[flagged]
Ask HN: Why does Apple refuse to add window snapping to macOS?
561–570 of 573 posts
Re: Ask HN: Why does Apple refuse to add window snapping to macOS?
#562Earlier quoted context omitted.
GNOME has a lot of features that macOS is missing by default, like dragging windows anywhere by holding a key, compose key support, per-app volume mixing, and searching through open windows as you type. In what ways do you feel that GNOME is more limited than the macOS desktop?
There’s a ton of little power user affordances sprinkled through macOS that aren’t present in GNOME, and some not in any other desktop environment. Here’s just a few shortcomings compared to macOS pulled from memory and from playing with my GNOME install for a few minutes just now: - No built in UI to remap modifier keys - Disinclination towards menubars, with any functions that don’t fit on the toolbar or in the ham…
This is a good reply. I say you should write the blog post!
It's been some time since I used vanilla GNOME, so I don't know how much of what I recall about GNOME applies to the latest vanilla experience.
The main one of those I'd miss or reach for is menu bar searching. That's probably my favorite feature of macOS!
> No ability to assign/remap key shortcut for any menu item, including in third party apps
I suspect there's not a good way for GNOME to offer this, unfortunately. Menu bar implementations are multiple on Linux, not singular like on macOS.
> Minimize and zoom/maximize buttons are hidden without GNOME Tweaks
That is absolutely wild. All the time? Until mouseover?
Sorry for neglecting other items! They do sound potentially annoying, but don't stick out to me as much as the things I replied about.
Re: Ask HN: Why does Apple refuse to add window snapping to macOS?
#563Earlier quoted context omitted.
There’s a ton of little power user affordances sprinkled through macOS that aren’t present in GNOME, and some not in any other desktop environment. Here’s just a few shortcomings compared to macOS pulled from memory and from playing with my GNOME install for a few minutes just now: - No built in UI to remap modifier keys - Disinclination towards menubars, with any functions that don’t fit on the toolbar or in the ham…
This is a good reply. I say you should write the blog post! It's been some time since I used vanilla GNOME, so I don't know how much of what I recall about GNOME applies to the latest vanilla experience. The main one of those I'd miss or reach for is menu bar searching. That's probably my favorite feature of macOS! > No ability to assign/remap key shortcut for any menu item, including in third party apps I suspect th…
> That is absolutely wild. All the time? Until mouseover?
All the time, normally only the close button is visible. I can kinda see the reasoning for hiding minimize since GNOME lacks a representation of minimized windows (except in overview), but I can’t figure out a good reason to hide maximize.
Re: Ask HN: Why does Apple refuse to add window snapping to macOS?
#564Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm hoping things will go better for me this time, but the last time I used a Mac for work (5 or 6 years ago) I found the exact opposite. Many things I wanted couldn't just couldn't be done, even with paid third-party apps. Many more behaviors could be put back in with third party apps, but were either inherently broken or at some point broken by Apple with a new OS release. From a desktop Linux perspective, Apple is…
I believe that I'm in a strange minority who can adapt to whichever computing environment, but macOS doesn't me bother me at all, because it has its own design goals and its own character. IOW, it doesn't try to mimic anyone, and it's fine with me. I use Linux for 20 years at this point, and it will be always my primary OS, yet I don't feel the need to modify macOS's behavior to behave like my KDE setup. Yes, I have…
So far, I am finding my second foray into macOS more pleasant. I think a large part of that comes down to having different (more informed and more pessimistic) expectations, and another large part being that I'm coming from a relatively much more annoying Windows setup that I just spent a year suffering with.
I tend to find myself at odds with macOS' design goals. Some of this is that some of Apple's values are directly opposed to mine, and some of it has to do with my poor vision. But macOS has never felt welcoming or inviting to me, so I've never really managed to maintain the kind of curiosity about it necessary for seeking to meet it 'on its own terms'.
Re: Ask HN: Why does Apple refuse to add window snapping to macOS?
#565Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's much worse than Ubuntu or Windows though. I just want to snap a window to the sides. The macOS solution forces you to go full screen to snap.
That’s why there are dozens of their-party apps to provide keyboard or drag methods to snap and size windows. Rectangle, Moom, BetterSnapTool, and others give you different ways to doing window management.
Of course, but the conversation here is why does macOS not support this natively?
Re: Ask HN: Why does Apple refuse to add window snapping to macOS?
#566long time windows user that switched to mac due to Apple Silicon dominance on the laptop experience.
This, 1000x this.
It's utterly bizarre that the window management paradigm is "let 'em all stack up and make it easy to spread 'em all out"
At first I thought I didn't get the paradigm. Now I get that I don't get the idea behind the paradigm.
Rectangle (pro version) fixes some of this and adds some really cool features. And because of the Apple app hegemony, it does work nearly OS level good. But why, oh why does this have to be 3rd party?
It's like some any UX pattern baked in since Lisa?
Re: Ask HN: Why does Apple refuse to add window snapping to macOS?
#567My go to example to explain the One True Mac Way of Window management is the “The many windows of John Siracusa” podcast from ATP a few years ago. The relevant discussion starts at 1:33:00 https://atp.fm/episodes/96 Siracusa, who grew up as a (classic) Mac user, explains his tiling and overlapping habits to Arment and Liss, who grew up as Microsoft Windows users and later switched, and they gasp in utter horror, shoc…
The best episode of my favorite podcast ever.
Re: Ask HN: Why does Apple refuse to add window snapping to macOS?
#568I strongly recommend installing Spectacle for Mac, which does window snapping with a hotkey.
Apparently it's no longer maintained but works perfectly fine right now, and there are alternatives i haven't tried, like Rectangle.
Re: Ask HN: Why does Apple refuse to add window snapping to macOS?
#569Window snapping is patented by Microsoft.
https://patents.google.com/patent/US10592080B2/en
MS and apple have agreements to share patents though, so I don’t know why they couldn’t implement this.
Re: Ask HN: Why does Apple refuse to add window snapping to macOS?
#570Earlier quoted context omitted.
> what "Zoom" means This: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36373756
> not wasting space with useless empty space inside the window Wow. In the linked comment you just turned it into the class discussions.apple.com answer which always translates to “you are doing it wrong” and then “why do you even need that”.
Apologies if it came out that way, I was merely trying to describe what was the original design of it, irrespective of whether it fits one's expectations.