Optimal Layout is a new window manager for OS X. It’s fully Lion compatible and available now on the Mac App Store.
We’ve seen a lot of apps like this in the last year or so, addressing a problem many of us have: dealing with vast numbers of overlapping windows, laying them out side-by-side for efficient multitasking, and switching quickly between them. Some of the ones you might have heard of include Cinch and Divvy.
Optimal Layout is a neat new approach to the same problem, and very keyboard-focused. In both aesthetics and function, it reminds me of multi-purpose launcher and system helper Alfred, which I’m a big fan of.
Call up Optimal with a keyboard shortcut and you see a big window. On the left is a list of active apps, and on the right a preview of your screen. You can click your way around, choosing an app and choosing how it will be displayed with a simple drag. But keyboard aficionados will be more interested in the shortcuts, of which there are many. You can very quickly jump between window layout presets, and add your own.
My favorite feature, though, is using Optimal as a window switcher. I use the built-in Command+Tab switcher many times every day, so much that sometimes it actually starts to make my fingers hurt every time I do it. Optimal Layout lets me jump between apps in a completely different way.
It also lets me switch faster, because I can invoke it and just start typing the name not just of the app I want, but the document or tab within it.
So now I can leap directly from a text document to a specific browser tab, even if that tab isn’t the frontmost one displayed in my browser. I love this. Yes, it’s a bit like Witch, but with more emphasis on typing the name of what you want, rather than shortcuts to navigate towards it.
If you want to try it out, you can get a free six day trial version of Optimal Layout direct from the developer’s website.
[xrr rating=90%]
