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*awesome* keyboard command
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Peter
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Nov 23, 2005, 09:21 AM
 
If you go into keyboard shortcuts in System Preferences, and find the 'Lookup in Dictionary' shortcut. I remapped mine to F8 - now whenever i highlight a word and press F8:



Totally useless? yup, but its so damn swish
     
Judge_Fire
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Nov 23, 2005, 09:37 AM
 
Beware the timeline crowd, who'll be in here to point out ctrl-cmd-d does it by default and who then proceed to taunt you...

J
     
Sarc
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Nov 23, 2005, 09:42 AM
 
Didn't know that.
Thanks for the tip. ::
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cybergoober
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Nov 23, 2005, 09:47 AM
 
Originally Posted by Judge_Fire
Beware the timeline crowd, who'll be in here to point out ctrl-cmd-d does it by default and who then proceed to taunt you...

J
Well by doing what the OP did, it changes the behavior slightly. F8 (or which ever you choose) will toggle the dictionary pop-up. For example I could hover over a word and hit F8. The pop-up appears. I could then move the cursor around and the pop-up would follow. When I was done, I would hit F8 again to toggle the pop-up off. The ctl-cmd-d method requires that you still hold the Control and Command keys down while you move the cursor around to lookup words dynamically. So while it's similar it's not exactly the same thing.
     
Link
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Nov 23, 2005, 06:52 PM
 
That's pretty damn awesome Thanks for sharing!
Aloha
     
jmiddel
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Nov 23, 2005, 10:40 PM
 
Peter, I love the idea, would be very useful to me especially after cybergoober's observation. Trouble is, when I go to System Prefs: Keyboard/Mouse and select Keboard Shortcuts, I cannot find Lookup in Dictionary. So I tried to add it, it adds itself into the window, but does not work. Also ctrl-cmd-d does not work. I wonder whether I turned something off. Is this something new in 10.4x? I'm on 3.9 until the coast clear on Tiger. Thanks for your input!
     
Tyre MacAdmin
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Nov 23, 2005, 10:44 PM
 
Killer... being an engineer means my spelling sucks and a dictionary always needs to be close... thanks for the tip!
     
bborofka
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Nov 24, 2005, 12:05 AM
 
The dictionary pop-up is new to Tiger. It's just one of the many benefits of developing apps with Cocoa. If only Microsoft would listen (are they switching to Xcode for the Intel transition?). This is also one reason why I prefer Safari over Firefox.
     
- - e r i k - -
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Nov 24, 2005, 01:35 AM
 
Originally Posted by Judge_Fire
Beware the timeline crowd, who'll be in here to point out ctrl-cmd-d does it by default and who then proceed to taunt you...

J
Here's your taunt sir:

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bmedina
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Nov 24, 2005, 01:39 AM
 
Originally Posted by Tyler McAdams
Killer... being an engineer means my spelling sucks and a dictionary always needs to be close... thanks for the tip!
What does being an engineer have to do with bad spelling?
     
chris v
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Nov 24, 2005, 10:04 AM
 
Originally Posted by jmiddel
Peter, I love the idea, would be very useful to me especially after cybergoober's observation. Trouble is, when I go to System Prefs: Keyboard/Mouse and select Keboard Shortcuts, I cannot find Lookup in Dictionary. So I tried to add it, it adds itself into the window, but does not work. Also ctrl-cmd-d does not work. I wonder whether I turned something off. Is this something new in 10.4x? I'm on 3.9 until the coast clear on Tiger. Thanks for your input!
Yes, it's a 10.4 thing. Why exactly are you hesitating on 10.4?

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Gavin
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Nov 26, 2005, 10:00 AM
 
'Look up in dictionary' doesn't work for me. Even if I pull it off the contextual menu. Tried it in a couple of applications.
What gives? What is supposed to happen?

Running 10.4.3
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phillryu
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Nov 26, 2005, 10:05 AM
 
In addition, you don't even need to highlight the word... just mouseover one and press the hotkeys. Sweet.

Oh, and if you hold the keys down, you can mouseover words and have the definitions come up realtime as you do. Cool stuff.

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chris v
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Nov 26, 2005, 11:45 AM
 
Originally Posted by Gavin
'Look up in dictionary' doesn't work for me. Even if I pull it off the contextual menu. Tried it in a couple of applications.
What gives? What is supposed to happen?

Running 10.4.3
It should launch the Dictionary app,with the highlighted word in the window. Since this is a service-related thing, are your other service menu thingys working?

When a true genius appears in the world you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him. -- Jonathan Swift.
     
TheSpaz
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Nov 26, 2005, 12:27 PM
 
Did you know that you don't even need "Grab" to take screenshots?

1. cmd-shift-3 takes the whole screen
2. cmd-shift-control-3 copies the whole screen to the clipboard
3. cmd-shift-4 takes a selection screenshot
4. cmd-shift-control-4 copies selection to clipboard
5. cmd-shift-4-(then hit spacebar) takes an isolated screenshot of an individual window/icon/menubar/menu/whatever you click on.
6. cmd-shift-4-(then hit spacebar)-(then hold control and click) copies isolated screenshot to clipboard
     
cybergoober
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Nov 26, 2005, 12:57 PM
 
Originally Posted by Gavin
'Look up in dictionary' doesn't work for me. Even if I pull it off the contextual menu. Tried it in a couple of applications.
What gives? What is supposed to happen?

Running 10.4.3
I'm guessing you have moved Dictionary.app from /Applications
     
cybergoober
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Nov 26, 2005, 01:06 PM
 
Originally Posted by phillryu
Oh, and if you hold the keys down, you can mouseover words and have the definitions come up realtime as you do. Cool stuff.
The interesting thing about the original post is that assigning an Fkey to the Lookup In Dictionary action introduces an unexpected behavior. The Fkey toggles the pop-up. No need to continue holding the hot-key(s).

edit: BTW just came across this at macosxhints.com -- http://www.macosxhints.com/article.p...51105191409181
     
Tyre MacAdmin
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Nov 26, 2005, 05:10 PM
 
Originally Posted by bmedina
What does being an engineer have to do with bad spelling?
We're known to have extremely bad grammar and spelling skills.
     
Cadaver
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Nov 26, 2005, 06:51 PM
 
Yep... its a good hint. I've also remapped the screenshot keystrokes to F1 and F2. "tis very handy.
     
lavar78
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Nov 26, 2005, 07:41 PM
 
Originally Posted by Tyler McAdams
We're known to have extremely bad grammar and spelling skills.
I've never understood that stereotype. I'm an engineer who is very good at grammar and spelling. In fact, I'd say those are things that should go hand in hand.

"I'm virtually bursting with adequatulence!" - Bill McNeal, NewsRadio
     
Tyre MacAdmin
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Nov 26, 2005, 09:21 PM
 
Originally Posted by lavar78
I've never understood that stereotype. I'm an engineer who is very good at grammar and spelling. In fact, I'd say those are things that should go hand in hand.
Well it was just a joke, but a handy shortcut for me none the less.
     
lavar78
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Nov 26, 2005, 11:32 PM
 
Originally Posted by Tyler McAdams
Well it was just a joke, but a handy shortcut for me none the less.
Oh, I know. I wasn't criticizing you. The fact remains that many (most?) engineers are lousy at spelling and grammar. I just wish I knew why.

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Gavin
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Nov 28, 2005, 08:39 PM
 
Originally Posted by chris v
It should launch the Dictionary app,with the highlighted word in the window. Since this is a service-related thing, are your other service menu thingys working?
Thanks - I had moved Dictionary.app into a sub folder. When I put it back under /Apps it works.
Not cool, as that's not where I want to keep it.

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We're at 10.4, apple really needs to fix this thing where Installers, etc. can't find an app if it isn't directly in the app folder. When I double click a file it finds the right app no matter where it is, so it's not like it simply isn't possible. The hardcoded pathway thing is just non-mac.
[/rant]
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Tesseract
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Nov 29, 2005, 01:09 AM
 
MCrob: spam/scam links are bad. You've been reported to the moderators.
     
- - e r i k - -
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Nov 29, 2005, 04:23 AM
 
Originally Posted by Gavin
Thanks - I had moved Dictionary.app into a sub folder. When I put it back under /Apps it works.
Not cool, as that's not where I want to keep it.
That's where you should keep all your Application, especially Apple-software. If not things like Services or Software update won't work. Especially Software Update can _really_ bork things up if you move your apps. Sort _aliases_ of your apps into different folders instead, a lot better idea.

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mpancha
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Nov 29, 2005, 10:03 AM
 
Originally Posted by Peter
If you go into keyboard shortcuts in System Preferences, and find the 'Lookup in Dictionary' shortcut. I remapped mine to F8 - now whenever i highlight a word and press F8:



Totally useless? yup, but its so damn swish

I would love to use this tip, but when I try mapping to F7, nothing happens. It doesn't let me. I can map to F6 or F8, but not F7.

I have an ibook, so many commands are shared with the f-keys (brightness/volume, num lock, etc), and i have my expose keys mapped to F8-F10, and dashboard to F11. I had to shift the defaults due to my eject key being F12..... all that aside, why won't it let me map to F7?

**** edited to add: ****

I got it to masp to F7 finally, however I have to push the fn key +F7 to invoke dictionary, and ifI want it to stay active I have to hold down fn+F7 (or just fn) while I want it invoked. I don't understand why the f7 key requires me to hold down fn to use it, but f8-f11don't. holding down fn for f1-f5 makes sense since they double as brightness and vbolume controls, but why the rest?
( Last edited by mpancha; Nov 29, 2005 at 10:16 AM. Reason: added info)
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cybergoober
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Nov 29, 2005, 10:59 AM
 
mpancha - Go to the Keyboard & Mouse System Preference pane, select the Keyboard tab and check the box that states "Use F1-F12 keys to control software features".
     
   
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