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Small Application Ideas
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WJMoore
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Feb 5, 2008, 10:31 PM
 
I'm looking for ideas of a small application to work on. I've negotiated 1 day off a week to work on a small Mac OS X development project, now I just need to find the project. Now I'm sure you're thinking one day isn't much but its a start and its guaranteed and uninterrupted so I'm hoping it will give me some momentum. All my other ideas have been implemented by others over the years. My remaining idea is for an app to chop up single file audio mixes file into the individual tracks using a CUE sheet. I'm thinking this is a bit niche for the moment though.

More info on my blog: http://blog.binarytrance.com/2008/02...ing-app-ideas/
     
WJMoore  (op)
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Feb 6, 2008, 05:23 AM
 
I'm thinking I chose the wrong forum... any chance it could be moved to apps?
     
Chuckit
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Feb 6, 2008, 12:02 PM
 
Since this is more about apps people would like to see than about the development of the app itself, I think it's fair to move it to Applications.

My three yen: The idea doesn't necessarily have to be unique. Look at kinds of apps that some people already use and ask yourself, "How could this be made better?" or "How could this be made to appeal to a different audience than the current users?" (I call this the iPod Theory.)
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peeb
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Feb 6, 2008, 12:40 PM
 
My idea? Mustache Maker. Feed your own photo, or choose from famous people or works of art - this program has an easy to use interface to allow you to place the mustache of your choice, from a library of thousands of examples, sorted by category - pencil thin, daliesque, bushy - you choose, this app makes it easy to produce professional output - your subject, with the mustache of your choice.
     
pendragon
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Feb 6, 2008, 01:51 PM
 
I have two suggestions:

I. Mail's 3.1 menu bar can be customized, but there is no icon/easy way to add proper nouns, foreign words, etc., to the dictionary. One must first Control-Click to access a drop down menu and then select Show Spelling & Grammar, and then "Learn".

What I propose (hope I have the terminology right) is that:
1. A script or some such be written to call up Mail's dictionary/learn function.
2. An icon (a picture of a dictionary?) be appended to the above script. This icon would serve as the GUI for the script.
3. The icon would then be added to the other Customized Icons available for use in Mail (where ever that resides).
4. Then, when one wants to add a word to the dictionary, they merely click on the "Dictionary" icon in Mail's menu bar.

Freeware would be great, but a US $5-$10.00 shareware would be OK, especially if it included the Unlearn capability (that is missing in v3.1).

II. Colorize Safari's tabs. One color for all the tabs read (this session), another color for the open/active tab, and a third color or those tabs remaining to be read. The colored tabs would automatically reset when all the tabs are closed/quit.

HTH
Harv
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angelmb
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Feb 7, 2008, 04:29 AM
 
I foresee two winners here…

My idea? Mustache Maker.


and then on a productive side the learn word suggestion, system-wise though… a mere clic and you're done, it couldn't be more Mac friendly, huh?
     
peeb
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Feb 7, 2008, 01:35 PM
 
Originally Posted by angelmb View Post
I foresee two winners here…


Great! That's what I'm looking for!
     
angelmb
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Feb 8, 2008, 05:38 PM
 
Originally Posted by pendragon View Post
I. Mail's 3.1 menu bar can be customized, but there is no icon/easy way to add proper nouns, foreign words, etc., to the dictionary. One must first Control-Click to access a drop down menu and then select Show Spelling & Grammar, and then "Learn".
Also related, a menu item to move from a given spell-checker (let say spanish) to another one (let say english). I find myself going to spelling and grammar too many times since I have to reply e-mails in different languages, so I wish it was as easy as to swap the keyboard map…
     
WJMoore  (op)
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Feb 10, 2008, 07:35 PM
 
Thanks for the interesting and unexpected ideas everyone. I'm surprised that the majority of the requests are for modifications to existing applications. This is a difficult one as whilst possible, they're generally only possible through unsupported and potentially unreliable means (Input Manager hacks, Application Enhancer, SIMBL). They're not the sort of thing I'd feel comfortable releasing to the general public. It seems that for better or worse this is an intentional limitation of Mac OS X's design.

peeb, How do you see your moustache maker idea being used? Purely for fun like Photo Booth or is there another use I'm missing?

ChuckIt, Your iPod theory is certainly a valid one. That's where my desire for a better CUE sheet splitter comes from as there is an existing app out there but its not that great.
     
Koralatov
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Feb 10, 2008, 07:54 PM
 
I don't know if you're taking submissions, or if this even counts as an app, but I'd like something that automatically makes a TinyURL out of the page I'm viewing, then opens up a new message containing the link. I send a lot of emails to my dad, and always use TinyURLs (some URIs are so long they spread over multiple lines in plain-text emails). As such, they way I do it now is a pain in the ass, even with the Dashboard widget.

Ideally, it would show up two ways: as a little envelope icon up in Safari's toolbar (click it, it converts the URI, opens up a new email and pops it in there), and as a contextual click (something like "Send Short Link...").

Nothing worse than a backseat coder, eh? If I could do it myself, I would, but unfortunately I can't code for toffee.
     
WJMoore  (op)
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Feb 11, 2008, 01:06 AM
 
Originally Posted by Koralatov View Post
I don't know if you're taking submissions, or if this even counts as an app, but I'd like something that automatically makes a TinyURL out of the page I'm viewing, then opens up a new message containing the link. I send a lot of emails to my dad, and always use TinyURLs (some URIs are so long they spread over multiple lines in plain-text emails). As such, they way I do it now is a pain in the ass, even with the Dashboard widget.

Ideally, it would show up two ways: as a little envelope icon up in Safari's toolbar (click it, it converts the URI, opens up a new email and pops it in there), and as a contextual click (something like "Send Short Link...").

Nothing worse than a backseat coder, eh? If I could do it myself, I would, but unfortunately I can't code for toffee.
Could probably do most of that with an Apple Script that would appear in the scripts menu. Contextual menus and toolbar buttons however would require resorting to hacks as outlined above. :-/
     
peeb
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Feb 11, 2008, 11:41 AM
 
Originally Posted by WJMoore View Post
peeb, How do you see your moustache maker idea being used? Purely for fun like Photo Booth or is there another use I'm missing?
You're not missing anything - it's purely for fun - just like the photobooth effects. Thanks for even taking it moderately seriously!
     
Koralatov
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Feb 11, 2008, 03:51 PM
 
Originally Posted by WJMoore View Post
Could probably do most of that with an Apple Script that would appear in the scripts menu. Contextual menus and toolbar buttons however would require resorting to hacks as outlined above. :-/
Damn. Oh well, it was worth asking if nothing else. I didn't realise that you couldn't make additions to the contextual menus in OSX without hacks. You're definitely right about hacks though: bad idea.
     
WJMoore  (op)
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Feb 11, 2008, 04:21 PM
 
Originally Posted by Koralatov View Post
Damn. Oh well, it was worth asking if nothing else. I didn't realise that you couldn't make additions to the contextual menus in OSX without hacks. You're definitely right about hacks though: bad idea.
You can add contextual menu items to the Finder (at least you could in previous versions of Mac OS X, haven't checked recently) through a supported plugin API, but they will only appear in the Finder.
     
Amorya
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Feb 12, 2008, 12:26 PM
 
Video Presenter.

An app which captures the screen of your second monitor, and has a playlist window on your main monitor. Any video dropped on the playlist will play on the other monitor. The key thing is, it guarantees never to put any interface bits on the second monitor -- no play/pause icon or transparent controls.

Why is this useful? Projectors. I'd kill for a lightweight app like that, which guarantees my audience will only see the video. When the video file ends, it displays a black screen.

Should be rather easy to write with QTKit too.

Amorya
What the nerd community most often fail to realize is that all features aren't equal. A well implemented and well integrated feature in a convenient interface is worth way more than the same feature implemented crappy, or accessed through a annoying interface.
     
Andy8
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Feb 12, 2008, 12:35 PM
 
Now Watching - YouTube

Like what I am listening to in iTunes, being displayed in iChat, MSN, Yahoo and so on, just for what I am watching in YouTube instead.
     
WJMoore  (op)
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Feb 18, 2008, 06:45 AM
 
Interesting ideas Amorya and Andy8. You must watch a lot of YouTube Andy Amorya, I don't have a dual screen setup so development and testing would be difficult. They are both simple and practical ideas that I will keep in mind though.

For the moment I've decided to go with original idea of an audio file splitter as its something I want for me, which provides good motivation.
     
peeb
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Feb 19, 2008, 07:28 PM
 
So no mustache util?
     
TheoCryst
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Feb 21, 2008, 02:30 AM
 
Originally Posted by WJMoore View Post
For the moment I've decided to go with original idea of an audio file splitter as its something I want for me, which provides good motivation.
Always a good idea. I never would have had the motivation to write Paintbrush if I hadn't actively wanted to use the app.

Amorya]An app which captures the screen of your second monitor, and has a playlist window on your main monitor. Any video dropped on the playlist will play on the other monitor. The key thing is, it guarantees never to put any interface bits on the second monitor -- no play/pause icon or transparent controls.
That actually sounds interesting... We'll see if I get some free time in the next few months.

Any ramblings are entirely my own, and do not represent those of my employers, coworkers, friends, or species
     
Amorya
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Feb 21, 2008, 08:06 AM
 
Originally Posted by TheoCryst View Post
That actually sounds interesting... We'll see if I get some free time in the next few months.
I got the idea when trying to use VLC to do it. It's possible to force the application not to present on-screen controls, etc, but I still had to set my desktop background to black for when the video ended.

If such a thing were on sale, I'd probably pay around £5-£10 for it.

Amorya
What the nerd community most often fail to realize is that all features aren't equal. A well implemented and well integrated feature in a convenient interface is worth way more than the same feature implemented crappy, or accessed through a annoying interface.
     
TheoCryst
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Feb 23, 2008, 12:06 AM
 
I think that once I finish up Paintbrush 2.0, I'll look into writing a program like that. I've not used QTKit yet, so I'd need to do some research first.

Any ramblings are entirely my own, and do not represent those of my employers, coworkers, friends, or species
     
WJMoore  (op)
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Feb 28, 2008, 01:38 AM
 
Originally Posted by peeb View Post
So no mustache util?
Sorry not at the moment.

Originally Posted by TheoCryst View Post
Always a good idea. I never would have had the motivation to write Paintbrush if I hadn't actively wanted to use the app.

That actually sounds interesting... We'll see if I get some free time in the next few months.
I like the sound of Amorya's idea too, just don't have the setup to be able develop it.
     
Macanoid
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Feb 29, 2008, 05:32 AM
 
What I have wanted for a very long time is some sort of menubar dock, something that holds (user selectable) menubar items.
A lot of programs add items to the menubar these days, items you need only once in a while. This can clutter up the menubar unbelievable, and when you're working on a smaller screen of, say, a macbook, these items can even get in the way. I've made a very simple mockup of what I mean:

     
Chuckit
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Feb 29, 2008, 03:10 PM
 
Originally Posted by Macanoid View Post
What I have wanted for a very long time is some sort of menubar dock, something that holds (user selectable) menubar items.
A lot of programs add items to the menubar these days, items you need only once in a while. This can clutter up the menubar unbelievable, and when you're working on a smaller screen of, say, a macbook, these items can even get in the way. I've made a very simple mockup of what I mean:

I think MenuStrip will do what you're looking for.
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olePigeon
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Feb 29, 2008, 04:01 PM
 
Subspace Client Project - Discretion

Get this to work on OS X (PPC & Intel).
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you will understand why I dismiss yours." - Stephen F. Roberts
     
Macanoid
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Feb 29, 2008, 04:55 PM
 
@Chuckit: Thanks for the suggestion, however, MenuStrip does now do what I'm looking for. What I want is an option for (some) menubar items to only show up in what I call a 'MenubarDock'. This way, items I don't need, or don't need often, are out of the way until I need them.
     
TravisReynolds
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Mar 3, 2008, 11:13 PM
 
are you saying you want to customize an app? Like create your own? if you can do taht you should tell me how you leanred
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Judge_Fire
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Mar 5, 2008, 11:48 AM
 
I've been meaning to do a simple visualizing app that connects to a MySQL database, displays the available tables etc. and allows the user select ranges for creating graphs. A bit Excel- like, in a sense. I never seem to find the time, but I'd love the app

I'd use it for visualizing vbulletin- forum (same as MacNN) data from my own site. The developer interests for me were basically in the interfacing-with-mysql part, and more motivatingly, core animation eye candy for the graphing

Simple, yet visual and perhaps even useful for a small group of admins.
     
lisa_is_not_mac
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Mar 7, 2008, 06:35 PM
 
Originally Posted by Amorya View Post
Video Presenter.

An app which captures the screen of your second monitor, and has a playlist window on your main monitor. Any video dropped on the playlist will play on the other monitor. The key thing is, it guarantees never to put any interface bits on the second monitor -- no play/pause icon or transparent controls.

Why is this useful? Projectors. I'd kill for a lightweight app like that, which guarantees my audience will only see the video. When the video file ends, it displays a black screen.

Should be rather easy to write with QTKit too.

Amorya
Great Idea
     
lisa_is_not_mac
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Mar 7, 2008, 06:40 PM
 
I don't know if this is too hard, but what about an app that usses a quick keystroke that turns on or off, flips, and mirrors an external screen, for working with clients and showing them on an external 30 inch screen i use as another screen for my regular work on my work mac pro and flip over the screen and have to keep system prefrences open.

-thx alot
     
Salty
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Mar 11, 2008, 04:10 PM
 
I would kill for something that would add the basic ability to copy and paste icons in the finder.

Just about everything else I have what I want.
     
Chuckit
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Mar 11, 2008, 04:17 PM
 
Originally Posted by Salty View Post
I would kill for something that would add the basic ability to copy and paste icons in the finder.
File -> Get Info

Go crazy.
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