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Comment by webkike | Hacker News Reader

Please, for the love of god, add native window snapping.

I’ve been using Rectangle Pro for more than a year now and it works pretty great. However, I found that I don’t actually use snapping that much (maybe I’m just not used to it). My most used features is actually the move and resize modifier keys, which let me drag/resize a window without having to go through the pain (more or less, depending on the window clutter) of having to move my mouse to that small area where I can do that. Seriously, it’s been such a game changer for me that I wish Apple would make this a built-in feature.

I moved from Fedora to MacOS a few months ago and its unbelievable the shortcuts apple added to make window management bearable and even still, it is impossible without an add-on. I refuse to believe anyone at apple thinks it is okay and is able to actually work at all.

Rectangle is one of the first things I always install when on a Mac... and yet I never use it anymore.

I remember using it a lot on Windows, but since I've switched to macOS I think I've migrated entirely to their Mission Control way of handling windows. I'm not sure why but I very rarely need to have 2 windows side by side anymore, maybe because I can just three-finger swipe to compare windows.

I still think Rectangle should be integrated as a native feature, but I think I understand why it's not.

This bugged me when I first switched, too. I highly recommend going with the flow and doing it the Apple way for a while. I was frustrated at trying and failing to make my Mac act just like Linux. It's bad at that.

I did the same transition because my work gave me a m1, cannot stress how good vanilla gnome is and how lackluster is macos desktop.

1. When opening 'mission control' in gnome, all the windows have the application icon at the bottom, it's easier to find what I am searching for. In macos I have to scan every window for the content I am looking.

2. If I don't find an app in 'mission control' in gnome I can just type and open it very quickly. In macos you need to close mission control and then open spotlight.

3. In gnome it's possible to close applications from 'mission control'. In macos if I want to clean up the space I have to go window by window.

4. Mission control arrangement sucks, sometimes windows overlap, position changes randomly.

5. In gnome, when moving a maximized window it resizes to a smaller size so you can easily interact with the windows behind (drag a file or whatever).

Those are the ones on the top of my head. It really kills my productivity and make me wonder if macos is worth the pain. Yes, it comes with lot of very polished applications but most of the time I am just using the basics.

I use the open source system tray app Rectangle for this.

I work in an environment where they won't let me download any applications like this!

That, to me, seems like an employment problem.

Yeah, there are some third party addons, but the built in window management is appallingly primitive. It’s just bad.

Isn't that basically why you get Apple stuff in the first place, to have primitive but well-working things? They're not exactly famous for catering to professionals or people who want a customized experience.

No that is not "basically why you get Apple stuff in the first place". I have never in my life seen either Apple or its fan base market their products this way. That is a post hoc rationalisation for their operating system missing quite a basic feature.

Really? "It just works" isn't something you've ever heard from someone who uses Apple products? Or "I might not be able to change X, but at least I know what's there works well"?

But it doesn't work. It isn't present. There's basically no window management.

I mean, it is present. Just because it's not as advanced as you'd like it to be, doesn't mean it's not there. You can move windows, you can cycle between different active windows, you can minimize windows and so on. That's window management.

Yes, super basic, but so is most features of Apple software. Simple, basic and without customization, just like how many Apple users like their software.

Stage manager was a mistake.

Uh, Mission Control, formerly Exposé? Spaces? Full screen windows? The tiling shortcuts that appear when you hover the green window button?

If you don't use them, that's fine, but they do exist and they are well-used.

What does "It just works" have to do with "primitive" (your word) things? Besides, when was the last time Apple even used that turn of phrase?

> They're not exactly famous for catering to professionals

If Mac OS wasn't famous for catering to professionals for a full decade, there would not be any Apple Computers inc. Of course the point still stands that Apple is famous nowadays for its phones, but macOS is still seen by many as the golden standard in window management. That it achieves its reputation without window snapping is a detail.

I can only assume the people who find it to be the gold standard have never used any other window manager and/or have very low requirements/APM.

Is it like Grid or whatever?

It supports halves (horizontal/vertical), thirds (vertical), quarters (vertical or 2x2), and sixths (3x2), plus some variations (move to edge, "almost maximize", bigger, smaller, etc). Also supports variations on those, eg. "middle two quarters" or "right two thirds" if that's your thing.

I have an ultrawide external display, and keyboard shortcuts to quickly tile two or three windows at once is where it's at, though it also supports dragging the window to an edge for various snap effects.

Installed ;)

Can confirm Rectangle works really well and consumes close to none ram or cpu. You can even disable it from the menu bar so it feels very native

I use sizeup. Small price to pay for great keyboard shortcuts to manage windows. https://www.irradiatedsoftware.com/sizeup/

after spending the last 2 months on desktop linux full time - I'd rather pay $12 and use macos than pay nothing and have a worse open source experience.

By some miracle, the seven-year old version of Slate continues to work with each new macOS update. I'm dreading the day that breaks, although I'm also worried about security vulnerabilities that might exist in it already.

Just because you don't want to have to install a thing, or is there something that native support would be able to do that third-party apps can't?

Currently, snapped windows jump around Spaces and resize for every monitor connection/resolution change. It’s incredibly frustrating to not have any consistent behavior. 3P apps can’t solve this as there is no public API for managing windows with Spaces. Of course, the native window manager could solve this…

> Please, for the love of god, add native window snapping.

macOS has had built-in “window snapping” since 2015. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204948

And if/when you need more advanced window management, there’s a plethora of free and paid options.

That is not remotely as powerful as actual window snapping and feels more like what a tablet OS would need rather than a desktop OS.

> That is not remotely as powerful as actual window snapping…

I assume because that type of advanced window management is a poor default for a mainstream audience.

Happily, there are great options for this. My preference right now is Raycast's Window Management extension. https://www.raycast.com/extensions/window-management

I agree to a certain extent, but I see people regularly using the 4 corner window snapping in Windows. Especially as 1440p and 4k monitors gain adoption.

Fair enough, although I can hear the future complaints about Apple "Sherlocking" Magnet already. :^)

Windows has supported window snapping for years. It has been the mainstream default for years

What does "native window snapping" mean?

Not having to install apps like Rectangle to snap windows into desired areas.

[1] https://rectangleapp.com

Huh! People's preferences really do vary. Thanks for the reference.

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