Posts filed under "software"
Sonora - A fast, lightweight music player for OS X. The killer feature of this app is speed. For me, the quality applications that I use on a regular basis are generally defined by their speed. Speed is such a fundamental element in any app because it’s that element which really defines the quality of the code behind it.
It’s taken me a while to get to this point, but I think I’m finally there. If I go back to my first computer (but not including the borrowed computer I used from Richard in University), it’s taken 10 years to get to this point, but I can finally say that I’m finally comfortable with the software setup on my machine to achieve the tasks that I want to do.
Text Editors
- Byword - is my distraction free environment for writing. After I’ve written things in here, I export them and save them into the Notational Velocity folder. The formatting is better here. mainly because of it’s Markdown features. Easily previewed. Can change from dark to light themes in an instant. Can export to anything which is awesome as well. Much has been written about this text editor, but it’s worth your time and money.
- Notational Velocity - The de facto text editor for syncing everything and finding things instantly. It liberated my notes, so that they’re with me always (either in the cloud and synced with Simplenote, or on my iPhone).
- Textwrangler. This is more of a great to have. If I want to quickly edit some code, without opening up Coda then this is great, with a great price.
- Coda. For all my website needs. Great all rounder.
- iA Writer. I don’t actually need this any more. I think Byword is the way forward. Could have saved myself a little bit of money. It’s a great little editor, but honestly it’s just not as great as Byword.
Pixel Creators
- Pixelmator. This product has finally matured enough for it to replace my favourite version of Photoshop. The things that I need are now part of the actual product with version 2.0 they’ve moved into that realm that it works for me. They constantly update it, so it’s also great for me.
- Artboard. I’ve not had any time to play around this, but it definitely seems to be a pretty solid application for vector.
Information Managers
- Together - I actually bought a copy of the other major information manager on the Mac (Yojimbo), first but what made me buy Together instead is the fact that you really can import ANYTHING you want into this application, unlike Yojimbo which takes only PDFs, Images, Notes, Web Archives, Bookmarks. The great thing about Together is that EVERYTHING gets chucked into there. Everything. And that’s a powerful thing to have. EPSs, PSDs, EPUB files, everything can be put into one place.
- Littlesnapper - This is my go to applications to track how my website looks and also taking snapshots of websites that inspire me.
Miscellaneous
- Quicksilver. I really need to learn how to use this application, because it really is super powerful as an application to get things done.
- Bettersnaptool
- Preview
- Minutes
- Soulver
- Delicious Library
- Textexpander
- Movist
- Sparrow
- Twitter for Mac
- Safari and Chrome - I can’t decide which I like more.
- uTorrent
- Dropbox
The only thing missing from here at the moment is a good spreadsheet application, but I’m still not convinced about Numbers from Apple, and Excel on a Mac is seriously lacking.
Since I started with a new slate on my macbook (ie just reinstalled everything and started from new), the one breakout piece of software that will forever become a part of my computer experience is Notational Velocity.
They say that the best things in life are free, well this is definitely one of the best applications that I currently have on my machine. The reason for it is simple. It’s does one thing, but it does it better than anything else on the mac.
It takes notes and allows you a level of customisation and has been thought out soo well. It’s completely unobtrusive and it’s one of the lightest programs you’ll ever run. The thing is nearly instantly loaded.
I currently love having the note titles on the left hand side, with the actual notes located on the right hand side.
I remember downloading this years ago, and then just uninstalling it pretty quickly. I just didn’t understand the beauty of the simplicity.
Everything is achieved through shortcuts, which are pretty easy to learn.
J and K for up and down
Tab for flipping between the omnisearch bar and the notes
Esc for clearing the ominsearch bar
Return for adding a new note
Cmd R for renaming a note
And that’s about all you need to know.
It syncs to Simplenote with a free iPhone application, which is awesome. The actual application is super simple, nothing overly complicated, and it’s blindingly fast. Seriously fast in syncing. It’s not instant or live, but it might just as well be.
For my needs at the moment, which is basically putting down ideas and thoughts, it’s nice and simple and extremely convenient. If you tried this application years ago and didn’t know what to do with it (like I did), I seriously think you should check it out again, it’s worth your time.
RSS5000 - Damn I want an iPad just for that (well and a bunch of other things, but I’m waiting for the second if not the third generation). Shame about the name, what is this? A pun on The Terminator?
Also, Minimal Mac, eh, very nice.
The Indie Mac Gift Pack - I know it feels like a bunch of adds on the site right now, but seriously I’m more interested in how amazing these websites look like. This one is completely different than the previous one, but better in a completely different way. Hover over the monsters…
Well I just upgraded to the latest Habari developer preview release. This thing has been a long time coming. I’ve not played around with it too much, but it does feel much snappier. Upgrading has been a pretty damn easy process, and the way I’ve set it up, all future upgrades will be just as easy as well - using SSH.
I’m going to be posting a whole bunch of stuff about this, because I really think it’s good for people that are complete n00bs (like myself) to get stuck into this, as it’ll make the general process so much less time consuming.
JS1k - 1k Javascript demo contest. Truly awe-inspiring what can be done with 1k of code…unbelievables (Tetris with 1k!!!)
Biolab Disaster - Damn that boy is talented. From the creator of Asaph (which runs my the Elsewhere part of this website) comes this excellent platform game, done in HTML5, CSS, Javascript and Canvas. Look mum, no Flash required.
AutoCAD for Mac - It’s a long time coming, but one of the main reasons for not jumping to a mac for business just went out the windows (get it).
Minutes Widget - One of the simplest and best widgets I’ve ever downloaded.
Screenshot Plus - Best. Widget. Ever. You want to take screenshots? This is the only thing you need. Seriously.
So Owen’s responded to a few things that I’d written. I knew it was coming, and I knew it would be a big one, so true to form the man’s gotten back to me.
To be clear, although I didn’t voice it at the time, one of the reasons why I actually decided to move over to WordPress a while back was in fact when it transpired that Owen might leave the project (I don’t know the exact details, but it seems a community member was maybe hurting more than helping). In any case, Habari without Owen is a much poorer place. Not to take anything away from others who tirelessly contributed to the code, but he’s amassed probably three times as much commits as the next guy (roughly speaking) and generally leads the way - so I listen when he’s got something to say because I respect him enough because he spends the time to explain himself properly. Forget the fact that we don’t agree on everything, I think it’s clear we both want the software to move in the right direction.
The Problem
He raises some decent points which i’d like to consider a bit in analysing how to move forward.
I would love to replace the logo with something better. But something decidedly, unarguably better.
That’s the biggest problem. Who’s deciding which is unarguably better. I can argue that the question mark is brilliant and the non-descript H is rubbish till the cows come in, as I’m sure others can argue the direct opposite. The point is, it’s your opinion against someone elses. The frame work is not there for moving it forward either. We’re not going to strike lightning in a bottle, nor do I think that I can make something that is universally liked by everyone. Fuck me, that’s pretty much impossible to do. For everyone that thinks the Nike swoosh is an icon, you’ve got others proclaiming that it’s completely pointless.
The point is taking where we currently are and moving forward. Otherwise we end up hurting things more and ultimately not achieving anything.
The way forward
My suggestion? Elect a sub-group of people to huddle somewhere, create a plan, build something usable in a staging place, and then report back to the community for review. They take comments, re-huddle, and iterate until either everyone loves it, or there’s no budging by one side or another. And at that point, the community defaults and uses what they’ve built.
I’ve created my logo. So if anything, I’m happy if I was the one making the decisions. My thought process is clear to me. The logo is out there for anyone to pick at as they please. I had an idea, I put it forward. It didn’t take me too long, hell writing up the previous 5 Habari posts probably took me longer to be honest. Like I said, if anything, I’ve got a nice t-shirt design.
I’m not adverse to exploring the issue further with a task force, hell I think it’s a great idea but ultimately I want to know that our work will be accepted, or voted upon. I want to know the structure, because the exercise will take more time out of me and honestly I don’t want to waste my time - which I’m sure you can appreciate.
The taskforce
Obviously everyone is welcome to contribute to the taskforce. If you have a thought or an idea, draw it and throw into the pot. We’ll discuss it find reasons for and against. Some might come up with one idea, that another person will run with which will be then built upon by another. Another might be inspired to go in a different direction. The ultimate idea is that at the end, hopefully there will be something tangible that this taskforce has produced.
The next question that should be raised is, does that then get used instantly? According to Owen, that shouldn’t be the case. It should be reviewed by the rest of the community, lather rinse repeat. This can work, after a fashion. I propose that this is done in a finite number of stages. When we design a building (I’m a building services engineer), the design process is broken down into 4 distinct stages (at least from an engineering POV). Concept, Scheme, Tender, Construction. In a similar fashion, we can also break it down into a few stages.
Concept - Ideas about what it could be are thrown on the table. The question mark, the capital H, the doorbell etc. At this stage it is important NOT to rubbish any ideas. This is to create as many ideas as is possible. No idea is off limits.
Scheme - The ideas with more legs are weeded out. This is going to be time consuming, because ultimately it is important to come up with one or two ideas options which can be further pursued. The point here is reduce the number of options to a manageable few that can be detailed further.
Tender - The few options that are thought to be in contention are whittled down to one. Maybe the execution isn’t perfect but ultimately it’s an idea that everyone is behind. The general thought process is there.
Construction - We build the logo based on the finally selected option. The detail is put in here, and the various elements are presented to be used. In the software, on the website, as badges etc. Used in ‘press’ releases. Whatever.
We report back at every stage. Any thoughts are processed then and then we move on. The other thing that is important is to have a proper timeline for all of this. Otherwise it’ll meander endlessly. Therefore I propose 1 month for each stage. Gives people enough time to consider, think about things, review, reflect, write emails/responses/posts if they have an issues concerns ideas.
We don’t jump back several stages. The rest of the community had the opportunity to review and present their ideas in the given timeframe. Inaction is not allowing progress which as I’ve explained has a negative affect on the software base itself.
If anything it’ll be an interesting exercise to see if design by commitee works on the internet and in an open source project. Afterall, how do you think all those buildings that you live and work in were designed? By the choices of one person? Don’t be silly.
I get the feeling that when you’re done tearing the thing down, assuming you have any energy left afterwards, you might actually do something. Am I right?
I hope so. Like I said, it’s not because I think this will raise my profile, or because I want to have the Habari logo as a notch in my design portfolio (I don’t even have one, although I keep meaning to create one). This is all being done to ensure the progression and future of the software (selfishly because I enjoy using it). I’m not going to let a few with myopic vision hinder PROGRESS dammit :).
Minimal Design - And here I thought the new ‘Kode was minimal. This site seriously takes it to the next level in certain ways. Might even use his minimal gallery solution.
Wow, can you believe it’s October already? Seriously where the hell has this year gone already? Yesterday we watched Godfather and ate chocolate santa. Seriously chocolate santas are already in the supermarkets, WTF? The countdown has begun before I move out of Golders Green after 7 years and go on walkabout. Loads of shit to sort out before then, which all basically starts this week as I order by boxes and self storage options and start getting rid of clothes and unwanted stuff that have accumulated over the last few years. It’s not too bad (yeah you might hear me complaining later on this week) but I know I’ve got my work cut out for me.
In other quick and dirty news, we went and saw Joe Sacco at the ICA this week, which was brilliant, since he met everyone later on and did some signings, which was really cool. His latest books sounds like it’s going to be amazing, so I can’t wait (Footnotes from Gaza). We saw a few images and it does look like it’s going to be a keeper.
On a completely separate note, I’m looking for a good font creator/editor for Mac. I’ve not found any that won’t break the bank (I’m looking in your general ugly direction Fontlab). Fontographer is no longer part of macromedia/Adobe, but surely there’s a nice indie developer out there who has made something that can be used to make a font? I refuse to believe there is nothing else out there.
Cairo - Windows Shell Alternative - I would have KILLED for this before I moved over to the mighty Mac. Now I don’t imagine a day where I will go back to Microsoft, but this would make it more bearable. Might try it out on my Toshiba Protege that is collecting dust, and sell that sucker on.
http://www.brokenkode.com/cairo-windows-shell-alternative-home
Make Photoshop Faster - Does what it says on the tin. Need this now that I’m colouring ‘Coffee Beans’.
Developer Color Picker - I’ve been using Hex Colour Picker, but I’ll give this a try and see whether it’s any better (love anything Panic are involved with).
Google Chrome OS - It’s official. Coming in the winter of 2010 to brighten our days. That’s over a year away really, but still exciting news for operating system enthusiasts.
SourceForge Redesigned - Don’t typically go there anymore as I’ve more or less found most of my software requirements in one way or another at the moment, however this was a site I used to visit all the time back when I believe in open source software (but that’s a discussion for another time).
Google Service Logos - Nice list of the befores and the afters. What’s interesting to me is the sheer number of services that Google actually provides. I’ve probably only heard of like a hand full of these and only ever used 5 of them (but I use them on a daily basis).
Tweak Your Finder - Nice little collection of things to do to make the Finder better. I like the plugin for the quick look in folders.
“Outside the Box” Navigation with jQuery - Although I absolutely LOVE how stacks looks on OS X, I can never get around to using it because I hate the dock at the bottom of my screen. However the implementation onto a website looks so appealing.
Safari 4 is now out of Beta. And you can definitely tell that they have been listened.
Tabs
First off the location of the tabs has changed. In the Beta, they were located at the top (like Chrome). It was an interesting experiment that doesn’t fit within the Mac mold. The only way to make the tabs work, is for the top menu to completely disappear. Clearly this was too radical (or cannot be done?) that they’ve opted to put the tabs back to where they have always gone.
The work on the tabs doesn’t stop there however. They’ve gone back to allowing you to select the whole tab rather than a corner to drag them across. That was a function that really pissed me off with the Beta.
Speed
It’s definitely MUCH faster. Both at loading and at rendering pages. In fact I’ll go so far as to say it’s giving me the same speed surprise I had when I first ran and installed Google Chrome (read item 4). Clearly Apple aren’t resting on their laurels. They’ve taken it back to Google who only recently released their Alpha version of Chrome for the Mac.
Buttons and Interface
In Safari 3 I often resorted to hacks to add some much need functionality, such as a bloody tab button. Yeah I know it’s cmd+t but dammit I wanted a button for when I was feeling bloody lazy. Thankfully they’ve brought in a bunch of buttons that can sit in the menu now. Another favourite is removing/adding the bookmarks bar button.
Loading and Reloading
The loading graphic has also changed now. I don’t actually mind this at all. In fact I would go on to say that I actually like this, however I actually liked the previous integration of the blue bar across the entire address book a lot more.
Reloading a page is still in the address line; When this was first introduced I was not a fan, however this has grown on me.
Overall impressions is that this feels like the next logical step forward for Safari. The Beta actually for once showed that they are willing to go back on their original ideas and that they do actually listen to user’s opinions, which is always nice.
Mac OS X Snow Leopard - Coming out in September, for $29 (probably £30 in the UK) for a single license, more for the ‘family pack’. I’ve got two macs, does this mean I need to buy the family pack? My understanding is that it’s not actually enforced (through serial numbers) but through the end user’s conscience.
Wheee! - Part of the promotion in getting Firefox out to everyone, the community was called upon to create some adverts. I’ve never seen this before, but I did get a chuckle, so many years later.