Originally downloaded 10/9/06. I remember trying Tickershock out when it was first released in mid-2005. I was not impressed, because at the time the options for display were very limited and quite obtrusive. It looks like options have expanded, with more control over look and feel... so I thought I'd give it another go. The concept of continuous newsfeeds is one I like, as long as I can control how it works to a large degree.

Update 1/5/08. There's no doubt Tickershock is cool, and for folks who really love the news-ticker method of information delivery (Pointcast, anyone?), it's worth a look. I like the fact that it's so customizable and provides numerous interesting built-in themes and options. But given the multitude of highly effective, free ways to get your news feeds nowadays, I certainly couldn't justify the standard Mesa-Dynamics software price of $20. Heck, I had been using ClawMenu's wonderful RSS reader until a few months ago, when I decided I just couldn't afford the time to stay on top of the web news. I'm hoping that'll change shortly, but when it does, I'm pretty sure I'll go back to ClawMenu. (And just so you know, ClawMenu is a very lightweight newsreader... not a dedicated application like NetNewswire or PulpFiction. Still, it's very handy, looks great, and fits my workflow.)

Version as tested: 1.3.

Originally downloaded 12/22/06, updated 4/29/07. I originally downloaded MaxiMice because in addition to its very interesting enhancements to scrolling, it enables one of the "window tricks" I was interested in researching: The ability to move application windows from any point, not just the toolbar/titlebar. But clearly, its signature contribution to the Mac world is the idea that you can make scrolling happen merely by moving your mouse close to a window's edge. I was quite intrigued by this, since it's a corner of the "scroll enhancement" market that my favorite add-on, Smart Scroll X ⤴, hasn't grabbed, and I wanted to see "edge scrolling" was an action I could learn to not live without. :-)

As it turns out, it wasn't (for me, at least). Part of the problem could be the obnoxious demo behavior, which results in potentially dozens of little reminder notices that you've exceeded the demo period popping up and draining your system's juices away. Since MaxiMice acts as a Cocoa plugin, it gets activated in all your running Cocoa apps when you start it up. And for some either sadistic or ignorant reason, the developer engineered the demo reminder to pop up in each of the host applications, rather than just in System Preferences, which houses the MaxiMice preference pane.

So, perhaps I didn't live with edge scrolling long enough to become dependent on it. During the time I did use it, I went from total annoyance to mild tolerance, so things were moving in the "right" direction I suppose. But I really don't need to spend another $10 on Mac software, now do I? Besides, MaxiMice doesn't handle the other half of Window Tricks: Resizing windows from any point. If only the developer had continued working on MaxiMice, it might today be the best tool in its class! I say this because MaxiMice has the easiest mechanism for window moving of any I tried. It utilizes the "float" technique of MondoMouse ⤴, but with the freedom to define a single key as the shortcut---by default, it's the Control key. This means you can hit Ctrl and move your mouse around (never having to click it), and the window over which the mouse is hovering will move where you will. Not only that, the window you want to move doesn't have to be frontmost... it can be hidden behind other windows, and you can move it with the Ctrl key without bringing it to the front.

Most distressing to me is that MaxiMice is the only tool that would take care of a little task I grew quite fond of. As a user of the amazing MacGizmo ⤴, I've been enjoying a future feature of Leopard for almost a year now---namely, the ability to quickly preview any image, video, PDF file, HTML file, or text file without actually opening it. Only problem with MacGizmo is that its interface slides down and covers the Finder. There are times when I pined for the ability to move MacGizmo out of the way without actually closing it. Then, lo and behold, one day I clicked the Ctrl key and found MacGizmo moving wherever I wanted it. Since I was in the midst of testing several "window moving" tools, it took me awhile to identify the hero of this scenario. As it turned out, none of the other "window tricks" applications that I've tested are able to move MacGizmo. This may be an idiosyncracy of my system, but that's the way it is.

Still, in the end, cooler heads prevailed, and I decided it was silly to pay $10 for software that adds a little enhancement to another that cost me $20.

Below are some other notes I took about MaxiMice.

Pros

Cons

Moving windows with a modifier key worked well. Mouse doesn't need to be clicked... just moved. I've set the modifier to the Ctrl key and have been pleasantly surprised to find this working, having forgotten what app was doing it! Edge scrolling could be useful... occasionally I've found it quite helpful, but it takes some getting used to. Options can be customized on a per-application basis.

Support for edge scrolling (without modifier key) seemed to come and go at first. Use of modifier key seemed to require an initial click to get it going. Works only for Cocoa apps (not Finder, for example), through InputManager. Edge scrolling can be a pain when you're working in small windows... for example, Address Book... the list starts scrolling before you know what's happening! Doesn't provide window resizing. Demo functionality can spawn runaway windows as each Cocoa application launches the same demo limitation notice, which has to be acted upon by the user. Doesn't appear to be actively supported... no updates since 2003.

Version as tested: 1.0.1.

Originally downloaded 12/11/06, updated 4/29/07 GeekBind has a great deal of potential, but unfortunately it appears to be an abandoned project, last updated almost 2 years ago. GeekBind provides users with additional flexibility in moving and resizing application windows, using a keyboard shortcut in conjunction with the mouse. On paper, GeekBind's features rival those of newer commercial products such as MondoMouse ⤴ and Zooom! ⤴ and in some cases goes them one better. GeekBind:

• Puts an icon in the menubar for controlling its features,
• Uses the cool "float" move/resize mechanism that distinguishes MondoMouse,
• Offers a wealth of additional window tricks compared with some of the commercial products,
• Has excellent key binding options,
• Has customizable visual feedback,
• And more besides!

However, it also crashes a lot and doesn't run at all in Leopard. The source code is there for the taking if anybody would like to get the thing running again, but in the meantime, I've had to pass on it. Here are a few notes I took during testing.

Pros

Cons

Free! Has multitude of options besides my main two, including simulating mouse movements and changes in window transparency. Highly customizable visual cues, with best variety of options for this. Adds menu extra for persistent access to turning geekbind on/off. Uses the same "float" style of interaction as MondoMouse.

Resize function is jerky in appearance, and only the visual transparency is resized until you stop moving the mouse, at which point the rest of the window catches up. Can't customize behavior for specific apps. Almost too many options, and they aren't organized for quick comprehension. No built-in help file. Has the same limitations on what it will move and resize as those described for Zooom! Doesn't work in Leopard. (March 2007 build)

Version as tested: 1.0.

Originally downloaded 12/18/06. I don't yearn for a button that expands my application windows to full screen like folks who are used to Windows do. I hardly ever want to do that, but I can understand the need, especially if you're using a laptop or otherwise somewhat shrimpy screen. I'm interested in trying this because I'm curious to see if it's something I don't know that I'd like. :-) Freeware just does that to me, you understand. My only concern going in is that Megazoomer relies on SIMBL, and InputManager that I've had only mixed success with lately... mostly because of conflicts with the WebKit nightly builds.

Update 4/28/07. Even if you're a Windows switcher who misses the ability to zoom your windows to full screen, I don't think MegaZoomer is the tool for you. It's free, and works as advertised, but what you get isn't really what you want. Besides, the Mac OS X zoom button works as it does for a reason, and it's a good reason. Try it for awhile, and you may come to agree. I felt similarly when I moved from OS 9, but soon came to appreciate the value of not having a window zoom to full-screen size by default when clicking the zoom button. Mac OS X's zoom button, as implemented in apps like Finder and Safari, is brilliant user-interface design... though it will take some getting used to. My advice? Learn to love it---you won't be sorry. Besides, MegaZoomer won't help you with a lot of the apps you may most want to maximize---like the Finder---since it's a Cocoa plugin that works only with native Cocoa apps.

Pros

Cons

Works in Cocoa apps as described. Uses a nice animation for the zoom and unzoom effects.

Keyboard shortcut is unreliable. By consuming the whole monitor window, you lose the system menubar temporarily. Since the keyboard shortcut never worked for me going in reverse (and often the other way as well), it's a pain to bring window back down to size. Doesn't work in apps like the Finder (non-Cocoa apps), which use the Mac OS X user interface guidelines for the Zoom button's functionality. Yet this is the kind of app that potential users of MegaZoomer are most interested in "zooming" full screen, I presume. Tools like MegaZoomer allow Windows switchers to avoid learning the real purpose of the zoom button in Mac OS X and to continue thinking an app window must expand to full screen to be functional. Basically, it duplicates an existing function rather than modifying it. Modifying how the zoom button works would be preferable.

Version as tested: 0.4.1.

Originally downloaded 8/7/06. Here's another cool SIMBL plugin for Cocoa apps that's worth trying out (it's free!). Afloat lets you control which windows float above others and which are transparent. You can also move them without having to drag on the title bar. All in all, sounds like another batch of useful customizations that may strengthen Mac users' attachment to their Cocoa apps. Afloat installs on your system as a Preference Pane at either the user or system level.

Update 11/28/06. After having Afloat running for a couple of months, and several sessions of trying to use it, I've concluded that no matter how cool I think it is, Afloat just doesn't work for me. My summary of pros and cons noted during testing are below.

Update 4/28/07. I downloaded and tried out the newer beta 4 "experimental" version of Afloat today, but it just cemented my view that this software is on the wrong track to adding the kind of functionality it's after. There are other tools that do a better job, in each instance, and are likewise free. Beta 4 is a rewrite that no longer uses SIMBL, instead using a dynamic Cocoa injection system similar to the one that tools like F-Script Anywhere uses. I've updated the pros/cons list as well.

Pros

Cons

Cool idea... innovative Ability to use Cmd-Ctrl to move windows from any point is a useful enhancement

Confusing in practice, impractical. Windows lost their "on top" status for no apparent reason and without my say-so. Further, it appears that the "Always on top" setting is only local to each application... I was hoping to be able to set a given window to be globally "on top." Ability to adjust transparency, though cool, is kind of pointless in this manner. A better approach for me is to use SetAlphaValue, another excellent Cocoa-injection freeware for managing window transparency. It provides much finer-grained control with a lot less fuss. In the toolbox of busy geeks, it's important that the tools don't fight with each other all the time, which they tend to do if they are all activated the same way. Unfortunately, Afloat provides no configuration for its key bindings at all, and this caused a couple of knock-down, drag-outs during my testing. The "Overlays" feature in beta 4 crashed Mail when I switched to the Finder. Basically, this feature does the same thing that can be achieved using the free Dockless software. For regular document windows, you will almost never want them to be "overlay" windows. And everything else can be made "overlays" by adjusting the LSUIElement key in the app's info.plist file, which is what Dockless does for you.

Version as tested: 1.0 b4

Originally downloaded January 31, 2007. Soon after launchd was introduced in Tiger, I discovered Peter Borg's free, open-source Lingontool and have used it ever since. Lingon is a marvel at exposing the power of Apple's new Unix command, which can replace cron and startup items as a way of scheduling and managing processes and servers on your Mac. I seem to recall reading about this $5 editor from CodePoetry but dismissing it since I was so happy with Lingon. That said, I'm now curious to see if I could be tempted to part with $5... that is, whether Launchd Editor provides $5 worth of added value beyond what I get with Lingon. So, down it comes to my hard drive!

Update 4/6/07. Well, I'm back... and after trying Launchd Editor, I'll say right away that I'm not a happy camper. What's put me in a foul mood? It's software like Launchd Editor, which is less than half as useful as the free, open source Lingon, and yet has a developer who expects people to pay for it! There are many Mac users who are afflicted with the common human delusion that because one software app has a price tag, it must be better than one that does not. When it comes to software, this just isn't so. Always look for high quality freeware, or at least donationware, because in so many product categories, you'll find that's where the best is. Why? It's because guys who design high-quality freeware are doing it for the sheer joy of creating something useful, not to make a buck. Guys who put together a lame product like Launchd Editor and ask $5 for it are just looking to make a buck on something they've put very little effort into. It's a shame, and I do hope readers of this site will head in the right direction when the time comes to begin using Launchd effectively.

All Launchd Editor does is walk you through filling in the fields and optional tags and attributes of the Launchd XML file format. It does so with the minimum possible user interface style (that is, none). Heck, its author didn't even bother to make an icon for his shareware. You can open existing launchd .plist files and edit them, or make new ones, but that's it. In the process, Launchd Editor provides no help whatsoever... no Help file, no inline help, no external links to information on launchd.

Again, this might seem like a lot if you had never seen Lingon, but once you have, you're going to hope users of MacUpdate, VersionTracker, and Google don't go astray merely out of ignorance. This isn't a review of Lingon, but here's a short list of the things Lingon does elegantly that go way beyond Launchd Editor:

• Provides an "Assistant" to walk you through making your first Launchd agent. The assistant asks you the essential questions and doesn't confuse you with all the complicated options, which is great for first-timers.
• Gives you access to all of the Launch agents and daemons on your entire system, and you can open and view them to the extent you have the appropriate privileges. This means all I had to do was open Lingon and select "Users Daemons" (which required authentication) to discover that Google Desktop had installed two separate Launch Daemons to support itself.
• Gives you a friendly interface for starting, stopping, and loading/reloading any given agent or daemon.
• Provides an advanced view of the pure XML code itself, which you can edit by hand if you're so inclined.
• Provides useful inline explanations of each field a you go. In addition, this freeware provides a useful Help file that the for-fee software does not. Finally, Lingon's Help menu even includes handy links to the launchd and launchctl man pages.
• Lingon also includes a full-service set of menus that enable keyboard shortcuts for most items, and it even provides a Preferences window that lets you select options like the fonts you'd like to use and the external editor you prefer.

Now, you know that the developer of Launchd Editor is aware of Lingon... right? How do you suppose he justifies charging for software that he knows is inferior to another product users can get for free? He's counting on the web being a big place, and he knows a lot of people looking for a launchd editor will find his site before they discover Lingon. Does that make it right? Not on Mars, it doesn't.

Anyway, forget you ever heard of Launchd Editor... Go grab a copy of Lingon if you want to begin harnessing the awesome power of launchd on your Mac! It's the best launchd editor I'm aware of at any price.

Version as tested: 1.0.1.

Originally downloaded January 27, 2007. This little app may be the reason SpotMeta, which I blogged about earlier today, just went open source and permanently free. Punakea has the same basic goal as SpotMeta, and it's free. Still early in its development, Punakea already gets high marks from users at MacUpdate. Everything I said about SpotMeta would also be true of Punakea, and may the best Spotlight tagger win!

Update 4/6/07. I've tried using Punakea several times in the last couple of months, and at this point the tool appears to have not only stability problems but also some architectural flaws that make it fairly useless for me. Architecturally, Punakea is saddled with its use of the Finder comments field for storing tags, which simply isn't as powerful or flexible as the support extended tagging Apple introduced in Mac OS X 10.4 ("Tiger"). Extended tags have been available on other Unix systems for years, and they support pretty much unlimited data types and sizes. I learned about them from reading the documentation on SpotMeta, which leverages that powerful framework for its tagging scheme. Unfortunately, SpotMeta's development has now been abandoned, though its source code has been released for others to extend. There are really only one or two sticking points with SpotMeta, however, which I wish I knew enough Cocoa to fix. The other big flaw in Punakea is that it doesn't let you tag folders... only files.

Here are a few notes I made on Punakea during testing:

Pros

Cons

Nice interface Great idea having a persistent palette accessible from either side of the monitor without Punakea running. Unlike SpotMeta, Punakea adds meta data to the spotlight comments field. This has the virtue of being more accessible, but less flexible.

I moved about a dozen items to the Add Tags window and proceeded adding tags for each item. Unfortunately, Punakea adds the same tags to all the files in that window. Does this mean you have to tag apps individually? Punakea crashed twice while I was first using it. This behavior continued with a newer release (0.2.3). The palette doesn't let you browse items, apparently... only add tags. That's unfortunate, because it would be nice to have a persistent browser as well. I dragged a file to two tags in the sidebar, but it didn't show up in the browser when I click on those tags. Ah... I think it's because Punakea doesn't let you tag folders... only files (and apps). Actually, Punakea does need to be running for the sidebar to show up. I don't believe Punakea provides any application services or contextual menus to help with tagging. Punakea is limited to adding key words as metadata, unlike SpotMeta, which can add multiple values, booleans, text, numerical data, dates, and more.

Punakea is being managed by a clearly thoughtful, forward-thinking development team, and it's possible they will "see the light" one of these days, perhaps even use some of SpotMeta's amazing code. Already, they have released a beta version of a new tagging framework that appears to store the tags in a repository outside of the files themselves. This is good news potentially, because one of the limitations of extended tags, it appears, is that they don't survive when a given file is updated... for example, when a new application release is written over an older one. At least, I don't know how to keep them alive in that circumstance, and clearly, you don't want to have to create new tags every time you update a file!

Version as tested: 0.2.3.

Originally downloaded April 2, 2007. Imagine you could bookmark anything... in any browser, in the file system, on network drives... It's a lofty vision, and the Cocoa app Worldmark, a shareware utility that appears to be still in beta, tries to accomplish this feat. I've definitely got to see how well this works!

Update 4/2/07. Worldmark is the kind of project that is very disappointing to fans of Mac apps like me. It's been over a year since I downloaded Worldmark, and I've tried it a few times. One huge flaw in the concept is that the menubar icon is only there to let you drag items (URLs, files, folders, etc) to it.... it doesn't display a list of your "worldmarks", doesn't give you access to Worldmark's preferences (of which there are hardly any), and doesn't let you load different Worldmark documents. As such, it's totally counterintuitive. But that's not what's disappointing to me.

No, it's the fact that this first beta release was issued in September 2005, and there hasn't been a single update since then. And yet the developer has the temerity to expect users to pay $10 for continuous use. Sorry, but to me, payment for shareware is a bargain between user and developer: The user agrees to pay for the software, and the developer agrees to not put the software in mothballs, which is exactly what appears to have happened to Worldmark.

The good news, however, is that there's a free, open source application I had already adopted, which does everything Worldmark can do, plus a whole lot more: Check out Hallon some time. By developer Peter Borg, who has also given the Mac world the open source Cocoa apps Smultron and Lingon, Hallon actually lets you bookmark items within applications. For example, you can bookmark a particular song in iTunes, or a particular album in iPhoto, and so on. In addition, it's extensible, so users and other developers can build plugins for applications that aren't already included in the package. Finally, Hallon lets you associate due dates and set alarms for anything you bookmark.

And you know what? The Hallon menubar icon can be used not only to add new bookmarks, but it also displays existing bookmarks in various useful ways! Just like you'd expect.

In other words, Hallon is an awesome product that has solutions to problems you may not even known you could solve. My only complaint about Hallon is that it, too, hasn't been updated in a long time. However, I know that developer has been very busy on Smultron, and besides, he's not asking for any money for his effort. (Though I'm sure Borg would appreciate a contribution if you are so moved.)

Version as tested: 1.0 b1.

Originally downloaded March 27, 2006. Not sure what this can do that I can't do with the Get Info screen, but it's worthwhle taking a peek to see!

Update 4/2/07. As it turns out, there's not much to see here. This is another piece of software that was created and then abandoned... but at least it's freeware! If iRepair could do what it claimed, it could possibly provide some value added over the Finder's native tool, because sometimes you'd like to apply permission settings to an entire folder and all of its files and subfolders, but Finder doesn't give you the option. iRepair does.

p:Unfortunately, though it has a nice interface for doing it, iRepair doesn't work as advertised. In half a dozen trials today, I got iRepair to work only once. I tried to discern a pattern to the one success, but found none. It's possible that iRepair works on file systems that have a more traditional setup... in other words, ones that don't utilize symbolic links where actual folders usually are. But that's no excuse... it's easy enough to get Mac apps to follow symbolic links, if you know it's a requirement. iRepair probably just didn't go through much user testing. However, my idea that symbolic links may be tripping it up is pure speculation... I haven't had the time to test the theory. If anyone does and would like to send in test data, I'll be happy to amend this. If the developer reads this review, I also invite you to let me know if you revise the software, and I'll test it again sometime.

Version as tested: 1.0.5.

Originally downloaded 10/15/06. I'm sure I've been ignoring Jedit X because I thought it was the same as jEdit, a java-based programmer's editor that runs on most platforms. Frankly, I'd say Jedit X is unfortunately named, and I don't really "get" what the name means. But having two Jedit text editors for Mac OS X can't be a good thing. I'm downloading jEdit today, too, since it's been at least 2 years since I've tried it, and presumably it's much faster now than it used to be. Like Jedit, jEdit has a plethora of plugins and add-ons to extend its usefulness. Of course, the fact that Jedit X is based on Cocoa automatically gives it an advantage in my book, but I'm curious now to try them both. Unlike jEdit, which is an open-source editor, Jedit X is $28 shareware.

Update 3/22/07. So, I finally get around to giving Jedit X a serious try last night. I was immediately impressed by the software's overall design, and its Cocoa base meant nearly all the components were where I thought they'd be, and worked the way they should. It's always a mixed blessing when software provides a wealth of preference options, and Jedit provides much more than most. It would be interesting to compare the number of settings you can configure in Jedit X with those in, say, BBEdit or TextMate. For some reason, text editors tend to pile the configuration options on... probably to satisfy customer requests. Philosophically, I side with Apple's designers in thinking that the fewer options a user has to consider when opening a new piece of software, the better. On the other hand, I've often felt that Apple skimps too much in that direction. Fortunately, Jedit X's preferences are well designed and logically arranged.

Sadly, I didn't get much further than the 15-20 minutes I spent considering all of the preferences settings I could tweak. As soon as I downloaded a PHP file to see how well it handles typical editing and coding operations, I realized I'd have to say "bye bye" to Jedit X.

Everyone has a few "must have" requirements when it comes to software, and one of mine for a programmers editor is tabs. I have been using a tabbed editor for a long time now, beginning with BBEdit and for the last year or so, Smultron. I'll never go back to single windows for each document. I often open 10-15 files at a time when I'm programming, and the desktop just gets too cluttered! No matter how good Jedit X is in other ways, this is one feature I simply can't live without. I miss it when I'm in TextEdit, too, but I don't spend nearly as much time there as in Smultron. A really cool widget-building app that I've used in the past, Widgetarium, didn't have tabs either, and it drove me nuts trying to keep "tabs" of all the open files. Unfortunately, Apple's new Dashcode software for widget making is missing tabs as well.

If you're programming habits don't require a tabbed editor, you should definitely give Jedit X a look. it handles a wide variety of syntaxes and appears to be particularly strong in HTML. From what I saw, Jedit X would also make a very nice RTF-style editor like TextEdit... it has a lot of features geared to plain old writing, as opposed to programming. For documentation purposes, it has some nifty tools such as the "bookmarks" tab in its drawer... the accompanying screenshot is a Jedit X document containing the Jedit X Help file, showing the linked navigation in the form of bookmarks. Sounds like PDF, right? There's much more to Jedit X, but I didn't get any farther than this. Still, that was far enough to see that at only $29, it's a great value... If ... :-)

Version as tested: 1.39.

Originally downloaded July 26, 2006. Will the endless stream of cool-looking Mac OS X apps devoted to keeping people organized never cease? Most of these have many things to recommend them, but obviously you need to choose one and stick with it. Or at least, be sure that you can easily migrate from one to another if a more beautiful solution saunters by. :-) I like KIT's line describing itself as "a magic scrapbook for everything you want to keep."

Update 3/18/07. KIT is inexpensive (only $25), is attractive and easy to learn, since it follows the application design pattern of all the best Cocoa apps from the last year and a half. However, it has some basic design flaws that will be frustrating to experienced users expecting consistent behavior, and it's too unstable for even relatively light use. For me, it's also missing a number of critical features in a PIM. For the full details on my review, refer to the article "An Ongoing Review of Personal Information Management Tools for Mac OS X: No Perfect Solution (Yet)", updated with a review of KIT on 3/17/07.

Version as tested: 1.3.2.

Originally downloaded 8/6/06. Any time a new spreadsheet package comes out for the Mac, it's cause for celebration. Microsoft Excel was the first big hit in Mac spreadsheets, and Excel was the star on Macs long before it finally won the PC crowd. Since then, others software has occasionally emerged to challenge Microsoft, but none has really made the grade. The only one I found good enough to switch to was Ragtime, a German software product that covers the entire office/desktop publishing arena, which until recently was available in a free version for personal use. I'm a huge fan of Ragtime 6, which has been out in beta for about 6 months now; however, unless the company cuts individuals like me a break, I'll have to find something else: RagTime 5 (the current version) is over $800 for a single license! Anyway, I see that Tables is also from Germany, so I'm interested to see how it compares with Ragtime's excellent spreadsheet module.

Update 3/6/07. Tables is making great strides toward full usability, but it isn't there yet, according to my tests with some large, real-life spreadsheets. Yet I fully expect to move Tables from the "Reject" to the "Recommended" column if the developer continues making progress as he has since debuting Tables in summer 2006. For a full review of Tables, as well as my thoughts on all the contenders in the Mac OS X spreadsheet market, see my March 2007 article, "Mac OS X Spreadsheet Roundup: A Few Excel, The Rest Should Be Shot."

Version as tested: 1.2.

Originally downloaded 4/17/06. What I really want is an app that will find those non-Windows windows... the ones belonging to menu extras or launchers like Quicksilver or install programs. Those are the ones I find hard to find. We'll see if this does those kinds of windows... If not, I certainly won't be willing to shell out $10 for a tool that's just an alternative to Expose.

Update 2/22/07. As it turns out, that's really all that WindowFinder does... it presents the open windows of all your currently running desktop applications. It has no knowledge of windows belonging to background applications, which is what I really have trouble finding sometimes. If you're looking for something besides Expose to meet this need, there are a ton of 'em out there. One that I'm getting fonder of all the time, even though I don't use it much, is My Favorite Things. Like WindowFinder, it's a menubar launcher-type application, but it's infinitely more flexible than WindowFinder. In addition to displaying all the windows of your running apps, My Favorite Thing's main purpose is to let you easily find the apps you run most often. Like Tag Clouds, it can present the app list with each app at a different size to indicate its frequency of use. More about My Favorite Things when I get around to a review of it. If you'd like something that does this for free, check out Witch .

Version as tested: 1.4.

Originally downloaded 4/22/06. I don't believe I've ever tried Taco Edit... so it's time to do so! From the description, it looks like it might be pretty good. Of course, I've yet to find anything to drag me away from BBEdit, but it's not for lack of trying! :-)

Update 2/22/07. Well, in the many months since I wrote that intro paragraph, I have totally weaned myself off of BBEdit and mostly on to Smultron. I say "mostly," because Smultron doesn't have very much specific support for HTML editing and isn't great at handling a heavy document load. Unfortunately, Taco HTML Edit doesn't add anything significant (to me) of value over Smultron, and it lacks a few of Smultron's nicer features to boot. It's better than Smultron at HTML editing, but the way it supports code editing isn't robust enough for me. In any case, I'm impressed with Taco, but not enough to feed it to my Mac. See below for a screenshot and my short list of pros and cons.

Pros

Cons

Beautiful, simple user interface. User has full control over colors for both background and syntax. Even supports transparency in the document background! Supports HTML and PHP, and provides a live preview window that shows the formatted HTML as well as (I didn't test this) HTML generated from PHP code. Has good multiple-file search tool. Supports use of clips library for code snippets. Also lets you define a default shell for new documents. Has a nice code-cleanup function that will enforce indentation properly. Also includes a tool that will check code for syntax errors and display them in a neat little window.

No tabbed editing, or multi-document windows. No support for visual formatting of tables or lists. No support for CSS at all that I can tell. Syntax checker missed errors in my PHP code, so presumably it only checks the HTML code. Preview window isn't really "live"... you have to manually refresh it. Oddly, the preview window opens as a separate window, with split panes showing the code above and preview below. Wonder why the preview doesn't just open from below in the same window where you're editing... ? No support for contextual menu tagging. Everything is by mouse or keyboard shortcut. No support for site management, like link-checking, remote editing, or http://FTP. Doesn't support tabbed windows, which could mean a lot of window clutter if you have many files to edit.

Version as tested: 1.7.2.

Originally downloaded 4/16/06. There are plenty of mailer utilities out there, but this is the first one I've seen that's released as freeware, while also supporting Address Book, HTML, and SSL! Definitely worth checking out.

Update 2/22/07. Yes, you can use Quaik to send emails, but why would you want to? I still haven't figured that one out... Quaik is just a stripped down mail outbox, and you can set up some defaults, use Address Book for addresses and... well, that's about it. If the mail I sent a little while ago every arrives (it would have by now if I'd used Mail), I'll havve some idea how Quaik handles rich text formatting in an email. I told it to send the mail as HTML, and I'm curious to see how the bullet list gets translated... That's the most interesting part of Quaik to me now, but honestly I'd never use it for sending HTML mail, I don't think.

Version as tested: 1.0.3.