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77 Comments
- DarkMeld, on 10/10/2007, -0/+21I think of it as a dock replacement. Instead of having a billion things on ur dock, you can just type in a few letters + press enter and get the app u want. its way better on laptops because instead of moving from keyboard to trackpad you could stay on w/e u were on. If i was already on the trackpad then yes i would click the shortcut icon.
My greatest example would be a user who is typing an essay and listening to music. But then a song comes up that he doesnt like. all he would have to do is press the shortcut key (such as Apple + Space) type "Ne" (which implies "Next Song" in quicksilver) and press enter. no fuss about moving your hand to the trackpad, selecting itunes, pressing next, and returning back to Word - apersaud, on 10/10/2007, -0/+18Apple should 'buy' Quicksilver and make it standard on Leopard. It is the first app I install on a fresh install of OS X.
- kris33, on 10/10/2007, -2/+20Check the video. It is one of the best OS X applications and is very useful.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quicksilver_(software) - mozzep, on 10/10/2007, -0/+17I do see what all the fuss is about. Here's an instance of it's usability: I check mutual funds a lot. There are a lot of different sites that give information on mutual funds and I normally want to check all of them as they all contain information that is of use to me. Specifically, I check mfea.com, finance.google.com and finance.yahoo.com. So, instead of checking all these sites for each mutual fund symbol, I can simply invoke quicksilver, with a specific hotkey, type in the symbol, press enter, and it will open all three sites in safari with the symbol. This saves me an incredible amount of time.
Another instance, I want to play an album in iTunes without switching over to iTunes or using the mouse at all. I have three hotkeys for itunes: one browses by artist, another by album, and one browses by song. I invoke the menu I want, then simply type the album, artist, or song to which I want to listen, press enter and it starts playing. This saves me a lot of time. I can also, pause, skip forward or backward, or change the volume up or down, without switching to iTunes.
Perhaps the most common application for quicksilver is a launcher. I have a lot of applications and files stored on my computer. I could navigate around in finder and look for them and click the mouse 10 or 20 times to find the file... or I could invoke quicksilver, type the name (or directory as I can navigate inside of quicksilver) and press enter.
I can see if you understand the fuss, but don't see it useful to you. Yet, I think if you spend some time really learning and using the program, you will soon find it indispensible. - directive0, on 10/10/2007, -0/+14Quicksilver is the best free app I've ever used. Everytime I see an article about it on Digg I feel compelled to comment.
Thank you quicksilver developers, you've saved me countless hours clicking around the finder. - SenatorPenguin, on 10/10/2007, -0/+14Though I love quicksilver, I can understand why someone would tend to stay away from it. Its a mysterious app with no UI to speak of, and it slaps all Apple interface guidelines in the face. I myself couldn't figure what to do with it until one very specific example. Microsoft Office has two kind of hidden modes, Japanese and English. The mode is changed by dragging the application, such as Word or Powerpoint, onto another application hidden the the Office directory called Microsoft Language Register. This was a major pain, until I found that Quicksilver could do it by just typing Wo(rd), tab, wi(open with), tab, Lan(guage register). That did actually shave 25 seconds off of a task I did often.
After that, I found simple tasks became doubly simple by just using Quicksilver. It really takes a lot of experimentation, and only gets use if you like hotkeys, but it is immensely useful. - SirG3, on 10/10/2007, -0/+9It's extremely handy... Just to scratch the surface, here's an example:
cs (tab) com (tab) up (enter)
There, I just compressed the current file and uploaded it with Transmit. Or to open the current file in Hex Fiend:
cs (tab) ow (tab) he (enter) - SenatorPenguin, on 10/10/2007, -0/+8He was also using Leopard, so it can't be too old.
- mywhitenoise, on 10/10/2007, -25/+32I've been using macs for about 15 years, I've heard a lot about quicksilver, and everyone saying it's the 'must have application', but I really don't see what all the fuss is about...i'm not even exactly sure what the hell this program does, as many times as I've read the description.
- leek, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6not everybody can speak fluently and confidently in front of a crowd and camera... you could use some indulgence!
- samuofm, on 10/10/2007, -3/+9Too late, google snatched him.
- leek, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6How can it be annoying ? You have to call it on using a hotkey before it does anything... it's not like it was popping all the time
- spinchange, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5Change your Quicksilver prefs to the Bezel interface - That 's the purple one with the eye candy that he's using.
- jawngee, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5Maybe listen to the presentation with your ears ... at the start he mentions that he never gives talks.
- KSUdesigner, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5It's cmd tab, not shift tab. Regardless, your method might be quick, but the other is still quicker. Every little bit of time you save adds up throughout the course of the day.
- faaborg, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5These types of hybrid command line GUI interfaces can be really powerful, and should be taken more seriously by application designers. Mozilla Labs is even considering creating a graphical keyboard interface for Firefox: http://labs.mozilla.com/2007/07/the-graphical-keyboard-user-interface/
- tobsterius, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4Pretty sure he was brought on to work on Google Desktop for the Mac. I remember reading that somewhere.
Anyway, this isn't really a demo, this is more like a discussion about the philosophy that went into developing QuickSilver. Still pretty interesting to watch, regardless. - leek, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4maybe you should have given you one more day... you really get used to it after a while and its full potential grows with experience
- ajtait, on 10/10/2007, -2/+6This looks like one giant NDA violation to me. Anyone else realize he is running Leopard at a public demo?
- noblepenguin, on 10/10/2007, -1/+4What I do is set up universal keyboard shortcuts for my commonly used apps. I hold down Option+Ctrl and type a letter (it's usually the first letter of the app). To open Transmit, for example, I hold Opt+Ctrl with my thumb and reach for "T" with my index finger. I can open most apps with just my left hand that way. Adobe's stuff is set to F1-F4.
I control iTunes with universal shortcuts too, except I use Ctrl+Shift and Q to play/pause, A to skip back a song, S to move forward. I can damn near control my whole computer with my left hand (important for those times when you just need your right hand ;) - OldTownAlex, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Nicholas is DA MAN!! Quicksilver is a great app. Keep up the great work, Alcor!!!
"Mind like water" - Flarup, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Very nice stuff. Interesting presentation. I love QS, and the mentality behind it - i use it everyday.
- wiihuck, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3it's a pretty simple concept, really. search for an object, apply an action.
want to open an application? search for the app (it learns your tendencies as you use it, so it rarely takes more than three keystrokes to find your app) hit tab and choose you action (open -- one of many actions you can use, including reveal, delete, move, copy).
want to move a file you downloaded to the desktop to a new folder you haven't yet created buried in your dump folder? you can click around in the finder....or you can pull up quicksilver, select your dump folder, tab to the "create new" action, tab to folder, hit return. select the file on your desktop, tab to "move," tab and select the new folder you created.
anything that you can do by clicking around in the finder, can be done more quickly, and more easily with quicksilver.
watching your slingbox on mac and realize you forgot to send an email to your boss? you could start up your email program, create a new email, choose to send it to your boss, then flip back to slingbox. ooooor you could pull up QS, type in your email, tab to "send email" tab to your boss and hit enter. no need to put slingplayer in the background. no need to open your email program.
act without doing. - mateo60, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Quicksilver will make you hate Spotlight. I've only been using Quicksilver for a month or so, mainly as an application launcher and sptlight replacement. When I sit down at a machine without Quicksilver, I feel naked. It isn't terriblly inutitive to learn, but so far, it's quite powerful.
- tzon, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Cool app. Love it.
- jhuebel, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Nearly useless? That's a bit sensational, don't you think? But thanks for the pointer about Katapult. Didn't know about that.
- directive0, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Sorry? Why are you sorry? If you don't like it don't use it, its no skin off our back.
- jhuebel, on 10/10/2007, -2/+4Agreed. Hit Command-Space and type in your search in Spotlight. Easy as that.
- AWidgetIHaveNot, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Er, because he is.
- Scotepi, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2at the vary lest use quicksilver for a app launcher. i bind apple+space to it and all you do is type apple+space it and launch itunes or whatever, its instant.
- RadiantBeing, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2His presentation zen is stong.
- coldfusion1970, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Sounds like you're a professional *****-talker.
- willtwilson, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2What does 'cs' stand for?
- stockjones, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I was not aware I was a lemming or that I was promoting it. In fact I was kind of giving it a thumbs down but then again whoever said programmers have good reading comprehension. I said it was basically a finder on steroids and that the command tools really wont mean much to Joe average Mac user. So we are actually in agreement. Its over-hyped
- jawngee, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1amen
- rhesuspieces00, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1he doesn't reveal anything about Leopard that hasn't already been publicly disclosed. you see the HIG-violating dock. *****.
- mucko, on 10/10/2007, -4/+5They did? I thought he was just there as part of their guest speaker series.
- wiihuck, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1no UI to speak of? my UI is a 3D cube that rotates when i switch between objects and actions.
- SirG3, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Current selection.
- blastcube, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1What is that 'constellation' thing he was talking about. It looked cool. Is it a plugin for QuickSilver or a stand alone app?
- anagramarama, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1wow, six, count em, and Modern ones too, that's brill.
ps. check your sources, don't trust hopelessly faked walt disney movies... - inactive, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Stupid idea from a crazed QS fanboy, I like QS but this wouldnt be any help at all. They would be better off making some quicksilver plugin
- wiihuck, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1rock out your cmd-esc. one less keystroke. triggers/quicksilver/command window with selection.
- stockjones, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1This is a great example of a power tool that really wont mean much to the average user although a fancy GUI may help. Its uber finder and command line tool. The command line tool wont mean much to most Apple users.
- dragazis, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1It's a plugin. If you go into the plugin section of quicksilver preferences, you'll see it under the all plugins section.
- willtwilson, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I agree with all the above. But for the new user it doesn't even need all the setup for items such as iTunes manipulation.
I invoke Quicksilver, then type either Artist, Track, Party or the name of a playlist. - DaffyDuck, on 10/10/2007, -4/+5"Instead of having a billion things on ur dock, you can just type in a few letters + press enter and get the app u want." --- I do this with Spotlight without the added bloat!
- phytonix, on 10/10/2007, -2/+3He is cute.
- PradaPete, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0yeah I like the way he's too shy to look straight at the audience. Generally he seems to have straightivity issues LOL
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