I use <a href="https://rectangleapp.com/pro" rel="nofollow">https://rectangleapp.com/pro</a> and really enjoy this app (I paid for it, it gets a lot of updates/fixes).<p>It mostly takes care of snapping and resizing windows with hot keys, but has a less obvious feature in preferences to use mouse.<p>My setup is:
CMD+SHIFT will move any window under mouse pointer
CMD+SHIFT+CTRL will resize any window under mouse pointer
I use the kinda hidden three finger dragging gesture that you can activate like this:<p>1. Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, then click Accessibility.
2. Select Pointer Control in the sidebar. (In earlier versions of macOS, select Mouse & Trackpad.)
3. Click the Trackpad Options button.
4. Select ”Enable dragging,” then choose ”three finger drag” from the menu.
5. Click OK.
I've enabled this "grab" feature on every Linux window manager that has supported it. Hold alt or the windows key, click, move. Simple usability improvements make a world of difference, but for some reason, they are uncommon.
I thought this was fairly well known with respect to the defaults customizations. There is a repo here: <a href="https://macos-defaults.com/#-what-s-a-defaults-command" rel="nofollow">https://macos-defaults.com/#-what-s-a-defaults-command</a><p>...but it is missing a lot of them, which are scattered across the internet. Some others worth checking out are aggregated here:<p><a href="https://gist.github.com/romanhaa/9804183f242991007b316a59c4ba5e5a" rel="nofollow">https://gist.github.com/romanhaa/9804183f242991007b316a59c4b...</a>
Hyperdock is one of the best purchases I've ever made. It allows you to assign hot keys to window management - e.g.<p>alt-left-mouse: grab anywhere in window to move<p>option-command-left-mouse: resize window from anywhere in window<p>Hasn't been updated in years but it still works on Monterey though it occasionally requires some kicking. I've looked for alternatives that are more up to date but can never find one that does the above - it's really all I want in a window manager as I don't like automated tiling and other features.<p><a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/hyperdock/id449830122?mt=12" rel="nofollow">https://apps.apple.com/us/app/hyperdock/id449830122?mt=12</a>
I've had `OnWindow Mod1 Mouse1 :MacroCmd {Raise} {Focus} {StartMoving}` in my fluxbox keys config for a decade or so? My brain will automatically issue and alt-click on a window in some other OS and I'm always jolted back to the reality that I'm not in my usual window manager. Now if only I could rebind that cmd ctrl on macos to alt.
My biggest complaint about MacOS is that I use multiple screens. When I swipe from one window to another on a single screen it focuses on the other screen which caused a lot of frustration.
My mac users feel the exhaustion of micro managing windows but don't know what causes the drain until I show them a better way [1].<p>[1] <a href="https://rectangleapp.com/" rel="nofollow">https://rectangleapp.com/</a><p>(I add this to all the Macs I touch)
On linux, this is something I use every single day. It's awesome!<p>Haven't seen this in the thread: You can resize the window by using right-click instead of left.<p>This works on both i3 and KDE for example.<p>Mod+Left click = Drag windows around
Mod+Right click = Resize window
Can we talk for a moment about how horribly well hidden these shortkeys are for normal users? Why not blend in a shortkey-tooltip when dragging a window around normally using the title bar? Make stuff discoverable again?
I don't understand how MacOS is constently praised for its UI while half the comments here mention a third party app just to make it usable.
Maybe it's just me, but I owned a Mac for over 5 years and I could never wrap my head around how MacOS handles windows and open apps.
On my Macbook/Trackpad I use 'Enable dragging > without drag lock'. The best setting i've ever found in macOS, it takes a little getting used to but it's so much better;<p>' > System Preferences > Accessibility > Pointer Control > Trackpad Options > Enable Dragging. > without drag lock'<p>It basically allows you to drag everything without 'force clicking' the trackpad. Instead you can now just 'tap twice + hold finger down' and drag.
I'm surprised no one has mentioned <a href="https://github.com/koekeishiya/yabai" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/koekeishiya/yabai</a> -- it takes a little work to setup but it's well worth the effort. It's keyboard centric and auto lays out windows nicely.
Something I use all the time to handle applications which might have multiple instances opened at once. For example, web browsers.<p>Press CMD-TAB to bring up the list of opened applications and then pressing UP or DOWN over a selected application to show the opened instances. After that use LEFT or RIGHT to select the instance you want to show.
Another question - I've looked before for any documentation on building tools for Mac, and can't really figure out anything besides "run this xyz app to trigger an AppleScript and do magic".<p>Does anyone know of any Swift APIs for interacting at the level of the OS itself?
I use the feature with the Sway window manager for Linux. With Sway, you can move floating windows like this, and you can also resize or move tiled windows by clicking anywhere in the window while holding down a key.
This really should be a standard feature, everyone seems to have their own window manager for Mac desktops. I use an app called Window Mover that's so old the developer and dmg can't be found anywhere online, but it still works flawlessly on Monterey! Much more minimal than some of the populat apps so I keep the package handy. Using other Macs I'm struck by how clumsy it is not to have global window drag to move or resize. Fn is my favorite modifier since it so rarely interacts with the cursor (unlike other mod keys when using eg Photoshop).
Wish you could change the key combo for this, I've been using a long-abandoned tool called Zooom2 to do this with `fn` (and `fn` + `control` to resize`) and fear losing it on my next Mac if it's an M1.
By default, command-click enables "focus follows mouse"-like behavior, allowing you to manipulate the widgets of background windows without bringing them to the foreground.
AlwaysMouseWheel supports Alt+dragging in Windows (I initally used it for its primary feature on 8.1, which is sending scroll events to the window under the mouse pointer): <a href="https://www.softwareok.com/?seite=Microsoft/AlwaysMouseWheel" rel="nofollow">https://www.softwareok.com/?seite=Microsoft/AlwaysMouseWheel</a>
Like moving it accidentally clicking on the chome was not enough! This is the worst feature of macOS - a windows should be moved only by dragging on an obvious area like the title bar. Sometimes I just want to switch the focus and click on a window and it accidentally moves in a random direction by a few pixels!
I wish there was a feature or an app that would prevent moving and lock windows in place instead of this.<p>For example, Spark (email) annoys me cause you can drag the window by dragging the search box, so sometimes clicking that to focus causes the window to shift by a couple pixels
I've used Easy Move+Resize[0] for this and configured it to Alt+drag windows (like most Linux window managers).<p>[0] <a href="https://github.com/dmarcotte/easy-move-resize" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/dmarcotte/easy-move-resize</a>
This method doesn't allow customizing the keys. Best app for this is <a href="https://github.com/finestructure/Hummingbird" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/finestructure/Hummingbird</a>.
Anyone know a tool it will automatically arrange all open windows of an application so that they are all of the same size? I often have many open Finder windows, and then arrange them manually on my screen to fill the available space.
(I posted about the same for Windows a day or so ago: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31257779" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31257779</a>)
I use zooom2 which is no longer maintained but it allows me to drag/resize windows while holding cmd+shift, option+shift. A feature that existed in windowmaker since the 90s.
Is this the default on Monterey? This behavior is enabled on my system, but I'm 100% sure I've never executed the terminal command from the linked article.
I am windows user since windows 95. But it has slowly become a mess since it's peak at Windows 2000. I am currently testing macos. I bought a Mac mini. First thing I learned is that my existing monitor just won't work perfectly cause it is not retina and second there is not easy way to click windows in place!! So now I need to buy very expensive monitor or just get an imac and install a 3rd party app to manage windows. Hmm. I will still do these things. The rest of experience has been good.
MacOS is full of these UI "tricks" that remain undiscovered by 99% of users because they are:<p>- not obvious<p>- not discoverable<p>For example: if you hold option when you click the Wifi button, you actually can view a lot of information about the Wifi networks you are connecting to. This is invaluable when you're dealing with a Wifi issue, and <i>completely undiscoverable!</i><p>I think MacOS is a perfectly usable operating system... If you're god and can somehow "just know" all of these hidden secrets.