8 ms·

I never thought I’d see the day macOS would get tiling window management. Wonder how it will interact with Stage Manager if at all.

thiht 2y ago
FINALLY! I really didn’t it to come to Mac, ever. Now so just need a clipboard history manager, a way to make cmd+tab behave like Windows alt+tab, a way to mute the mic in the status bar, and a different setting for the trackpad/mouse wheel direction, and I won’t need to install random apps for basic features anymore.
- pxc 2y ago
  don't forget per-app volume control, linear scroll wheel speed, some reasonable way to manage menu bar icons and ensure all can actually be accesses and used, a way to prevent the system from going to sleep (the built-in `caffeinate` command hasn't worked for years!), and searching through open windows by typing!
  - tiltowait 2y ago
    I use caffeinate all the time. What's wrong with it?
    - pxc 2y ago
      When sleep is supposedly disabled by caffeinate, closing the lid still puts my laptop to sleep. It's been like that as since I first tried it, several years ago. But your comment inspired me to Google anew and... I guess it was always intended to only kind of disable sleep?
  - LexGray 2y ago
    > reasonable way to manage menu bar icons I believe the new control center API is intended to push seldom used icons into the control center > searching through open windows by typing The new Siri is context aware once the developers include their data through new APIs. The Microsoft version which was snooping through private browsing, secure apps, and logging passwords in open databases was not the right way to go.
    - pxc 2y ago
      > I believe the new control center API is intended to push seldom used icons into the control center More than just cleaning the menu bar (I don't care about that), I want a guarantee that I can see and click on every menu bar icon somewhere. Whether that's the present vision or not, this sounds like a clear step in the right direction! While I have lots of gripes about macOS and I understand that probably some of them are things Apple will just never go for, it does almost seem like Apple is giving some neglected desktop fundamentals much needed improvements. Fixing linear mouse movement on the last major release was nice, as is the new window snapping thing. > > searching through open windows by typing > The new Siri is context aware once the developers include their data through new APIs. The Microsoft version which was snooping through private browsing, secure apps, and logging passwords in open databases was not the right way to go. I don't want any kind of internet-connected AI assistant on the desktop at all. I just want the ability to task switch efficiently by fuzzy filtering on basic stuff like window titles and descriptions like can be done easily with Plasma and GNOME built-ins. (On Windows, PowerToys can do it but I don't love that interface and even though it's an MS thing I don't quite think it counts as built-in, either.) I guess many people do rely on proprietary screenreaders but that seems unfortunate tbf. Filtering windows based on their contents could maybe be a little bit cool but I think it'd probably mostly get in the way, even if there were an app I trusted doing the searching with appropriately limited APIs. I wouldn't readily trust a proprietary, internet-connected service to do that kind of searching, though— neither from Apple nor from Microsoft. If such a feature required me to enable Siri I wouldn't even be interested in trying it.
- accidentalborg 2y ago
  Oh man, I couldn't live without Alfred's clipboard manager [paid] feature. I started using Alfred eons ago, bought their Powerpack, and haven't looked back since. The ability to resurface text or images I copied up to 3 months ago has saved my bacon too many times to remember.
- merlindru 2y ago
  Clipboard history manager: Paste App (https://pasteapp.io https://pasteapp.io - freemium) or Raycast Cmd+Tab: AltTab (https://alt-tab-macos.netlify.app/ https://alt-tab-macos.netlify.app/) Different setting for the trackpad/mouse wheel: Mac Mouse Fix (https://macmousefix.com https://macmousefix.com) or LinearMouse (https://linearmouse.app/ https://linearmouse.app/) or Mos (https://mos.caldis.me/ https://mos.caldis.me/)
- bitsoda 2y ago
  Nailed it. It's honestly criminal and something I consider UX terrorism the way macOS lacks this basic functionality when even something like ChromeOS ships these by default. Wonderful hardware, but boy is the OS rough 20+ years later.
mmcnl 2y ago
No mention of Stage Manager at all if I'm correct? Seems like Apple is quietly abandoning that path.
karmakaze 2y ago
I never really understood the appeal of tiling window managers. I've gotten used to having overlapping windows with appropriate parts peek out out behind others. e.g. tail of a log behind an editor running a program, and I can bring it to the foreground to see older lines and/or scroll. To do the same with a tiling manager, I would zoom the logging pane. I suppose I just prefer less layout changes. Same for Slack, I have just enough peeping out to know there's some messages but I can't see the message text so I can ignore them until I'm ready. Are there situations that make more sense to use a tiling manager like on larger (where all the tiles are usable) or smaller screens (where full expansion makes sense)?
- harshaxnim 2y ago
  With tiling managers you can do all you just listed + quick snapping. Who would say no to that?
  - jwells89 2y ago
    The WM being tiling-dominant doesn’t really make sense if one only ever tiles the odd window every now and then. In that situation it makes more sense to use a floating-dominant WM with light tiling features (like that of Windows, most major Linux DEs, and now macOS).
- sircastor 2y ago
  I generally agree with you. I use my Mac with most of the windows overlapped most of the time. But occasionally I need them side-by-side to do some work. Typically referencing documents or code. Fortunately the introduction of this looks to just be an optional feature rather than a dictated "way things are". An overlapped/stacked interface is fine a lot of the time, but the flexibility is important. What really drives me crazy is the 100% tiled-interface. I feel like something important is just below the tiles, but I can't see it.
  - TylerE 2y ago
    You can solve that easily with the free rectangle app today.
pxc 2y ago
You still haven't seen that day, have you? macOS still offers only a floating window manager, now with some window snapping capabilities. But there is no mode or window manager built into macOS where new windows are arranged in tiles spanning the whole screen by default.
- rochacon 2y ago
  Exactly, by the description of it on the announcement, this is not "tiling window management" as we're used in Linux, this is just "Window Snaping" that been available on Windows and Linux for what, a decade now? I really hope there is a "automatic tiling" option, otherwise this is just mouse support for the current "Move Window"/"Tile Window" options already available on the OS (and easily bindable via custom shortcuts).
  - nativeit 2y ago
    When did “Linux” settle on a single window manager? There have been 3rd-party solutions for Mac for years, I don’t understand what’s different about that versus Linux, which comes with nothing by default, not even a graphical interface.
    - goosedragons 2y ago
      Most desktop Linux distros come with one of the big DEs like Gnome or KDE by default. And those have had Window snapping since shortly after MS demoed it for Windows 7. How is this different from Mac OS? It's integrated into the DE, you don't need to install anything extra and it works like you'd expect. On Mac the third party options never felt quite native.
      - hnaccount_rng 2y ago
        I get what you are saying, but for me nothing on Linux feels nativ. I'm still amazed that Apple has people who can announce window snapping and sound absolutely sincere when claiming that's a revolutionary new feature in the world. So.. I really get where you are coming from
vladsanchez 2y ago
Been a happy Magnet user for long time! Nothing remarkable in this OS that hasn't been seen yet elsewhere. No innovation, only #MeToo features. It took them a decade to release a "Send Later" feature? How's that for innovation? Snobs!
foxandmouse 2y ago
Since it's not available on iPadOS, I think the answer is.. it wont?
gloosx 2y ago
I wonder if they made horizontal 50/50 split possible. It is so freaking odd they decided to implement vertical 50/50, but flipping the variables and making a horizontal 50/50 is a no-no. Like no-one at Apple ever used a portrait orientation monitor.
wiseowise 2y ago
Finally Windows and Linux fanatics will shut up.
- superjose 2y ago
  TBH, we still need to see how it integrates with the keyboard. Ever since I've been using a Mac since Nov. 2023 that's been one of the things that I've battled with, and I've assigned a heck tons of shortcuts to make that happen.
  - adamomada 2y ago
    Wouldn’t it be like everything else, default keyboard shortcuts that can be easily overridden? Personally I hope they go with rectangle’s CTRL+OPT just because it’s seared into my muscle memory now
  - nobleach 2y ago
    It's frustrating at best. On any tiling WM on Linux, I can hit Meta+<#> and be taken to that workspace. On macOS, the moment I fullscreen an app, it's taken out of that flow. So for so many years, I've had my terminal full screen on workspace 2. Meta+2 it in my muscle memory for "go to terminal".
    - metadat 2y ago
      Macs aren't made for fancy people like yourself (any longer). No money in it, unfortunately.
      - nobleach 2y ago
        Somehow, all the way up into the Snow Leopard days, they seemed like they still exposed enough of the goodies for the "fancy" folk.
  - saagarjha 2y ago
    Most of the splits have shortcuts. They're menu items, so you can customize what they end up being.
spike021 2y ago
Yeah it looks like this will usurp Magnet for me, which I've used for years now.
- minimaxir 2y ago
  The better question is why it took so long for Apple to copy Magnet.
  - vladsanchez 2y ago
    Because Apple is pure Snobbery! Period! They'll never admit to be behind imagineers. I've personally been infuriated by the absence of Send Later feature. I can't fathom that I could do it with a "stupid/inferior" Windows Phone that wasn't obscenely priced like an iPhone. They lost their technological leadership since Steve Jobs. End of Story.
    - vladsanchez 2y ago
      3-4 Apple Fans downvoted me... LOL Sorry if I hurt your feelings. BTW I'm an iPhone13 owner and I still stand for what I said.
- imbnwa 2y ago
  Rectangle and Magnet devs not happy
  - cassianoleal 2y ago
    I still run f.lux even though macOS has native Night Shift. I run BetterDisplay even though I can change display settings natively. I run AppCleaner even though in theory I can uninstall an app by dragging it to the bin. I run Alfred even though Spotlight exists. I bet I'm gonna keep Rectangle as well.
alejoar 2y ago
Now if they only would allow me to take the focused window to the next workspace without using the mouse.
- prcrstntr 2y ago
  There's a new app on the block that allows this using virtual workspaces. https://github.com/nikitabobko/AeroSpace https://github.com/nikitabobko/AeroSpace
LogHouse 2y ago
I know it’s simple but I am so pleased with this. Now if they fixed the mouse acceleration curve and the scaling issue for monitors, I’d be at peace.
- imbnwa 2y ago
  What's the scaling issue?
  - sunshowers 2y ago
    Not GP, but macOS doesn't have fractional scaling, which means that running at non-integer scales is inefficient. For example: A 3840x2160 monitor run at 1x means a framebuffer of 3840x2160. At 2x, the effective resolution is 1920x1080, and this also uses a framebuffer of 3840x2160. At 1.5x, the effective resolution is 2560x1440. This is implemented by rendering at 4x (5160x2880) and then downscaling that. At 1.25x, the effective resolution is 3072x1728. This is also implemented by rendering at 4x (6144x3456) and downscaling that. The difference between all of these is quite noticeable. Edit: Apparently Apple has been shipping its laptops with non-integer scaling for a while, which is interesting.
    - LogHouse 2y ago
      The worst part is that third party solutions (eg BetterDisplay) work. So Apple could find this if they wanted with ease. No clue why they’re so stubborn on it
      - posselt 2y ago
        Are you sure it works in a different way? I always thought Betterdisplay still showed you fractional scaling by downscaling from a much higher resolution. Well, I'd say I can still see the blurriness in the display when I pick a custom high dpi resolutnion from the list.
    - astrange 2y ago
      Non-integer scaling is essentially impossible to do well unless you give up and turn all your UI design into web pages. Otherwise you get pixel cracks and other issues from finding all the places things are/aren't rounded properly. The laptop displays work by scaling down 2x/3x too.
freediver 2y ago
I use BetterSnapTool for ages and love it. Wondering if this will be good enough to replace it natively.
- mvanbaak 2y ago
  This was exactly what I was thinking as well. Let's see!
flenserboy 2y ago
It's great for those who want it, but I really hope it can be turned off just as with most of their recent UI additions, such as Stage Manager.
- saagarjha 2y ago
  It's opt-in.
zeusly 2y ago
I hope it supports thirds and not just 50/50 layouts.
- doublepg23 2y ago
  I think that’ll require the crackpot team that made Calculator on iPad possible.
  - mostlysimilar 2y ago
    To be fair the new calculator app with its magic math writing is pretty dang cool.
    - goosedragons 2y ago
      Nebo has had essentially that for years, OneNote too.
nico 2y ago
I use Moom for basic keyboard-based window management. Great for maximizing windows and quickly resizing them
- LeoPanthera 2y ago
  Yes! I've been using Moom for I think over a decade now. Cannot recommend it highly enough.
xyst 2y ago
the tiling is very basic though. reminds me of windows. i3/sway is superior, especially once you get it customized to your workflow.
- thfuran 2y ago
  Really basic tiling would be a vast improvement over the pathetic current built-in window management.
xlii 2y ago
2 days ago I complained that Apple has stalled when it came to window management. I wonder if Tim Cook is reading HN ;)
- lioeters 2y ago
  He might have someone (or something) who reads and summarizes HN, so he can keep a finger on the pulse.
gnatman 2y ago
I installed Rectangle about 4 hours ago based on another thread! Tim Apple knows all.
mortenjorck 2y ago
I'm honestly surprised and disappointed that all they appear to have done is Sherlock Rectangle. Stage Manager was the most interesting and useful thing to happen to window management in over a decade, and I was really hoping we'd see Apple do more with it. Its dynamic nature (windows don't always live in just a single context!) solved a lot of problems inherent in Spaces, and yet there's still plenty of room to build on its foundation. I was hoping we'd at least see the window snapping behavior ported over from iPadOS. It's a really well-thought-out way to simplify window resizing and overlapping, and it would go a long way on MacOS (perhaps with a toggle in Control Center for those edge cases where you actually want pixel precision). Maybe in MacOS 16...
- thiht 2y ago
  > Stage Manager was the most interesting and useful thing to happen to window management in over a decade … really? I’ve tried to use it a few times but it’s just… not good. Not very intuitive, full of idiosyncrasies, and it doesn’t solve the basic "I want to snap 2 windows side by side" problem. Maybe it’s more interesting on iPad? I’m glad they finally bring window snapping to Mac.
  - cjk2 2y ago
    it's bloody terrible on the ipad too. I tried it with my studio display for a day and it was like wrestling a raccoon all fucking day.
- cassianoleal 2y ago
  I disabled Stage Manager after trying it out for a week or so. How the hell does that thing make any sense? Really, this is a legit question. How is that thing useful?
  - BenFranklin100 2y ago
    The use case for myself is when I have to focus on a specific task/project and I have three or four applications I need to alternate between. It’s quite useful for that. Once the task is completed, I turn it off.

thiht 2y ago

FINALLY! I really didn’t it to come to Mac, ever. Now so just need a clipboard history manager, a way to make cmd+tab behave like Windows alt+tab, a way to mute the mic in the status bar, and a different setting for the trackpad/mouse wheel direction, and I won’t need to install random apps for basic features anymore.

pxc 2y ago
don't forget per-app volume control, linear scroll wheel speed, some reasonable way to manage menu bar icons and ensure all can actually be accesses and used, a way to prevent the system from going to sleep (the built-in `caffeinate` command hasn't worked for years!), and searching through open windows by typing!
- tiltowait 2y ago
  I use caffeinate all the time. What's wrong with it?
  - pxc 2y ago
    When sleep is supposedly disabled by caffeinate, closing the lid still puts my laptop to sleep. It's been like that as since I first tried it, several years ago. But your comment inspired me to Google anew and... I guess it was always intended to only kind of disable sleep?
- LexGray 2y ago
  > reasonable way to manage menu bar icons I believe the new control center API is intended to push seldom used icons into the control center > searching through open windows by typing The new Siri is context aware once the developers include their data through new APIs. The Microsoft version which was snooping through private browsing, secure apps, and logging passwords in open databases was not the right way to go.
  - pxc 2y ago
    > I believe the new control center API is intended to push seldom used icons into the control center More than just cleaning the menu bar (I don't care about that), I want a guarantee that I can see and click on every menu bar icon somewhere. Whether that's the present vision or not, this sounds like a clear step in the right direction! While I have lots of gripes about macOS and I understand that probably some of them are things Apple will just never go for, it does almost seem like Apple is giving some neglected desktop fundamentals much needed improvements. Fixing linear mouse movement on the last major release was nice, as is the new window snapping thing. > > searching through open windows by typing > The new Siri is context aware once the developers include their data through new APIs. The Microsoft version which was snooping through private browsing, secure apps, and logging passwords in open databases was not the right way to go. I don't want any kind of internet-connected AI assistant on the desktop at all. I just want the ability to task switch efficiently by fuzzy filtering on basic stuff like window titles and descriptions like can be done easily with Plasma and GNOME built-ins. (On Windows, PowerToys can do it but I don't love that interface and even though it's an MS thing I don't quite think it counts as built-in, either.) I guess many people do rely on proprietary screenreaders but that seems unfortunate tbf. Filtering windows based on their contents could maybe be a little bit cool but I think it'd probably mostly get in the way, even if there were an app I trusted doing the searching with appropriately limited APIs. I wouldn't readily trust a proprietary, internet-connected service to do that kind of searching, though— neither from Apple nor from Microsoft. If such a feature required me to enable Siri I wouldn't even be interested in trying it.
accidentalborg 2y ago
Oh man, I couldn't live without Alfred's clipboard manager [paid] feature. I started using Alfred eons ago, bought their Powerpack, and haven't looked back since. The ability to resurface text or images I copied up to 3 months ago has saved my bacon too many times to remember.
merlindru 2y ago
Clipboard history manager: Paste App (https://pasteapp.io https://pasteapp.io - freemium) or Raycast Cmd+Tab: AltTab (https://alt-tab-macos.netlify.app/ https://alt-tab-macos.netlify.app/) Different setting for the trackpad/mouse wheel: Mac Mouse Fix (https://macmousefix.com https://macmousefix.com) or LinearMouse (https://linearmouse.app/ https://linearmouse.app/) or Mos (https://mos.caldis.me/ https://mos.caldis.me/)
bitsoda 2y ago
Nailed it. It's honestly criminal and something I consider UX terrorism the way macOS lacks this basic functionality when even something like ChromeOS ships these by default. Wonderful hardware, but boy is the OS rough 20+ years later.

mmcnl 2y ago

No mention of Stage Manager at all if I'm correct? Seems like Apple is quietly abandoning that path.

karmakaze 2y ago

I never really understood the appeal of tiling window managers. I've gotten used to having overlapping windows with appropriate parts peek out out behind others. e.g. tail of a log behind an editor running a program, and I can bring it to the foreground to see older lines and/or scroll. To do the same with a tiling manager, I would zoom the logging pane. I suppose I just prefer less layout changes. Same for Slack, I have just enough peeping out to know there's some messages but I can't see the message text so I can ignore them until I'm ready. Are there situations that make more sense to use a tiling manager like on larger (where all the tiles are usable) or smaller screens (where full expansion makes sense)?

harshaxnim 2y ago
With tiling managers you can do all you just listed + quick snapping. Who would say no to that?
- jwells89 2y ago
  The WM being tiling-dominant doesn’t really make sense if one only ever tiles the odd window every now and then. In that situation it makes more sense to use a floating-dominant WM with light tiling features (like that of Windows, most major Linux DEs, and now macOS).
sircastor 2y ago
I generally agree with you. I use my Mac with most of the windows overlapped most of the time. But occasionally I need them side-by-side to do some work. Typically referencing documents or code. Fortunately the introduction of this looks to just be an optional feature rather than a dictated "way things are". An overlapped/stacked interface is fine a lot of the time, but the flexibility is important. What really drives me crazy is the 100% tiled-interface. I feel like something important is just below the tiles, but I can't see it.
- TylerE 2y ago
  You can solve that easily with the free rectangle app today.

pxc 2y ago

You still haven't seen that day, have you? macOS still offers only a floating window manager, now with some window snapping capabilities. But there is no mode or window manager built into macOS where new windows are arranged in tiles spanning the whole screen by default.

rochacon 2y ago
Exactly, by the description of it on the announcement, this is not "tiling window management" as we're used in Linux, this is just "Window Snaping" that been available on Windows and Linux for what, a decade now? I really hope there is a "automatic tiling" option, otherwise this is just mouse support for the current "Move Window"/"Tile Window" options already available on the OS (and easily bindable via custom shortcuts).
- nativeit 2y ago
  When did “Linux” settle on a single window manager? There have been 3rd-party solutions for Mac for years, I don’t understand what’s different about that versus Linux, which comes with nothing by default, not even a graphical interface.
  - goosedragons 2y ago
    Most desktop Linux distros come with one of the big DEs like Gnome or KDE by default. And those have had Window snapping since shortly after MS demoed it for Windows 7. How is this different from Mac OS? It's integrated into the DE, you don't need to install anything extra and it works like you'd expect. On Mac the third party options never felt quite native.
    - hnaccount_rng 2y ago
      I get what you are saying, but for me nothing on Linux feels nativ. I'm still amazed that Apple has people who can announce window snapping and sound absolutely sincere when claiming that's a revolutionary new feature in the world. So.. I really get where you are coming from

vladsanchez 2y ago

Been a happy Magnet user for long time! Nothing remarkable in this OS that hasn't been seen yet elsewhere. No innovation, only #MeToo features. It took them a decade to release a "Send Later" feature? How's that for innovation? Snobs!

foxandmouse 2y ago

Since it's not available on iPadOS, I think the answer is.. it wont?

gloosx 2y ago

I wonder if they made horizontal 50/50 split possible. It is so freaking odd they decided to implement vertical 50/50, but flipping the variables and making a horizontal 50/50 is a no-no. Like no-one at Apple ever used a portrait orientation monitor.

wiseowise 2y ago

Finally Windows and Linux fanatics will shut up.

superjose 2y ago
TBH, we still need to see how it integrates with the keyboard. Ever since I've been using a Mac since Nov. 2023 that's been one of the things that I've battled with, and I've assigned a heck tons of shortcuts to make that happen.
- adamomada 2y ago
  Wouldn’t it be like everything else, default keyboard shortcuts that can be easily overridden? Personally I hope they go with rectangle’s CTRL+OPT just because it’s seared into my muscle memory now
- nobleach 2y ago
  It's frustrating at best. On any tiling WM on Linux, I can hit Meta+<#> and be taken to that workspace. On macOS, the moment I fullscreen an app, it's taken out of that flow. So for so many years, I've had my terminal full screen on workspace 2. Meta+2 it in my muscle memory for "go to terminal".
  - metadat 2y ago
    Macs aren't made for fancy people like yourself (any longer). No money in it, unfortunately.
    - nobleach 2y ago
      Somehow, all the way up into the Snow Leopard days, they seemed like they still exposed enough of the goodies for the "fancy" folk.
- saagarjha 2y ago
  Most of the splits have shortcuts. They're menu items, so you can customize what they end up being.

spike021 2y ago

Yeah it looks like this will usurp Magnet for me, which I've used for years now.

minimaxir 2y ago
The better question is why it took so long for Apple to copy Magnet.
- vladsanchez 2y ago
  Because Apple is pure Snobbery! Period! They'll never admit to be behind imagineers. I've personally been infuriated by the absence of Send Later feature. I can't fathom that I could do it with a "stupid/inferior" Windows Phone that wasn't obscenely priced like an iPhone. They lost their technological leadership since Steve Jobs. End of Story.
  - vladsanchez 2y ago
    3-4 Apple Fans downvoted me... LOL Sorry if I hurt your feelings. BTW I'm an iPhone13 owner and I still stand for what I said.
imbnwa 2y ago
Rectangle and Magnet devs not happy
- cassianoleal 2y ago
  I still run f.lux even though macOS has native Night Shift. I run BetterDisplay even though I can change display settings natively. I run AppCleaner even though in theory I can uninstall an app by dragging it to the bin. I run Alfred even though Spotlight exists. I bet I'm gonna keep Rectangle as well.

alejoar 2y ago

Now if they only would allow me to take the focused window to the next workspace without using the mouse.

prcrstntr 2y ago
There's a new app on the block that allows this using virtual workspaces. https://github.com/nikitabobko/AeroSpace https://github.com/nikitabobko/AeroSpace

LogHouse 2y ago

I know it’s simple but I am so pleased with this. Now if they fixed the mouse acceleration curve and the scaling issue for monitors, I’d be at peace.

imbnwa 2y ago
What's the scaling issue?
- sunshowers 2y ago
  Not GP, but macOS doesn't have fractional scaling, which means that running at non-integer scales is inefficient. For example: A 3840x2160 monitor run at 1x means a framebuffer of 3840x2160. At 2x, the effective resolution is 1920x1080, and this also uses a framebuffer of 3840x2160. At 1.5x, the effective resolution is 2560x1440. This is implemented by rendering at 4x (5160x2880) and then downscaling that. At 1.25x, the effective resolution is 3072x1728. This is also implemented by rendering at 4x (6144x3456) and downscaling that. The difference between all of these is quite noticeable. Edit: Apparently Apple has been shipping its laptops with non-integer scaling for a while, which is interesting.
  - LogHouse 2y ago
    The worst part is that third party solutions (eg BetterDisplay) work. So Apple could find this if they wanted with ease. No clue why they’re so stubborn on it
    - posselt 2y ago
      Are you sure it works in a different way? I always thought Betterdisplay still showed you fractional scaling by downscaling from a much higher resolution. Well, I'd say I can still see the blurriness in the display when I pick a custom high dpi resolutnion from the list.
  - astrange 2y ago
    Non-integer scaling is essentially impossible to do well unless you give up and turn all your UI design into web pages. Otherwise you get pixel cracks and other issues from finding all the places things are/aren't rounded properly. The laptop displays work by scaling down 2x/3x too.

freediver 2y ago

I use BetterSnapTool for ages and love it. Wondering if this will be good enough to replace it natively.

mvanbaak 2y ago
This was exactly what I was thinking as well. Let's see!

flenserboy 2y ago

It's great for those who want it, but I really hope it can be turned off just as with most of their recent UI additions, such as Stage Manager.

saagarjha 2y ago
It's opt-in.

zeusly 2y ago

I hope it supports thirds and not just 50/50 layouts.

doublepg23 2y ago
I think that’ll require the crackpot team that made Calculator on iPad possible.
- mostlysimilar 2y ago
  To be fair the new calculator app with its magic math writing is pretty dang cool.
  - goosedragons 2y ago
    Nebo has had essentially that for years, OneNote too.

nico 2y ago

I use Moom for basic keyboard-based window management. Great for maximizing windows and quickly resizing them

LeoPanthera 2y ago
Yes! I've been using Moom for I think over a decade now. Cannot recommend it highly enough.

xyst 2y ago

the tiling is very basic though. reminds me of windows. i3/sway is superior, especially once you get it customized to your workflow.

thfuran 2y ago
Really basic tiling would be a vast improvement over the pathetic current built-in window management.

xlii 2y ago

2 days ago I complained that Apple has stalled when it came to window management. I wonder if Tim Cook is reading HN ;)

lioeters 2y ago
He might have someone (or something) who reads and summarizes HN, so he can keep a finger on the pulse.

gnatman 2y ago

I installed Rectangle about 4 hours ago based on another thread! Tim Apple knows all.

mortenjorck 2y ago

I'm honestly surprised and disappointed that all they appear to have done is Sherlock Rectangle. Stage Manager was the most interesting and useful thing to happen to window management in over a decade, and I was really hoping we'd see Apple do more with it. Its dynamic nature (windows don't always live in just a single context!) solved a lot of problems inherent in Spaces, and yet there's still plenty of room to build on its foundation. I was hoping we'd at least see the window snapping behavior ported over from iPadOS. It's a really well-thought-out way to simplify window resizing and overlapping, and it would go a long way on MacOS (perhaps with a toggle in Control Center for those edge cases where you actually want pixel precision). Maybe in MacOS 16...

thiht 2y ago
> Stage Manager was the most interesting and useful thing to happen to window management in over a decade … really? I’ve tried to use it a few times but it’s just… not good. Not very intuitive, full of idiosyncrasies, and it doesn’t solve the basic "I want to snap 2 windows side by side" problem. Maybe it’s more interesting on iPad? I’m glad they finally bring window snapping to Mac.
- cjk2 2y ago
  it's bloody terrible on the ipad too. I tried it with my studio display for a day and it was like wrestling a raccoon all fucking day.
cassianoleal 2y ago
I disabled Stage Manager after trying it out for a week or so. How the hell does that thing make any sense? Really, this is a legit question. How is that thing useful?
- BenFranklin100 2y ago
  The use case for myself is when I have to focus on a specific task/project and I have three or four applications I need to alternate between. It’s quite useful for that. Once the task is completed, I turn it off.