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.
Moving a macOS window by clicking anywhere on it
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Re: Moving a macOS window by clicking anywhere on it
#72I 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.
Insane to me that this isn't the default. So much more ergonomic than press-dragging.
Absolutely. This and tap to click reduce so much friction it’s a world of difference.
Re: Moving a macOS window by clicking anywhere on it
#73Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've been using Spectacle for a while now, https://github.com/eczarny/spectacle , it seems to be less feature rich than some of the alternatives other people posted but it's free and works well for what I need it to do. Basically, just keyboard shortcut to move windows do different monitors and resize them to the left, right, or fullscreen.
On the repo it says this: "This project is not being actively maintained... Spectacle users have recommended Rectangle as an open source alternative." This is actually how I found Rectangle. :P
Ah, didn't realize that. I've been using Spectacle a lot longer than the 3 years since they added that. I guess I'll be sad if it ever stops working or I'll switch to Rectangle.
Re: Moving a macOS window by clicking anywhere on it
#74Awesome! Really missed this behavior when Linux and tiling window managers were my daily driver.
Re: Moving a macOS window by clicking anywhere on it
#75Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's not the same at all, you can still only drag the move bar – and it focuses the window, bringing it to the front. Moving and resizing background windows can very handy.
You can move (or do anything to) a background window without focusing it by holding `cmd` while clicking or dragging.
THANK YOU!
Re: Moving a macOS window by clicking anywhere on it
#76I don't understand how MacOS is constently praised for its UI while half the comments here mention a third party app just to make it usable. Maybe it's just me, but I owned a Mac for over 5 years and I could never wrap my head around how MacOS handles windows and open apps.
All depends on what one is used to. On Linux I've had to fight with window borders so narrow by default (on whatever Ubuntu Studio uses) that they practically couldn't be resized. You had to aim at like one pixel. I read somewhere that a window could be resized by holding Alt and clicking with the middle mouse button... but on a Mac you never need to hold down keys and have a three-button mouse to do something that b…
> but on a Mac you never need to hold down keys and have a three-button mouse to do something that basic
That's really not true at all, even for that exact thing. macOS still has very small clickable areas for resizing a window. Unless an app has focus, you don't even get the little two-sided arrows. And apps that are in dark mode basically all blend together because macOS either has no borders or like 1 pixel wide since macOS relies on shadows delineating windows, which only works for windows that are primarily light colors.
Re: Moving a macOS window by clicking anywhere on it
#77I don't understand how MacOS is constently praised for its UI while half the comments here mention a third party app just to make it usable. Maybe it's just me, but I owned a Mac for over 5 years and I could never wrap my head around how MacOS handles windows and open apps.
Because those like me who don't install any of those apps don't have anything to share on HN. Showing that you have a nearly default desktop isn't interesting except when people are claiming that no one does that.
Re: Moving a macOS window by clicking anywhere on it
#78You can also move macOS windows by dragging the border along the opposite axis, with no configuration.
It's nice that once you get it moving, you can drag on any axis.
Re: Moving a macOS window by clicking anywhere on it
#79I don't understand how MacOS is constently praised for its UI while half the comments here mention a third party app just to make it usable. Maybe it's just me, but I owned a Mac for over 5 years and I could never wrap my head around how MacOS handles windows and open apps.
I have a few quality of life apps that take me a couple minutes to set up on a new machine. I spent like 2 months debugging bluetooth problems on my arch machine. Don't even mention Windows in my presence.
Re: Moving a macOS window by clicking anywhere on it
#80I've had `OnWindow Mod1 Mouse1 :MacroCmd {Raise} {Focus} {StartMoving}` in my fluxbox keys config for a decade or so? My brain will automatically issue and alt-click on a window in some other OS and I'm always jolted back to the reality that I'm not in my usual window manager. Now if only I could rebind that cmd ctrl on macos to alt.
Can you not do that just fine with karabiner-elements?
Thanks for the pointer.