When comparing Gridsutra vs Slate, the Slant community recommends Slate for most people. In the question“What is the best window manager for Mac?” Slate is ranked 4th while Gridsutra is ranked 31st. The most important reason people chose Slate is:
Slate is similar to Linux WMs like Xmonad in that it is nearly infinitely configurable. You can either use the default configuration file or just Javascript for very complex/dynamic settings. Slate also offers editing a ".js" or a ".slate" file for configuration.
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Pros
Pro Good Adobe support
Gridsutra has Adobe support with the ability of stacking Adobe windows.
Pro Simple UI
The interface if Gridsutra is well thought through and easy to use.
Pro Window arrangement with a single click
Windows can be arranged or snapped in Gridsutra with a single click.
Pro Intuitive UI and delightful user experience
Pro A great tool for a reasonable price
Pro Highly flexible
Gridsutra works with most MacOS applications.
Pro Great drag and drop functionality
The drag and drop option in the layout gives freedom to the user for arrangement of any windows to any positions desired.
Pro Useful ignore/unignore feature
The ignore / unignore feature in Gridsutra allows the user to block unwanted applications to be listed in the layout option.
Pro Custom layout support
Pro Extremely configurable
Slate is similar to Linux WMs like Xmonad in that it is nearly infinitely configurable. You can either use the default configuration file or just Javascript for very complex/dynamic settings. Slate also offers editing a ".js" or a ".slate" file for configuration.
Pro Based on hotkeys
Hotkeys can be set to re-size and focus windows, as well as activate layout presets.
Pro It's free
Slate is completely free to download and use, which is a great option in a field of Mac WMs that often costs money to use.
Pro Allows for tiling
Slate allows for customizing the config file in order to emulate tiling windows.
Pro Lets you set default layouts
By using a feature called "snapshots", users can set up different default window layouts in Slate that they can switch to and from on the fly.
Pro Window hints
Slate offers window hints which are an intuitive way to change window focus.
Cons
Con Project is no longer in development
Development is no longer active on this project as of 2017.
Con Hard to configure
There's no graphical user interface for configuring Slate, meaning it has to be done from the command line interface or by editing a config file. This makes it somewhat difficult and time-consuming.
Con Missing features
Unable to perform all tasks of software it was meant to replace.
Can not move windows between 'Spaces' (virtual desktops).
Con Video fail
Demonstration video failed to highlight any of the advantages of the windowing system. Or at least, the advantages were so subtly intrinsic that no-one who didn't already use the system could appreciate them.
