macOS Needs Its Grid Back
The author reflects on the evolution of macOS and the loss of the grid layout feature in virtual desktops. They express nostalgia for the customizable grid of Spaces introduced in macOS Leopard, which allowed for efficient multitasking. The transition to Mission Control in macOS Lion is criticized for limiting this functionality and disrupting the user's spatial memory.
- ▪The author built an app to restore the grid layout feature to macOS.
- ▪Spaces allowed users to arrange virtual desktops in a customizable grid, enhancing productivity.
- ▪The introduction of Mission Control in macOS Lion replaced the grid with a horizontal layout, which the author found to be a significant regression.
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macOS Needs Its Grid Back Jun 01, 2026 12 minute read Two decades ago I had a better Mac desktop experience than I have today. I only had a single low res (by todays standards) screen, yet I felt like Hugh Jackman in Swordfish - deftly navigating more than nine displays without thinking, muscle and spatial memory working seamlessly together. TLDR; I built an app to return macOS spaces to its Pre-Lion Grid-enabled Glory. Read on for the increasingly rare experience of an actual human dropping a bit of nostalgia, the thinking behind why make this and some issues encountered along the way. Or just download it here 2006 Around the time I was experimenting with Japanese toilets, I was also experimenting with desktop operating systems.
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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at Hopefully Useful.
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