Mac Apps thread

[DaffyDuck]

Pardon the intrusion, but what can it do that I can't achieve with Gimp and/or Corel Painter or the FunHouse apps etc?

Valid Question.

Convenience.

I'd rather spend 5 minutes in Comic Life/Touch getting a comic panel assembled and mailed out, than 45 minutes in Photoshop, for example.

You're paying for both convenience, and 'pre-packaged' experience.

[melvbot]

10.5.8 update has been released.

Apple - Downloads - Mac OS X - Apple

[melvbot]

Ive just started using this

Bodega: Your corner store for apps

Its an application store thingy that stocks apps from various developers (free to pay for)
Ive found it quite handy for discovering new apps, it also has a version checker for any apps you already own and lets you know of any updated versions.

[melvbot]

Quick tip for if you have a lot of windows open that are scattered around the monitor, half off the screen etc.

To centre go to Window in the toolbar, hold down the option ⌥ (alt) key and "Bring All To Front" will change to "Arrange In Front" click it and the active window will get centred.

[DaffyDuck]

How does this differ from F9 and F10 in exposé?

[melvbot]

How does this differ from F9 and F10 in exposé?

F10 makes the window show and hide like the dock.

Put a window half off the screen and see above.

[slackula]

Put a window half off the screen and see above.

I just tried it with iTunes, Firefox, Transmission, Mail, Finder, Skype and Terminal all dragged partially off screen.

For Terminal and Mail it popped them to front and centre, Finder popped to upper right of screen, the others did nothing.

It's a bit odd, by the time focus has switched to the app by clicking it then it is easier to drag it back to where you want it rather than then doing the alt+arrange in front thingy for me. Ah, the quirks of OS X!

[melvbot]

Just tried a few myself, might just be apps written in Cocoa.

[slackula]

Just tried a few myself, might just be apps written in Cocoa.

I was thinking the same, in Transmission the option does change to Arrange in Front, but nothing happens. Firefox doesn't have anything related under the Window drop-down.

[melvbot]

Never mind, Its a boring Sunday pressing buttons.

[slackula]

Never mind, Its a boring Sunday pressing buttons.

Always nice to learn a new shortcut or useful app, please keep them coming

[melvbot]

Right, in an effort to make up for the last tip which was posted after a rush of blood heres another.

If you open the Apple menu in the menu bar and press Shift, "Force Quit" will change to "Force Quit (Application Name)"

[DaffyDuck]

F10 makes the window show and hide like the dock.

Put a window half off the screen and see above.

F10 collects and shows all windows of the front-most application, exposé style.

F9 does the same for *all* windows, or *all* apps.

What you meant is F11.

[Wallalai]

I didn't found any post about Dropbox in this thread.

Dropbox - Home - Secure backup, sync and sharing made easy.

Dropbox is a software that syncs your files online and across your computers. Could maybe be useful for someone here, and works on Mac, Windows and Linux.

[slackula]

Dropbox is a software that syncs your files online and across your computers. Could maybe be useful for someone here, and works on Mac, Windows and Linux.

This looks very interesting, is it like using a wrapper for rsync and a no-ip or dyndns account rolled into one?

[Wallalai]

^ Honestly I don't know, just saw an article about this software on a website and thought he deserve a post in this thread.

[melvbot]

This looks interesting. Ive got a few GMail accounts along with plenty of others for sites I run etc so its easier for me to use Mail to manage them. This is an app that supports multiple GMail accounts, rather than just one which most other GMail notifiers seem to support.

Notify – An awesome new Gmail Notifier for OS X – Vibealicious

[melvbot]

Its Sunday morning and Match Of The Day doesnt start for another 20 mins so Im going to waffle on about how you should use more keyboard shortcuts.

If you use a program regularly you can end up repeating the same actions over and over. For example I use Mail.app quite a lot and have around 10 accounts that I check daily. Usually you would either right click "Inbox" and select "Take All Accounts Online" or click "Mailbox/Take All Accounts Online".

It gets a bit repetitive and I would rather save time by having a shortcut assigned to the action. So, I go to System Preferences/Keyboard and Mouse/Keyboard Shortcuts and scroll down to the bit where it says Application Keyboard Shortcuts. If you highlight it and then click the + sign at the bottom a box will appear like this



As you can see theres a dropdown menu for the application you want the shortcut for, an area for the shortcut key combination you want and the name of the action you want the shortcut to be applied to.

You need the exact name of the menu item so check the menu in the app! Select the application you want from the dropdown, enter a key combination, click add and thats it, done and dusted.

Heres an example. When I open Mail.app now all I do to take all the accounts online is hit "CTRL ALT O" and it takes all my accounts online. Once you get used to using shortcuts they save loads of time, just need a good memory if you go mad with them for every app you use.

[melvbot]

I didn't found any post about Dropbox in this thread.

Dropbox - Home - Secure backup, sync and sharing made easy.

Dropbox is a software that syncs your files online and across your computers. Could maybe be useful for someone here, and works on Mac, Windows and Linux.

My fave new app without a shadow of doubt. Drop files in the folder on your computer, it uploads them and syncs the folder with the storage based on the web automatically and the killer for me is the iPhone app.

This is one of those services I would gladly pay for if I went over the limit of free storage (2gb), simple to use and its for Mac, Windows and Linux.

[melvbot]

If you use Safari, watch videos on YouTube and have the flash blocker Click To Flash installed in Safari you can set it to load the H.264 version of the video rather than the horrible flash version which can peak your CPU even for the smallest of videos.

You can either click on the settings icon in the top left of the blocked video and select "Load H.264"




or go to "Click For Flash Settings" and do this so it loads the H.264 version automatically so you can get rid of as much Flash as possible.

[Wallalai]

A new MacUpdate bundle is available now (12 days left), 14 apps for 49,99$. Including the excellent "Path Finder".

MacUpdate Promo Winter Bundle - A Great Bundle at a Great Price.

[DaffyDuck]

If you use a program regularly you can end up repeating the same actions over and over. For example I use Mail.app quite a lot and have around 10 accounts that I check daily. Usually you would either right click "Inbox" and select "Take All Accounts Online" or click "Mailbox/Take All Accounts Online".

...or you configure Mail.app to check your mail every 5, 10, 15, or 30 minutes ... or you just click the 'check mail' button.

[DaffyDuck]

If you use Safari, watch videos on YouTube and have the flash blocker Click To Flash installed in Safari you can set it to load the H.264 version of the video rather than the horrible flash version which can peak your CPU even for the smallest of videos.

Click to Flash is AWESOME. Indispensable!

[Wallalai]

^ I agree

[melvbot]

If you use a program regularly you can end up repeating the same actions over and over. For example I use Mail.app quite a lot and have around 10 accounts that I check daily. Usually you would either right click "Inbox" and select "Take All Accounts Online" or click "Mailbox/Take All Accounts Online".

...or you configure Mail.app to check your mail every 5, 10, 15, or 30 minutes ... or you just click the 'check mail' button.

This wasnt about checking for mail, it was about taking all the accounts online or offline. I open mail hit "ctr-option+O" to take all accounts online or "ctrl-option+X" to take them offline.