QuickSilver as a file launcher
Being a web designer I like to think that I live on two sides of each certain file; the viewing side and the editing side. What ends up happening to many web designers is they have more than one app that they typically use to open, view or edit a file, depending on the task they need to perform at the moment.
There is often a problem with that. Double clicking or command+O on a file opens it in it’s default app. Right+clicking or control+clicking the file to open the contextual menu then “open with” can be a pain (and slow) depending on the number of apps you run on your system. Opening the app and then browsing through the “Open file” function is too much like work. And finally, dragging the app onto a desktop icon is open useful if you keep everything you ever use in you dock at all times (which I don’t).
So in my ever lasting pursuit of the fastest way around these little hold-ups, I have come to rely on QuickSilver to, once again, saves the day. I use quicksilver to quickly and painlessly open any file with any app I choose and it all takes a few keystrokes and a few seconds:
- Find the file you want to open, like an image (which, for me, opens with Photoshop by default),
- Invoke QuickSilver (command+space in most cases, command+esc for me),
- Start typing the name of the app you want to open your file with, like Preview.app for instance,
- Once you app pops up in the first panel (with 2 or 3 keystrokes), simply drag your file onto the pane (like you would onto a dock icon),
- POOF! The file opens in the app you want and not the files default app.
Apple Canada… you suck!
Oh Apple Canada, we stand and in wait for the… I have been biting my tongue for the last week or so, slowly digesting the Macworld Expo news, seething more and more each day. I could touch on all the things about the MacBook Air being a little less than stellar (bites tongue harder) but you’ve already read the thoughts and opinions of the tech pundits out there. Or I could go on about Apple reinventing things like online movie rentals as though it’s never been done before (tongue bleeds in mouth). Or I could rant about the seemingly obvious updates for the iPhone… but what is the point? What is the point of me going on about things that are likely no to affect me for some time to come?
As a Canadian with only imaginary boundaries separating me from the Apple motherland, I am forced to sit and watch as my southerly neighbors bask in all the digital media glory that is Apple these days. Until recently I couldn’t so much as download some music and a podcast or two. Now I suppose I should be thankful that I can download the odd Canadian television show that CTV might happen to see fit to distribute. The pickin’s are slim; no movies downloads, no major network television shows, no movie rentals… can I remind you that geographically speaking it is a mere imaginary slice of air space that separates Canadians and Americans in what is called the worlds longest unprotected border. There are no technological hurdles to overcome to deliver this content to us. Trust me, we are quite well connected in every other respect, but iTunes, it seems, exists in some other spacial realm where data transfers must hit the Can-Am firewall of politics.
Canadians are not alone in their belly aching. We are joined by legions of other countries with similar complaints in service lags. The difference is this; Canadians have free trade agreements and partnerships that all but make us American, collectively speaking. Why then must Canadians be the last to get anything that Apple dishes out. I mean seriously, Germany, the UK and France all have the iPhone… countries who’s trade importance doesn’t match that of Canadas when you combine those three countries together, and who’s geographical locations puts one of the worlds greatest oceans between them and they manage to get an iPhone.
Ok, I am not biting my tongue anymore… Apple? You suck! (that is until you let me buy House MD, CSI and Grey’s Anatomy… for my wife… from iTunes Canada)
There is something fishy in the air… my 2008 Macworld prediction
There’s about 2 hours before Steve Jobs stands before a ravenous, crazed room of less-than objective reporters who sense of reality has been relatively obscured by some unknown field who’s effect seems to have greater impact once Steve Jobs actually takes the stage. Yes, Steve Jobs will be taking part in what has affectionately become known as the Stevenote… the Macworld keynote speech at which Steve will wow us with something bedazzlingly new, some unheard of gadget so incredible that we can’t have imagined life on earth before he bestowed knowledge of such an item upon us… or so we are compelled to believe without rational thought or objective criticism until we actually break free of the reality distortion field (which can take anywhere from a few hours to a few weeks).
All of this pressure to continually come up with new thing-a-mabobbers each and every year, and the continual pressure to live up to the rumor sites building expectations… it’s a lot for a hippie throwback like Steve to take. Let’s face it, he’s no spring chicken anymore. The force is weakening. I mean sure, Yoda could lift an X-wing fighter at 200 plus years of age but look what it did to him. And that pails in comparison to controlling the minds of hundreds of otherwise curmudgeonly reporters willing to write bad things of Apple the other 364 days of the year.
So that’s why my prediction for the 2008 Macworld Stevenote is this: In lieu of Steve’s failing powers Apple has developed a new device, code named (aptly enough) Yoda which is a small device, about the size of an iPhone, blue in color, with a button on it… it’s the first ever RDF amplifier called the iField. Seriously… “There is something in the air”? Uh…yeah… it’s the iField!
Initially aimed at the iPod market, you know, kids who want their parent to believe their homework is done, the actual implications for this device are wide ranging with potential uses for CEO’s, board of directors, head of the PTA, husbands… why this device could have such broad appeal that this could very well launch Apple shares into the stratosphere… like $50 or $60… or something really big even.
You watch in two hours time. If Steve is indeed holding a blue box with a button, my predictions are at least partly true. If he says nothing about the iField it’s only because he is just beta testing it. If the iField is in fact working, you won’t even recall reading this article.
Headphones not included.
A new year, a new leaf of sorts
There are very few double or tripple threats in the RapidWeaver developer circuit. There are those of us who develop themes for multiple platforms in addition to RapidWeaver, like SandVox or WordPress. There are those of us who are graphic artists and web designers all in one go. But there truly are few, if any until now, developers who have dared develop both RapidWeaver themes AND RapidWeaver plugins under one roof.
I think it is safe to say that Chris from Varsis Studio and seyDesign is the first well know RapidWeaver theme developer to take plugin development full on and make an excellent first effort into this brave new world. In my years working with Chris, he has never ceased to amaze me with his drive and determination and CoverFlow, his first RapidWeaver plugin, shows that he is willing to do what it takes to break into the plugin market. I couldn’t be more proud of him.
The Spanish Inquisitor-ition? Get real!
Anyone who owns a mac and who will participate in flame wars of rabid proportions against software developers who dare ask money for their software or serve ads as an alternative, or, heaven forbid, mix in affiliate links in with served results… I have one challenge for you. Make it yourself. I challenge you to make your own app that doesn’t suck, that droves of people want to use. Then support it, update it… and give it away for free. Free as in FREE… nothing… no money… Could you do it? No? Didn’t think so. Shut your pie hole then.
Dave Watanabe is a stand up guy. For real. He is. A fellow Canadian like myself. I have had many exchanges with him over the years. I own and have paid for every piece of software he distributes and supports and updates regularily. Yes I even paid for Inquisitor back in the beta days. I donated around $20 and will probably do so again in light of all of this ridiculous attention that arose from some ones epiphany that Inquisitor (a brilliant Safari plugin) serves up the odd affiliate ad from time to time. Uh… yeah… there is a company called Google (have you heard of them?) who’s entire business model is based on that principle. So what’s the big deal? I have known about it since day one.
So flame wars are nothing new but what gets me is the personal nature that they take on. Calling Dave the “the biggest asshole in the world” and demanding that his work be stolen and sabotaged? It’s a piece of free software… did it take away from you life somehow? Did it cause you personal damage? Are you irreversibly scarred by the fact that you may or may not have actually been served one of those affiliate links, any more so then being taken to one of the bazillion link farms that Google serves up in their results?
The bottom line is this, if you don’t want to pay for software you can expect one of two things; 1) the support will suck, or 2) the service will be ad supported, or 3) service and support will cost you something. If you don’t like that model, go with Linux… oh… wait a minute… is that a Dell? A page dedicated to Dell? I am sure the relationship is completely platonic…
Make your web apps Fluid
You might all be aware of my fetish with productivity, right? Well it’s really what this blog is all about. What I enjoy about time off, such as this recent stint we had with Christmas, is I get to fool around a bit with things that may or may not make me more productive but I just won’t know until I try. Enter Fluid! To preface where I am going with Fluid, here are some things that you have heard me go on about more than once, I am sure:
- web apps suck
- portability rules
- consolidation is king
- proprietary kind of stinks
This being said, there is more than enough contradiction in these statements to make a philosophers head spin until 2010. Yes I think web apps suck, but I do enjoy the freedom and portability they provide. I do believe that consolidation is the way to go (I can do most of my daily web design tasks using TextMate, Quicksilver and Path Finder) but I also feel that using a single browser with multiple tabs to edit some docs, post to your blog, update your calendar, Tweet your friends and watch YouTube videos is a bit much to ask.
This is where Fluid (from the developer of my favorite TextMate plugin, BlogMate by Todd Ditchendorf) comes in. Fluid allows you to create Site Specific Browsers (SSB) which essentially turns any of your favorite web apps into a native OS X apps. The benefit being that if your web app does something wonky, it doesn’t crash your browser and everything you had open at that moment, it only crashes that specific app. And with a web browser I tend to always lose focus of my sessions on particular web apps and close a multi-tabbed browser before I realize that I was in the middle of something in one of those tabs. Having a standalone app of each of those web apps prevents me from losing my place.
Here is another benefit I found; Safari, on a good day, sucks up 250 Mb of Ram… throw in a few tabs, some video, ajax, and that number begins to climb! Why, I don’t know, but when I run any of my new SSB web apps, each of their ram usage remains under 40-50 Mb respectively. So if I am on Facebook, for instance, with my SSB Facebook.app, I am pulling about 40 Mb.
One advantage to SSB apps that might only apply to guys like me; I keep my browser cache clear and my bookmarks light (I hate fumbling through bookmarks), so when social sites come and go, and web apps rise and fall, keeping tabs on the ones I like is a bit of a nuisance, typing in URLs etc… However, launching an app on my system with Quicksilver is a matter of 2 keystrokes.
So how has Fluid changed my life? There are a few web based services I have resisted, more because I couldn’t stand the thought of accessing them via my web browser. I now use Google Reader as my RSS reader, iCal has been replaced with Google Calendar, I know use Google Docs instead of MS Excel, Stikkit is more accessible to me (I love that service) and Blogger is at my finger tips (the only API BlogMate doesn’t currently support…Todd).
I am constantly working at different computer stations in different locations, I have to accept the fact that I need the portability of web apps. I also have to accept that I can’t always be on a mac (though I am 99% of the time). Web apps are a reality for me, Fluid just makes that necessity a nicer reality to live in.
Running web apps closer to home
What do these seven little sexy icons have to do with each other? I made each and every one of them. I have a new obsession called “turning your web apps in native apps” made possible by Fluid, a nifty little app by my fav developer, Todd Ditchendorf (who also makes BlogMate and is my hero because of it, as well as iZoom, to name a few).
So I won’t get into too much detail about it but Fluid basically takes your favorite web services and makes a native app out of them. I countless reasons for wanting to do this which I am sure you’ll see me get into on nutMac.com.