Guides

Things I worked out while building these apps — window layouts, quick files, and chasing powder days on a Mac.

The Best Mac Window Managers (From Someone Who Built One)

Rectangle, Magnet, Moom, Amethyst and Staged manage Mac windows in very different ways. Which to pick by how you actually work, from the maker of one of them.

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The Best Snow Forecast Tools for Mac Skiers

OpenSnow, Snow-Forecast, Windy and Powder Alert answer will it dump in different ways. What each is good at on a Mac, from the maker of one of them.

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A Faster Scratch File Workflow for Mac Developers

Every developer needs a throwaway file ten times a day: a JSON blob, a curl response, a snippet. How to stop opening a heavy editor for a two-line paste.

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Mac Apps You Buy Once, Not Every Month

Subscription fatigue is real. Mac utilities that still sell a one-time licence, why the model is getting rarer, and the questions to ask before you buy one.

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Snow Alerts for the Backcountry, Not Just the Resort

Resort snow reports do not cover your trailhead. How to monitor snowfall at exact backcountry coordinates on a Mac, and what a forecast alert cannot tell you.

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How to Use Stage Manager on a Large Display

Stage Manager parks your apps in a side strip and leaves the rest of a big display empty. Here is how to fill that space properly, by hand or in one click.

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Staged vs Rectangle: Which Mac Window Manager Do You Need?

Rectangle moves one window at a time; Staged arranges all of them at once. A straight comparison of what each does well, from the person who built one of them.

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How to Create a New Text File on Mac Instantly

macOS has no New Text File command in Finder. Four ways to make one fast: TextEdit, Terminal, a Finder Quick Action, and a menu bar app that skips the ceremony.

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Format JSON on a Mac Without Pasting It Into a Website

Pasting JSON into an online formatter uploads it to someone else server. Four offline ways to pretty-print JSON on macOS, from a one-line pipe to one click.

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How to Get Powder Day Alerts on Your Mac

Stop refreshing resort snow reports every morning. How to set up automatic powder day alerts on a Mac, from a free DIY script to an app that watches for you.

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