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Slate
Slate is a powerful and highly customizable macOS window management tool that supports multi-display configurations and extensive custom keyboard shortcut bindings. It achieves maximum flexibility through `.slate` or JavaScript configuration files, significantly enhancing multitasking efficiency.
Slate
A powerful and highly customizable macOS window management application.
Application Overview
Slate is a free window management application designed to replace tools like Divvy, SizeUp, and ShiftIt. It was originally developed to overcome limitations of these tools, with a core philosophy of offering more powerful and flexible features through extremely high customizability. While initial setup may be somewhat complex, once configured, it significantly enhances your productivity.
Core Features
🎯 Highly Customizable Keyboard Shortcuts
- Move & Resize Windows: Move or resize windows in specified directions using custom shortcuts.
- Window Focus: Quickly switch focus to a specific window.
- Preset Layout Activation: Activate pre-configured window layouts with a single key combination.
- Snapshot Management: Create, delete, and activate snapshots of current window states.
🖥️ Multi-Monitor Configuration Support
- Default Layouts per Display: Set default window layouts for different display configurations.
- Auto-Detection & Activation: Automatically activate corresponding layouts when a specific display setup is detected.
🚀 Window Hints
- An intuitive method for quickly switching window focus (inspired by philc, with further enhancements).
🔁 Enhanced Application Switcher (Beta)
- Offers a more powerful and customizable app-switching experience than macOS’s native switcher.
Key Advantages
- Completely Free and Open Source: Licensed under GPL-3.0, allowing you to freely use, modify, and distribute it.
- Extreme Flexibility: Configurable via
.slatefiles or advanced.slate.js(JavaScript) files, enabling complex and dynamic configuration logic—far exceeding similar tools. - Powerful Multi-Monitor Support: Optimized for multi-screen workflows, allowing easy management of window layouts across different display setups.
- Actively Maintained & Community-Driven: Features an active community and regular development updates on GitHub.
Installation & Usage
System Requirements
- macOS 10.6 or later.
- Accessibility Permission Required: Enable “Enable accessibility features” in
System Preferences > Accessibility.
Installation Methods
- Direct Download:
- Download the
.dmgor.tar.gzinstaller from the official website.
- Download the
- Terminal Installation:
cd /Applications && curl http://www.ninjamonkeysoftware.com/slate/versions/slate-latest.tar.gz | tar -xz
Configuration Guide
Slate is configured via configuration files in your home directory:
- Traditional Method: Use
~/.slatefor configuration. - Advanced Method (Recommended): Use
~/.slate.jsfor JavaScript-based configuration, enabling complex and dynamic rules. Refer to the project documentation for configuration details.
Note: After modifying the configuration, you can reload it via the status menu’s “Reload Configuration” option, but restarting the Slate app is safer and more reliable.
Slate stands as the ultimate tool for macOS users seeking unparalleled customization and powerful functionality in managing window layouts.
All software data on this site is synchronized from the Awesome mac project. Copyright belongs to original authors.
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