[Mac]: Keeping Your Application Window ‘Always On Top’

What seems to be a simple task in Linux turns out to be almost impossible in Mac. One of my favorite feature in Ubuntu is the ability to keep some of my application windows ‘always on top’ so that I can refer to them easily. When I switched to Mac, it turns out that this feature is not available at all. Considering how user-friendly Mac Leopard is, I am quite disappointed that this feature is not available by default. Luckily, Afloat from Infinite Labs manage to the tackle the problem.

Afloat is a donation-ware that allows you to set your application windows ‘always on top’ and keep afloat on top of all others. In addition, there are some sweet surprises, such as making your window transparent or turn the window into a translucent overlay so you can access to several windows in one glance. (It reminds me of the transparent feature in Linux Compiz)

The latest version of Afloat uses PlugSuit as its application manager. It is also compatible with SIMBL, an InputManager for managing application plugins.

Installing Afloat

Download Afloat here.

Double click to open the installer

Install the app

Now open your applications (such as Safari, iChat, iWork etc). Go to Window->Keep Afloat. Your current application window will now be always on top of other window.

Some screenshots:

Window in translucent mode

Afloat in overlay mode

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