Favourite utilities
Recently, I’ve been trying out the latest release of WorkStrip 3.0, and thinking about what makes a good utility. I’m pretty profligate when it comes to downloading demos of softwareâI love trying out new stuff, putting it through its paces and testing it to destruction. However, utility applications have always made up the bulk of my software tryouts. Part of this is to do with wanting to make the working environment as efficient and comfortable as possibleâa process akin to a dog or cat paddling around in its bed before settling down to sleep. MacOSX is great, but there are still quirks and glitches with the interface that make you wish something worked better (or differently). So, here are my favourite utilities. These are the few that have passed the ‘indispensability test’âif I use another computer, reach instinctively for some shortcut then think, “Damn! No $x installed!”, then $x = indispensable. I have yet to find the Holy Grail of utilities: The Thing That Does Everything. I suspect that it doesn’t exist.
- LaunchBar. This was one of the first utilities I installed and the one I miss most when using another Mac. LaunchBar sits unobtrusively at the end of the menu bar until you hit a shortcut (command+space by default). It then drops down a discrete little panel for you to bash out a shortcut to open an application, a file or folder, or even a Safari bookmark. The clever bit is that it has an extremely smart algorithm for assigning shortcuts to itemsâyou don’t need to set anything up. For example, if I hit ‘OGR’ it finds OmniGraffle, while ‘WS’ finds WorkStrip. The letters just need to be in the name, in the same order, but somehow it seems to make the same guesses as I do about the best shortcut. If you don’t like LaunchBar’s choice of shortcut, you just find the item manually, use another shortcut, and it remembers your preference. Once you’ve found what you’re looking for (if it isn’t the first item, it will appear somewhere in the drop-down list), you just hit Return, and it opens or launches that item. This is really just the start: you can also drag items on to the bar to drop them in a selected folder, or on to a selected application, and you can use the bar as a ‘shelf’ to park files temporarily before you drag and drop them somewhere else. The only downside of LaunchBar is that it has to scan your drive periodically to find files, so it isn’t ideal for locating a file that you’ve just created a few minutes ago.
- VirtualDesktop. I’ve posted about VirtualDesktop before, but it just seems to get better and better. If you wish that you had the money (and the desk space) for 9 monitors, this is the utility for you. I have 9 virtual desktops (files, web, email etc.), and flick between them with the function keys. You can drag the window’s icon around in the pager, which is unexpectedly handy when stupid applications draw their windows with the title bar under the main menu bar, and you have no way to reposition them.
- WorkStrip 3.0. I first encountered WorkStrip in its previous incarnation at one of the London MacExpo shows. I was really impressed with their demonstration, and since they were offering a good deal on a licence, together with a free T-shirt, I bought it (this was also a cheap way to take my mind off not being able to afford an iPod at the time). WorkStrip acts a bit like the Dock, but with bionic limbs. You can set up different workspaces, for different kinds of task, and each can have its own set of associated files, folders, applications and internet bookmarks. It also tracks files you have opened, thus beefing up the built-in ‘Recent Documents’ and ‘Recent Applications’ menu considerably. You also get previews of all kinds of files within the menu itself, which can be incredibly handy. In the new version, I noticed with delight that HTML files now render absolutely beautifullyâwith CSS styling and everythingâusing Safari’s WebCore. Because it builds the menus on the fly, it complements LaunchBar well for opening recent files. The only slight snag is that it doesn’t completely replace the Dock, so you have to find screen space for both somehow. The icons on the WorkStrip don’t give dynamic informaation (with the exception of the unread email count with Apple Mail), nor does it give you the same access you get with a control-click on an icon in the dock.
- CopyPaste-X. Once you’ve used this for a while, you wonder how you ever did without it. It lets you have pretty much unlimited numbers of clipboards to copy and paste to. You can copy a load of stuff to your heart’s content, then switch to the destination and paste it all in appropriately. You can also save bits of text to re-use whenever you want with a custom key-stroke. This is useful if you don’t already have the excellent TypeIt4Me.
So what utilities do you rely on? MacOSX only pleaseâalthough Windows users will almost certainly have died of boredom by now.
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I heartily agree with you on LaunchBar. It's the most indespensible utility that I have. I instinctually use it for everything, and it's the first thing I install after I install the operating system.
StarfishX is a cool little program that generates tiled backgrounds for you. It can be a little slow but, when running in the background and set to generate periodically, it's very unobtrusive. The wallpapers that are created run the gamut of designs: some loud and obnoxious, others soft and lowkey. Some of the designs are gorgeous, some fascinating, and some truly ugly.
Transmit by Panic Software is a perfect graphical interface for FTP and SFTP. I tend to use this tool as much or more often than the command line versions.
Proteus is, for my purposes, the best and easiest to use instant messaging tool out there to date. It makes using multiple IM networks easy and seamless. It's the second utility that gets installed when I decide to reinstall my OS.----- I've got a weakness for neat utilities too...
Xshelf - a temporary place to put stuff when you're moving it from one place to another completely different place
ImageWell - another menu bar thingy - provides basic image editing...
But there are tides in the affairs of MacOS X users, too, so I've found myself using these next ones less and less, for some reason. (It may depend on what sort of work I've got on, as well!)
TigerLaunch - list of all applications in the menu bar, and Big Cat - a context menu thing.
I used to like Measles and Backlight. But they're just silly.
I've just downloaded VoodooPad, looks interesting.
Of course, this is all 'displacement activity' - like shuffling pencils before you start writing.
pete
by pete @ 22/07/2003 7:08 am • Permalink •
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First of all, I'm a Windows user, not Mac, so you'll have to bear with me 'til I grow up. Grin
There aren't many things I immediately install on any machine I'm working on - but one of them is Textpad ( www.textpad.com ). It beats the poo out of Notepad, and does a load of stuff that I need it to. Most other things I can work round not having - but Textpad? It gets bunged on a CD any time I start a new contract - that way I've got it even if I'm not allowed internet access. (Bizarrely, not uncommon even though websites and databases are my main geekery specialities.)
by Lyle @ 22/07/2003 10:08 am • Permalink •
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Nathan: I use Transmit (have you seen the cool little Easter egg? http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=2003071721531760 ), and I have used Proteus, though I IM very rarely, so tend to make do with iChat these days. I haven't looked at StarfishX, so I'll have to check that out.
pete: XShelf looks great, but as I said, LaunchBar has a similar feature, so I don't really need it. Ditto TigerLaunch and BigCat really. I've tried ImageWell, and use it occasionally (though my menubar is somewhat crowded) -- it's a really polished little application that does a surprising amount of stuff. I've heard great things about VoodooPad, but I'm resisting downloading another notepad-type utility, or I'll never get any actual work done
Lyle: You know what? Every now and again, it's nice to peek over the fence and see what you Windows users are getting up to. Textpad looks rather nice (if you ignore the garish mess of XP widgets
), in fact, it reminds me rather of BBEdit. Some nice features there, and I can see why you like it so much.
by bsag @ 22/07/2003 6:07 pm • Permalink •
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This isn't really a "utility", per se, but after a few days of using it I went and purchased EarthDesk (http://www.timepalette.com/earthdesk.html). It sets my background as a great little map of the Earth (my view is centered on Los Angeles, as that's where I live) with realistic shading based on the time of day and the position of the moon. It updates itself regularly, to boot.
by Nathan Ladd @ 22/07/2003 11:07 pm • Permalink •
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Nathan, you can also get xEarth ( http://www.cs.colorado.edu/~tuna/xearth/ ), which does much the same thing. I use it on all the PCs I get my hands on - but I'm pretty sure it's available on Mac too. The fun bit (depending on your perspective on "fun", I guess) is that if you're online, it also regularly connects with one of the seismographic services, and graphically renders where the latest quakes have been, along with their strength etc. It's been fascinating, not just for the quakes (although it does mean you get to understand about the Pacific's "ring of fire" and so on), but also to see the way the world tilts to reflect time of the year/ seasons etc. - it's made all of that far clearer to me than school ever managed.
by Lyle @ 23/07/2003 9:07 am • Permalink •
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Nathan: Ooo, EarthDesk is nice! That's the kind of thing I love, though I'm going to have to be strict with myself and not buy it, or I'll spend all day gazing at the earth and watching the line of sunrise creep across the surface.
Lyle: XEarth looks good too, though the Mac version I tried wasn't quite as pretty.
At one time, I did actually need to know astronomical information, like the altitude and azimuth of the sun, sunrise and sunset times etc, and this would have made it all much more visually accessible.
by bsag @ 23/07/2003 11:07 am • Permalink •
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back in the days of command line only unix, "the thing that does everything" did exist (or damn near), and its name was emacs - 'cos after all, if it didn't do what you wanted, you could just write a new script or module to make it do it. ah, such heady days...
by mrtn @ 23/07/2003 12:08 pm • Permalink •
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Back in the (not certain, but I think) even earlier days, there was FORTH. Much the same kind of thing as EMACS and VI - if it didn't have a module to do it, you wrote one.
I liked FORTH. Grin
by Lyle @ 23/07/2003 3:08 pm • Permalink •
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I have tried Emacs, and liked it quite a lot, but I never felt that I really got to grips with it. Some of the modules are very good (I used the latex one), and I did get the impression that you could do almost anything with it, if you knew how -- which was where I fell down.
I've also tried vi. I don't want to start an Editor Holy War here, but -- yikes, all that beeping, and trying to figure out which mode you're in! It was just too traumatic.
by bsag @ 23/07/2003 5:07 pm • Permalink •
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Oooh. I have a feeling mrtn just said that to start the Editor Holy War(TM)!
I'm a vi guy myself. I think it has to do with my being a UNIX systems administrator by day. In my experience, most folks who like Emacs tend to have started off as developers first.
Lyle: I checked out xEarth and, though I like the quake info (after all, I'm in Los Angeles and that kind of thing just fascinates us -- it's a survival thing) I didn't find it quite as nice as EarthDesk on the Mac.
bsag: EarthDesk can also be run as a screensaver. wink
by Nathan Ladd @ 28/07/2003 3:07 am • Permalink •
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Wow! I just was following a "What Shareware do you like" thread on TheUsualSuspects, and I see that you use CodeTek VirtualDesktop. Thanks for the mention, and for the compliments. I'm really glad you find it useful!
by Masker @ 29/07/2003 6:07 pm • Permalink •
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Masker: Hi, and welcome. My compliments were sincere: you folks produce a very nice utility. And very frequent updates
by bsag @ 01/08/2003 8:08 am • Permalink •
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My favourite utility is certainly workstrip. Unfortunately, softchaos seem to have gone into liquidation and I can't buy another licence. Until last week, my wife and I were sharing a Mac, but now she's got herself an iBook and it won't let us run 2 copies on the network. I'd love to pay them for another licence, but as I can't would anybody else be willing to share their key with me?
by Peter @ 21/01/2008 3:13 pm • Permalink •
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