One of the features I loved from the first moment I saw it in Windows 7 was Snap, the one that lets you instantly resize any document window by dragging it to one side of your screen.
Irradiated Software makes a Mac utility that does a similar job. It’s called Sizeup, and I find it pretty useful. But it’s keyboard-controlled, not mouse-controlled, and you have to remember some new shortcuts to get the most from it. How about a mouse-controlled alternative?
Enter Cinch, a new app from the Sizeup developers.
It’s nice and simple and does exactly the same job as Windows 7’s Snap feature. Drag to one side, and your window gets tiled – with helpful visual feedback showing you where it will go. Drag the window again, and it reverts back to its former size and position.
You can maximise a window just as easily by dragging to the top of your display. Here’s a quick screencast to show how it works:
Having tried both apps, I think I like Cinch more, mainly because I’ve always struggled to remember the correct shortcuts to use in Sizeup. Cinch is particularly useful for throwing a couple of Finder windows into place before doing a bunch of file moves. If you already have Sizeup, though, you might not want to spend a few dollars on Cinch as it replicates a lot of functionality; Sizeup can do everything Cinch can, and more, but just doesn’t do it via mouse commands.
Giles Turnbull is a freelance writer in England. He also writes for the Press Association and The Morning News. You can find out more at his website, and follow him on Twitter @gilest.
15 responses to “Cinch Makes Window Resizing A Cinch”
This is the same functionality as Windows7, which isn’t a bad thing. The single corner window resize handle of the Macs’ has always been a bit of a throwback.
SplitScreen ( http://l.ginkapps.com/splitscr… ) is a much cheaper alternative that does the same thing.
Now how will that work if you have an extended desktop onto another monitor? Is Cinch smart? Will it adapt or stay native to the primary monitror?
This is a great article, and thank you for sharing this information. But why no link to the freerware program?