News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:HopTab–free,open source macOS app switcher and tiler that... by egeozcan on Sunday March 22, 2026 @05:18AM (#47475773)
As someone who switched to macos from the hot pile of mess called windows last year, my biggest point of pain was the window management. I use Rectangle Pro, and it helps a lot, but IMHO workspace integration is poor still.

I'll give this one a try. BTW, if this works, can you please consider asking money for it? Keep it open source but perhaps add a friction-less support channel (read: not github issues) for paying customers. Just an idea.

In any case, thanks for the hard work and making it open-source.

Re:HopTab–free,open source macOS app switcher and tiler that... by robhati on Sunday March 22, 2026 @06:29AM (#47476099)
thanks for the kind words and I might create a discord server for the support but I havent really thought about it.
Re:HopTab–free,open source macOS app switcher and tiler that... by frizlab on Sunday March 22, 2026 @11:20AM (#47478446)
There is AltTab[0] (free and open-source) also to get a windows-ish windows management on macOS.

[0] https://github.com/lwouis/alt-tab-macos

Re:HopTab–free,open source macOS app switcher and tiler that... by thiht on Sunday March 22, 2026 @04:10PM (#47481619)
I’ve switched to macOS from Windows 8 years ago and I still find window management completely unusable without AltTab. The thing is, on a French keyboard layout you can’t even use cmd+backtick to switch between windows if the same application, it doesn’t work. Separating cmd+tab and cmd+backtick is moronic, but it’s not even possible if you’re not using a qwerty keyboard.

AltTab and Maccy are the 2 apps I can’t live without on macOS. Rectangle used to be in that list too, but I managed to not need it anymore since Apple introduced native tiling a few versions ago. Now they just need to introduce native clipboard history and sane alt+tab, hopefully this decade.

Re:HopTab–free,open source macOS app switcher and tiler that... by frizlab on Sunday March 22, 2026 @05:09PM (#47482168)
> it’s not even possible if you’re not using a qwerty keyboard

Well… it used to be possible.

I was using an AZERTY keyboard in my youth, and was definitely able to switch windows using cmd-< and/or cmd->. (I just tried, it is indeed not possible anymore as per my limited testing, for some reason…)

> Separating cmd+tab and cmd+backtick is moronic

Not for my taste. I like the app-centric worldview. I can understand that not everybody does though.

Re:HopTab–free,open source macOS app switcher and tiler that... by mbirth on Sunday March 22, 2026 @11:32PM (#47485225)
Native clipboard history was introduced in iOS 26’s new Spotlight.

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/mac-help/mchl40d5b86b/...

Re:HopTab–free,open source macOS app switcher and tiler that... by mbirth on Monday March 23, 2026 @05:54AM (#47487284)
macOS 26, of course.
Re:HopTab–free,open source macOS app switcher and tiler that... by nozzlegear on Monday March 23, 2026 @11:21AM (#47490756)
If Liquid Glass is your concern on macOS 26, you really don't even know it's a thing unless you hang out in the control center all day IMO.
Re:HopTab–free,open source macOS app switcher and tiler that... by thiht on Tuesday March 24, 2026 @07:33PM (#47511097)
Wow I follow Apple release notes closely and had no idea, thanks for sharing. Now I need to see it it’s actually enough to replace Maccy :)
Re:HopTab–free,open source macOS app switcher and tiler that... by mikae1 on Monday March 23, 2026 @10:41AM (#47490221)
First thing I do when I install macOS is to set application switching to cmd+tab and to cycle windows inside an application using cmd+§ (that's possible without third-party apps). On a Nordic keyboard § is above tab (perhaps it's same for US keyboards). I use KDE Plasma at home and have it set up the same way.
Re:HopTab–free,open source macOS app switcher and tiler that... by nozzlegear on Monday March 23, 2026 @11:19AM (#47490730)
> On a Nordic keyboard § is above tab (perhaps it's same for US keyboards).

On a US keyboard, the key directly above tab is the grave/tilde key: `~

I didn't know you could swap those shortcuts without a third-party app though, I'll have to try that.

Re:HopTab–free,open source macOS app switcher and tiler that... by MoonWalk on Monday March 23, 2026 @04:55PM (#47494984)
Alt-Tab does two things that Apple messed up:

1. Restores minimized apps when you tab to them (Apple leaves them minimized, defeating the whole purpose of the hotkey)

2. Creates a new window if the app you're tabbing to lacks one (primarily Finder; the developer added this at my request)

Any similar utility that doesn't do the above two things has pretty much missed the boat.

Alt-Tab is one of the first things I install on a new Mac OS installation. The other is Karabiner, so I can add a real Delete key to my keyboard (fixing another irritating Apple omission).