Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

macOS needs its grid back

blog.hopefullyuseful.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

141–150 of 272 posts

Re: macOS needs its grid back

#141

Post by jahller »

comboy wrote: post #109
xp84 wrote: post #9

> If they approve, the settings open, then the user has to find the specific little toggle and enable it. Another security prompt then done. Why isn’t this at most 2 prompts? Answer: Because modern-day Apple has subscribed to a particular brand of mitigation for the "noobs will always click 'Allow' especially if you ask them to first" problem. The mitigation is that Apple just dumps you on step 2 of a little 4-5 step…

> As a complete nerd, you'd think maybe I'd like that I can prove my skills like this, but it comes off as deeply disrespectful to me as the user that I can't disable this. You seem to have understood the problem. But then you didn't follow. If there was a way to disable this, first thing that the grandma would do is watch a video how to disable that and lose security from then on. Of course it is not perfect, but th…

you really underestimate the will of people to not change anything that annoys them about their OS. they will click 1 million times a popup away before even considering that it could be resolved indefinitely by an option change. i think Apple's system works well to keep the average user safe.

Re: macOS needs its grid back

#142

Post by leojfc »

Yes, and I'd go a step further: OSes in general need a concept of a 'project' or 'task' or whatever, which a) cuts across apps and b) integrates deeply with windowing and spaces.

Multitasking and context switching has been increasing for years, instant messaging boosted them again, and agent-based workflows are only going to push further in that direction. The OS needs to support that, and it's not an app-level concern: I use the same apps in each of my tasks.

IDEs can help with this of course: they tend to have workspace/project primitives and can restore code and terminal contexts from those. But there's always a bunch of other connected stuff that can't be linked: web pages (some IDEs are starting to manage those too), agents which don't reside in the IDE, relevant chats with colleagues, project management apps and so on.

This is clearly an OS-level concern, not an app-level concern.

Some of the iPad experiments with alternative window organisation looked kind of promising, but they’re just not powerful or intuitive enough IMO.

Re: macOS needs its grid back

#143

Post by aquariusDue »

KoolKat23 wrote: post #137
Moggie100 wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Never underestimate the ingenuity of a motivated fool. My litmus test for this sort of thing is Excel - I think we all can agree that Excel is used for way more than it should be, and the most complicated, unhinged uses of it are done by non-technical folks looking to get a task done through desperation.

At that point it's a them problem.

Yeah, it always seems weird to me how we deem most adults responsible enough to own a car and not drive into oncoming traffic or how people are allowed to buy actually dangerous tools from big tool stores without a second glance. And sure, there's safety training available and in the case of driving you gotta first prove you're able to follow the rules. But after that? You're on your own, only in computer land do the manufacturers and so on keep holding your hand trying to make sure you're not figuratively cutting it.

With that in mind it ends up being weird to me in a way I can't articulate because after all I can speedrun losing a limb if you left me loose in Harbor Freight or speedrun losing all my money and becoming debt-ridden if you give me a laptop with internet connection.

Anyway, I know there's more nuanced discussion to be had still I sometimes wonder how would the ideal approach actually look like without requiring people to have a digital(ing) license before being allowed to connect to the internet.

Re: macOS needs its grid back

#144

Post by rpastuszak »

WM psychosis time:

My current "WM workflow"/window management keyboard shortcuts is:

    neovim → tmux → Ghostty → Rectangle → OS

    so moving to the left window/pane is (depending on the "nesting level"):

    ctrl+h, ctrl+a + {number}, cmd + [, option-ctrl-left, ??
This is what happens when you spend years overthinking / fighting the walled garden UX. The sad part is that I'm kinda OK with this at this stage (besides 1-2 days a year, when my mental faculties are lowered and I decide to _fix it_).

A global fzf / rectangle / alfred shortcut for all "windows and panes" would be great.

Unfortunately, at this stage, my overthinking/poor ux induced psychosis reached the point where I control Claude using voice and a Playdate console with a crank and I'm day dreaming about just looking at the pane I need and making a click sound with my mouth to select it (like Neddy in Adventure time).

Re: macOS needs its grid back

#145

Post by fragmede »

rpastuszak wrote: post #144

WM psychosis time: My current "WM workflow"/window management keyboard shortcuts is: neovim → tmux → Ghostty → Rectangle → OS so moving to the left window/pane is (depending on the "nesting level"): ctrl+h, ctrl+a + {number}, cmd + [, option-ctrl-left, ?? This is what happens when you spend years overthinking / fighting the walled garden UX. The sad part is that I'm kinda OK with this at this stage (besides 1-2 days…

> A global fzf

alttab.app recently went paid, but it'll do that

Re: macOS needs its grid back

#146

Post by ubercore »

leojfc wrote: post #142

Yes, and I'd go a step further: OSes in general need a concept of a 'project' or 'task' or whatever, which a) cuts across apps and b) integrates deeply with windowing and spaces. Multitasking and context switching has been increasing for years, instant messaging boosted them again, and agent-based workflows are only going to push further in that direction. The OS needs to support that, and it's not an app-level conce…

I make a version of this happen with Aerospace on macOS.

Re: macOS needs its grid back

#147

Post by cpt_sobel »

eproxus wrote: post #132
coolmitch wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yes! it's the worst! I've been using Instant Space Switcher (which got a small callout in tfa) as a targeted fix for this, and it's lifechanging

I've also switched to Instant Space Switcher, it is soo good! Previously I used BetterMouse for only this feature but they made the space switching worse in later versions (slower, on-par with the default macOS speed). Here's the link if anyone is curious: https://github.com/jurplel/InstantSpaceSwitcher

I also used to use BetterTouch tool just for this feature, no idea what they have been thinking over at Apple with this delay.

Re: macOS needs its grid back

#148

Post by rpastuszak »

fragmede wrote: post #145
rpastuszak wrote: post #144

WM psychosis time: My current "WM workflow"/window management keyboard shortcuts is: neovim → tmux → Ghostty → Rectangle → OS so moving to the left window/pane is (depending on the "nesting level"): ctrl+h, ctrl+a + {number}, cmd + [, option-ctrl-left, ?? This is what happens when you spend years overthinking / fighting the walled garden UX. The sad part is that I'm kinda OK with this at this stage (besides 1-2 days…

> A global fzf alttab.app recently went paid, but it'll do that

Thanks!

Just checked their site, but I don't see "jump to a tmux pane / browser tab" in the features there...

Re: macOS needs its grid back

#149

Post by leojfc »

ubercore wrote: post #146
leojfc wrote: post #142

Yes, and I'd go a step further: OSes in general need a concept of a 'project' or 'task' or whatever, which a) cuts across apps and b) integrates deeply with windowing and spaces. Multitasking and context switching has been increasing for years, instant messaging boosted them again, and agent-based workflows are only going to push further in that direction. The OS needs to support that, and it's not an app-level conce…

I make a version of this happen with Aerospace on macOS.

Oh nice, looks awesome, I will give it a go!
Post reply on HN