h_tiles ├── window1 (focused) └── v_tiles ├── window2 └── window3
- idle_zealot 2y ago
  Ah, so it does. I suppose this is an instance of my mental model not having adjusted.
  - squigz 2y ago
    For what it's worth, this video from i3 really helped me visualize how i3 and related WMs deal with windows - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWA8Pl57UBY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWA8Pl57UBY
j45 2y ago
Thanks, I will try it out to see if it can first solve my main problem - I'm looking for a way on Mac for it to reasonably remember the screen layouts. Every time it wakes from boots, the desktop has complete amnesia with 3 screens. Ideally I'd be able to drive my own workspaces, and it can use the laptop screen only, or 2 or 3 external monitors at different desks (work and home).
- tln 2y ago
  I've resorted to running a shell script every time I plug in. displayplacer "id:... res:2048x1330 hz:120 color_depth:8 enabled:true scaling:off origin:(0,0) degree:0" "id:... res:3840x2160 hz:30 color_depth:8 enabled:true scaling:off origin:(-918,-2160) degree:0" displayplacer is very easy to set up and also gives you access to modes that you can't access with System Preferences.
- xyst 2y ago
  The days of “it just works” is long gone.
  - woleium 2y ago
    but we have come a long way from “most applications crash if not the system hangs” (or macintosh as it’s known for short)
    - j45 2y ago
      It does just work. On windows.
- ghotli 2y ago
  I use Rectangle on macos for this exact use case. Used to use Yabai but now Rectangle is my daily driver for this sort of thing. I'm going to try this one out but global hotkeys for my windows snapping to the right spots when I plug my laptop in is hard to give up
- yoavmmn 2y ago
  Wanted this to exist for so long. I’ve started learning Swift to build an app to solve this. Then I discovered HammerSpoon[1] and since I use a HammerSpoon lua script to adjust the windows layout for my different setups: 1. Laptop only mode 2. At home my MacBook screen is closed and connected to 2 external monitors 3. At work my MacBook screen is open and connected to 1 external monitor The script detects the connected screen UUID and applies the appropriate layout [1] http://www.hammerspoon.org/ http://www.hammerspoon.org/
palata 2y ago
> In sway I'd pop open the new window, then drag it to the top or bottom half of the window I want it to share horizontal space with I did not even know it was possible to drag windows. I do that by selecting the window I want to split, then setting a "vertical" split with "Command + v", then creating the new window (usually a terminal). Or I move the window with "Command + Shift + [hjkl]".
lednax 2y ago
I use spectacle and it’s no longer supported
- borski 2y ago
  Switch to Rectangle
- pimlottc 2y ago
  Another option is the ShiftIt plugin for Hammerspoon: https://github.com/peterklijn/hammerspoon-shiftit https://github.com/peterklijn/hammerspoon-shiftit
  - ctippett 2y ago
    Also this: https://github.com/szymonkaliski/hhtwm https://github.com/szymonkaliski/hhtwm
- runjake 2y ago
  https://rectangleapp.com https://rectangleapp.com is the spiritual successor.
  - alostpuppy 2y ago
    This is my first install on every new Mac
pech0rin 2y ago
haven’t used this one but I use yabai and it works exactly as you describe

nbobko 2y ago

If you have normalizations enabled, you don't need to "switch into a vertical stack" Given this layout: h_tiles ├── window1 (focused) ├── window2 └── window3 `move left` will produce this layout: h_tiles ├── window1 (focused) └── v_tiles ├── window2 └── window3

idle_zealot 2y ago
Ah, so it does. I suppose this is an instance of my mental model not having adjusted.
- squigz 2y ago
  For what it's worth, this video from i3 really helped me visualize how i3 and related WMs deal with windows - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWA8Pl57UBY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWA8Pl57UBY

j45 2y ago

Thanks, I will try it out to see if it can first solve my main problem - I'm looking for a way on Mac for it to reasonably remember the screen layouts. Every time it wakes from boots, the desktop has complete amnesia with 3 screens. Ideally I'd be able to drive my own workspaces, and it can use the laptop screen only, or 2 or 3 external monitors at different desks (work and home).

tln 2y ago
I've resorted to running a shell script every time I plug in. displayplacer "id:... res:2048x1330 hz:120 color_depth:8 enabled:true scaling:off origin:(0,0) degree:0" "id:... res:3840x2160 hz:30 color_depth:8 enabled:true scaling:off origin:(-918,-2160) degree:0" displayplacer is very easy to set up and also gives you access to modes that you can't access with System Preferences.
xyst 2y ago
The days of “it just works” is long gone.
- woleium 2y ago
  but we have come a long way from “most applications crash if not the system hangs” (or macintosh as it’s known for short)
  - j45 2y ago
    It does just work. On windows.
ghotli 2y ago
I use Rectangle on macos for this exact use case. Used to use Yabai but now Rectangle is my daily driver for this sort of thing. I'm going to try this one out but global hotkeys for my windows snapping to the right spots when I plug my laptop in is hard to give up
yoavmmn 2y ago
Wanted this to exist for so long. I’ve started learning Swift to build an app to solve this. Then I discovered HammerSpoon[1] and since I use a HammerSpoon lua script to adjust the windows layout for my different setups: 1. Laptop only mode 2. At home my MacBook screen is closed and connected to 2 external monitors 3. At work my MacBook screen is open and connected to 1 external monitor The script detects the connected screen UUID and applies the appropriate layout [1] http://www.hammerspoon.org/ http://www.hammerspoon.org/

palata 2y ago

> In sway I'd pop open the new window, then drag it to the top or bottom half of the window I want it to share horizontal space with I did not even know it was possible to drag windows. I do that by selecting the window I want to split, then setting a "vertical" split with "Command + v", then creating the new window (usually a terminal). Or I move the window with "Command + Shift + [hjkl]".

lednax 2y ago

I use spectacle and it’s no longer supported

borski 2y ago
Switch to Rectangle
pimlottc 2y ago
Another option is the ShiftIt plugin for Hammerspoon: https://github.com/peterklijn/hammerspoon-shiftit https://github.com/peterklijn/hammerspoon-shiftit
- ctippett 2y ago
  Also this: https://github.com/szymonkaliski/hhtwm https://github.com/szymonkaliski/hhtwm
runjake 2y ago
https://rectangleapp.com https://rectangleapp.com is the spiritual successor.
- alostpuppy 2y ago
  This is my first install on every new Mac

pech0rin 2y ago

haven’t used this one but I use yabai and it works exactly as you describe