Mac OS X is perfect for managing windows when switching between apps or windows with its built in Exposé feature, which neatly displays all open windows in a nice grid to give the user a good overview of where to find what and so on. However, when it comes to moving around windows and resizing them OS X is still lacking. I’ve heard many users complaining about only being able to resize windows from the lower right corner instead of all corners and sides like you can in Windows. Personally I never had any problem with the lower right corner resizing, since that is almost always the corner I would use back when I was on Windows as well. But there were other things that I did have problems with, like displaying two pages side by side or move a window from one monitor to the other.

Enter SizeUp. This application, developed by Steven Audette over at Irradiated Software, does just what I was looking for. SizeUp can move around windows, resize them and easily place several windows side by side or four on a quarter of the screen each, it can even move windows across monitors and spaces. You just use keyboard shortcuts, so you never have to use your mouse again to move a window, it’s like it was designed for my own specific needs. I must say that this application enhances my OS X experience many times over, it is so simple yet so powerful.

SizeUp is now priced at $13. Previously, when I bought it, it didn’t have a normal purchase price. Instead Irradiated Software used a payment model they called “Name Your Price!”, which meant that you could choose to pay whatever you thought the application was worth, with a minimum of $4.99 to cover PayPal expenses and so forth and a suggested price of $12.99. I was surprised to see that they had stopped using that method and went back to the more traditional way. Either way, you can read more about this on the company’s blog if you’re interested in software pricing. There is a demo you can try out which will pop up a window, every fifth of so move, about it being a demo version, I did find this pop up really annoying and it took away quite much from the experience of just using the keyboard — but I’m thankful that there was a demo, which also resulted in me paying the suggested price of $12.99 because I instantly realised the potential of this application.

If you’re the kind of person that likes to use the mouse more than keyboard shortcuts the developer has another app, Cinch, for that very reason — although it doesn’t have as many features.