I assume because there are several great tools for handling this so it’s not really a priority.
If and when they do add one we can look forward to the many articles about “sherlocking” though so that’ll be fun.
Ask HN: Why does Apple refuse to add window snapping to macOS?
31–40 of 573 posts
Re: Ask HN: Why does Apple refuse to add window snapping to macOS?
#32Just use Rectangle app https://rectangleapp.com/
This doesn’t actually answer the question.
No, but this is a question to Apple, can anyone even answer it? If they were an Apple employee, and it was upcoming in a new release they couldn't talk about it?
The best possible outcome is you get an ex-Apple engineer who may have some background as to the thought process.
Re: Ask HN: Why does Apple refuse to add window snapping to macOS?
#33I think Stage Manager shows their hand—that they think users should manage this with the mouse, with no window-snapping.
All this said, I would like to see the full-screen mode get support for three windows, along with a way to stack vertically. There are times when you need more than two windows on a screen.
I also think it’s as simple (and stupid) as Apple wanting to continue to use rounded corners and window-snapping not really making rounded corners look particularly elegant.
Re: Ask HN: Why does Apple refuse to add window snapping to macOS?
#34Just use Rectangle app https://rectangleapp.com/
I started with rectangle but now prefer moom.
It integrates in the way I would expect the native feature to work: hover the green button for a snapping palette.
Re: Ask HN: Why does Apple refuse to add window snapping to macOS?
#35This does seem like a personal preference. I quite like MacOS window management, and I hate Windows window management.
Me too, but that's also because Windows' version is ... weird. I drag a window up, a pop up appears showing grids where I can put my window (nice), I drop it there, and suddenly another window appears. That doesn't fit the "snap window" flow.
On the mac, I use a freeware thingy (Rectangle, linked elsewhere), and I've assigned three shortcuts, and that's enough for me.
Re: Ask HN: Why does Apple refuse to add window snapping to macOS?
#36I don't miss it. I carefully dragged each window to align just right one time, and never had to redo it since. It persists across reboots, and remembers placements separately for the two monitor arrangements I use (laptop, laptop + big monitor) so I only had to do the fiddly work once.
That's interesting. I do use Windows with 2 monitors and I do change placements/sizes of windows constantly - accordingly to the task
I’ve been using Stage Manager on macOS for this. I have groups of apps, each one in a separate “stage” that I switch between to work on different things. Out of all the desktop paradigms I’ve tried, this one is working the best for me
I can constantly see the thumbnail groupings of apps that I can switch to along the left hand side of the screen. I’ve used other modes (like multiple desktops) but would often forget what spaces I had created, and ended up re-creating them without realising
Re: Ask HN: Why does Apple refuse to add window snapping to macOS?
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
Apple users are that vanilla ;)
For me personally it's not a requirement the snappy window.. Apple is a small walled garden. They don't have wide screens so most of the time one app on the screen is enough. I have an old 27' iMac and it wasn't enough screen space for me to put xcode, terminal and browser next to each other. So the most used mode was split screen mode with xcode and a simulator. But the "split full screen" mode is much better and pr…
What's the difference between the apple split full screen and the windows tiling?
Re: Ask HN: Why does Apple refuse to add window snapping to macOS?
#38ever since lion began the ipadification of macos, apple's Happy Path™ has been native full screen (even though it's an objective downgrade from the scuffed fullscreen mac apps of yore, since you have to sit through a swipe animation every time you cmd-tab)
you can split this; you just have to hold down the fullscreen button, no right-click access because again, thoughtless application of touchscreen idioms
as someone who uses none of the above: lining things up is painless since window bounds are slightly sticky, & macos remembers app state so it's not like you're doing manual window management every time you start up $APP. broadly equivalent in practice to a tiling wm with elaborate preset layouts & pigeonholes for specific programs. except you just drag things instead of editing a config file. couple this with all the apps i frequently use in full screen (iterm, mpv) having options for pre-lion-style instant-switch fullscreen, and i'm not hurting for lack of snapping... ever, really.
fwiw there are third-party solutions for snapping if you really care, and there are even full-blown x11-style tilers
Re: Ask HN: Why does Apple refuse to add window snapping to macOS?
#39I think this comes down to Apple's envisaged window management paradigm being centered around full-screen windows. In Apple's UX view, it seems like you're meant to maximize windows to "spaces", and switch between workspaces using a few gestures (4 finger swipes mainly) to reveal all windows, and swap between workspaces that way. Rectangle, as others have pointed out, give you the "snap" experience you would expect f…
Why then the two 'full-ish screen' systems? There's 'spaces' as you say, and also the traffic light button that makes it 'maximised' I suppose.
I just don't see why if you'd thought it out, and that's (either of them) the you wanted people to do it, why you'd have both options.
And then there's the weird 'close actually closes the window, not the app' (even though for some large percentage of apps the one window is all there ever would be).
Re: Ask HN: Why does Apple refuse to add window snapping to macOS?
#40There's a way to snap the window to one side or the other if you long press one of the resize buttons at the top. I'm a HS teacher and I often have my kids put two windows side by side. On the school-issued devices it's trivially simple, but it's honestly not that bad on a Mac. Just really unintuitive like everything else they do.