[egg]

so, i've just switched from m$, and am trying to come to terms with the mac os.

the first thing that strikes me, is no obvious central app. launching pad, other than digging through the finder.

I was wondering how people handle this in a day to day basis? How are you handling your apps?

thanks!

[SMacTech]

You can place favorites apps in the dock, or create an alias ( short cut ) of the applications folder in the dock and control or right-click to see all apps.
Are you running 10.2 or 10.3 ?

[egg]

10.3

thanks! your second tip helped!

[Kickaha]

Okay, I've often wondered about this, and perhaps you can answer it egg...

Why is it that Windows users expect or want a long list of all the possible apps on their system to go digging through, instead of setting up *their* list of apps (such as in the Dock) so you have faster access to just the ones you use on a regular basis? Is it because you're afraid you'll miss something?

[Catfish_Man]

I usually just put all my commonly used apps on the dock and set it to hide when not in use (currently I have this: Finder, System Prefs, Camino, Mail, iChat, Adium, Textedit, Hydra, XCode, Interface Builder, Word, Excel, Omnigraffle, Terminal, Starcraft, Diablo II, iPhoto, and Photoshop). You might also try googling for launchbar. It's fantastic.

[Taipan]

Hi!

You can also drag application icons to the toolbar of the Finder window, just left of the search field.

[d4nth3m4n]

Originally posted by Taipan:
Hi!

You can also drag application icons to the toolbar of the Finder window, just left of the search field.

just to piggyback on this, you have to hold them there for a while. you will see a green plus sign and the items already there will part (like in the dock) and the app/folder with stick in the toolbar. if you want it out, you have to go to the view menu and select the customize toolbar item. from there you can drag them off in a puff of smoke. sorry if this is already known, i just saw a ton of "its not working" and "help!, i cant get it out of the toolbar" posts on the horizion.

Dan.

P.S. you can also put apps in the sidebar. a little unintuitive, i know, but it works.

[ASIMO]

Originally posted by Kickaha:
Okay, I've often wondered about this, and perhaps you can answer it egg...

Why is it that Windows users expect or want a long list of all the possible apps on their system to go digging through, instead of setting up *their* list of apps (such as in the Dock) so you have faster access to just the ones you use on a regular basis? Is it because you're afraid you'll miss something?

You mean to tell me that you actually dislike having two and a half panes of applications -- 95% of which are utter crap -- from the Start menu? What are you? An ingrate?

[Catfish_Man]

Originally posted by ASIMO:
You mean to tell me that you actually dislike having two and a half panes of applications -- 95% of which are utter crap -- from the Start menu? What are you? An ingrate?

Why the hell would anyone keep utter crap on their system? IIRC you can even remove IE from the start menu now.

[egg]

.

[egg]

the thing is, the windows start menu is a list of dynamically created shortcuts.

I think I'm right in saying that the files in the osx application folder are the actually programs! So, what happens if I start re-arranging these into different folders?

With windows, I'd move the crap to a 'crap' folder, and arrange my stuff nicely.

I'm afraid to do that here, in case I mess some programs.

Oh, and Kickaha, it's more habit of use. Pros and cons to everything. Swings and Roundabouts so to say! :-)

[Moonray]

Originally posted by Taipan:
You can also drag application icons to the toolbar of the Finder window, just left of the search field.

... or any other position there.

Originally posted by d4nth3m4n:
if you want it out, you have to go to the view menu and select the customize toolbar item. from there you can drag them off in a puff of smoke. sorry if this is already known, i just saw a ton of "its not working" and "help!, i cant get it out of the toolbar" posts on the horizion.

You can as well drag them out or rearrange them when you hold the command key.

-

[torifile]

Originally posted by egg:
I think I'm right in saying that the files in the osx application folder are the actually programs! So, what happens if I start re-arranging these into different folders?

Nothing except your shortcuts need to be recreated. OS X is WAY more flexible about moving applications where you want them. There are some caveats - Apple's apps won't be updated if they're not in the default location (there are many threads complaining about this) and if you move an app out of the Applications folder to your user folder, it's not accessible by other users.

After using XP this weekend, I realize that I absolutely HATE the new start bar. It's absolutely ridiculous. It's big, ugly and a pain in the ass to use. Why, oh why do people USE that POS OS? It's unbelievable how much of a pain it is. Every 3 seconds there was a damn wizard popping up. Sheesh. I'm not an idiot. If I put in an audio cd, I know what I want to do with it.

[Developer]

Originally posted by egg:
So, what happens if I start re-arranging these into different folders?

With windows, I'd move the crap to a 'crap' folder, and arrange my stuff nicely.

I'm afraid to do that here, in case I mess some programs.

In theory you can move applications around freely like you wish.

However Apple's installer/Software Update usually fails if you moved applications and installs nonfunctional crap at the default installation without updating the moved application.

So you can move any app anywhere, but you should leave Apple's apps where they were installed initially.

What you can do:
Drag the applications folder in the Dock.

Or if you need more organization:
Create a new folder anywhere. Put aliases to your applications into this folder. Put it in the Dock.

And of course you can put frequently used applications into the Dock directly.

[bmedina]

Get LaunchBar . It's the best money you'll ever spend on a UI utility.

[gethigh]

Just put your hard disk or applications folder into the dock:

[fisherKing]

make an ALIAS for each app you want accessible (ie for the app instead of the folder it may be in); then place those aliases in a folder, put that folder somewhere (in Documents, for example) then drag THAT folder to the dock...voila! the apps u want, accessible & openable (is that a word? )

[Toyin]

Originally posted by bmedina:
Get LaunchBar . It's the best money you'll ever spend on a UI utility.

ditto. Any application is only a few keystrokes away.

[egg]

thanks for the tips. It's a little hard sometimes, knowing what is the most efficient way to these things.

cheers.

[CharlesS]

Originally posted by Developer:
In theory you can move applications around freely like you wish.

However Apple's installer/Software Update usually fails if you moved applications and installs nonfunctional crap at the default installation without updating the moved application.

This was true a long time ago, but if you take a look inside any of the recent Apple update packages, such as the iSync update or the last few security updates that updated apps such as Terminal and Safari, you will see that they have a TokenDefinitions.plist file defined for the apps so they will find and update the apps no matter where you have moved them. This brings things back in line with the Classic way of doing things which has been in place since the original Mac OS - namely, that you shouldn't rely on the path where a file lives.

Therefore, under 10.3, from what I can tell, you should be fine moving any apps around that you want. After all, this is the Mac OS, not Windows. There were some hiccups in older versions of Mac OS X, but that is to be expected since it was a brand new operating system. In general, you can rearrange and reorganize applications on a Mac without problems.

If you want a nice launcher, though, I recommend DragThing.

[Hannah W]

Originally posted by SMacTech:
You can place favorites apps in the dock, or create an alias ( short cut ) of the applications folder in the dock and control or right-click to see all apps.
Are you running 10.2 or 10.3 ?

Hey that's really handy - thanks

[Millennium]

Originally posted by egg:
the thing is, the windows start menu is a list of dynamically created shortcuts.

Actually, it's not. The shortcuts are not dynamically created; they're made by whatever program you use to install the app. I don't remember the name of the actual folder off the top of my head; it's "Cwindows\start menu\" or something like that. But it's still just a hack that looks good; move the actual app from where it's supposed to be, and the shortcuts break.

I think I'm right in saying that the files in the osx application folder are the actually programs!

That is mostly correct.

Most of what you see in the OSX Applications folder are actually packages. These are folders which have been set up in a special way such that the Finder knows to treat each package like a single file. The actual program is buried in the folder, as are icons and shared libraries (DLLs in Windows terminology) which it uses. The idea is to provide drag-and-drop convenience in a way which is portable across platforms, unlike OS9's resource forks (which were a superior solution, but because the approach was never adopted on other filesystems it caused severe interoperability issues).

So, what happens if I start re-arranging these into different folders?

As long as you leave the packages intact (not a difficult task, since the GUI treats the whole package as a single file anyway), nothing should happen. Earlier versions of OSX had some problems with this, when they still used the archaic method of looking up a file by its name and path rather than its ID, but these issues have been mostly dealt with.

I'm afraid to do that here, in case I mess some programs.

No need to worry. The only app I would be cautious about moving is System Preferences -I've had problems moving that one- but everything else should be fine. In general, it is probably best to keep them inside /Applications, and them in folders under there (this will allow the Dock trick that others have mentioned). But technically speaking, that's not necessary.

[Mskr]

My company make a product that might be a better solution for you than a folder of aliases: DockExtender. A lot of our customers have been switchers who missed their start menus, and were used to cusomizing them to the nth degree. We use Docklings instead of a folder of aliases, which is a nicer solution for the following reasons:

1) Single left click opens the menu very quickly (rather than click & hold or having to right-click/control-click)
2) Put the app list on the left side of the Dock, where it "belongs"

Other features that make DockExtender a better solution than a folder of aliases:

1) You can put the items in any order that you want, rather than in alphabetical order
2) You can easily put things in submenus, rather than have to have a flat list of items
3) You can put label separators inbetween groups of items
4) You can mix other items like URLs and AppleScripts into your menus easily
5) Add submenus to list recent applications, recent documents and system preferences
6) Assign a hotkey to the menu and leave the Dock behind entirely. When you hit the hotkey for a menu, the menu appears right next to your mouse pointer for easy access.
7) Alternately, you can put a menu into the menubar, next to the clock, with all of the items you want.

In the interest of full disclosure, here are the most common complaints:

1) There's a bug in Mac OS X that can cause some Docklings to not be initialized. This will require you to restart your Dock after you login/reboot, which is easily accomplished from any DockExtender menu. More info is here.
2) Our Docklings don't "hold" the Dock up if you have Dock autohiding on. This isn't really a usability problem; it's more of a cosmetic problem.
3) Some things that you would like to have in the main level of a menu (like recent items, etc.) are only available in submenus.

You can download & try it for free; you get 8 items (any of which can be submenus, also each with 8 items) in a menu for free forever. If you want more items, or you want more than 1 menu (up to 10), you'll need to register for $20. We love to hear feedback, and we're compiling a list of features for the next major version. Some feature ideas that people have asked for:

1) Drag & drop support to add items to a menu, or to open documents with certain menu items
2) Allow menus to remain open in a window on the screen ("tear-off" menus)
3) Find a better alternative to Docklings, which doesn't have the problems #1 & #2 above.

And a host of others. Please send feedback to support (at) codetek (dot) com. I hope that this helps!

[Diggory Laycock]

Originally posted by egg:
thanks for the tips. It's a little hard sometimes, knowing what is the most efficient way to these things.

cheers.

Don't worry - That was quite a lot of information all in one go for a new Mac user!

The thing about Macs is that there are often several ways to do the same thing. The beauty is that you don't have to know or use them all - experiment with the various options and you'll find a workflow that suits you.

[ryaxnb]

Originally posted by bmedina:
Get LaunchBar . It's the best money you'll ever spend on a UI utility.

yes Yes YEs YES YES YES YES
Launchbar rocks!

[juanvaldes]

my rule of thumb is to leave all default apps in /Applications but anything else is fair game to put into folders etc...

Apple has been getting better at not hard coding the path but I still don't trust them enough.

[ngrundy]

I personally keep my primary applications in the Dock as seen here
http://stormtrooper.enumerati.org/~n...ots/osx_desk12

Note that Camino isn't a sticky item in my Dock, it's just there because I had it open.

Otherwise If I need an app that doesn't open from the double click of a content file for that program I'll:
quickly cmd-tab to finder
hit cmd-shift-a
start typing the name of the program
this usually puts me within a couple of icons of the app if it doesn't get it
optionally cursor to the app
hit cmd-o

I'm a keyboard whore (it's in my unix nature)

[AJ]

Originally posted by ngrundy:
I personally keep my primary applications in the Dock as seen here
http://stormtrooper.enumerati.org/~n...ots/osx_desk12

Note that Camino isn't a sticky item in my Dock, it's just there because I had it open.

Otherwise If I need an app that doesn't open from the double click of a content file for that program I'll:
quickly cmd-tab to finder
hit cmd-shift-a
start typing the name of the program
this usually puts me within a couple of icons of the app if it doesn't get it
optionally cursor to the app
hit cmd-o

I'm a keyboard whore (it's in my unix nature)

Launchbar is for keyboard whores. Really, DO check it out. For those of us that use it, we really cannot live without it now. It does what you just said, only gets it right.

[threestain]

LAUNCHBAR!!!!!!

I agree its great - especially as I had the same problem initially, but its helps like nothing else. Never bought shareware before, but god this is good (especially worthwhile registering when you consider that you don't often restart macs)

[Dale Sorel]

I think TigerLaunch is a handy way to get at your apps too

[theolein]

Originally posted by Millennium:
Actually, it's not. The shortcuts are not dynamically created; they're made by whatever program you use to install the app. I don't remember the name of the actual folder off the top of my head; it's "Cwindows\start menu\" or something like that. But it's still just a hack that looks good; move the actual app from where it's supposed to be, and the shortcuts break.

....

It's CDocuments and Folders\UserName\Start Menu\Programmes\...

Actually, while it is consistent for Apple to not include a default aliased location like the one in Windows, since Classic Mac OS didn't have it either, I think the Windows idea is not that bad, as you can always find the application quickly. Not only that but Windows has had the Quick Launch bar for quite a while now, which does very much the same as the Dock in providing you with a place to put often used aliases of applications.

As for the shortcuts breaking, newer versions of Windows will search for the application for you.

But all of that is not the problem. In Windows the biggest problem is the registry and is IMO the weakest point in the Windows design. Even MS knows this which is why they're ditching it in Longhorn.

[RayX]

Originally posted by theolein:
But all of that is not the problem. In Windows the biggest problem is the registry and is IMO the weakest point in the Windows design. Even MS knows this which is why they're ditching it in Longhorn.

Please don't make things up, Microsoft are not ditching the registry for Longhorn.

[egg]

Originally posted by Millennium:
Actually, it's not. The shortcuts are not dynamically created; they're made by whatever program you use to install the app. I don't remember the name of the actual folder off the top of my head; it's "Cwindows\start menu\" or something like that. But it's still just a hack that looks good; move the actual app from where it's supposed to be, and the shortcuts break.

Hi,

yes, sorry. I used the wrong term here. What I meant was, Windows will by default (usually), automatically create links for you in the start menu.

If I want to emulate the same way of working for myself, then this is a step I must do by hand. Whether this system is actually good is up to personal taste of course. I actually like having links created for me when I install an application.

On the otherhand, having now worked with the osx for a week, I'm feeling a lot more comfortable using the GUI. It is pretty intuitive.

other pluses.... I LOVE how an app can be removed by a simple drag and drop to the trash. But I'm still too afraid to install the Real Player in case it does a 'pc type install'.... anyone have this installed? How bad is it?

[Developer]

Drag the Applications folder into the Dock. You get a start menu without "extra steps".

RealOne Player is a prime example for an excellent Mac OS X install. Everything is contained in the app bundle (within the app itself from a user perspective).

[biscuit]

The problem I have with the Start menu is that everything gets put in there. But this isn't all MS's fault. As someone pointed out the only things that are in there are shortcuts that have been placed there, not a listing of every app on the computer. Unfortunately every installer puts a folder there. And a shortcut on the desktop. It's just become the way software makers do it. Although many do ask first, I'll give them that.

As a result of this the Start menu has lost it's function as a quick app launcher and become the primary means of finding stuff. MS have tried to fix this by putting in a dynamic bit that shows recently used apps. But then they've also shoved My Computer and so on in there. I mean, isn't that what Explorer windows are for? For finding stuff?

Anyways, egg; I hope you found this thread useful and enjoy becoming a Mac user.

biscuit

[egg]

Originally posted by biscuit:
Anyways, egg; I hope you found this thread useful and enjoy becoming a Mac user.

biscuit

very much so! I had one day where I was confused... hence this post. Now, I'm working away quite happily without a care in the world. :-)

------> Current fav. mac moment: put the powerbook to sleep in a dark room and watch the sleep LED 'breath' !!! :-o

[Gul Banana]

LaunchBar is amazing.

[Sven G]

LaunchBar is very good - but, IMHO, Another Launcher is even better (albeit a little complex to master, but only at the beginning: see also this interesting Mac OS X Hints review), and donationware/free as in beer (which is a Very Good Thing, if the software is of high quality and usefulness, as in this case). Ideally, it could, quite efficiently, be coupled with another menu bar app: Desktop Manager, which provides virtual desktops for free (and with quality and promising features, indeed).

But, if you want something that effectively replaces the Start Menu and is, at the same time, a Dock enhancement, I think the best option for an OS X "switcher" might be the excellent WorkStrip, by the London-based company Softchaos:



This impressive utility - a real Dock replacement, and almost what the Dock should become, eventually! - even includes workspaces, thus effectively combining the aforementioned donation-/freeware utilities into one single entity: there's also a DragThing-like option to put your Trash on the Desktop, or in the menu bar.

BTW, if Another Launcher and Desktop Manager maybe united their programming skills, there could be some interesting developments in the future, in order to provide a full menu bar alternative to the excellent (and not too expensive, for that matter) WorkStrip Dock-based application...

[CharlesS]

Originally posted by RayX:
Please don't make things up, Microsoft are not ditching the registry for Longhorn.

Pity - that would make Windows almost usable if they did. But I guess we can't have that, can we...

Although, I must admit that my first reaction when I read theolein's post was Oh Crap...

[torifile]

Originally posted by Sven G:
LaunchBar is very good - but, IMHO, Another Launcher is even better (albeit a little complex to master, but only at the beginning: see also this interesting Mac OS X Hints review), and donationware/free as in beer (which is a Very Good Thing, if the software is of high quality and usefulness, as in this case). Ideally, it could, quite efficiently, be coupled with another menu bar app: Desktop Manager, which provides virtual desktops for free (and with quality and promising features, indeed).

But, if you want something that effectively replaces the Start Menu and is, at the same time, a Dock enhancement, I think the best option for an OS X "switcher" might be the excellent WorkStrip, by the London-based company Softchaos:



This impressive utility - a real Dock replacement, and almost what the Dock should become, eventually! - even includes workspaces, thus effectively combining the aforementioned donation-/freeware utilities into one single entity: there's also a DragThing-like option to put your Trash on the Desktop, or in the menu bar.

BTW, if Another Launcher and Desktop Manager maybe united their programming skills, there could be some interesting developments in the future, in order to provide a full menu bar alternative to the excellent (and not too expensive, for that matter) WorkStrip Dock-based application...

Workstrip seems really cool but $37!?! That's a bit much for a utility program. It also didn't seem quite as intuitive as I would like. I'm not using it anymore because I don't want to get too used to it and then having to pay that much money for it.

[Catfish_Man]

Originally posted by egg:
very much so! I had one day where I was confused... hence this post. Now, I'm working away quite happily without a care in the world. :-)

------> Current fav. mac moment: put the powerbook to sleep in a dark room and watch the sleep LED 'breath' !!! :-o

My friend and I always referred to that as the "nuclear sleep light" because we though it looked like a warning light on a reactor control panel

[nickm]

Every 3 seconds there was a damn wizard popping up (on the Windows Start Menu)

Yeah, that's damn annoying. You can turn this off, though. I couldn't describe how, but it's not that hard.

[Ratm]

Originally posted by egg:
Current fav. mac moment: put the powerbook to sleep in a dark room and watch the sleep LED 'breath' !!! :-o

hehe....I remember the first time I saw the led pulsate and fill my room with its soft white light.

Deleting apps....also check Home>Library>Preferences< for the apps preference file (plists). Also check Application support located in Home>Library>Appliction Support<.

[Sven G]

Originally posted by torifile:
Workstrip seems really cool but $37!?! That's a bit much for a utility program. It also didn't seem quite as intuitive as I would like. I'm not using it anymore because I don't want to get too used to it and then having to pay that much money for it.

Of course, that depends on what you really need!

Personally, I would like the Dock to evolve into something similar to WorkStrip; in the meantime, there's always the other two free (with optional donation) menu bar utilities I mentioned - and even some others - to improve the user experience in OS X.

Maybe WorkStrip could eventually be "Watsoned" ("Watsonized"?) by Apple, of course giving Softchaos the due compensations and credits...? I guess we'll have to wait and see, as always...

[jcb9]

Originally posted by egg:
other pluses.... I LOVE how an app can be removed by a simple drag and drop to the trash. But I'm still too afraid to install the Real Player in case it does a 'pc type install'.... anyone have this installed? How bad is it?

Go ahead and install it. Although versions for OS 9 and earlier installed lots of crap, the OS X version is fairly harmless. As I recall, it's all self-contained within the app.

[ngrundy]

RealPlayer on OSX is exceptionally boring
you download it
you extract it
you get a blue and white ball with a 1 in it

[effgee]

putting in my $ .02 for DragThing ... not only for your apps but also to organize folders, documents, bookmarks etc. you access frequently ...

• You can have as many docks as you need (e.g., one for apps, one for folders etc.)
• Docks are highly configurable in terms of color, texture, icon size, text labels, transparency etc.
• There are "special" docks for mounted disks and running apps
• Docks can work the same way the Mac OS X "auto-hiding" feature does - they slide in and out
• Docks can have several tabbed layers

one of my favorite features is the "auto-hiding" (aka "drawer" in DragThing) which I use for my secondary apps that I don't use as often but still want to have frequent access to. Click here for an example to see it in action.

LaunchBar is great if you're a keyboard-kinda-guy, but to keep your apps, folders and docs organized and accessible in a most flexible manner, DragThing's nearly unbeatable.


This one is docked to the upper left corner of my second (right) monitor - I just drag and drop my files in the appropriate folder and everything's neatly organized.

And no, James doesn't pay me for posting this (even though he should ) - just love the app.

Cheers,

eff

[Goldie]

Originally posted by Dale Sorel:
I think TigerLaunch is a handy way to get at your apps too

I love this lil' utility.

[xkidmidnightx]

apple key + shift + a = applications folder

apple key + shift +u = utililities folder

go menu at the top of the finder = applications

you can set the finder to open up in the applications folder. press apple + n to open a new finder window then. boom apps.

alias on dock, then hold the mouse click it will show all your apps.

Once done color code your apps so you can easily scroll through them and see whats what.

way easier than that horrible start bar (this is coming from an windows user)

[dfiler]

Originally posted by xkidmidnightx:
...
alias [of Applications] on dock, then hold the mouse click it will show all your apps.
...

Funny, I would have expected detailed explanations of this earlier, it provides almost the exact functionality as a Start Menu. Sometimes its hard to put yourself in the switcher's mindset if you've used macs for a long time.

Right clicking on the Applications folder in the dock behaves nearly identically to a left click on start menu. While control-click or click and hold technically achieve the same effect, it does seem to complicate, what for some people, is a very common action. These users are often hopelessly addicted to the excellent applications mentioned in previous posts. (like dragthing and launchbar)

If you put all your applications in the Applications folder, then OS X installations can be handled exactly the same as in windows. Windows installers nearly always add shortcuts to the Start Menu folders. Installers which install into the Applications folder will result in the docks alias being "updated" as a windows user expects.

This isn't the way my workflow is set up but have found it to be popular among recent switchers.