5 ms·

I'd pay good money for an 'Always on top' window option on mac.

breakfastduck 4y ago
Number 1 priority feature I'd ask for if I could get 1 free guaranteed feature request into next version of macOS. So many ways on windows / linux.
arinlen 4y ago
> I'd pay good money for an 'Always on top' window option on mac. I'd already be happy if maximizing a window on macOS worked reliably.
- fnord123 4y ago
  Use Rectangles. It works better than the traffic light bubbles.
- patrickserrano 4y ago
  Out of the box macOS doesn't have a button to maximize the way Windows does. The green button in modern macOS is for full-screen and option-clicking that button will bring back the old "zoom" behavior which expands the window to fit the content being displayed. It's a lot less frustrating of an experience when you realize that the button doesn't do what you assume it does.
  - arinlen 4y ago
    I'm not talking about macOS's green button. That doesn't maximize windows: it creates a dedicated workspace which might have one or two windows. I've referred to macOS's "maximize window" feature, which you trigger by double-clicking a window's title bar.
enriquto 4y ago
Can't you just use a different window manager?
- rufugee 4y ago
  No...macOS doesn't work that way. There are a few hacks (Afloat, Helium) but all require disabling SIP, which is not desirable. And even if they didn't require disabling SIP, they only work part of the time in my experience.
- guerrilla 4y ago
  On MacOS?
- capableweb 4y ago
  > I'd pay good money for an X option on mac. > Can't you just use a different X? Lol, this is Apple we're talking about, the company famous for not allowing people to customize things to their own liking (for better or worse).
  - enriquto 4y ago
    I understand, and even appreciate, that they don't let too much customization on their default programs. But why can't you run a different program? It makes no sense.
    - capableweb 4y ago
      The window manager is definitely a "default program" that is probably tightly integrated in various points of the OS. AFAIK, you can't even use the OS without having Finder running (not the actual window "Finder" but the process) as it's also involved in lots of things, like the desktop and such.
      - ratww 4y ago
        I believe Finder is not technically necessary, as seen on Apple's installers and restore mode (which are a smaller version of macOS). You can kill it with Force Quit, for example. It is indeed also the provider of the Desktop, but everything else works: Dock, Menubar, Command+Tab. It is launched via /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.Finder.plist
gundamdoubleO 4y ago
Likewise. Didn't realise how vital it was to my workflow until I switched.
weeddy 4y ago
https://github.com/rwu823/afloat https://github.com/rwu823/afloat Also through dock you can configure a window to be on all of the screens *<-using macos 10.14
shadowgovt 4y ago
I suspect that'd play absolute hell with either their UX concept or the underlying UI abstractions / implementations. This would create a situation where an application has one window foreground above the foreground application while it is not the foreground application. On the UI / implementation side: I don't think it's possible to have any windows of an app foregrounded past the foreground app's frontmost window if that app isn't itself foreground. They'd have to create a new category of window (and probably move a bunch of internal data structures around) to make that possible. I know, "it's just code," but it's code based on some very deep and old assumptions about the way the window manager works that probably have hard-to-predict consequences if violated. On the UX side: having a window floating foreground when the top-of-desktop menubar says another app's name in the corner is going to trigger a "WAT" for a lot of users, and I think Apple is deferring to them.

Number 1 priority feature I'd ask for if I could get 1 free guaranteed feature request into next version of macOS. So many ways on windows / linux.

arinlen 4y ago

> I'd pay good money for an 'Always on top' window option on mac. I'd already be happy if maximizing a window on macOS worked reliably.

fnord123 4y ago
Use Rectangles. It works better than the traffic light bubbles.
patrickserrano 4y ago
Out of the box macOS doesn't have a button to maximize the way Windows does. The green button in modern macOS is for full-screen and option-clicking that button will bring back the old "zoom" behavior which expands the window to fit the content being displayed. It's a lot less frustrating of an experience when you realize that the button doesn't do what you assume it does.
- arinlen 4y ago
  I'm not talking about macOS's green button. That doesn't maximize windows: it creates a dedicated workspace which might have one or two windows. I've referred to macOS's "maximize window" feature, which you trigger by double-clicking a window's title bar.

enriquto 4y ago

Can't you just use a different window manager?

rufugee 4y ago
No...macOS doesn't work that way. There are a few hacks (Afloat, Helium) but all require disabling SIP, which is not desirable. And even if they didn't require disabling SIP, they only work part of the time in my experience.
guerrilla 4y ago
On MacOS?
capableweb 4y ago
> I'd pay good money for an X option on mac. > Can't you just use a different X? Lol, this is Apple we're talking about, the company famous for not allowing people to customize things to their own liking (for better or worse).
- enriquto 4y ago
  I understand, and even appreciate, that they don't let too much customization on their default programs. But why can't you run a different program? It makes no sense.
  - capableweb 4y ago
    The window manager is definitely a "default program" that is probably tightly integrated in various points of the OS. AFAIK, you can't even use the OS without having Finder running (not the actual window "Finder" but the process) as it's also involved in lots of things, like the desktop and such.
    - ratww 4y ago
      I believe Finder is not technically necessary, as seen on Apple's installers and restore mode (which are a smaller version of macOS). You can kill it with Force Quit, for example. It is indeed also the provider of the Desktop, but everything else works: Dock, Menubar, Command+Tab. It is launched via /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.Finder.plist

gundamdoubleO 4y ago

Likewise. Didn't realise how vital it was to my workflow until I switched.

weeddy 4y ago

https://github.com/rwu823/afloat https://github.com/rwu823/afloat Also through dock you can configure a window to be on all of the screens *<-using macos 10.14

shadowgovt 4y ago

I suspect that'd play absolute hell with either their UX concept or the underlying UI abstractions / implementations. This would create a situation where an application has one window foreground above the foreground application while it is not the foreground application. On the UI / implementation side: I don't think it's possible to have any windows of an app foregrounded past the foreground app's frontmost window if that app isn't itself foreground. They'd have to create a new category of window (and probably move a bunch of internal data structures around) to make that possible. I know, "it's just code," but it's code based on some very deep and old assumptions about the way the window manager works that probably have hard-to-predict consequences if violated. On the UX side: having a window floating foreground when the top-of-desktop menubar says another app's name in the corner is going to trigger a "WAT" for a lot of users, and I think Apple is deferring to them.