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Show HN: Floaty – a tiny macOS tool to pin any window always on top

2 points by fayecat910 11mo ago

I built Floaty because I often need a window (notes, docs, videos or dashboards) to stay visible while working in another app, and macOS still doesn’t provide a built-in way to pin windows on top. Floaty is a small native macOS utility that lets you pin any window, adjust opacity, enable click-through and toggle it with shortcuts. It works with most apps (including browsers and Electron apps) and stays lightweight. Everything runs locally and it can work fully offline. This started as a tool I made for myself, then I realized I was using it every day, so I polished it into a standalone app. If you run into edge cases or have workflows I should support, I’d love to hear them.

d3Xt3r 11mo ago
Awesome! It would be great if there was also a way to make the window transparent, if so, maybe we could change the transparency level by pressing something like Cmd+Scroll to change the alpha level of the window under the mouse cursor (I already do this + floaty on Windows using AutoHotkey, and always wanted to do something similar for macOS).
- fayecat910 11mo ago
  Thanks for the suggestion! Floaty actually does support window transparency — you can adjust the opacity from the panel using the slider. I haven’t added a scroll-based shortcut yet, but your Cmd + Scroll idea sounds great and definitely fits the workflow for people who adjust opacity frequently. I’ll explore whether I can support this in a future update. Really appreciate the feedback — if you have any other tweaks or ideas, I’d love to hear them!
k310 11mo ago
I use screenfloat, which plops your screenshot on top of everything else, which can be confusing, as in "why don't these window controls work?" ... Oh, they're the floating screenshot. Or since the scroll wheel controls the shot's transparency, a little more confusion. Just to note, not to rant. One thing I would find useful is to just hide every other app (yes, I know, there's a hide others" shortcut) but expose finder windows, so I can drag URL's and images on web pages into a folder without the "save image as" or non-equivalent for the URL bar. I do save a lot of screensnaps and images to post on forums, so that people don't have to feed the twitter or FB beasts (and trackers). These may or may not apply to you, but there you go anyway.
zhgchgli 11mo ago
Hey — I just came across this tool and was wondering: is this a one-time purchase or a monthly subscription?

2 points by fayecat910 11mo ago

d3Xt3r 11mo ago

Awesome! It would be great if there was also a way to make the window transparent, if so, maybe we could change the transparency level by pressing something like Cmd+Scroll to change the alpha level of the window under the mouse cursor (I already do this + floaty on Windows using AutoHotkey, and always wanted to do something similar for macOS).

fayecat910 11mo ago
Thanks for the suggestion! Floaty actually does support window transparency — you can adjust the opacity from the panel using the slider. I haven’t added a scroll-based shortcut yet, but your Cmd + Scroll idea sounds great and definitely fits the workflow for people who adjust opacity frequently. I’ll explore whether I can support this in a future update. Really appreciate the feedback — if you have any other tweaks or ideas, I’d love to hear them!

k310 11mo ago

I use screenfloat, which plops your screenshot on top of everything else, which can be confusing, as in "why don't these window controls work?" ... Oh, they're the floating screenshot. Or since the scroll wheel controls the shot's transparency, a little more confusion. Just to note, not to rant. One thing I would find useful is to just hide every other app (yes, I know, there's a hide others" shortcut) but expose finder windows, so I can drag URL's and images on web pages into a folder without the "save image as" or non-equivalent for the URL bar. I do save a lot of screensnaps and images to post on forums, so that people don't have to feed the twitter or FB beasts (and trackers). These may or may not apply to you, but there you go anyway.

zhgchgli 11mo ago

Hey — I just came across this tool and was wondering: is this a one-time purchase or a monthly subscription?