The struggle of resizing windows on macOS Tahoe

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Window resizing and rounded corners

  • Main complaint: in Tahoe, the actual resize hit area is a small 19×19px square extending mostly outside the visible rounded corner. Users instinctively grab “inside the plate” (inside the corner) and miss the target.
  • This leads to missed resizes, accidental clicks into background apps, and general “why didn’t that grab?” frustration, especially at corners.
  • Some users tested and reported that on their machines the resize cursor appears reliably along the visible border and slightly inside, so they don’t experience the problem; others say it’s application‑ or hardware‑dependent.
  • Several note the cursor sometimes fails to change to the resize icon even when in the correct zone, exacerbating the issue.

Broader Tahoe / Liquid Glass regressions

  • Many see Tahoe and Liquid Glass as a major UX misstep: emphasis on visual flash over legibility, predictability, and density. Complaints include:
    • Huge corner radii wasting space and leaving visible “background slivers” even on maximized windows.
    • Constrained, scrollable App Launcher replacing the dense full‑screen Launchpad.
    • Volume/brightness overlays now appearing over browser tabs.
    • System Settings panes that can’t be freely resized.
    • Numerous reports of focus randomly being lost mid‑typing and of general UI jank or freezes.
  • A minority say they like the new look, find resizing easier due to clearer cursors, and consider the backlash overblown.

Comparisons with Windows and Linux

  • Tahoe is repeatedly likened to Windows 8/Vista: a “mobile‑first” or “touch‑oriented” aesthetic forced onto desktop, reducing usability.
  • Windows 10/11 are criticized for similarly hard‑to‑grab borders, mixed DPI jank, and intrusive Copilot/ads. Some argue Windows is still worse overall; others find it more pleasant than Tahoe.
  • Linux desktops (especially KDE Plasma, some Gnome/Wayland setups) are praised for strong tiling, keyboard window control, and increasingly solid HiDPI support, though critics point to remaining scaling issues, hardware support gaps, and weaker non‑dev app ecosystems.

Workarounds and alternative window paradigms

  • Many commenters say they almost never resize with the mouse anymore, using:
    • macOS tools like Rectangle, Moom, BetterTouchTool, Magnet, Aerospace, yabai, or hidden Cmd+Ctrl‑drag to move windows.
    • Linux‑style modifier‑drag (Alt/Super + drag) and tiling managers.
  • Consensus: third‑party tools can largely paper over Tahoe’s window‑management flaws, but the need for them is itself seen as evidence of Apple’s neglect of basic windowing UX.

Design culture and testing concerns

  • Several see this as emblematic of Apple’s post‑Jobs design culture: visual designers and “consistency with iOS/visionOS” trump human interface basics.
  • Former insiders describe earlier eras where harsh top‑down review enforced usability; they doubt current leadership has either the will or the mechanisms to catch issues like this.
  • Others attribute it to inadequate real‑world testing, secrecy‑biased UX studies, and yearly release pressure, rather than a single bug or engineer mistake.