Haven't seen Spectacle mentioned here but I would highly recommend it.
That said, there is absolutely no reason not to have this as native functionality.
I would actually understand the absence of this more for Windows than OSX. We have hot corners, custom shortcuts and other desktop management features so why not reasonable window management?
Spectacle is a similar app that I've found useful for the past couple of years: https://www.spectacleapp.com/
It's free, but not on the Mac App Store which might make people wary (although it is open source).
Almost all your keyboard shortcuts are the same. Just swap out Cmd (⌘) for Ctrl. So, Copy is ⌘+C
and Past is ⌘+V
.
Most applications have their settings under Preferences and can be found by clicking the name of the app in the Menu Bar. A semi-universal shortcut is ⌘+,
.
The Menu Bar is the thing at the top of your screen. Think of it like the System Tray in Windows.
Your function key may not work as expected. You can alter their behavior under System Preferences -> Keyboard
. Same goes for most everything.
You'll probably miss window snapping. Install Spectacle. There might be others but that's what I use. Honestly, there is a little app for just about anything you need. And not just in the App Store. Most of the stuff I use is now from there.
iTerm2 is a ballin' replacement for the built in Terminal app. Install Homebrew. It's your package manager for system applications.
Learn to love Spaces. There are the bee's knees.
The best piece of advice I can give you is to drop the bullshit and learn the new tool your new job has given you. You're in good company. 80% of my company (software dev) uses a Mac. It's really developer friendly. Tons of open source stuff. Native terminal too.
Anyway - you'll totally be fine. Don't fight it. If you do you will hate it because it is not your native OS. Learn to accomplish the same things in ways that work for the OS. Or perhaps revisit your workflow. There might be better options.
I'm a huge fan of Spectacle.
Spectacle: It allows you to split your screen in any way you want. If you have multiple monitors, it moves the windows to other monitors in one key stroke. Super convenient when you are working with multiple windows.
> One thing I'd like to add is the "window snapping" feature of Windows 10. It greatly out paces the OSX alternative. I'm honestly shocked OSX is still so bad in this department vs Windows.
I'm not sure where on Reddit, but I've read like an app recommendation for Macbooks and come around to find this: Spectacle
It's 100% free to use and you can basically get the same snapping (very similar) tools that can also be found on Windows. You can customise the shortcuts to your likings and all, it's extremely useful. That said, I couldn't yet figure out if it works with mouse-snapping like on Windows, but to me personally, the keyboard shortcuts is all I need. Check it out, you might find it useful.
On macOS you window managers aren't like window managers on Linux and BSD. Instead they are kind of extensions on top of the macOS window manager.
Spectacle is a tool to put windows in the location you want via keyboard shortcuts https://www.spectacleapp.com/
Chunkwm is a tiling window manager similar to bspwm or i3 https://koekeishiya.github.io/chunkwm/
Here's a guide on how to get started with Chunkwm http://hde-advent-2017.hatenadiary.jp/entry/2017/12/24/000000
Spectacle is self explanatory and has a GUI to configure everything.
You ever had text that you wanted to magically make all capital letters or vice versa? Highlight some text, right click, then look for Transformation. Ta da!
Free app for window snapping (because it’s not a natively built in option, there is a two-window split but it’s a little awkward to use).
Say goodbye to window start menu and say hello to spotlight (command+space)
Check out hot corners.
You can rename files while it’s still open.
Screen record with QuickTime player. You can also connect a mobile device and stream your device’s screen onto your computer.
Enjoy a Unix based terminal that is finitely more powerful than Window’s command prompt. There is a mild learning curve to it, but you can download and install many things that way.
Quickly preview your files by clicking on them and then pressing the space bar. Makes looking at code super easy. Also click on a file, then press shift+command+c and paste into Preview. You will be able to the file’s icon image that way.
If you want to install an app, either go through the installer or click and drag the app (after it unpackages) and move it into the Applications folder. To uninstall, simply click and drag the app into the trash bin (or right click and click move to trash). Simple as that.
Spend some time in the System Preferences menu. You can learn a lot about Macs just by being there and tinkering around.
I used to be a Windows sysadmin who now works in Mac environments as a DevOps engineer. Love everything about Macs now. Let me know if you have any questions.
Hold the option key while clicking that "maximize" button to perform the "zoom" function. In most cases, this will grow the window to fill the screen.
If you don't find this to be reliable enough, you may seek an alternative such as Spectacle.
Macbook Pro
iterm2 - Setup a Quake console drop down terminal, I use this all day every day. Switch virtual desktops, hit my hotkey (I use cmd-~), my terminal follows me around to each VD. Learn the hot keys for splitting windows. My drop down is usually split into two terminal sessions side by side.
http://www.karam.io/2018/Turning-iTerm-in-to-a-Quake-style-terminal-on-Mac-OS/
Spectacle - Hot keys for window management
for window management there's a bunch of alternatives, spectacle is free and simple.
keyboard maestro should solve all your hotkey needs too
Well, I've used Spectacle for a couple of years now and for me it has filled the void the lack of these features had created.
Edit: to elaborate, Spectacle has more window placements than the couple displayed on the website; it's more like the system in Windows 10, just missing a couple of features (auto-fill empty space for one).
I use Spectacle and it works with GNU emacs. However Spectacle doesn't use the mouse at all, it's purely hotkeys.
If you want Magnet to work, you can use the mac flavor of emacs (I tried Magnet with it and it works). The mac port is pretty much GNU emacs with some niceties that makes it integrate better with macos.
Great work OP!
As an alternative for anyone who does want to use keyboard shortcuts but wants a manager that is easily accessible (IE no learning curve) I suggest checking out Spectacle. Supports OS X 10.7+
For window management I do prefer to use keyboard. And https://www.spectacleapp.com/ very helpful. Includes ability to force maximise window.
Honestly I do not understand idea of maximising window. This is one major staff I like about macOS to make window just big enough for content. Not even one pixel bigger. And I do not understand this MS Windows always max window style. But this is my opinion.
Only app on my MBP 15” in fullscreen mode is Terminal.app. I’m developer. Old style one. NVim/tmux/etc.
You probably had some application doing that. macOS can't snap windows by itself.
I'd suggest you to try out BetterTouchTool or Magnet or Spectacle if you want to snap windows. The last one is free and open-source, so you should try that out. The first one has a ton of other useful features in it, but it costs around $2.99. If you just want nice window snapping, I'd go for the last one personally.
I got the non touch bar one. It's really nice for portability, obviously. I came from a 15.6" gaming laptop that was my everyday. I have a 10-15 minute walk every day for work and I also travel quite a lot to conferences and the like and I could not have more appreciation for the 13" form factor. I don't even feel it in my bag it's so light.
I do a lot of writing and running code (am physics PhD student) and I was worried that I wouldn't like having less screen real-estate but it's not been a big deal to be honest. I use spectacle to help manage the windows I have open.
Happy to answer any questions.
Jeff Benjamin just posted an article that showcases the most popular 3rd party solutions for window snapping: http://9to5mac.com/2016/05/06/how-to-enable-aero-snap-like-window-snapping-on-your-mac-video/
I personally use BetterTouchTool (it's the big brother to BetterSnapTool): https://www.boastr.net/
BTT already handles my custom gestures and keyboard shortcuts. It doesn't 'automatically' resize your windows, but you can trigger the window to resize however you want with a keyboard gesture or by dragging the window to a corner of the screen.
If you are looking for a free option, Spectacle seems to have the keyboard shortcut resizing features but that's about it: https://www.spectacleapp.com/
Don't use the full screen
function. This way applications will just overlay each other. I use a app called Spectacle(free) to easily "full screen" an app or move it to another window.
If you like the aesthetic way of full screen apps you can also hide the menubar and dock and have them only appear when you move your mouse near the side where either of them are.
4-5 hours a day after work. Seems like pretty much everything you do with your phone I do with my laptop - emails, reddit, youtube. Lots of web browsing stuff I just couldn't do on a phone; having two or three windows up side by side (https://www.spectacleapp.com/) makes researching stuff easier
I can make do on my phone screen and do use it occasionally for all that but much prefer a tactile keyboard for any typing and the bigger screen for reading and watching youtube
I don't know what computer you're switching from, but the window management on Macs isn't amazing. I suggest you get an app called Spectacle, which will allow you to use keyboard shortcuts to snap windows to your liking.
I didn't even know about split screen, let alone alternative ways to do it, thanks.
But I actually won't use it because I can do this and more with the free Spectacle App.
Can't say much about most of these issues, since I am still on a 2015 MBP, but for window tiling there is the fantastic spectacle app which I can not recommend enough.
You can move it if you move the window right while at the top edge and the resize icon appears. It is a bit tricky but works. Or you can have something like spectacle (https://www.spectacleapp.com/) to do window management.
Posting this as an alternative. My biggest gripe with macOS was the terrible window management compared to Windows and many Linux distros I've used.
This tool is free and open source and adds features that should be built in.
I hear you on the tiling. Even though El Cap is supposed to do it, it'll only do it under certain circumstances (ie: you've got two full screen windows you want to take half a screen each). I've installed Spectacles on my MBP to get at least some tilling ability.
It seem like a really nice feature that was long overdue for OS X, I have been using Spectacle for a while now and I find it works quite well for arranging windows. It looks like the split view is limited to 50/50 so I'll probably be sticking with Spectacle.
There are way better options than the built-in feature:
Use Spectacle for a cool background-running app and you won’t even notice it, since it also has a feature that helps you hide it’s icon.
The shortcuts are simple and easy to memorize. You will find yourself using it all the time.
Have a look on this: Spectacle
It’s effectively a third party windows management for MacOS and you can use keyboard shortcuts to manage the windows. I absolutely love it and I think this is what you’re trying to look for.
Also, there are some MacOS default keyboard shortcuts for managing different desktops. You can use ctrl + arrow keys to switch between desktops or view desktops.
Double clicking without the option key will resize that side of the window "fullscreen", option key will do all 4 sides 😀. Rectangle, Magnet and Spectacle app all seem to do similar things (I use Magnet and love it).
See there’s your problem.
If you’re a coder, no amount of cmd tab or tools will replace a nice big screen. Productivity goes up drastically with more screen real estate.
Get yourself a 32” 4k monitor and get a window manager like swish or spectacle and you’re golden.
Also get the hang of mission control, expose, and the 3 finger drags to go between your spaces. It takes literally a day and once you get used to it, windows will be relegated as the inferior web dev platform it is. There’s a reason why in all the hyper growth SAAS companies, every non .NET/C# dev prefers a mac.
Spectacle: Provides key combinations for quickly putting windows to one half of the screen or maximizing them (without full-screening them like the green button does).
Kill Bluetooth on Sleep (KBOS): If your bluetooth headphones keep connecting to your macbook while its suspended then this can fix it.
iStat Menus: This one's in the app store and it's not free but if you're a hardware-person and like to monitor your CPU temperature, network traffic, etc then this is the best app available.
Anki: Good flashcard software for students. It's free and can be setup to synchronize your flashcards across Windows, Android, MacOS and iPhone.
I use Spectacle. It's discontinued, but works perfectly. I have no reason to change to an another app since Spectacle is available and totally free, no need for accounts or anything. https://www.spectacleapp.com/
Snapping was so much a part of my workflow that I ended up downloading a program called Spectacle that has a lot of the same functionality.
Edit: One day I’ll get link formatting right the first time. Today is not that day.
For those who liked that feature but use MacOS/MacBooks, you can install a small program called spectacleapp.com and do pretty much the same with Control + Option + Command + Arrow Keys.
I use iTerm2 like everyone else. I was already used to using VSCode so I just kept using that for an IDE. I'll also give a recommendation to Spectacle, it gives you hotkeys to move windows around/resize them (Make them actually maximize instead of "However big the dev wants to let you"). I used to swear by alfred as well, but spotlight search isn't that bad anymore.
Spectacle has been one of my favourite apps for a long time, only discovered today that it's no longer being maintained :(
Fortunately it's been forked and Rectangle is its continuation. Just a great window management tool, I've found easily being able to split apps into 1/3, 1/2 or 2/3 of the screen really useful for assignment work.
Dude WOW! Congrats. I have a 2013 MBP 13 that I still use every day! Expect at minimum 6 years of top performance.
May I ask what specs? I’m so tempted by those new 16s
Also you MUST download https://www.spectacleapp.com/
Mac is slightly inferior when it comes to window management and that app basically gives you a ton of hot keys to place windows wherever you want. Super simple.
I use this open source tool: https://www.spectacleapp.com
It still works great with 10.15, is free, you can expect the code or compile yourself if you're concerned. Perhaps in future it will stop working, unless someone forks it, but for now its great.
I love my Das keyboard! Great for people who love a traditional windows keyboard, but are mac users. Especially awesome if you interact with Windows machines while on your mac. I also just found out about spectacle app and now I can move windows around on my mac similar to how I would on a Windows machine.
Another tool is Spectacle, I been using it for a past 2 years on my ultra wide and I absolute love it. Its sounds like it may be similar to "Divvy" but I would still check it out.
That's a fair complaint. I've personally have used the older 5K iMac a friend owns, but otherwise a Macbook Pro is what I always worked on a few years back.
I used to use Spectacle on MacOS for that Windows-Arrow mapping. It's also capable of doing positioning in quarters, which was nice for 4K screens. No window snapping by dragging, but keyboard based window management. I used a lot of i3wm on Linux back then too, so I was ok with lots of keyboard shortcuts.
Personal favorite I use: Spectacle. It's a really nice way to rearrange your windows with keyboard shortcuts. I rarely use the half-window options and even quarter-window options since the regular Split View is just fine for me and the times I need quarter-window are easily remedied with the beta of Xcode 11, it's really handy to have a shortcut to centering windows on your screen, making it fill up the desktop area but not go fullscreen, and even moving to multiple displays. I never thought I'd use this tool a lot, but I have been, and it's freaking awesome.
Another one I'm starting to become fond of is this unofficial app for WWDC. It's a really nice way to view WWDC videos from any year without having to go to the Apple Developer site and does a good job of imagining what a desktop version of the WWDC iOS app would be. It was great being able to watch some good keynotes on SwiftUI and what's new in Xcode through there.
Developer developing what? Without that info it might be a bit hard to tell what tools you’d need. Some people love the Sublime text editor.
Apart from development tools mentioned here, you might want something like PasteBot 1 a multi clipboard tool that also allows conversion and scripted modification of clipboard contents. And last but not least Spectacle (free) 2 which allows you to set keyboard shortcuts for resizing, arranging, placing and moving application windows from between desktops, so you don’t have to “mouse around” for that and can keep your hands on the keyboard.
>No native window management, like Cmd-Left to snap to window. You have to use an app, and most of them are paid which is awful.
Spectacle does a decent job. Although I got used to the full-screen, stacking app control and swiping gesture. I rarely had a need for side-by-side when looking at the other full-screen app was a swipe away.
You may benefit from a tiled window manager. Makes it easy to configure your workspace with hotkeys and snaps.
I use Spectacle myself. I'm sure there's a Windows equivalent.
got to your thread and was wondering why did you think it was tricky using neofetch or the command line then I realized I was in the wrong subreddit. If you enjoyed what you did, check /r/unixporn and look for people with macs. You will have a lot of fun customizing and getting tips there.
I would suggest getting rid of gotop in favor of vtop or gtop.
Also check a tiling windows manager like chunkwm, used chunkwm on a mac and it's as comfy as it gets. If you have problems setting it up or think it's too much check something like Spectacle. Used that one before and also it helps a lot to move around your stuff on screen.
Don't forget brew is your new friend and there's lots of stuff and guides one search away on reddit or github.
I much prefer one monitor. Two monitors never quite feel aligned right. Either one is facing me and the other is of to the side or the crease is in the middle and I don't like looking at a crease.
I have a 4k monitor and it is great. IntelliJ at 4K is awesome. Can have a 200character editor on one side and all my consoles and panels on the other side.
And for none-IDE stuff I have a good screen snapper that makes arranging windows a breeze. Easy to have Chrome on left and Sublime/terminal on right, etc.
IMO, this flexibility is superior to two smaller monitors.
I use Spectacle on my work MBP. It's a window manager and solves both of the issues you mentioned.
It doesn't"full-screen" apps, it maximizes windows, so the top panel is never hidden.
That being said, shout out to Gnome, which has that functionality out of the box.
Its been a decade and my workflow is still slow in macOS
But there are a lot of good things available
Use spectacle
I've tried having the dock on either the left or the right side. Every other way other than the bottom bothers me too much to use it and the only place it feels right is in a Linux distribution like Ubuntu. If you didn't know or couldn't tell, hiding the dock and making things full screen using an app like Magnet (or it's F.O.S.S. cousin, Spectacle) leaves just a few pixels surrounding the dock that can't be taken by your windows. IMO, it's super noticeable on the sides and using apps in full screen on a Mac just feels weird to me -- that's what my iPad's for.
In the other direction, if you want window-shaping shortcuts on your mac like there are on Mint, may I suggest Spectacle? I've been using it for months, and it's nothing but awesome.
Things I miss from macOS when I have to use Windows
Cmd + Shift + 4
lets you capture a PNG of whatever section of your screen(s) you want, saved to Desktop. Cmd + Shift + 3
and Cmd + Shift + 2
do other screenshotsOpt + Click
any of the icons in your menu bar for richer menus. Opt + Click
Volume to be able to select inputs and outputs. Bluetooth and Wifi also have handy rich menusCmd + Spacebar
for Spotlight. I launch most of my apps this way, and search for files. Ctrl + Cmd + Spacebar
for Emoji picker. Alternatively, install Rocket to use Slack style shortcutsThere's a lot more I miss, but is more relevant and specialized to software development.
Fascinating! I hadn't seen that option before. I don't think I'll use it, but it's good to know it's there. I ended up installing Spectacle awhile ago and just use that for the basic positioning of windows that I generally need.
And yeah, the SurfaceBook is likely a nicer piece of hardware. You have to find a Windows PC with a "Precision Trackpad", and even then, not all of them are created equal between OEMs. Apple has a huge leg up on the Windows ecosystem as far as the status of all trackpads across all laptops, but I find the differences between a top of the line Apple product and top of the line Microsoft product to be pretty minimal.
Surprised nobody has mentioned Spectacle. Not sure if it is a macOS exclusive (I hope not). If all you need is window management then it's perfect: lightweight app, custom hotkeys, range of sizing options, support for multiple monitors. I find it indispensable.
I never really liked MacOS, but to do the same with OS X you need something like https://www.spectacleapp.com/ . Really helps preserve sanity because otherwise I'd be endlessly tweaking the window sizes to use every available pixel.
i generally like to stay as close to native as possible but based on the rest of your info regarding keyboard shortcuts etc, it seems like you'd really like https://www.spectacleapp.com/. The fullscreen and screen division behavior it grants you feels way more power user-ey.
When I was using it el capitan had just come out. maybe I'm not explaining it right and it was a little while ago. But shit was being hidden when I did that. It was either the menu bar or the dock or something. It hid stuff I didn't want hidden. Spectacle did it in a way like windows does that I liked. I could also snap to the sides/top/bottom like in windows. Was gloriouis.
Here's the app
Spectacle is an amazing app. I use it every day. It basically allows you to arrange windows on your screen using only your keyboard. Biggest time saver ever.
I think there’s another more popular app that does the same thing on the app store but this is just as good and free.
I strongly recommend using Spectacle for window management on macs. Lets you easily resize windows and even lets you do thirds, which is amazing on widescreen monitors.
I use spectacle. Default full screen is cmd+opt+f, and you can have similar windows half screen options with cmd+opt+left, cmd+opt+right, e.t.c.
There are a bunch of other options as well if you google mac window manager.
Also I'm pretty sure the macbook saves seperate settings for the trackpad and mouse? In System Preferences there should be options for mouse and one for trackpad.
Download and install Spectacle[1], gives you keyboard shortcuts to quickly and easily maximize (not full screen), move windows to other screens and align them side by side ... amazing little thing.
Appears that a program called Spectacle can do what you are looking for.
No clue if this is still relevant, there is a setup walk-through here from 2011.
> only left/right
check out https://www.spectacleapp.com/
it can do corners and thirds, takes some time to remember the keyboard shortcuts, but you can also use a dropdown menu.
its almost as good as i remember window snapping working on win7
Spectacle is what I use in a post borderless world. You have to change your mindset from "dragging" to "I want this to take up this portion of the screen". But with great rice, comes great resposibilitronx
I definitely agree with /u/jarvvski on this and would suggest getting a 24inch to mount vertically next to your ultra wide.
I really do enjoy the two monitors vertically. I have two 24" slim bezel dells at home right now and have been thinking about going ultra wide (just waiting to get the right deal on a refurb or during holiday season) and will definitely be putting one of them in portrait next to the ultra wide.
Also for window management in OSX, I would take a peek at this free app https://www.spectacleapp.com - or this paid app called moon - https://manytricks.com/moom/ - I use moon and love it (but I also got it free a while back).
safari is always slower at loading pages than chrome in my experience. ive seen others complain about this too. preview is versatile but adobe reader does things preview cant. if you have a pdf with blank fields to fill out, preview doesn't know how to save what you typed in. itunes is just awful. i used to like it but the past 2-3 years, every update has made it clunkier and the UI more confusing
on a different note, i recommend spectacle for tiling windows. useful for productivity and managing screen space
Check out https://www.spectacleapp.com/
Free and does exactly what it should. Highly customizable window arrangements while remaining simple. Robust keyboard shortcuts. Instant install on any computer for me.
Spectacle is a free piece of software that does the same thing without the ridiculous price tag, and its open source.
Good joke.
If u like traditional windows and don't use full screen mode much maybe the app spectacle is something for u. I discovered a while ago and i love it, it can really speed up your workflow!
Spectacle. Organize windows with keyboard shortcuts.
Mind The Time for Firefox. Lets you know how much time you're spending on each site. Helps with procrastination. Or at the very least makes you aware of how much time you're wasting.
I found an app called Spectacle that I think works a lot better than Apple's native split screen functionality. Spectacle is actually what I wanted. It's free and open source.