Moom 4: Next-generation window manager

https://manytricks.com/blog/?p=6385

by ctippett • 2 years ago

76 34 2 years ago

manytricks.com

nickandbro• 2 years ago

I use AeroSpace and I am really liking it <https://github.com/nikitabobko/AeroSpace>

Seems this window manager is more like a drop in replacement for non-i3 users.

ganksalot• 2 years ago

Thanks for the link, I've been using Rectangle for ~3 months and have liked it, but the autosize feature in AeroSpace seems really nice.

mckn1ght• 2 years ago

Longtime Moom user, I’ve tried many others but this is the best IMO. The config plist is part of my dotfiles repo and I’ve been able to effortlessly port the settings between multiple new machines. Everything I need is available with just key chords.

I am excited about a resizable settings window though!

gjtorikian• 2 years ago

Ooooh, I’m always curious about how other Moom users set up their env. Mind sharing your dotfiles repo?

drcongo• 2 years ago

I think I've been using Moom since v1 which is a very long time, I paid for this one before I'd even clicked the download button.

mhd• 2 years ago

"Moom 4 is available now, and requires macOS 10.13 or newer."

Always glad to see software that still aims for some backwards compatibility. Sure, it might require a bit more testing and/or handling some customer complaints, but not everyone is one the latest version or able to do that.

(I do wonder whether a lot of that isn't just driven by either just accepting XCode defaults or some Swift stuff that has a very low range backwards)

tchbnl• 2 years ago

Long time and very happy Moom user. Instantly bought a new license for Moom 4.

jmclnx• 2 years ago

I wish this would have mention only for Apple in the title, I was thinking it was a WM for Linux and/or BSDs

als0• 2 years ago

Looks great. How can I get it to automatically tile my windows without using a hot key?

NayamAmarshe2• 2 years ago

I wish someone could just make PaperWM for MacOS. It's such a revolutionary idea!

jryan49• 2 years ago

https://github.com/mogenson/PaperWM.spoon

NayamAmarshe2• 2 years ago

I've used this one but the lack of touchpad gestures and the window launching bugs meant that I had to move away from it.

squigz• 2 years ago

I've been a happy i3 user for many, many years. This is the first time I've ever considered switching. What a fascinating idea!

timenova• 2 years ago

The thing with most of these macOS window managers is they lack support for workspaces, an essential feature in WMs like i3.

macOS Workspaces are not the best to use, because switching between them causes an animation or at least a delay. I started using Aerospace [0] recently, and they've implemented virtual workspaces themselves which works much better than macOS Workspaces.

I still have to configure Aerospace properly for multi-display setups, but it works really well with this i3-like config right out of the box [1]. And they have comprehensive docs too!

I highly recommend trying out Aerospace if current macOS window management solutions aren't working well for you.

[0] https://nikitabobko.github.io/AeroSpace/guide

[1] https://nikitabobko.github.io/AeroSpace/goodness#i3-like-con...

msravi• 2 years ago

Aerospace is great and such a releif for an incoming i3/regolith user. Tried yabai for a while, but switching workspaces still sucks. Aerospace solves this by creating its own virtual workspaces and hiding windows from other workspaces just off the viewable area and behind other windows of the current workspace.

veber-alex• 2 years ago

yabai can switch workspaces without that dumb animation but it requires injecting code into the Dock which requires disabling System Integrity Protection.

Really wish Apple would give users more choices here without requiring third party hacks.

tsuru• 2 years ago

The first of this macOS WMs that implement something that understands the wayland protocol -- bridges it to macOS compositor or whatever -- will really have my money.

JakeSc3• 2 years ago

Looks very intriguing, will give this a try. As a windowing and task switching productivity nut, I built my own replacement for ⌘+Tab, Switcheroo. Check it out here: https://switchfaster.com/

dimator• 2 years ago

That's a neat idea! Any chance that a DMG can be made available outside the app store?

JakeSc3• 2 years ago

Will add this to my list!

nalzok• 2 years ago

You may want to check out [rcmd](https://lowtechguys.com/rcmd/).

JakeSc3• 2 years ago

I’ve come across this! Do you use it?

alanwreath• 2 years ago

Looks interesting, it probably is more stable than yabai, but I still really love the simplicity (post install) of window managing

https://github.com/koekeishiya/yabai

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k94qImbFKWE

wellthisisgreat• 2 years ago

Can I bind arbitrary hotkey combos to different window positions/ sizes? Like in better snap tool?

E.g. “cmd opt >” to put the window at 1/3 width on the right side of the screen?

eddyg2• 2 years ago

Yes, see the "Hot keys" section of the help⁽¹⁾.

⁽¹⁾ https://manytricks.com/moom/help/aboutcustom.html#_hotkeys

Shadowmist• 2 years ago

Yes. I personally use Ctrl-Cmd with the numpad. 8 for top half of screen, 9 for upper right corner, 6 for right half, etc. 5 is full screen and 0 moves window to next monitor. I’ve been using it for more than 10 years now. It is easy to customize.

dsp_person• 2 years ago

I'm always curious to see how people are selling desktop software like this. This developer has many other misc tools for sale on this website.

Q: Are mac people more likely to look for and buy misc desktop utilities?

I wonder about market size vs niche size for windows vs macos vs linux tools. Clearly windows is the biggest market, but I feel like I run into a lot of these niche macos utilities for sale, often here on hackernews.

For linux which I'm most interested in, I have a harder time imagining people wanting to pay for a closed source tool. But am trying to note successes with people using patreon, itch.io, or github sponsors.

Terretta• 2 years ago

Q: Are mac people more likely to look for and buy misc desktop utilities?

This has been one of the options for well over a decade.

And yes.

Check out dozens of them less expensively using setapp:

https://setapp.com/

Many work on both MacOS and iOS (yes, iOS software paid for through a SetApp subscription).

clircle• 2 years ago

I buy some MacOS utilities. There are some good ones out there, and I don't mind paying for things that make computers less grating.

alwillis• 2 years ago

These types of utilities have been popular since the classic MacOS days.

A few I paid for:

* BetterTouchTool

* Bartender

* Choosy

* MacWhisper

* Mona

* BBEdit

* Retrobatch

* AirBuddy

kstrauser• 2 years ago

I replaced Bartender with Ice[0] after its new owners[1] did some things I consider sketchy[2].

[0]https://github.com/jordanbaird/Ice

[1]https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40584606

[2]https://appleinsider.com/articles/24/06/05/bartender-apps-ne...

joshstrange• 2 years ago

I always want to buy these types of apps (window management) but they rarely play nice with multiple monitors, especially if the monitors aren't all in the same orientation and/or if you want a smaller monitor to work differently.

I've been using phoenix [0] for many years now for my window management which uses some JS config/code I wrote. It took a little bit for me to pick the hotkeys I wanted and how things should resize/move/jump monitors but now it's muscle memory.

[0] https://github.com/kasper/phoenix

eddyg2• 2 years ago

One of the cool features of Moom is the ability to trigger saved layouts when monitors are connected and disconnected.

If you go to the Layout⁽¹⁾ section of the docs, you can read about the "Apply automatically when switching to ..." option which lets you select "1 display", "2 displays", "3 displays", etc. as triggers for the layout.

The other option worth mentioning is "Adapt to display configuration changes", which scales saved layouts up and down as needed depending on what displays are connected.

⁽¹⁾ https://manytricks.com/moom/help/customactions.html#_layout

tennisflyi• 2 years ago

I use Rectangle Mac. Will definitely check this out

Moom 4: Next-generation window manager

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