Hacker News Reader

Comment by RobertRoberts | Hacker News Reader

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].

[1] https://rectangleapp.com/

(I add this to all the Macs I touch)

View on HN

I highly recommend Swish as an alternative to Rectangle. Recently discovered it and wouldn't go back. The main thing that sold me is the ability to resize two windows by dragging the divider between them (similar to how Windows works).

https://highlyopinionated.co/swish/

This looks neat, but it only seems to be useful for touchpads, which is the vast minority of users. And while it's not expensive, it's also not free. Any software I have to manage with an extra license is an added time burden. (even if minimal, it adds up)

Doesn't seem very useful if you use your Mac with a normal mouse though.

I don't utilize the touchpad gestures at all. It provides a full set of keyboard shortcuts.

I've been using Spectacle for a while now, https://github.com/eczarny/spectacle, it seems to be less feature rich than some of the alternatives other people posted but it's free and works well for what I need it to do. Basically, just keyboard shortcut to move windows do different monitors and resize them to the left, right, or fullscreen.

On the repo it says this:

"This project is not being actively maintained... Spectacle users have recommended Rectangle as an open source alternative."

This is actually how I found Rectangle. :P

Ah, didn't realize that. I've been using Spectacle a lot longer than the 3 years since they added that. I guess I'll be sad if it ever stops working or I'll switch to Rectangle.

On first run or when restoring default settings, Rectangle offers two defaults: Spectacle or Rectangle.

I've been hesitant about installing software like the previous suggestions, so I opened the Stickies app and resized them to create a guide. I like to have a space between windows so that the wallpaper is still visible in some of my Spaces.

My issue is that it's not efficient and I need to nudge some windows from accidentally moving them.

I use Magnet [1]. Works really well, hot keys mostly make sense for various settings.

[1] https://magnet.crowdcafe.com/

I don't understand why Apple didn't build this functionality and enabled it by default. It's much easier dragging a window at any corner or side on a Linux/Windows OS.

They made a _one_ button mouse for many years... Maybe it's an Apple culture issue?

If I remember correctly it has something to do with Microsoft patenting window drag/snapping to the edge of the screen for resizing.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com