Video transcript
Hello everyone. We are going to look at Tungsten Edge, an open-source taskbar for
macOS where every window has its place.
We can find it directly in the GitHub repository, where it is already
available to download. According to the developer, starting from version one,
the application will begin to have a cost. In principle, it will honor the
users who have the application before that point. So now is the time to
install it. For now, let's go take a look at it. We can see the
demonstration, which is showing us exactly that, normally you have several
macOS windows and everything tends to go into the same icon, right? For
example, if I do this, look, I'm in Safari, I have one window open, I'm
going to open another window. So, what happens? Well, we don't see it directly
on what would be the dock bar. In the dock, it only shows us the Safari icon
and that's it. If we minimize, we might be able to have them here, but it seems
this application is here to emulate the way Windows works with the theme of
having windows separate and visible.
The idea, I think, is a kind of dock replacement, so let's download it and
see how it is. To download it, we are going to go to the official site. This
would be the bar, from what I understand, a simulation of what the
bar would be. You can move a window from one bar to another or to another
screen. I imagine you can also have several bars. That would be interesting
. I don't know if it's a kind of dock replacement, but apparently it is. For
the time being, it is also a kind of application launcher. Here we see it
grouping, you can group windows, it expands dynamically. I imagine if it's
an icon or has several windows open, it seems to keep the trash on the right to
imitate what the official dock would be . Hmm. It seems to be multi-display,
also supports different sizes, auto-hides, and you can drag icons onto
the bar. Well, let's see, let's see.
Currently it's free, as it indicates, it won't be a subscription, but will be
a one-time payment. It will probably be an application that doesn't cost much.
Let's see, during the beta, nothing. Well, from version 1.0 it will have a
one-time price of $ 24 with lifetime updates included and a 21-day trial
version. Not bad, not bad. If it does what is technically expected, it's not
bad. Look, it points out something curious here because it's a detail that
I, for example, have mentioned in other videos. Normally these applications
sort of make a size, like they set the dock to a very small size. remove it.
If you have the dock hidden, it tells you that you should return it to its
normal visible state first and then send it to the trash. But anyway, come
on, let's download it and that's it. Let's download Tunstop Edge, it's at
version 0.16, the application is 4.7 MB . Simple, by the looks of it. It's in a
universal version for Intel and Silicon . At this point, Intel's days are
numbered, but anyway, let's install it,
let's move it directly here to Applications and let's eject the
installer. Tunstop Edge. Well, you can clearly see the one I have, which is
the stock one. I left everything by default. I'm in a new session and it's
totally by default. Okay, there's nothing. Uh, come on, I can empty the
trash. Let's run it and see what happens. First, we have to open it. It
asks for permission to control via accessibility options. I imagine this
is obviously because it needs to be able to manage the windows themselves.
If you register with an email address before version 1.0, the application
will remain free for life with future updates. So now is the time to sign up
to keep it in the future. Even so, technically, it will remain an
application under the GPL license, meaning it will still be open source.
Do you want to control this computer? Okay, the window appears a bit limited,
but it says, let's see, activate. You need this permission to read and manage
your windows. Activate it in System Settings. Privacy and Security.
Accessibility. This window will close automatically when you do so and the
taskbar will finish launching. Uh, here it tells you the topic. Well, in
principle, let's open System Settings.
It will ask us here to activate it.
Tunstop Edge allows the following applications to control the computer.
So, in Edge we enter the password and here it says recommended dock settings,
it says hide dock, auto-hide without waking it on the bottom edge. Minimize
using the scale effect. minimize windows to the app icon. Uh, it says, "
Do you want to get the dock back?" Press uh it's command option D to show
and hide the dock. That's the official command, by the looks of it. It says
the screen will blink once when applying it. Well, there it is. Okay,
we have here what would be, let's see, a kind of, it says, drag files to save
them temporarily. This could be interesting because it can be like a
temporary deposit, huh? Okay, let's see , I'm going to delete this file here
and now I should have it here, right?
Okay, I imagine it's a kind of, of, of like a launcher if you want, not to
leave it fixed, but like I put it here and I can access the file whenever I
want. Eh, I'm going to create a folder.
Well, I have this folder with three text files inside. Empty, obviously, it
has nothing, but in theory, what I'm going to do is drag it to the bar first
to see if it puts it in. With mm… let's see, okay, here it creates…Well
, the operation of this turns out to be very similar to the dock, okay? First
the size, okay? We can control the size . Where is the dock? It's not there.
I'm liking that. And if I want to show it, it said command option D. And there
we have it again. Command option D.
Nice for the moment. Okay, file. I delete. The trash doesn't update. It
seems that first. Ah, okay, okay, okay, okay. I'm going to undo. It needs
permissions first, from what I see.
Here it is empty. I'm going to delete it. The icon isn't updating when I
understand it should update. It only updates if I click on it. If I
right-click it, it gives me open trash or empty. Okay, if I click it once it
shows me the grid of the content and that's when the icon updates. I think
it has some glitch. It has a glitch here. Yes, if yes, yes, because look if
I take it out again. There it is. Let's see if I make a copy right here and I'm
going to delete this copy. I understand it's not there. Okay, if we do it to
empty the trash. Do you want to delete permanently? Well, it's not there
because there you saw how it's like it has some problem with the trash update.
No, it's not very polished there. Eh, it wants access to downloads. Hm,
obviously it's nothing more than normal access. We have to check this because
preview content can't be modified, or can it? Here, I can't change the view
type, it's just a grid. I can't choose here to show it as an icon. Let's see,
visible. Uh, visible H. What is this, the automatic one. Ah, okay, okay. We
can control the, let's see. There we go , like the delay of the bar, we have
the size. When it gets a bit smaller, it loses the effect. There it is, the
transparency. Well, it's no big deal. It's nothing to write home about either
. Dock control. Single or multiple display mode, one bar per screen,
duplicated bars. Let's see it as a duplicated bar. Okay, it shows on the
other monitor, well it doesn't show, I mean, but yes, I do have it on the
other monitor and it's visible. Okay, it shows the app name on hover. It
respects the appearance of the real Dock quite well. We have right-click
here, it appears quite well. Good. Settings, which takes us to, okay.
Appearance, system light or dark.
Shortcut to show or hide the taskbar. Well, this is nothing. Invert mouse
scroll direction, advanced. Anticipate full-screen transitions to avoid
taskbar flickering. I don't really know what that refers to, it must be some
kind of fix to avoid a bug. The license , okay? Comments. Nothing, just to be
able to write to him, I imagine. Yes, if there's any problem. It's great that
he includes a shortcut to contact him, so anyone who wants to make a note,
although you can do it on GitHub, it's nice to be able to do it from here
without having to go into GitHub to do it. Uh, updates. In principle,
everything is fine, right? In this part , it's fine. So that would be Dock
settings. Here it takes us to the usual Dock settings. If I minimize, it's
taking it there, you see? It's taking it to the Dock. When minimizing, the
animation goes to the Dock. Hm. I understand that maybe that is
inevitable. I think what it's doing is the same as the others. it's like
hiding it down there. That's the part that doesn't quite sit right with me. I
understand that otherwise, since the Dock is integrated with the Finder, I
think it's a process that cannot be stopped without killing the Finder. I
mean, you can kill that process, but it just restarts itself. So, you would
somehow have to limit it from starting, right? And I don't think it's easy to
bypass the system for that, but well, it's a workaround, huh? Finder. Uh,
what throws me off a bit is the animation, specifically that, but the
animation, I expected it to be a bit… there. But hey, the main thing about
this is supposed to be the window control. If I had a second Finder
window, which is what I'm going to do now, it should show it to me in the bar
. And there it is. This is what's different about this application that
we could have open. Well, for example, I could be in the images folder, which
I see here, it already indicates which one it is. Okay, let's suppose I'm
going to open the downloads folder in a new tab, right? Let's open it in a new
window. I already have open here what would be, well look, take note, the
images folder, the downloads folder and the recents folder. And let's see,
technically if I do command tab it should take us to the applications.
Normally I would do this with command tab to switch between them, but of
course, by going to the Finder it's going to take me to the Finder. It
shows me all the windows, not the specific window I want. Uh, this hides
it. It's fine. Downloads. Images. Keep in dock. Close window. Quit app. These
are the Finder's own options. Quit app.
Pin. pin with icon. With those, it pins them here. If I quit the application,
it remains not running. Uh, we could do a sort of…it said there it allowed
you to do a…look, it allows you to reorder down here. Is it necessary to
press anything, right? It's enough to just drag it and that's it. What I am
missing is the possibility of making groups. Uh, it seemed like you could
make groups. Uh, I'm going to open hm
well, look at the three files I created earlier with what this would have. The
application opens. Let's suppose I've already…in fact, I'm going to do it.
Uh, I'm going to open this TextEdit application, and I'm going to tell it
to keep it in the dock. By keeping it in the dock, if I quit, it keeps it
here. Okay. I mean, I can take it here, put it here. Shelf, it says. Mm. I
don't know why not there. Here yes and there no. Open shelf, empty shelf. Pin
with app icon. Oh, it puts it on the side. I mean, this would be like the
dock and this would be like a launcher.
Well, if I open, for example, this file and now I tell it to open this other
one and open this other one, that's it.
Look, it's already opening them here for me. Obviously the first one was
replaced by the new document. Okay, if I open the third one, it's opening that
in they are here. Not bad. If I can make it a little smaller, maybe I made
it a bit too big like that. And here I have them rearranged even to have a bit
of order and control over what I'm working on. It could be in this one, in
this one. Hmm. Eh, okay. When showing everything else it remains the same, I
mean, this is how it would show the dock. It could be, I don't know if I'd
say it's a replacement for the dock, you could, but it doesn't have to be.
It would be nice. Let's see. If it lets me it's that this takes me to dock
settings, it would be nice if it let me adjust the height, because then I could
have both docks, I mean, I would have the dock and this one separately. Let's
see, the dock visible. It's just that, clearly, I can't I can't place it. Eh,
what a shame. That would have been nice , because maybe if it seemed to me,
this seems super interesting, the whole topic of having open windows. But if
this allowed me to have it on top, for example, of the dock, I don't know,
above or on the sides, which by the way can it be moved to the sides? In
principle I haven't seen the option.
From here it doesn't let me put it on the sides, only there. But it could be
a good option that it allows it to be like a secondary dock, a second dock,
because then maybe there are certain things you don't need, right? Like for
example the trash bin, you save yourself that and that's it. But if it
has this, which I think is cool, I find the topic of having it separate
interesting, so you could have that maybe even just appear when, when you
have open, I mean, when I have several things open, several windows open from
the same application. Let's say I'm moving around, I don't know, with the
text editor, I'm using Tedy, I'm working with one and it doesn't show up
with one; but if I open a second window that runs Solong and it appears, for
example, or if I have two apps open with two windows, then those two
windows, well, they appear there, eh, and so on. Eh, but anyway, let's see,
what isn't clear to me, first of all, it isn't clear what this access to the
so-called shelf is. I understand you can add things here, but if I delete
them, eh, if I delete them from here, it disappears. I imagine it's like, you
know, to have quick access, huh? But to add it, I don't know, to have quick
access here, it's like adding it to, I understand that, sure, if you delete
the file it disappears from here, but the dock does that too. Let's see, with
applications it might be a bit finicky, but I think if you delete a file, it
disappears. Anyway, it's not really But well, I think, I think the big thing is
this, the management, the window stuff. I do like this, I like it. Visually it
looks nice, eh? What is this? These are window groups, from what I understand.
Drag apps here eh from the taskbar. Eh, the apps from the taskbar. Eh, wait,
let me remove this here? Let's see, pin with my app icon, right? So if I, look,
I just unpinned it now. Sure, the icon doesn't appear, the window appears.
Okay, okay. I see. So if I drag this here, drawer. This is like a launcher.
What I don't understand is why a launcher here, another one there. It
lets you have several. I get this. Yes, it's a draw—a group. They are grouped
, that seems fine to me. What I don't understand is why several. It's not
necessary. If it's already here, why then here it doesn't eh I don't know.
Hm, that's not very clear to me. This too, for example, there's something
that I do use quite a lot. Let's see, I like this, man. I like the, the window
thing. Okay, let's suppose I close all this. Come on, the Finder stays there.
I imagine you obviously can't close it, because otherwise it would close the
Finder from the desktop. There it is.
It wouldn't make sense for it to close. If I clicked close on the finder, it's
a bit strange, but well, it doesn't matter. Uh, I dragged this folder there
and it created, well, what would be this stack of files here because the
three files are blank. But first off, it doesn't let me change this. I would
like to uh change the what is the type of view like the dock does. It doesn't
have to be any specific one, but I don't use this one. I don't use this, I
don't use the fan view. If I use one, it's usually the list view, the list
view is the one that seems fastest to me. This seems, to me, it's going to be
slower. I have to move the mouse a longer distance. So, I have it in list
mode. Uh, in fact, let's see, I'm going to activate the dock so it can be seen.
Uh, this, let's see if I remember, okay ? Uh, for example, here, let's see,
this is because this account is new, okay? But if I take downloads here, the
good thing is that I can tell it to directly show the list view, which is
what I usually have. So, I have this view, it's faster. Uh, also another
thing I usually do is that I don't use this, I don't like how it looks, it
kind of bothers me, it creates a lot of visual noise. I usually set this to
show as a folder, like this, I mean, I set it as a folder and have it show the
list. Uh, but that's just me. Uh, everyone uses it however they want here
. Although it does seem like it would be interesting uh as an option, let's
see if I remember the shortcut, there it is. Uh, it seems interesting as an
option that I could select whether I want it to show uh as a list or not, at
least the generic views that Mac includes. Uh, I imagine it's also
because we are talking about version 0.16, if I recall correctly, uh,
settings, uh, information, 0.16. We are talking about a very early version, but
I don't think, I imagine it will be within their intentions. In terms of
functionality, it seems to work very well, but I do miss that. Aesthetically
I like it too, but I do miss, as I said , that, being able to change these
icons to folder view or icon view, even being able to customize it with a
specific icon, that would be awesome.
Uh, the trash bin, fix it because it has some glitch there that I even say
if this were maybe focused solely on the window topic, just as a secondary
dock for open windows, that's it, that's it, you don't need to add
anything else. I think focusing on making that work, and obviously it has
to be in an interesting position. I think I would place it above the dock,
above it, maybe even have it detect when the dock expands. For example,
when you do the uh the magnification animation in the dock, I'll leave it
like this so it can be seen. Uh, enable magnification. Here it is. Okay, when
you do this, have it detect it and move up and maybe place itself on top, have
an animation or even a mountain style, anything like that, have it do an
animation. If not, then by default I would place it below, have it appear
and move the dock up, lift it when that happens; and if not, then above or on
the sides, so you can select where to place it yourself, uh, because that way
you could have all the functions that the dock already has, which are already
polished, we already know what's there, and with the advantage of what the
application does well, which is the window topic, that right now. I think I
think its star feature is the windows, which by the way, uh, why on earth is
it not showing up now? Because if you have it in the drawer it doesn't show
up, that's a bug, huh? Of course, if it's running and it's inside the drawer
, it doesn't open. Let's see, show one.
No, it doesn't have the option, I would have to take it out of here. Let's see
how I take it out, huh? And I can't remove it. Ex edit 1 2 3. Look, look
that here it shows me the list curiously of what it has. Hide, keep in
dock. This one was already there. I would have to take it out from here,
right? It's that hide, no I would have to drag it out from here. Ah, okay. Uh,
I don't I don't see the point of the drawer. I don't see the point of the
drawer. I don't see the point of the shelf. Maybe these are ideas that are
still half-baked and they'll implement them in the future, but no. Let's see,
deleting things from here. Well, the same thing as the other one. But look,
I would, honestly I would do that. Let's see, look, you can't remove the
trash can, huh? That and this one either. Download. Downloads, yes, the
downloads. This shelf, if I wanted to remove it, I can't remove it either. It
would be nice to have the option I mentioned, to be able to hide these
things. If I don't want them, to also be able to remove them. I can't undo
the group either. Whoa, hey, let's see.
I'm going to pull this one out over here. And and now, why won't it come
out? Look, now it won't come out. I have to remove it another way. Why
won't it come out? Now I have to take it over there. I don't understand why
it let me do it there because they were windows and here only applications. A
bit weird.
I’ve been trying out Tungsten Edge, an open-source application for macOS that aims to offer an alternative to the Dock where every open window has its own visible space, similar to what we find in Windows, instead of grouping everything under a single icon like the native Dock does.
The most interesting feature it currently offers is precisely this independent window management. If you have several Finder or text editor windows open, the bar allows you to identify them and switch between them directly. Aesthetically it looks polished, allows size adjustment, supports multi-monitor configuration, and responds quite well in basic usage.
However, being in a very early version (I tried 0.16), it still has quite a few aspects to polish:
- The Trash: The icon does not update automatically when deleting files unless you interact with it or open it.
- Folder Views: When adding a folder like Downloads, it only allows a grid view. It would be nice to have the system’s traditional list view.
- The “shelf” and “drawers”: It includes some functions to group apps and files as launchers or temporary repositories, but the interaction for putting items in and taking them out is still somewhat confusing or rough.
- Minimize animations: When minimizing windows, the animation goes towards the position of the original macOS Dock which remains hidden underneath.
It would be ideal if in the future it could be used as a positionable secondary dock (for example, placing itself right above the Dock or on the sides) focused exclusively on open windows.
It can currently be downloaded for free from its GitHub repository. According to the developer, if you register with an email during the beta phase you will keep free access, since starting from version 1.0 it will become a one-time purchase ($24) under the GPL license. For anyone looking for a different window control on Mac, it’s worth checking out.
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