Intro
After putting much time and research into deciding what laptop I was going to purchase for university, I ultimately decided to purchase the 2020 MacBook Air. Although a MacBook would not have been a laptop I would have contemplated a few years ago, (thermal throttling and butterfly keyboard, anyone?), the introduction of the M1 SOC and Apple’s Education Discount actually made the M1 MacBook Air a compelling offer.
Since then, my relationship with macOS has been pleasant, with no major dealbreakers. Yet, no relationship is perfect, and there have been certain things that I wish worked better, hence the following list of extensions. I can certainly say that they have helped macOS work better for me, and hopefully you will find at least one of them helpful also.
Note that none of these are really full-fledged applications, but rather command line tools and utilities that integrate wth macOS in order to improve the overall experience.
1. Rectangle
Coming from a Windows computer, I was incredibly used to being able to drag a window to a side or corner of the screen, and have it snap to that location. Although macOS technically lets you do this if you hover over the green ‘fullscreen’ button, it only supports two apps, and puts them in full screen mode, making it annoying to access the top ribbon. (Edit: you can get around this by holding the option key as you hover, but that feels even more convoluted.) This is where Rectangle comes in. Similar to other applications such as Magnet or BetterTouchTool, Rectangle gives you the ability to drag and drop windows and have them snap into place, or use keyboard shortcuts to lay them out as you wish.
Download at: https://rectangleapp.com
2. Vanilla
Does your taskbar look like an entryway console table that people just keep piling stuff on top of? Does it bother you that some icons are different shades of grey than others? (ahem, OneDrive) Well, deal with those issues no longer. Similar to Bartender, Vanilla gives you an area to put taskbar applications that you can just hide away behind a clean looking arrow. Use command + drag to move the icons you want to be hidden, and relish in not having to see all those icons any longer. Now, if only I could do the same to that console table.
Download at: https://matthewpalmer.net/vanilla/
3. Displaperture
Does the gap at the bottom of a window in the new versions of Big Sur or Monterey bother you? Do you like the rounded corners on the new MacBook Pros? Do you wish that your screen was actually oval shaped instead of rectangular? (If this is you, please seek help). Well, Displaperture is the application for you. I am not underselling what this app does, but literally all it does is fake rounded corners on a display. But, is it worth it? Absolutely.
Download at: https://manytricks.com/displaperture/
4. ItsyCal
This is another surprising omission of macOS that surprised me after coming from Windows, where clicking on the date gives you a helpful little calendar so you can see exactly what day of the week your niece’s piano recital is. (or whatever else you’re looking at the calendar for.) However, all it does in macOS is bring up Notification Centre, which while useful, is not my desired functionality. (especially when the large calendar widget only shows you a list of upcoming events.) This is where ItsyCal comes to the rescue. It adds a menu bar icon that when clicked on, gives you the aforementioned mini calendar, where you can quickly add calendar events, or open the full calendar app. Furthermore, through some creative customizations you can turn off the date shown by macOS, so that when you click on it, the only date shown is the one from itsyCal
Download at: https://www.mowglii.com/itsycal/
5. Alfred
I suppose this is a bit of a cheat on the idea that all of these extend macOS functionality, as Alfred is technically a replacement for Spotlight, but it does search so much better than Spotlight does by default, that I simply had to include it. Apart from directly allowing you to search sites such as Youtube, Amazon, and Wikipedia, in my experience it also accurately shows what you are looking for faster than Spotlight does. So, as someone who already keeps their dock hidden, most of the time I get to the applications that I need simply by typing the first few letters into Alfred, as part of that quest to be as efficient and use the mouse as little as possible. And this is only the beginning of it’s functionality, but I really must move on.
Download at: https://www.alfredapp.com
6. TinkerTool
Hidden deep down inside the macOS command line are some obscure features. Do you wish that you could rate your music using half stars? Or perhaps you wish you could always force certain apps to open in light mode? Well, no need to search for these obscure commands any longer. TinkerTool takes these commands and collects them into a simple to use graphical interface, allowing you to toggle these settings without needing to be a command line wizard. Personally, I use this to make ‘hidden’ applications (using ⌘ + H) have their icons appear dimmed in the taskbar, and to disable the dock showing animation.
Download at: https://www.bresink.com/osx/TinkerTool.html
7. AppCleaner
Unless your app comes with a specific uninstaller, the only recourse you have is to drop the application into the Garbage (or Bin, if your language is set to British English) and say goodbye. This is where AppCleaner comes into play. Open AppCleaner, drag on your app icon, and let it find all the residual files associated with that app. Now, you can have peace of mind knowing that all files associated with that app won’t be sticking around your hard-drive taking up unnecessary space.
Download at: https://freemacsoft.net/appcleaner/
8. CopyClip
The clipboard was added to Apple’s Lisa computer in 1983, and it and hasn’t changed much since. Yet, it’s 2022, and I often find myself needing to store at least two things onto my clipboard at once. This is where CopyClip comes in. It is my ‘clipboard history’ application of choice, and it lives as a taskbar icon that keeps track of all the things you have added to your clipboard, for that time you copied something really important to your clipboard, and then accidentally overwrote it a few moments later, leaving all those precious characters lost into the void. (Let’s be honest, we’ve all been there - oh, just me? Well then…)
Download at: Mac App Store
9. Pictogram
Does it bother you that not all applications come with Big Sur icons? Do you keep them off of your dock for that very reason? Well, the time to cry about it is over. In combination with www.macosicons.com, Pictogram allows you to set a new icon for all those applications that haven’t embraced the Big Sur style. Unfortunately it doesn’t work for applications downloaded from the Mac App Store, but it’s better than nothing.
Download at: https://pictogramapp.com
10. Espanso
Espanso is a text-snippet program that allows you to store snippets of text that you write over and over into keyboard shortcuts. It also allows you to dynamically insert text, so you can bind commands such as :d8 to insert today’s date. Unfortunately for some people there is no user interface (you write your desired shortcuts into a .yaml file), and although I am aware there are more elegant pieces of software which provide this same functionality, (the paid version of Alfred from earlier actually includes this), this is the only free software that I could find which accomplishes the same thing. So far, I haven’t had any troubles using it, and if you can get around the aforementioned lack of an interface, I assure you this app will do what you need it to.
Download at: https://espanso.org
Conclusion
Well, that concludes the list! If you have any other applications which you think I should download, feel free to let me know about them by tweeting me @itsmattberger on Twitter, and otherwise, until the next article!