Optimizing macOS System Preferences
A few months ago I started working at Wix. Believe it or not, but this is the first time in 13 years of software engineering that I got a MacBook Pro as my workstation.
Throughout this few months I played around with the operating system, and set up my workspace until I finally reached a point where I’m happy with it, so I decided to share a few of my insights with you.
Let’s open System Preferences.
Dock & Menu Bar
Uncheck: Show recent applications in Dock.
For me, I found that I like the Dock being static, and unchanged with applications I work with. Since there aren’t so many, the ones I use are docked.
Siri
Since no one really uses it, turn it off.
Accessibility
In my work, I’m using the Apple’s Trackpad 2, which it’s gestures are absolutely amazing. Although, I found that dragging items is not comfortable, as it requires a tap for selection and then dragging the item. go here to assign three fingers gestures for dragging:
Pointer Control → Trackpad Options…In there, enable Enable dragging, and choose three finger drag.
Screen Time
Since no one really uses it, turn it off.
Software Update
To keep up to date with updates, check: Automatically keep my Mac up to date.
Keyboard
First, we need to increase our keyboard response time.
Change Key Repeat to Fast, and Delay Until Repeat to Short.
Second, as a person who English is his 2nd language, my keyboard contains 2 languages. Which means I need a comfortable keyboard shortcut to toggle between them, without overriding a shortcut that is used in my dev tools. I found that Option + Spacebar, is the best combination for my work.
To set up the keyboard shortcut:
Shortcuts tab → Input SourcesEnable Select the previous input source, and set the key combination for Option + Spacebar. Since I only have 2 languages I disabled Select next source in Input menu as it has the same functionality.
That’s all for now!
I hope you found this post helpful, if you have any comments or any other suggestions let me know.