{"id":52080,"date":"2026-06-03T13:09:31","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T17:09:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/?p=52080"},"modified":"2026-06-03T13:09:31","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T17:09:31","slug":"macos-needs-its-spaces-grid-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2026\/06\/03\/macos-needs-its-spaces-grid-back\/","title":{"rendered":"macOS Needs Its Spaces Grid Back"},"content":{"rendered":"

Christian Inkster<\/a> (Hacker News<\/a>):<\/p>\n

\n

With the release of macOS Lion, Apple introduced Mission Control, its new take on virtual desktops that inexplicably restricted them to a horizontal line only<\/strong>. I remember thinking at first that I just hadn’t seen the setting somewhere, Apple wouldn’t just completely change how I used my computer<\/em> right? right?<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

I wasn’t alone in my frustration. Alternative solutions popped up but the best of them Total Spaces<\/em> caused me weird slowdowns and relied on modifying the system dock which was a no go once that eventually required bypassing system integrity protection<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

That was until a couple of months ago, when I saw that someone had managed to remove the animation<\/a> from macOS when you move from one space to another, without needing system edits. This animation clearly annoyed some people but never really bothered me. However as soon as I saw a space move without an animation I instantly realised I could solve my complaints<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

I like the idea of a lightweight wrapper around the native spaces, with support for desktops or fullscreen apps. Just with a grid to navigate. But there is a reason pretty much all solutions that controlled native spaces died out. macOS keeps most of the mission control apis locked down. Its not simply a matter of calling a documented api to add a new desktop, or re-arrange them around. But the ability to move to a space instantly meant I could just create a model that took the single row native spaces and presented them like a grid.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

He wrote an app called GridLion<\/a>—and of course ran into lots of problems with permissions for accessibility and screen recording and is excluded from the Mac App Store.<\/p>\n\n

Previously:<\/p>\n