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10 Outstanding Freeware Apps for Your Mac
macmembrane.com — Essential applications for your collection. This is why Macs are awesome.
cablegunner- 23 diggs
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- jstad, on 05/11/2008, -0/+1Quicksilver is kind of useless IMO. I use Witch to do the app switcher, i never got into using all the quicksilver shortcuts.
- smithereensblog, on 05/11/2008, -0/+3I never use QS for App Switching myself (I use Witch, too), but I couldn't live without it as an app launcher... it's so fast and convenient! Also, I stick all my files in one big folder and use Spotlight to find them when needed, and recently I started adding Tags to files using QS's quick and easy Tags Plugin and it works amazingly well.
Basically everything I save goes onto my desktop, and then I know things on my desktop need to be tagged. Before I move it to the docs folder, I select it, hit control-space, control-G to bring the file into QS, type "tag", tab over and enter my tags separated by commas. The module automatically adds those tags to the Comments section of the file's metadata, each one prepended by an ampersand. It might sound like a lot but this all take like 10 seconds with Quicksilver, and then any time I want to find those tagged files, I just type the tag, ie: &work and it pops up immediately. It saves me so much time!
I guess my point is that QS is very powerful and some of the shortcuts are worth learning, IMHO- cablegunner, on 05/12/2008, -0/+1I think you're brave to put all your files "in one big folder." Sweet tagging workflow, though.
- tracydanger, on 05/12/2008, -0/+1Not intending to be critical, that all seems so pointless. I use a basic folder system for files, but if I want something quick, I just type something in Spotlight & the file pops right up - no need for tagging. Also, I have a stacks folder for my applications and an "Annex" stacks folder with shortcut icons to apps I use fairly frequently, but not frequently enough to want to clutter up my dock with (if that makes sense). Since my 'right + click' is mapped to turn on spotlight, sometimes I'll click that & type, say, "booth" and Photo Booth pops up, I hit enter & it opens. I've never been able to justify installing Quicksilver because all the "advantages" I hear about seem like things I can do just as quickly with things built into the OS. Maybe I'm misinformed.
- dyranios2, on 05/12/2008, -0/+1I use the dock for app switching, I have certain categories in stacks it works swell
- cablegunner, on 05/12/2008, -0/+1tracydanger: It's not that you're misinformed, just underinformed.
Quicksilver doesn't just open apps, which is all you can do in Spotlight. With Quicksilver you can, for instance, find a file, zip it, attach it to an email and send it off to a friend without ever leaving the Quicksilver interface - or the keyboard. Quicksilver lets you 'do stuff' to your files beyond simply opening them. It's really, really fast and you don't have to switch mental contexts to get things done. Spotlight, despite its awesome Leopard upgrade, is not nearly as powerful.
Moreover, things like tags (or 'keywords') are accessible by Spotlight as well, so even if you don't use Quicksilver, applying tags to your documents can save you some search time down the road. If you tag your documents in a reasonably consistent way then you don't even have to remember their names - just the project they were associated with or whatever. If the way you use your computer involves creating and saving lots of documents for different projects, then tagging your files gives your another level of control over how your navigate the contents of your Mac.
That being said, Quicksilver has a significant learning curve and tends to polarize opinions. Nevertheless, there's no need for you to "justify" installing Quicksilver - it's a free application. Give it a try and see if it can't improve your workflow.
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