Is there anything like Winsplit Revolution for Mac OS X?

Question

Is there anything like Winsplit Revolution for Mac OS X?

Answer 1

Try these:

• Zooom/2 ($15) has been my favorite since I installed it. Fast, flexible, and minimizes the number of key combinations I need to remember
• Divvy ($15) might soon replace Zoom/2 for me. It's closer to Winsplit. You can arrange windows on a grid, define your own grid arrangements, and define your own shortcuts. It also minimizes the number of keystroke combinations you need to remember. BONUS: There are Mac and Windows versions, which means if you use both platforms you can use the same window management method across all your machines.
• Breeze ($8) makes it easy to make windows fullscreen, split left, or split right. It also lets you save screen states (generic) and for specific apps.
• Moom ($5) is a more recent entry. It supports both keyboard shortcuts and mouse shortcuts. For the mouse shortcuts, moving the cursor over the greeen zoom button displays a popup list of different layout options: full screen, left/right half, top/bottom half, or any of the corners.
• SizeUp ($10) mimics various aspects of WinSplit functionality, but it relies on many keystroke combinations that take time to learn. The advantage is quickly moving windows. The drawback is that it uses up a lot of global keyboard shortcuts, and there are so many I couldn't remember them all.
• Cinch ($7) is a mouse-driven app by the makers of SizeUp. Drag your window to various hot zones on the screen edges and the window will "cinch" to that edge and resize to fill half the screen. Similar to the built-in resizing feature in Windows 7.
• MercuryMover ($20) is quite powerful and offers fine-grained control. However, there are a lot of different key combinations and, overall, I didn't find it as easy to learn or as elegant as WinSplit. I uninstalled it almost immediately. It struck me as powerful, but inefficient and unwieldy.
• The DIY approach (free) mentioned in another post is to combine some applescripts and bind them to quicksilver triggers. I haven't tried this. But it is a free solution.

I found the weak window management one of the hardest things to cope with when I started using a Mac.

Why go beyond spaces and expose?

Winsplit significantly adds to what spaces and expose can do. I didn't understand the appeal until I actually used it. Before that, I thought virtual desktops (ie, like spaces) was enough. Now I consider it must-have functionality, especially on large monitors and multi-mon setups.

On my Windows machine running 3 monitors, I would rank the importance of these different apps in the following order:

1. Winsplit-like window rearranging
2. Spaces-like virtual desktops
3. Expose-like application switching

On my MacBook, I've learned to approach it the other way.

1. Expose-like application switching
2. Winsplit-like window rearranging
3. Spaces-like virtual desktops

Answer 2

From the Winsplit website I understand more or less the functionality; in the past I actually used to have my window manager (Waimea) configured to do exactly that in linux.

You may try using Quicksilver to trigger one of a custom set of applescripts; each applescript would resize and move the currently focused window to a predefined location.

See this macosxhints post for inspiration...

Answer 3

ShiftIt is a free option. Assignable hotkeys to resize to different portions of the screen (Left, Right, Top, Bottom, Top Left, Top Right, Bottom Left, Bottom Right, Full Screen and Center with current size)

Link to ShiftIt on github

Just click on the big download button towards the right of the screen.

Answer 4

Spectacle is a good option, its free and open source. And easy to use with keyboard shortcut :

Windows can be moved to a number of predefined regions of the screen:

• Move to the left half ⌥⌘←
• Move to the right half ⌥⌘→
• Move to the top half ⌥⌘↑
• Move to the bottom half ⌥⌘↓
• Move to the upper left ⌃⌘←
• Move to the lower left ⌃⇧⌘←
• Move to the upper right ⌃⌘→
• Move to the lower right — ⌃⇧⌘→

Answer 5

Another question on StackOverflow adresses the same issue https://stackoverflow.com/questions/276760/tiling-window-manager-for-os-x

One answer provided links to an app called TwoUP. It's free, and does the job on OSX!

Answer 6

Thanks to Dong Hoon's answer, I have developed a hybrid solution. Using the AppleScript Editor, you can create scripts to resize the current window, like this:

tell application "System Events"
  set _everyProcess to every process
  repeat with n from 1 to count of _everyProcess
    set _frontMost to frontmost of item n of _everyProcess
    if _frontMost is true then set _frontMostApp to process n
  end repeat

  set _windowOne to window 1 of _frontMostApp
  set position of _windowOne to {5, 0}
  set size of _windowOne to {1150, 735}
end tell

such a script will work on a 13" MacBook. Using subtle variations of this script saved to /Users/[YourUserNameHere]/Library/Scripts, you can have configure the AppleScript Editor to show itself in the menu bar, where it will allow you to select a script to run.

Using several different scripts, I'm able to resize and reposition any window with only two clicks.

Hope this helps.

Answer 7

I haven't used Winsplit, so I don't know how it compares, but an app I developed, Optimal Layout, offers very flexible window tiling, as well as moving and resizing from the keyboard:

http://most-advantageous.com/optimal-layout/

Answer 8

It looks like TwoUp is dead, but here are some other options:

• Cinch ($7) is like Aero Snap for Mac.
• Breeze ($8) allows you to save window states and restore them like a template to another window.
• Divvy ($14) shows a grid on the screen where you can select boxes to indicate how you want the window to fill your screen.

Answer 9

You should also try out secondbar. gives you an extra menubar at the second display + re-arrange options. See this link.

Answer 10

You can also try Arrange application which features resize and reposition with keyboard shortcuts, on screen menu and by dragging window.

Answer 11

You can even try SplitScreenapp.com. It allows you to resize Mac Windows in many ways including full split, half split, drag and snap, etc.

Answer 12

I doubt it. Between Spaces and Expose, there's not much need for a third-party app to help manage multiple windows.