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Ask HN: Why does Apple refuse to add window snapping to macOS?
231–240 of 573 posts
Re: Ask HN: Why does Apple refuse to add window snapping to macOS?
#232https://patents.google.com/patent/US6661436B2/en Method for providing window snap control for a split screen computer program GUI https://patents.justia.com/patent/6661436 https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250201392 https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2021/07/gnome-shell-quarter-tili...
So an expired patent which was previously owned by IBM is why Apple cannot have windows tiling but Windows and Linux have had for decades?
It's assumed Microsoft paid the troll toll (probably 2 decades ago). Linux is a complicated field to litigate anyone over a patent. It does happen just not easily compared to suing a big corp.
But o god I found more cancer: https://patents.google.com/patent/US20110099512
Splitting one monitor into two virtual monitors is patented. Fuck you LG.
Re: Ask HN: Why does Apple refuse to add window snapping to macOS?
#233Earlier quoted context omitted.
Apple loves to hide functionality to the point where it essentially doesn't exist. When I started at Apple as an engineer, the first bug I filed was "Can't resize windows from their edges" (or any corner except one). Just mind-bogglingly stupid. And when Apple finally does capitulate and admit that others have done it better, they petulantly try to hide the functionality anyway. In the case of the windows, there's no…
I only have an iPad these days, I now use Windows; but when I did use MacOS, has Apple fixed your first bug? Can you resize windows from any edge or corner now, or must one always uses the lower right corner only to resize the window?
Yes, now you can resize from any corner/edge.
Re: Ask HN: Why does Apple refuse to add window snapping to macOS?
#234Earlier quoted context omitted.
Where should they be, and why?
On the right, because that's where most people are accustomed to find them. But they weirdest thing is that the buttons are colored instead of having meaningful icons.
Unless you're accustomed to them being on the left, in which being on the right is the weird thing.
Red means stop, yellow means slow/yield, green means go, which in the context of window management doesn't make sense, but if you think about it differently, a good 40% of it makes sense. Red means stop existing, yellow means yield to other windows, and green means... go big?
Re: Ask HN: Why does Apple refuse to add window snapping to macOS?
#235I have been using spectacle app since a long time and I love it. It lets you define keyboard shortcuts to make it easy to size and move windows around. Here is the website https://www.spectacleapp.com/
I used to use it and it’s now not maintained. Others here have said that Rectangle duplicates a lot of the function (intentionally).
Rectangle is a drop-in replacement for Spectacle, and provides an option upon first install to select the Spectacle default keyboard shortcuts. Note that Spectacle only included keyboard shortcut window management, while Rectangle also includes the drag to screen edge snapping.
Re: Ask HN: Why does Apple refuse to add window snapping to macOS?
#236What about that interminable animation every time you fullscreen a window or switch between fullscreen windows? It should be at least twice as fast and there's not even any way to hack it to speed it up. You just have to live with it. ("reduce motion" changes it to a crossfade but doesn't make it faster) While we're at it, the Dock has always been bad. And the top menu bar was good for the original Macintosh with a t…
defaults write -g NSWindowResizeTime -float 0.01 should fix that (disclaimer - haven’t tested this in a long time, may need to restart apps or whole os to see effect). In general, if something about macOS annoys you and there isn’t a preference setting to fix it, googling “defaults write com.apple ” will often find a solution. Writing with `defaults write` lets you alter nearly any value in the OS, very few things ar…
I wish you were right, but no. I've tried that one and a lot more besides. Go ahead and test it yourself, and let me know if you find a different one that actually works.
Re: Ask HN: Why does Apple refuse to add window snapping to macOS?
#237Can an Ask HN self-post be clickbait? Apple isn’t refusing to do anything. They just haven’t done some minor thing that you personally would like. The fact that you’re “shocked” by something as banal as “lack of window snapping” is kind of funny actually.
Apple refuses to do things all the time. Aside from the aforementioned window-management gaffes, here's what I think is the most ridiculous design defect of the iPhone, which I reported first as an engineer there and repeatedly as an independent dev: It does not provide audible notifications of MISSED CALLS. I mean... WTF? A 1990s StarTAC (and probably most other phones) provided this obvious feature. So did 1980s an…
It's not fixed because it's not a bug. Obviously. It's a feature that you want that would annoy the vast majority of users. Which is why they aren't implementing it. Who wants an annoying continuous beepy sound? It's 2023. We get alerts in all kinds of ways these days. If your phone is silenced, then you want it to BE SILENT.
You complaining doesn't make something a "bug".
Re: Ask HN: Why does Apple refuse to add window snapping to macOS?
#238Can an Ask HN self-post be clickbait? Apple isn’t refusing to do anything. They just haven’t done some minor thing that you personally would like. The fact that you’re “shocked” by something as banal as “lack of window snapping” is kind of funny actually.
+1
I've owned personally, and used macs for work since around 2009. I've never installed any third party window-snapping or management systems, and I don't consider it a big deal.
I do use window snapping on Win10/11 periodically, but TBH I find that the beefed up snapping in Win11 is more annoying than it is useful, often snapping things to quarters of the screen when I just wanted to move a window.
Likewise, I've seen non-programmer users on win10 hit the window snapping by accident and be confused and put off by it.
Would I like it if Apple were to build a power-user window snapping feature into macOS? Yes, I would. Am I upset at them for not including it? Certainly not. Were I a product manager for macOS I would find it hard to justify the investment, given all the other things they can and do work on.
Re: Ask HN: Why does Apple refuse to add window snapping to macOS?
#239Well, because it has? Hover over the green stoplight, you get a popover with fullscreen options. Press Option and the fullscreen options mutate into snap left/snap right/zoom. These can also be found in the Window menu. Again, press option to mutate the fullscreen ones to snap. And since these are menu options, one can set any keyboard shortcut of their choosing through the keyboard shortcut prefpane+. So it is not "…
The only Apple device I use is the laptop I was given for work, and I've always disliked that the button that would "maximize" the window on other OS instead makes the window "fullscreen" (getting rid of the menu and everything else that entails). I recently discovered that I am actually able to "maximize" by double-clicking the top bar of the window, but I have no idea if this is something that works by default or i…
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Re: Ask HN: Why does Apple refuse to add window snapping to macOS?
#240Well, because it has? Hover over the green stoplight, you get a popover with fullscreen options. Press Option and the fullscreen options mutate into snap left/snap right/zoom. These can also be found in the Window menu. Again, press option to mutate the fullscreen ones to snap. And since these are menu options, one can set any keyboard shortcut of their choosing through the keyboard shortcut prefpane+. So it is not "…
I've used a mac for 10 years now, and TIL The Windows snapping UI is much more intuitive, though.
But also annoying when you're trying to tile some (of a bunch) of windows at full height. Yes, there are ways to do it without unintentionally maximizing, but it takes more attention to detail.