I’ve covered most aspects of the User Interface on the Mac in previous postings, but I think it’s worth repeating some overriding principles before I describe productivity applications that I’ve found to be useful. Here they are:
- Using the keyboard is far superior to using the mouse for speed
- Maximize the screen space, by removing distractions and amplifying useful information
- Make maximum use of Spaces
Most of the productivity advice I’ve provided so far can be translated to apply to the PC or Linux. The major capability that Windows lacks is the Spaces capability, but there is at least one shareware utility that can mimic Spaces. Unfortunately most of the software I mention here is Mac only. There may be Windows or Linux equivalents, but I haven’t looked into it.
Today I’ll deal with three Interface areas and associated applications:
1. Launching: Recommended App – QuickSilver and (or alternatively DragThing)
The default Mac way of launching applications, from the Dock or by searching the Applications directory is mouse-based. There are actually lots of keyboard-based shareware alternatives, many of which I’ve tried. They include Butler, DragThing, LaunchBar, Launcher, Namely and others. The one I’m recommending here, QuickSilver, is probably the easiest to use and easiest to get used to.
You load QuickSilver automatically at start-up. When you want to launch an application, you just hit the hotkey (choose your own), that brings QuickSilver to the front. Then you start typing the name of the application. Quicksilver learns as it goes, so unless there’s a naming conflict, you’ll soon be launching apps with a couple of keystrokes. QuickSilver is free, at the moment. And by the way it does a lot more than just launch programs, but it’s launching I’m writing about here.
Some people may prefer the more visual capability provided by DragThing. This is also a launcher that can work from hoykeys, but it also can pop up and display all the application Icons in a grid across the screen for you to pick from. It’s highly configurable and quite easy to work with. However, it doesn’t come for nothing.
An issue with using QuickSilver is that you have to remember the name of the application. If you have quite a few applications, the names of some may slip your mind at times. You can peruse the Applications folder if you forget, but there’s a neat piece of of freeware called XMenu (which you can download here) that puts a dropdown menu of the applications folder in the Menu Bar. This is better because it saves time.
2. Browsing – FireFox
I’d like to proclaim that FireFox is wonderful, but I can’t bring myself to. It’s just a great deal better than the alternatives, for two reasons. First, the base functionality and configurability beats the competition and secondly, the plug-ins extend its functionality wonderfully.
The tabbed browsing extensions are particularly good. For me, the second best browser is Opera. Safari is OK and IE is a dead duck on the Mac (I’m not going to invoke Parallels just to surf the web).
However, the sad reality is that the browser is more of a constraint to productivity than an aid. Browsers in general are mouse oriented, when they don’t have to be. For example, there is no easy way to invoke bookmarked URLs without using the mouse. (I have a fix for this issue that I’ll discuss in a future posting). Because the browser is a workspace, rather than an application, it ought to be more flexible than it is. The ability to separate it into windows of conveniently grouped tabs is needed. I often need to do that kind of thing when writing blog postings, but I find myself flitting from one tab to another and back. That’s not productive.
As a rule, it’s better to have 2 FireFox browser windows open than one – but that only applies if you have the screen space and you have learned how to handle FireFox in this mode.
3. Text Shortcuts – TextExpander
There are quite a few products that do what TextExpander does. I have no idea if Textpander is the best, it just happens to be the one I picked on first and it works fine. TextExpander allows you to define abbreviations that stand for long strings of keyboard input. So, for example, when I type e TextExpander tracks the keyboard output and replaces e with my email address.To use a product like this you have to select a “termination character” for all your abbreviations and it has to be a character that you don’t normally use. I chose the backslash .
This capability can be very productive. I use it for “standard emails” and bits of HTML and I use it to autocorrect some typos I commonly make. I also use it for form filling on the Internet. Given the functionality there cannot be much difference between different products, so for the record, other products that do text macros on the the Mac are; FastFox, Typinator, TypeIt4me. TestExpander is not free, but its cheap and worth the money. If you’re looking for a free product, investigate the alternatives.
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In the next Mac productivity posting I’ll cover file management and notes.
Click on this link: PDQ Mac to see a list of other postings on Apple Mac productivity.
