I think window management in Mac leaves much to be desired (hot key and snapping floating windows). But associate fullscreeen window/split with a new workspace is actually one thing it does right. I installed an addon on Gnome just to emulate that.
Split is kind of useless with an ultrawide monitor though, I wish it was 3 columns
If you're looking for a good OSX window manager, Yabai [1] is excellent. If you're willing and allowed too you can get greater control by disabling SIP. However even with system integrity enabled (which bars access to certain WindowServer APIs - space control, removing shadows, multi-monitor integrations) Yabai functions great.
It uses a messaging passing API to interface with a local service, so it's completely programmable and can be integrated with something like skhd [2]
seriously why is this a thing? Who looks at their messy desktop and think to themselves: "man it would be nice to have all of this organized... with binary partitioning algorithm"?
I tried amethyst as well as i3 on linux, gave up on tilling. I prefer to do it myself according to the need at the time. Just need hot keys.
Look into Rectangle if you just want the snapping resize ability or BetterSnapTool as a more advanced utility. In BetterSnapTool you can define custom snap areas and associate just specific apps with them, specifying window sizes and positioning per snap area. I’ve tried binary tilers and it only really works on text heavy workloads for me.
hey forgot to say thanks for the recommendation and I'm giving yabai another try. I think just ignore the binary stuff it's pretty neat and mouse-friendly. One downside is there is no indicator on menubar.
Ooh! Now all I need is a replacement for Better Touch Tool.* Anyone know of anything?
* which I use almost exclusively as open/close new tabs in Safari and Finder with the top right and left corners of the trackpad respectively; plus three-finger-swipe left/right gestures to move between tabs
Forewarning that there are loads of apps that the hotkeys just don’t work on. FaceTime, Steam, etc. I’m not sure why, generally the issues get closed with, “this is limitation of macOS,” but Spectacle didn’t have the same issues
Aranging windows is not a "power user feature". It's a basic thing that all other desktop OSes have. If you think hotkeys are "power user" things then replace them with gestures. Mac has none.
They actually do have windows splits, it's just unfortunate that they force a workspace onto them.
If anything workspace is a power user feature. Many including myself rarely use it. I could not if I wanted to because it looks so stupid on an ultrawide monitor.
To me the fact that 2 basic things: window snap and window switch hot keys (dont tell me you can switch apps, then swicth windows, it's retarded), don't exist, and I need at least 2 other apps to make my computer bearable, is ridiculous.
It's luckly that the apps happen to be free no thanks to Apple.
You’re mad that Apple didn’t design their operating system around your personal preferences. Personally, I’m accustomed to the way the Apple does things and personally feel the Windows way of doing do things very annoying to use (I end up needing to use Windows a few times per week). So I guess we cancel each other out :) Linux desktops have every feature under the sun but they have so many other problems I find them utterly unusable. That is why I use Mac, perhaps you would be better suited with a different platform if it annoys you so much. Sounds like you just prefer the Windows workflow ergonomic to me.
Also, FYI, you can split left and right on mac by hovering over full-screen button while holding the option key: https://imgur.com/a/VNSQR8l
I'm using Hammerspoon to implement manual tiling and pretend to have old Spaces (spaces arranged in a grid with instant transitions), but it's not my favorite thing ever.
But they can support like two features for every single power user: hotkeys for managing windows and snapping to windows when you push it against the border.
but...why? just install Rectangle and forget about it why does it matter so much if it's "built-in" or not..? It's like complaining that Apple doesn't make Alfred built in because you don't like Spotlight.
Split is kind of useless with an ultrawide monitor though, I wish it was 3 columns