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The struggle of resizing windows on macOS Tahoe

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Re: The struggle of resizing windows on macOS Tahoe

#761

Post by oneeyedpigeon »

atommclain wrote: post #757
jackwilsdon wrote: post #697

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Moving windows like this is already built into macOS but it's hidden behind a flag for some reason: defaults write -g NSWindowShouldDragOnGesture -bool true You can then use Control+Command+Click to move windows from anywhere inside them. Sadly this doesn't provide resizing.

FWIW I have a note in my dot files that for this to take effect you need to logout and then log back in, not sure if this is (still?) the case.

I think you still need to. I just tested and it doesn't take immediate effect. Which means I’ve now got to try to remember that keyboard shortcut and try it out the next time I restart...

Re: The struggle of resizing windows on macOS Tahoe

#762

Post by user3939382 »

I’ve been an Apple user since before there was such thing as Mac, OS X or macOS has been my daily driver for over 20 years. The SIP bullshit, buried dark pattern allow buttons to download programs. The totally out of control background processes and snooping and remote online checks for every program execution nanny state bullshit. I’m 100% done with iOS macOS all of it.

New Desktop is FreeBSD+MATE. Config is a pain initially but idc.

Re: The struggle of resizing windows on macOS Tahoe

#763

Post by nkrisc »

phearnot wrote: post #610
drob518 wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yea, the programmers aren’t to blame here. In fact some of the visual effects they have achieved are pretty cool. The designers are at fault because they prioritized visuals over usability. Literally nobody I know thinks “Liquid Glass” has been an improvement. The feedback is universally negative.

I suppose it’s exactly the programmer’s job to make sure cursor grabs the edge of the curved window border, not the arbitrary point outside.

And it's the UX designer's job to specify the click target area based on best practices and usability testing with real users.

If this is the click target area specified by the designer (or it was simply unspecified) then it's absolutely the designer's fault. I'm a UX designer and I've made mistakes like this before, though this one is pretty egregious because the issue is core to the interaction.

It's sometimes easy as a UX designer to forget to specify some of the smaller details (though this example isn't what I'd call a "small detail"), particularly because they're the kinds of things you don't notice when they work, and I don't have to implement it. The developer has to sit down and write code for what will or will not happen.

I've made mistakes in the past where in an mobile interface I neglected to specify the click target area for some controls. Typically the minimum clickable area we'd use was something like 44x44 but the visual was smaller than that, and I didn't specify it, so the developer made the visible element the one that would respond to the click events. It was too small and it caused issues. I owned up to that one, I didn't want to let the developer take the blame for that.

I've also been fortunate enough to work with developers who would notice these things and then ask me if it was intended and whether they should increase the clickable area. I was always so grateful to have colleagues like that, and I'd always offer to set some time aside to come take a look at things on their local environment before they moved things forward just to catch any issues where they could immediately fix it instead of having to push fixes later on.

I don't know where the failure happened at Apple, but based on what I've seen from "Liquid Glass" it's clear there's some real institutional failures involving either the design leadership, the development leadership, or somewhere in between both. It's really quite embarrassing the quality of GUI and UX that has come out of Apple recently.

This is the first time ever where the hurdle of rolling back my iPhone to an earlier version of iOS feels worth the effort. I disabled as much of the liquid glass effects as I could because I found it difficult to read and now it all looks like shit, whereas before I could read it and it looked nice.

Re: The struggle of resizing windows on macOS Tahoe

#764

Post by user3939382 »

ryukoposting wrote: post #398
signal11 wrote: post #9

Tahoe is a macOS mis-step on par with Windows 8 or Windows Vista. If you’re from Apple and reading this, my feedback is pretty succinct: “I don’t recommend others upgrade. I wish I didn’t.” Luckily for Apple, Windows 11 is not exactly in a position to attract switchers. Let’s see if Apple can turn things around. iOS 8+ did improve on iOS 7’s worst bits.

Apple's worst release in years (maybe ever), Microsoft's worst release in years (maybe ever), meanwhile mainstream Linux UX has been taking baby steps forward on a nearly-daily basis for a decade straight. I'm not saying 2026 is the year, but...

Linux’s value proposition would have to be “Everything’s different learning curve yada yada but it’s so clean and well done users will see the light” Meanwhile run ps on an Ubuntu desktop. The same process bloat and shit that ruined Windows and macOS. Linux is a mess, almost by design.

Re: The struggle of resizing windows on macOS Tahoe

#765

Post by oneeyedpigeon »

rmuratov wrote: post #621
pentagrama wrote: post #353

This feels like a surprisingly good moment for Linux desktops to position themselves as real alternatives and actually gain ground. MacOS Tahoe has been heavily criticized for its UI decisions, especially Liquid Glass, which many people feel actively hurts usability rather than improving it. On the other side, Windows keeps piling on user-hostile features, dark patterns, and friction that increasingly frustrate power…

This won't happen until Microsoft Word is available on Linux. It's like the console wars — different camps say "our console is better, it has more teraflops." In reality, nobody cares about that — buyers will get the console that has the games.

You guys still use Word?

Seriously, I think it depends if you're talking about business or home. For business, sure. For home—and this is quite relevant to the rest of your comment—I think it comes down more to gaming.

Re: The struggle of resizing windows on macOS Tahoe

#766

Post by oneeyedpigeon »

digitalsushi wrote: post #760

i am positive there's a bug in tahoe where the login screen passsword text input is waiting for something to settle in the background, either with my weird unicomp keyboard, a remap i do, or even the external monitors. my password is always incorrect unless i count to about 20 or 30 seconds. once i have 'redocked' for the day, unlocking it subsequently doesnt have the requirement. but every dock insertion, it comes b…

Yes! It takes a LONG time for my bluetooth keyboard to connect, after the login screen is shown.

Re: The struggle of resizing windows on macOS Tahoe

#767

Post by oneeyedpigeon »

halapro wrote: post #434
VerifiedReports wrote: post #320

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The removal of Launchpad was an inexplicable blunder. The OS now provides no way to organize your applications. Why would I want my dev tools, audio apps, 3-D-modeling apps, and office apps all jumbled together? It's as if Apple is trying to catch up to Microsoft in the race to regress.

They want you to search. I probably have 200 apps on my phone and their automatic categorization is good enough for me. Most common ones I just search anyway.

That's exactly what I did with Launchpad most of the time. But Launchpad gave you the option of both. Are they also going to take away categorisation in Preferences and force you to search for everything there too?

Re: The struggle of resizing windows on macOS Tahoe

#769

Post by mdnahas »

steve_taylor wrote: post #239
iLemming wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the most annoying things after installing Tahoe for me, that for no good reason an ordinary app would randomly lose its focus. In the midst of my typing. This is unbelievably preposterous and I just can't stop hating Apple for this crap. How the fuck this is acceptable? I just have no words. What makes it even worse that I couldn't even complain about it on their support pages - they just keep removing my comm…

Focus stealing has been an issue in windowed multi-tasking environments from the beginning. It's certainly been an issue in all macOS/OS X versions I've used since I started in 2011.

Agreed. Since sharing input between multiple applications (and the OS services) is its primary role, you would think that UI designers would have “thou shalt not steal focus” as a commandment, but that is not the case.

My latest version of the problem is with Ubuntu Gnome. Upgrade software and, later, you will be interrupted with a pop-up window to enter your system password. Not only is this an interruption, I’m always doubtful that this is the system asking for a sudoer password!

UIs, in my experience, are very bad at handling “interrupts”. Sorry, my dad designed chips, so I use that hardware term when talking about notifications and other times another application needs to notify or get the input from user. Personally, I’d have the UI change the color/texture of the system menubar/taskbar and wait for the user to click it.

Re: The struggle of resizing windows on macOS Tahoe

#770

Post by oneeyedpigeon »

userbinator wrote: post #118

Rounded corners are ironically symbolic of the dumbing-down that's affected the software industry. Instead of the sharp precision of 90-degree corners, we get vague curves that don't make sense anymore as though the corners have been worn away.

I might even give Apple a tiny bit of credit if some designer had piped up at some point and said "you think we should square off the corners when the app is 'maximised'"? But, no, either nobody pointed out that the emperor wore no clothes, or they were ignored.

(I say "maximised", even though that isn't the right term, because there is no right term. I don't mean 'full screen', since the borders are actually squared off properly in that mode, thank the lord; I mean 'full screen except for the global menu bar')

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