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Amethyst – A tiling window manager for OS X

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Re: Amethyst – A tiling window manager for OS X

#21

Post by RussianCow »

cstuder wrote: post #16
RussianCow wrote: post #9

I really just want a window manager that allows windows to snap to each other and the edges of the screen when resizing or moving them. Does something like that exist? I don't care for the pre-defined layouts or hotkeys, I just want to be able to visually drag/resize my windows and have them take up the most optimal amount of space.

I personally use Cinch, which is good enough for me: Maximise if I drag a window to the top, left/right half if I drag a window to the side. http://www.irradiatedsoftware.com/cinch/ So far I've never seen a tool which glued one window to the other though.

Yeah, that's about as far as I've gotten as well. Snapping to other windows seems like the natural next step for me--it's weird that not a single app has taken that approach, though.

Re: Amethyst – A tiling window manager for OS X

#22

Post by shawn-furyan »

I've been using Amethyst as my WM for a couple months now, and have used XMonad for significant stretches in the past.

Amethyst tries to bring the XMonad experience to OSX. I think it does an admirable job, but there are some distinctions. Amethyst is simpler to set up, and is more forgiving to newcomers. It has a GUI for configuration, and an easily accessible list of commands. It also works on top of OSX's WM, so it's not so enormous a departure, especially compared to XMonad's fairly extreme dismissal of the mouse.

On the down side, XMonad really outshines Amethyst when it comes to performance. Amethyst is downright sluggish, where I've always found XMonad to be very responsive. Still, it's overall a true enough translation, and the sluggishness rarely actually hinders productivity. Overally, I think Amethyst is a capable daily driver, and a great intro to tiled window managers.

Re: Amethyst – A tiling window manager for OS X

#23

Post by bluetidepro »

bombtrack wrote: post #7

I posted this yesterday in the thread about the Rust-written window manager, but it's relevant here as well. There are plenty of apps that provide varying levels of window-manager functionality to OS X. I would try a couple out and see which feels right to you. I have tried most of them, and personally prefer Moom. http://manytricks.com/moom/ http://mizage.com/divvy/ http://ianyh.com/amethyst/ http://spectacleapp.com…

Moom is by far the best I have tried, also. I really love that app.

Re: Amethyst – A tiling window manager for OS X

#24

Post by dilap »

bombtrack wrote: post #7

I posted this yesterday in the thread about the Rust-written window manager, but it's relevant here as well. There are plenty of apps that provide varying levels of window-manager functionality to OS X. I would try a couple out and see which feels right to you. I have tried most of them, and personally prefer Moom. http://manytricks.com/moom/ http://mizage.com/divvy/ http://ianyh.com/amethyst/ http://spectacleapp.com…

FWIW, I'm a very happy user of bettersnaptool

Re: Amethyst – A tiling window manager for OS X

#25

Post by Carrok »

bombtrack wrote: post #7

I posted this yesterday in the thread about the Rust-written window manager, but it's relevant here as well. There are plenty of apps that provide varying levels of window-manager functionality to OS X. I would try a couple out and see which feels right to you. I have tried most of them, and personally prefer Moom. http://manytricks.com/moom/ http://mizage.com/divvy/ http://ianyh.com/amethyst/ http://spectacleapp.com…

For another option, I prefer Window Tidy. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/window-tidy/id456609775

Re: Amethyst – A tiling window manager for OS X

#26

Post by bnycum »

bombtrack wrote: post #7

I posted this yesterday in the thread about the Rust-written window manager, but it's relevant here as well. There are plenty of apps that provide varying levels of window-manager functionality to OS X. I would try a couple out and see which feels right to you. I have tried most of them, and personally prefer Moom. http://manytricks.com/moom/ http://mizage.com/divvy/ http://ianyh.com/amethyst/ http://spectacleapp.com…

Minus Mjolnir, I've tried the rest and still prefer Slate[1] but it hasn't been updated since Feb 2013. Actually I had never heard of Mjolnir before now. I like Slate's ability to define a config file that is just a little more powerful than the competition, plus it's easy to sync across machines. I haven't updated to Yosemite, but Slate works wonderfully on Mavericks.

[1]: https://github.com/jigish/slate

Re: Amethyst – A tiling window manager for OS X

#27

Post by heed »

RussianCow wrote: post #14
rMBP wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google led me to BetterSnapTool: https://itunes.apple.com/en/app/bettersnaptool/id417375580?m...

It might very well support the behavior that I'm looking for (the trial doesn't seem to work so I can't tell for sure), but I don't see anything in the description about snapping to other windows. It sounds like you set some pre-defined snapping sizes/areas, and those are used. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

BetterTouchTool has the same functionality as the snap tool baked in, and it's free!

(In preferences look at "Action Settings" in the advanced tab).

http://www.bettertouchtool.net/

Re: Amethyst – A tiling window manager for OS X

#28

Post by ics »

shawn-furyan wrote: post #22

I've been using Amethyst as my WM for a couple months now, and have used XMonad for significant stretches in the past. Amethyst tries to bring the XMonad experience to OSX. I think it does an admirable job, but there are some distinctions. Amethyst is simpler to set up, and is more forgiving to newcomers. It has a GUI for configuration, and an easily accessible list of commands. It also works on top of OSX's WM, so i…

It is also very buggy around fullscreen apps, enough so that I stopped using it after a week. Slate et al worked much better for me (still slower than TWMs on linux) but forced or at least tempted more setup which is definitely the benefit of Amethyst.

Re: Amethyst – A tiling window manager for OS X

#29

Post by pmoriarty »

TkTech wrote: post #20
pmoriarty wrote: post #18

Wow. This has focus follows mouse! (though they call it "mouse-follows-focus", for some reason) I've been told focus follows mouse was impossible on OS X.

Who told you that? You could do it with just applescript if you wanted to, just need to enable accessibility so you can control windows and the mouse.

I've seen this "limitation" mentioned in various online forums, such as the following.

"Mac OS X interface and ergonomy is (as said by apple) not 'compatible' with the focus-follow mouse mode. Why ? Because a single application interface is split into lots of different elements. For exemple, you use an application like photoshop or word, you'll have different panels floating around the main window. With sloppy focus mode enabled, with an application below, you would'nt be able to reach them. And how should they consider the desktop, which is, finally, just a 'root' window managed by the Finder..."[1]

Here are some more.

"Sadly, it seems that for the time being there is no good way to do this in OS X."[2]

"The fundamental problem with sloppy focus on the Mac is that the menu bar is always associated with the currently focused application; if you had sloppy focus, accessing the menu bar for a specific application would be supremely difficult."[2]

[1] - http://jeremy.zawodny.com/blog/archives/000149.html#comment-...

[2] - http://superuser.com/questions/27306/focus-follows-mouse-or-...

Re: Amethyst – A tiling window manager for OS X

#30

Post by jre »

pmoriarty wrote: post #29
TkTech wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who told you that? You could do it with just applescript if you wanted to, just need to enable accessibility so you can control windows and the mouse.

I've seen this "limitation" mentioned in various online forums, such as the following. "Mac OS X interface and ergonomy is (as said by apple) not 'compatible' with the focus-follow mouse mode. Why ? Because a single application interface is split into lots of different elements. For exemple, you use an application like photoshop or word, you'll have different panels floating around the main window. With sloppy focus…

Regarding the first argument (apps with multiple panels), the author should try Linux. Gimp (and others) works fine on Linux with sloppy focus.

The global menu bar is indeed a problem, but it can be alleviated by adding a small delay before changing focus (so fast mouse movements to reach the menu won't change focus).

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