alt-tab-macos
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lwouis
Ability to vertically align alt-tab dialog on the screen?
Is your feature suggestion related to a problem? Please describe. I would like the ability to align the dialog on the screen, vertically. Currently, the alt-tab dialog appears on the upper portion of my screen, not centered:
Here's the default MacOS switcher:
Describe the solution you'd like I'm basically trying to emulate the exact visual appearance of the default MacOS alt-tab switcher, with the added customization available via alt-tab-macos. I can get most of the way there, but there's no option for me to bring the dialog down to where it is by default. Would this be difficult to add?
Hi @winteriscariot! Thank you for sharing this feedback!
This would be very easy to implement; as easy as flipping a switch here.
I'm a bit concerned about adding another preference though. The preferences window is out of control. It would be a great time to work on #351
This would be very easy to implement
I also find it very jarring to not have it in the middle vertically, coming from other switchers
When I sort by 👍 this is the top issue, so it's both easy and popular, seems like a no-brainer :)
Until the UI redesign, maybe just drop it under the "Align windows" dropdown?
- Align Windows
- Left
- Center & Top (like now)
- Center & Middle (centered vertically and horizontally)
I understand that dropdown it's not really for this, but as a temp fix, maybe just dropping that option there is not too terrible?
The Align Windows preference is for something unrelated. If we would go with a temp fix, it could be to add a theme like macOS - center in the list of themes, maybe.
I take the issue of having too many options in the preferences seriously. I try to weight the cost/benefit in these situation. I understand this ticket is popular, yet it's only 5 people. For now, it's parked until we can find a strategy for the preferences that takes into accounts their bloating, and how it cripples many users experience. I receive emails/tickets every week from people who ask to implement a feature, and it's already there but they didn't find it because the preferences are too intense for most people already
@kayc7 to reply to your question in the duplicate ticket https://github.com/lwouis/alt-tab-macos/issues/1059:
why is the app switcher even centered near the top as a default?
I have a background in typography and layout. Books for instance don't usually vertically center their title. Instead they put it a bit higher. It looks better than at 50%. It was an aesthetically choice to replicate that for AltTab. It's also part of the UI guidelines from macOS. See for instance how the method to center a window on screen does it. From the docs:
The window is placed exactly in the center horizontally and somewhat above center vertically. Such a placement carries a certain visual immediacy and importance.
follow the configuration of default app-switchers as well as Windows App switcher (which is what it's trying to mimic, right?)
I took a few liberties that I consider improvements. An example is the backward-cycling I copied from HyperSwitch which by default is just shift compared to shift-tab of macOS/Windows. I think it is superior ergonomics. However it can be customized back to shift-tab by users, so everyone can have it their way.
@kayc7 to reply to your question in the duplicate ticket #1059:
why is the app switcher even centered near the top as a default?
I have a background in typography and layout. Books for instance don't usually vertically center their title. Instead they put it a bit higher. It looks better than at 50%. It was an aesthetically choice to replicate that for AltTab. It's also part of the UI guidelines from macOS. See for instance how the method to center a window on screen does it. From the docs:
The window is placed exactly in the center horizontally and somewhat above center vertically. Such a placement carries a certain visual immediacy and importance.
Thank you for the explanation. While I agree that being centered vertically towards the top does look nice for most things to me personally, and I have no doubt there are studies confirming the average person does see this, I believe that this visual change may be conflicting too heavily with my personal expected visual design language of an app switcher. I've found that unconsciously, whenever I hit the alt-tab key combination, I draw my eyes to the center of the screen because of years of alt-tabbing and looking at the center of the screen to see where I switch from Windows. Because of this, I find myself having to move my eyes upwards on the screen after initially looking at the center, which feels like it adds a sort of an invisible step to the process of using the switcher.
I think this should be added as a setting to the Appearance menu, and I have a possible solution for the information overload. I feel as though the current major information overload is definitely in the Appearance section of the menu. However, I believe that's just because of the large amount of checkboxes and words all at once. I believe a smaller tab-system within the Appearance section could solve that (similar to the Shortcut 1 and Shortcut 2 tabs in the Controls section). Maybe label the everything beginning in Window to a Window tab, and all the checkboxes to an Etc tab.
I agree that it is really beautiful to put on top, but I use a 27-inch imac computer, my height is not very high, so my line of sight is usually in the middle of the screen, so every time I need to move the line of sight up, so that I feel a little tired, I hope it will be a little down, not necessarily the middle of the screen, just a little down, this may be related to each computer and the use of habits, some people use the macbook, some people use the imac, eye line of sight may not be, so I hope it can be freely adjusted, like alfred can move at will
This would be very easy to implement; as easy as flipping a switch here.
I'm a bit concerned about adding another preference though. The preferences window is out of control. It would be a great time to work on #351
With respect to concern about preferences window, could there maybe be a middleground solution? The easiest one is probably to read the alignment value from user defaults, and if it's missing then go for appleCentered value. As it would be missing for most instances, this would preserve the current designed behavior (and UI) while also also leaving the option to set the desired alignent for those who's not happy with 0.75.
I'm not a fan of such "hidden" preferences (preferences tweakable through defaults but without any UI for casual users. I would prefer that, if we spend time/energy improving, we improve it the right way.
That being said, i understand the bug redesign may not come soon, so i understand the practicality of what you suggest.
Hi, is there any progress on this? I personally would prefer to keep the default MacOS style (I am using this utility for features such as switching among apps only in the current space).
Agree with @franco-ruggeri. I'm using Alt-Tab daily on all my computers and I would love to see this option being implemented as well! +1
I can't use Alt-Tab specifically because of this... Hurts my eyes too much.
Another +1 from me. Considering that both Windows 11 and MacOS vertically center the alt-tab UI, it feels a bit strange for this to adopt a different design philosophy.
+1. Pretty much every other switcher I've used puts it in the center. This would make it look much better.
@lwouis if there's no appetite to expand the preferences window, any chance you're open to revisiting this design decision and just make vertically centered the default?
It's particularly problematic on large external monitors, and just looking through the comments I suspect most favor a centered layout.
+1. Pretty interested in this. On big screens, that looks ridiculous and really hurts UX - you have to look at the top of the screen
I also want the thumbnails centered! It's quite unnatural to dart one's eyes to the top of the screen.
With this figure included, the app would be perfect!
No need to add additional option to Settings. I think it should be centered when user sets macOS theme, as original macOS app switcher is centered.
BTW App switcher in Linux is centered too.
Please see my original motivations listed above. I think my reasoning is as solid as the arguments brought up in this thread.
Please keep in my that this thread has around 15 participants asking to change the design. AltTab is used by probably between 50K and 100K people. All thing considered, it may not be a majority opinion to change the way it is. I'm still open to the idea though. As you can see I've kept this ticket open since 2020 as a potential change.
So far, I haven't seen either: (a) enough people asking for it that it's obvious it should happen, or (b) a proposal to integrate the preference in a way that is not adding to the clutter (see #351 for potential complete reworks of the preferences where it could be done).
@kayc7 to reply to your question in the duplicate ticket #1059:
why is the app switcher even centered near the top as a default?
I have a background in typography and layout. Books for instance don't usually vertically center their title. Instead they put it a bit higher. It looks better than at 50%. It was an aesthetically choice to replicate that for AltTab. It's also part of the UI guidelines from macOS.
If so, then for some reason Apple implemented app switcher inconsistently with their own UI guidelines.
id like to first apologize for commenting about this since its been so long but since its still open id like to bring my vote for it. ive done my very best to try to ignore the need for this feature but i just cannot anymore .
please consider adding the ability to vertically align this beauty. Having Alfred, command switcher, spotlight, raycast in a different position to alt-tab is truly disheartening 😕
if there is any consideration to adding the ability to move it with a mouse grab with a modifier that would be a great way to do it i think
if there is any consideration to adding the ability to move it with a mouse grab with a modifier that would be a great way to do it i think
This is similar behavior to Raycast and the default Spotlight search (i think this is a good idea)
There is a huge design overhaul proposed by @lwouis
I am working on implementing MacOS version, which includes centering alttab switcher. But the final decision is made by @lwouis
There is a huge design overhaul proposed by @lwouis
I am working on implementing MacOS version, which includes centering alttab switcher. But the final decision is made by @lwouis
Amazing... But could you post that on GitHub at some point?
@sapoepsilon thank you for working on this. Don't hesitate to share some draft, even on paper, with me. I have years of experience, and feedback from thousands of users, each with their intriguing use-cases. It could save you time and avoid going in the wrong direction to run some ideas by me before implementing them. It's just a suggestion of course. Don't hesitate to ask for my help 👍
@sapoepsilon thank you for working on this. Don't hesitate to share some draft, even on paper, with me. I have years of experience, and feedback from thousands of users, each with their intriguing use-cases. It could save you time and avoid going in the wrong direction to run some ideas by me before implementing them. It's just a suggestion of course. Don't hesitate to ask for my help 👍
Sounds good, thank you. I am still getting used to, and exploring the codebase. I will create a draft PR once I have done anything shareable.
@lwouis I created a draft PR #2697 where I somewhat implemented the MacOs theme. Also, I made a dummy Figma prototype with the new appearance tab per your video here. I would appreciate some guidance on how the appearance tab should look like.
request vertically align
I am working on it on my branch. I actually have implemented it already, you could build alt-tab from my branch. It still has many bugs, and I am implementing complete design overhaul. So, it will take long time until I am completely done with the design overhaul