Split Screen on Mac

[cschleyer]

Hello,

I am new to the Mac world and was hoping someone could answer the following question for me. I have a 23" monitor connected to my Mac Mini and want to split the screen so that I have a Word document open on one half of the screen and Safari open on the other. Windows 7 has that simple drag left and drag right option that automatically adjusts for you, is there a way to do that in Leopard?

 

[Ka0t1x]

I would usually reccomend Better Touch Tool for this job but there's been a new one recently that I use ..

http://www.mizage.com/divvy/
You can assign a hotkey for this task too.


I get by on the free version (it has a nag screen), but I'll probably cave and buy it soon.

 

[JSt0rm]

Once you place the windows in the arrangement you like they will remember this setting forever. I do this all the time with my work macpro. Notice my finder window on the left most monitor. Next to it is my database softeware. Everytime I turn on my computer then go there. along with all the other windows you see.

 

[JSt0rm]

actually that white space is the finder window. It didnt show up in that pick. Also a really good short cut is apple+tab. This will allow you to fast switch between open programs.

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

Cinch also works.

 

[TheStu]

HyperDock does the Aero Snap and gives you Aero Peek on the Dock.

 

[Adramalech]

Cinch also works.

Yeah, I have been using Cinch myself. Definitely helps out when I have to work with two different items in two different windows.

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

Yeah, I have been using Cinch myself. Definitely helps out when I have to work with two different items in two different windows.

I tried HyperDock and the Aero Peak stuff makes it a lot better than Cinch.

 

[Adramalech]

I tried HyperDock and the Aero Peak stuff makes it a lot better than Cinch.

I will check it out. Thank you for the heads up.

 

[TheStu]

My beef with Aero Snap (in HyperDock), and divvy (haven't tried cinch) is that they don't let you choose the size as precisely as I would like. I would much rather put a window on the side and adjust it to the size that I want, (example, at work I have an excel window that takes up a little under 20% of the right side of my screen) and then snap the other window to fill the remaining space.

Also, I like to have a 1 pixel buffer between permenant side by side windows, at home transmission is on the far right of my screen, Safari is roughly in the center of the screen, separated by 1 pixel to the left of Transmission, the download window is in the bottom right corner, with 1 pixel of separation above and to the left. Divvy puts them literally side by side, and with the borderless windows in OS X... I don't like that.

 

[JSt0rm]

Am I missing something with this? I think the default way os x handles this is perfect. What am I missing out on with these programs?

 

[TheStu]

Am I missing something with this? I think the default way os x handles this is perfect. What am I missing out on with these programs?

With some of them, you don't need to do the initial messing around, or if you are doing some quick stuff (like moving stuff from Drive A to Drives B-D) with Finder and want all the windows open at once (like I do). With shortcuts and hotkeys you can quickly snap those four windows to each take a quarter of the space.

However for stuff that you have open all the time, like Mail, iTunes, Safari, and transmission in my case, I set the stuff once and then don't really ever need to bother with it again. Sometimes Safari gets shifted to the right a little, but I just bump it back over.

I don't use Aero Snap with HyperDock (or in Windows) I just use it for the Peek, I love that to death.

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

Am I missing something with this? I think the default way os x handles this is perfect. What am I missing out on with these programs?

Mainly the ability to see things side by side.

 

[TheStu]

Mainly the ability to see things side by side.

I think that JStorm's point was that OS X remember's window location incredibly well, so for stuff that you want side by side a lot, specifically 2 different programs, just set it... and forget it!

However, for less frequent stuff, then these utilities could be just what users are looking for.

 

[aphex]

i actually wish there was a way to span the menubar on a multi monitor system. Different problem, so i dunno why im posting it here

 

[MotionMan]

i actually wish there was a way to span the menubar on a multi monitor system. Different problem, so i dunno why im posting it here

Secondbar

Not there yet, but it is a start.

MotionMan

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

Secondbar

Not there yet, but it is a start.

MotionMan

It seems too fake. If you know what I mean.

 

[aphex]

It seems too fake. If you know what I mean.

Agreed, its def. a step in the right direction, but he is taking too many liberties with the UI. Good find though, thx.

 

[MotionMan]

It seems too fake. If you know what I mean.

Like this?

MotionMan

 

[KeypoX]

hyperdock is hyper awesome. I dont care about window preview. But moving a window with clicking anywhere, and snapping with keyboard is nice.

Sucks that all good apps for mac cost money. The only good frees are the cross platform like vlc, hand brake, etc.