Apple chose to use this model for a variety of reasons, including the avoidance of licensing fees for DPS and more efficient support of legacy Carbon and Classic code QuickDraw-based applications use bitmapped drawing exclusively. A graphics library called Quartz 2D provides PostScript-style imaging using the PDF rendering model (a subset, plus tweaks, of the PostScript model), but this is used by application frameworks - there is no PostScript present in the Mac OS X window server. “Apple’s Mac OS X operating system uses a central window server (created entirely by Apple) that caches window graphics as bitmaps, instead of storing and executing PostScript code. However, I do not believe that Linux and Mac OS “have the same core architecture.” Apple’s display server and desktop compositor are closed source, proprietary applications which appear to be some kind of hybrid with no direct equivalent on Linux-based operating systems:

I agree that this is a nuisance, and sometimes when I move the Brave (or Chrome) browser window I also find a browser update notice hiding behind it. First, though, head to the System Preferences screen and choose Mission Control. You’re able to use Split View to tile windows and switch between them as needed. If you use macOS Catalina or later, there’s a solution that keeps your windows visible but not necessarily on top. Other Ways to Keep Your Application Window “Always On Top” Though, user beware – Afloat is an outdated and complex piece of software to install on your Mac.

You have to disable certain security settings on your Mac, which for an end user, is too much of a hurdle (and dangerous to boot).ĭespite this, you may want to give Afloat a try.

The setup takes some work and relies on two apps working well on your machine.

In fact, there are many sources for it, and some go in and out of favor depending on the Operating System (OS) and compatibility.

It requires dependencies such as SIMBL.

It hasn’t been updated in six years, which means it may not work with current Mac models or Apple Silicon chips.

Even so, there are a few negatives about Afloat in 2021:

Chrome stays on top