Most Windows users are astonished when they actually see a Mac running Mac OS X with iLife, iWork, et al. That’s one reason why the Apple Stores are soooooo important to the future. Touch and feel. Ooooooh.
It’s a good thing. Good for Apple, too.
So many Windows users assume that because it’s a computer that all computers behave the same way. Well, women don’t behave the same way, right? Some just behave. The rest are popular.
I’ve never been able to get the hang of Quicksilver so I use DragThing again.
The reason I dig QuickSilver is because I’m more of a keyboard person, than a mouse person. I much prefer to type than look for little pictures and click. I think it comes from being a Unix/Linux person. I rarely use the Dock simply because I’d rather type in the first few characters of the name of the app (that and I use too many apps to fit nicely in the dock).
O, that’s gotta be it. Ron does the keyboard thing. Jack, too. Most regular Mac users are into the mouse, though I’m proficient at right-click, which is more than most Windows folks.
“Right-click? What’s that do?“
One problem many of us have is remembering keyboard strokes and combinations. I don’t even use function keys because, once I set a function to a key, I can’t remember what it does.
I try to find the best Mac apps based on what my PC using friends see and then say, “Why the heck don’t they make that for Windows?!“
In no special order:
* NetNewsWire—THE BEST RSS aggregator out there. It took a lot to pull me away from Bloglines.
* OmniGraffle—It’s like Visio without all the suckiness. Makes beautiful charts and graphs simply and powerfully. The pro version is great, too.
* OmniWeb—What a web browser should be. I’m excited to see what the open sourcing of WebKit is going to do for ‘em.
* KoalaCalc—Why a Koala? Dunno. But it’s the best calculator program on the market. For real.
* Konfabulator—I know, it’s available on Windows, but it inspired envy before then. Dashboard has failed to excite me after using Konfabulator. I’m just used to having widgets integrated with my work rather than sitting on their own little layer, hogging memory and not being much use.
* Launchbar—Look, ma! No palettes! Easy launching, much more streamlined than QuickSilver and more focused on being a great app/file launcher. (QS is truly a geektacular kitchen sink, and suffers in usability as a result.)
* Automator—I keep finding more uses for it. Just phenomenal. Makes complex macros so easy and user friendly, even I can build ‘em!
* Escape Velocity: Nova—Possibly the funnest game ever. Cheesy in many ways, low tech in many ways, but FUN!
I try to find the best Mac apps based on what my PC using friends see and then say, “Why the heck don’t they make that for Windows?!“
In no special order:
* NetNewsWire—THE BEST RSS aggregator out there. It took a lot to pull me away from Bloglines.
* OmniGraffle—It’s like Visio without all the suckiness. Makes beautiful charts and graphs simply and powerfully. The pro version is great, too.
* OmniWeb—What a web browser should be. I’m excited to see what the open sourcing of WebKit is going to do for ‘em.
* KoalaCalc—Why a Koala? Dunno. But it’s the best calculator program on the market. For real.
* Konfabulator—I know, it’s available on Windows, but it inspired envy before then. Dashboard has failed to excite me after using Konfabulator. I’m just used to having widgets integrated with my work rather than sitting on their own little layer, hogging memory and not being much use.
* Launchbar—Look, ma! No palettes! Easy launching, much more streamlined than QuickSilver and more focused on being a great app/file launcher. (QS is truly a geektacular kitchen sink, and suffers in usability as a result.)
* Automator—I keep finding more uses for it. Just phenomenal. Makes complex macros so easy and user friendly, even I can build ‘em!
* Escape Velocity: Nova—Possibly the funnest game ever. Cheesy in many ways, low tech in many ways, but FUN!
That’s a good stable of agreement. OmniWeb, Automator, OmniGraffle, and NetNewsWire (NewsFire is CPU hog). I also love FootTrack for videos and, on Tera’s recommendation, picked up ComicLife.
ComicLife may be the 2005 Application of the Year. What a sweet, wonderful, intuitive Mac-like Mac application. Once you use you’re surprised it wasn’t done years ago. Sweet.
Has anyone used Shake or Motion? I’m looking into getting both.
Yes, I use Motion 2, the one that comes with Final Cut Studio. Great application that requires substantial hardware; G5, plenty of RAM, big hard drive. And, it’s a bit complicated.
That’s a good stable of agreement. OmniWeb, Automator, OmniGraffle, and NetNewsWire (NewsFire is CPU hog). I also love FootTrack for videos and, on Tera’s recommendation, picked up ComicLife.
ComicLife may be the 2005 Application of the Year. What a sweet, wonderful, intuitive Mac-like Mac application. Once you use you’re surprised it wasn’t done years ago. Sweet.
Here! Here! ComicLife rocks. Bambi did an early review on ComicLife Here. Ther’s been an update or two since then, which added some effects from OS X Tiger and integration with iPhoto photos.
This is one of those Mac apps that doesn’t require much to figure out, yet what you produce is amazingly complex. Like making babies!!
Here! Here! ComicLife rocks. Bambi did an early review on ComicLife Here. Ther’s been an update or two since then, which added some effects from OS X Tiger and integration with iPhoto photos.
This is one of those Mac apps that doesn’t require much to figure out, yet what you produce is amazingly complex. Like making babies!!
There’s another new RSS newsreader called NewsFan. It looks nice but Bambi and I haven’t run it through the paces. My favorite is NewsFire and her’s is NetNewsWire Lite. Mac360 gets more daily hits from NetNewsWire than NewsFire by about 50-percent.
Desktop Manager, definite wow factor. I am running 10 desktops on an older MDD and it is fast.
Visual Thesaurus, for those who like words and new ways to look at them.
Taco HTML edit
Audio hijack Pro
Desktop Manager, definite wow factor. I am running 10 desktops on an older MDD and it is fast.
Visual Thesaurus, for those who like words and new ways to look at them.
Taco HTML edit
Audio hijack Pro
For starters….
TacoHTML is pretty nifty for creating clean HTML. I’ve been using BBEdit for tweaks, Dreamweaver, for certain tasks, and even Rapidweaver for creating sites VERY quickly.
Keeping XHTML code compliant has become the latest thing to do.
10 Desktops? The average bear won’t go there. It’s tough enough to remember where stuff is on one desktop.
TacoHTML is pretty nifty for creating clean HTML. I’ve been using BBEdit for tweaks, Dreamweaver, for certain tasks, and even Rapidweaver for creating sites VERY quickly.
Keeping XHTML code compliant has become the latest thing to do.
10 Desktops? The average bear won’t go there. It’s tough enough to remember where stuff is on one desktop.
Anything that helps save time in dealing with HTML, javascript, etc. is my friend, as I need all the help I can get in that regard.
As to the desktops, I am perhaps crazier than the average bear, so I concede that point.
Most of my colleagues start with the default 4 on their laptops, and it revolutionizes their workflow - especially a friend on a 12” powerbook. to have fullscreen mail/browse/word process/etc. means much less time managing windows or genie-whisking (minimize-maximise)———-If you had a major aha! moment when you realized how much tabbed browsing changed things, then you will appreciate this. It is pretty much the same thing.
It is less work for me to deal with a click on the menu bar to jump to the right desktop, or just flip through via key combo (which is why fast is important) than it is to have layers of stuff on a single desktop. This is mostly due to going weeks without a reboot, and having many programs open - by grouping them in sep. desktops organized by task i can develop a mental structure of my multitasking process. The desktops loop, so you are never more than halfway away from where you need to go…
Currently, for example, I am setup like this: (on a 20” monitor at 1600x1200)
1> Safari
2>Firefox, calc
3>Omni outliner, text edit doc open, working together…
4>toast and the find command and finder windows open for that process
5>iTunes, and finder window that i drag interesting mp3s from downloads folder
6>Photoshop
7> Dreamweaver
8>Powerpoint
9> Word and Excel
10>Entourage
Anyway, it is well worth a try - and it has a fun, exotic yet utilitarian flair that is SO OsXy.
As to the desktops, I am perhaps crazier than the average bear, so I concede that point.
Most of my colleagues start with the default 4 on their laptops, and it revolutionizes their workflow - especially a friend on a 12” powerbook. to have fullscreen mail/browse/word process/etc. means much less time managing windows or genie-whisking (minimize-maximise)———-If you had a major aha! moment when you realized how much tabbed browsing changed things, then you will appreciate this. It is pretty much the same thing.
It is less work for me to deal with a click on the menu bar to jump to the right desktop, or just flip through via key combo (which is why fast is important) than it is to have layers of stuff on a single desktop. This is mostly due to going weeks without a reboot, and having many programs open - by grouping them in sep. desktops organized by task i can develop a mental structure of my multitasking process. The desktops loop, so you are never more than halfway away from where you need to go…Anyway, it is well worth a try - and it has a fun, exotic yet utilitarian flair that is SO OsXy.
Personally, I haven’t been turned on by multiple desktops. Yet. All things considered, it’s just another way of organizing the same thing, so far as I can tell.
Each application takes up a layer, or, with multiple windows open (as in a browser), multiple layers. You can work only on one layer at a time, so the issue is how you get to that layer. By clicking on something that brings up a different window, or a different layer. It’s still the same thing. A layer.
DragThing, Expose’ and the Dock all allow for bringing up a layer (browser, word processor, email, whatever) in just one click. That’s about as easy as it can get.
The multiple windowing applications I’ve tried tend to “lose” windows. That’s either because I can’t remember which window has what application, or because the apps are not as stable as you’d like unless you are loaded with RAM.
The experience of organizing open applications into multiple windows seems to require plenty of RAM (i.e. more money), and another layer to organize.
In that regard, the Dock works well. Click on an application icon and all those windows associated with that application come to the front. You can only work on one application at a time. The computer might multi-task, but users don’t do it as well.
AlphaButton - Web button, tab, logo and banner graphics - http://www.alphabutton.com/index.jsp
Makes nice buttons, and more, with rollover and all codes .. not cheap .. but does a lot I think and generates all codes which is very helpful for the ÏhtmlÓ impaired.
ThatÌs all I got for now..lol÷ I just installed Tiger today.. took the brave route and did a complete erase and install. Took only about 2 hrs from start to finish. DonÌt know if thatÌs good or bad, but it was pretty painless, if not terrifying to basically click Ïerase your entire computer life and hope you can get it backÓ option. (p.s….used SuperDuper to create full clone prior to erase and install…worked flawlessly)
