The other comments recommend better options to simulate xmonad/other tiling wm's (FYI there is a version[1] of xmonad in development that works with native OS X

The other comments recommend better options to simulate xmonad/other tiling wm's (FYI there is a version[1] of xmonad in development that works with native OS X windows) but for distraction-free work I really enjoy OS X's fullscreen mode. Often to avoid distractions I'll fullscreen everything and use gestures to go back and forth - gives you an identical experience to an iPad (unlike the statement in the article). Using the gesture to hold two fullscreen windows visibly at once but not relying on tiling or overlapping is surprisingly useful and productive. [1]: https://github.com/xmonad/osxmonad https://github.com/xmonad/osxmonad