macOS Tahoe's Window Resize Zones Are Still Completely Unhinged
Remember when resizing a window was straightforward? You moved your cursor to the edge, it changed shape, you dragged. Simple. That was before macOS decided rounded corners were the future and forgot to update the resize logic.
The Problem That Won't Die
Someone on Lobsters dug into this and it's honestly worse than you'd think. The resize zones don't form a nice rectangular border around your windows. Instead, they follow the rounded corners. Which means there are these weird dead zones where your cursor thinks it's on the corner but macOS is like "nah."
This isn't new. This has been happening since Apple introduced rounded window corners. They just… never fixed it. And now in 2026 (yes, 2026), we're still writing articles about it.
It Gets Weirder
The original post has video proof showing how the hit zones actually work. They're not rectangles. They curve with the window border. It's the kind of thing that makes you wonder if anyone at Apple actually uses external displays, because this becomes extremely noticeable when you're trying to quickly resize windows across multiple monitors.
One commenter pointed out the delicious irony: "It's 2026 and two articles on the front page are about really stupid MacOS UI issues. I'm in the wrong branch of reality."
Same, friend. Same.
The External Display Disaster
Here's where it gets spicy. MacBooks are objectively excellent laptops. The hardware is fire. The trackpad is unmatched. Battery life is chef's kiss. But the moment you connect an external display? Window management becomes a whole new circle of hell.
As one dev put it: "I still remain somewhat shocked that for however well of a laptop experience MacBooks are, a lot just completely and utterly fails if you connect them to an external display/docking station."
Another dev noted they've been a "popular corporate dev workstation os for such a long time and still don't have anything more than a cheap excuse for a tiling wm." Which, yeah. The number of devs running Rectangle, Amethyst, or Yabai because native window management is just... not it.
The Xfce Perspective
Someone brought up that Xfce has 1px resize regions (non-configurable, naturally) and compared to that, macOS's zones are "downright trivial to hit." Which is technically true but also sets the bar so low it's underground.
The key difference? You could theoretically recompile Xfce to fix it. Apple's Cocoa framework? Still closed source. GNUstep exists but they're basically in ReactOS territory—chasing a massive company with infinite resources.
Why This Matters
For frontend devs especially, window management isn't just a nice-to-have. We're constantly shuffling between browser, terminal, editor, and Figma/design tools. The friction of fighting with resize zones adds up over hundreds of interactions per day.
Some people solve this with keyboard shortcuts and window managers. Others just deal with it. But the fact that we're still debugging basic UI interactions in 2026 is kind of wild.
The Fix That'll Never Ship
The solution is obvious: make the resize zones rectangular and increase their size. Maybe add a setting to adjust sensitivity. But Apple's design philosophy seems to be "we'll decide what works for you," which is great until it doesn't work for your actual workflow.
Until then, we'll keep writing about it. And Apple will keep shipping rounded corners with cursed hit detection.
At least the memes are good.
Related: If you're suffering from this and want to maintain your sanity, Rectangle and BetterSnapTool are both based. Or just embrace tiling WMs. The i3 users were right all along.