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Moving a macOS window by clicking anywhere on it

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Re: Moving a macOS window by clicking anywhere on it

#201

Post by mikewhy »

iwebdevfromhome wrote: post #11

I use the kinda hidden three finger dragging gesture that you can activate like this: 1. Choose Apple menu  > System Preferences, then click Accessibility. 2. Select Pointer Control in the sidebar. (In earlier versions of macOS, select Mouse & Trackpad.) 3. Click the Trackpad Options button. 4. Select ”Enable dragging,” then choose ”three finger drag” from the menu. 5. Click OK.

I love three-finger-drag. You can also just flick one of your fingers after starting a drag and it has momentum, great for sliders/dials.

Sadly, it's supported less and less in Apple's own apps:

- if you use the gesture in Finder, it can get confused and mess up all mouse clicks

- it doesn't work at all with the sliders in the new control center menu

Re: Moving a macOS window by clicking anywhere on it

#202

Post by chipotle_coyote »

oneeyedpigeon wrote: post #122
bandris wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Holding the option key allows exactly that. Menu item is called 'Zoom' for some reason.

Hmm.. that doesn't quite do what I'm after — make it the full size of the screen. It looks like it's similar to the old macOS behaviour that made the window 'as big as its contents'.

It is exactly that behavior, yes (and that historical oddity is almost certainly why). I wish this was configurable somewhere, and wish the behavior of the green button was also configurable so you could flip it to “maximize with no modifier key, full screen with”.

Re: Moving a macOS window by clicking anywhere on it

#203

Post by adonovan »

bluedino wrote: post #48
david-cako wrote: post #19

You can also move macOS windows by dragging the border along the opposite axis, with no configuration.

I've been using a Mac since 2010 and someone always points out 'weird' features like this to me on what has to be a monthly basis.

Same with iPhone. My mind was blown when after years of tapping left-arrow someone showed me what happens when you hold down the space key. Or that dragging the iphone chat message app's background to the left reveals the timestamps of each message.

It's all very clever and elegant and minimal but consumer technology user interfaces seem to be converging on that of a Theremin.

Re: Moving a macOS window by clicking anywhere on it

#204

Post by itomato »

daenz wrote: post #71

I've enabled this "grab" feature on every Linux window manager that has supported it. Hold alt or the windows key, click, move. Simple usability improvements make a world of difference, but for some reason, they are uncommon.

IIRC, this is standard xlib behavior since the 80’s.

Re: Moving a macOS window by clicking anywhere on it

#205

Post by nerdponx »

adonovan wrote: post #203
bluedino wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been using a Mac since 2010 and someone always points out 'weird' features like this to me on what has to be a monthly basis.

Same with iPhone. My mind was blown when after years of tapping left-arrow someone showed me what happens when you hold down the space key. Or that dragging the iphone chat message app's background to the left reveals the timestamps of each message. It's all very clever and elegant and minimal but consumer technology user interfaces seem to be converging on that of a Theremin.

TIL about holding the space key!

Re: Moving a macOS window by clicking anywhere on it

#206

Post by outworlder »

diegof79 wrote: post #171
wnolens wrote: post #107

I use https://rectangleapp.com/pro and really enjoy this app (I paid for it, it gets a lot of updates/fixes). It mostly takes care of snapping and resizing windows with hot keys, but has a less obvious feature in preferences to use mouse. My setup is: CMD+SHIFT will move any window under mouse pointer CMD+SHIFT+CTRL will resize any window under mouse pointer

I use Moom since 2012: https://manytricks.com/moom/ It’s a paid app too, but it was worth every cent. The app was updated for free since my first purchase ten years ago!

Another happy Moom user! From around the same time period.

Can't really use OSX without it.

Re: Moving a macOS window by clicking anywhere on it

#207

Post by outworlder »

adamomada wrote: post #66
Etheryte wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you grab the right-hand edge of a window, you can drag it left or right to resize the window. However, if you instead drag it up or down, you can move the whole window.

And if you hold option (alt) when dragging left or right, it will mirror the drag on the opposite side, so you can quickly expand or contract the window size

AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH

OMG THANK YOU

This is amazing. Over a decade using OSX and I never knew this

Re: Moving a macOS window by clicking anywhere on it

#208

Post by nikolay »

Like moving it accidentally clicking on the chome was not enough! This is the worst feature of macOS - a windows should be moved only by dragging on an obvious area like the title bar. Sometimes I just want to switch the focus and click on a window and it accidentally moves in a random direction by a few pixels!

Re: Moving a macOS window by clicking anywhere on it

#209

Post by mdavis6890 »

maxwelldone wrote: post #166
wnolens wrote: post #107

I use https://rectangleapp.com/pro and really enjoy this app (I paid for it, it gets a lot of updates/fixes). It mostly takes care of snapping and resizing windows with hot keys, but has a less obvious feature in preferences to use mouse. My setup is: CMD+SHIFT will move any window under mouse pointer CMD+SHIFT+CTRL will resize any window under mouse pointer

I'll throw another option: https://magnet.crowdcafe.com/index.html I bought it in '17 for $1 - possibly the best dollar I've spent. Looks like it's $4 now. Coupled with a QMK keyboard, the modifiers are even easier to use.

I find it so strange how resistant people (not you!) are to paying trivial sums of money for things that contribute so much value.

It was $1. Now it’s $4! Like half a Starbucks coffee!

How many people would not even see this app because it’s not free?

And how about the one commented below that “looks like it’s no longer maintained?” Sounds like it’s the free choice…

I have been guilty of agonizing over spending $5 on a phone app while drinking a $5 cup of coffee.

Now I’m at the point where I don’t even want to look at free apps. Just tell me how to pay you enough money to make something good, and keep it good over time.

Re: Moving a macOS window by clicking anywhere on it

#210

Post by throwaways85989 »

aequitas wrote: post #173
throwaways85989 wrote: post #131

Can we talk for a moment about how horribly well hidden these shortkeys are for normal users? Why not blend in a shortkey-tooltip when dragging a window around normally using the title bar? Make stuff discoverable again?

This would just be annoying when you reinstall or use a new machine, like going through a tutorial section when playing a game for the second time. Or you would end up with Clippy.

It would be just text, and you could deactivate it on pro-user behaviour detection.
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