87 karma · joined January 6, 2010
http://lowndes.net
It doesn't solve all the problems in this post, but if you are trying to find an open window I think it's the fastest way. Expose is chaos if you've got a lot of windows open.
It's also really easy to rapidly apply any kind of custom position using the grid.
This isn't exactly what you are after but it still gives you a lot of flexibility.
I posted a separate submission this morning but it hasn't seen any attention and I thought it would really appeal to HN's:
Window & tab switching with 'type to search' for OS X http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2675963
Developing a OS X window manager is risky business, Apple could wipe it out at any time and Lion's certainly got some really nice features with Mission Control. But I reckon Optimal Layout's still going to appeal to keyboarders, what do you think?
http://www.amazon.com/History-World-J-M-Roberts/dp/019521043...
This was my lunch time reading for many months whilst doing contract web development. I was working with the most offensive tech lead I've ever met, but he was also incredibly effective.
It kept me sane (I think).
Apple didn't copy the app, it sound like they were maintaining control of their interests; no one should be surprised by that given Apple's track record.
That's not to say Apple haven't copied others apps, they've positively trampled on a slew of third party apps with enhancements in Lion and IOS 5, but that's all part of the game at this point.
Firstly, from what I've seen, only the US store really matters for paid apps. I've seen very low numbers move Optimal Layout to close to the top of the category: e.g 5 sales in Canada placed it at #5 in the top paid utilities.
In the US Optimal Layout hit #4 in the top paid utilities and #40 top paid overall with 82 units sold in a day.
For the free apps, WindowFlow was the best performer getting the most downloads in Japan & France (for some reason) hitting the number 1 spot in both store with about 700 downloads a day. Neither of these translated into many sales for Optimal Layout, but it was just great to have lots of people trying out the apps.
So overall it's not a big market yet, being a part of bundle like MacUpdate or MacHeist delivers access to a much bigger market (40,000+ in 2 weeks) but it's relatively steady and only going to get bigger.
I'll revive my blog soon and post a more detailed analysis of how I see it playing out.
[1]WindowFlow: http://most-advantageous.com/windowflow/
[2]Window Keys: http://most-advantageous.com/window-keys/
[3]Optimal Layout: http://most-advantageous.com/optimal-layout
But I strongly recommend you check out Programming iOS 4: http://oreilly.com/catalog/0636920010258
It's still in development and has just been updated to cover Xcode 4. I've been reading the previous edition and it's brilliant: great writing and the first half of the book is applicable to both iOS and desktop Cocoa development. As a relatively new Mac developer (1-2 years) this really consolidated my knowledge of Apple's frameworks and Objective-C.
http://www.economist.com/blogs/dailychart/2011/01/comparing_...
Texas GDP = Russia's GDP!
You offer a incentive to testers there and they give you feedback on you app. I've used it a couple of times with really good results.
http://most-advantageous.com/optimal-layout/
It includes an option to re-arrange a whole group of windows in one go with window tiling and I've got an update coming in the next week to make this process much simpler and more customizable.
http://most-advantageous.com/optimal-layout
All feedback is appreciated.
My site / product: http://most-advantageous.com/optimal-layout
Email: b(at)lowndes.net
It's about to relaunch with a significantly improved UI and more flexible tiling methods, so check back in a week if you don't like what you see now. Any feedback is appreciated.
Yes being able to get one window to jump to a particular position would be really handy. There's a shortcut to center a window on screen, I'll add ones for the edges.
I'm about to launch my first Mac app and I'm struggling to apply myself to the marketing aspects and would love to just get on with coding my next idea; so I was thinking of using prMac but now it doesn't seem like such a great idea...