I've switched back over to LaunchBar... again...
For what it does, it does really well. Isn't that a Unix / Apple concept.
It saves me time, and that's what I really want. Although Quicksilver does have some flash, LaunchBar saves me time.
I have many posts to put up about some other things that LaunchBar currently does better than QS, when I have the time I'll put them up.
If the functionality were equal, I would choose QS for the flash of it.
But the functionality is not equal, and LB allows me to process things faster. Especially with how I use my desktop. Once a day I process everything off the desktop to other folders. LB allows me to do this and saves me time. QS falls short with this type of processing.
Sunday, July 8, 2007
Monday, May 28, 2007
Support of FileVault: LB 1: QS 0
LaunchBar supports FileVault perfectly... QuickSilver fails miserably...
I cannot move files around in QuickSilver... I'm assuming because of FileVault.
I cannot add tags to files in QuickSilver... I'm assuming because of FileVault.
I have no problems moving around with LaunchBar. It works like a well oiled machine.
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I cannot move files around in QuickSilver... I'm assuming because of FileVault.
I cannot add tags to files in QuickSilver... I'm assuming because of FileVault.
I have no problems moving around with LaunchBar. It works like a well oiled machine.
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Tuesday, February 27, 2007
QuickSilver Tutorials Wiki
Straight from the source of QuickSilver...
A listing of QuickSilver Tutorials.
http://docs.blacktree.com/quicksilver/tutorials
Thank you for the link howard.
(I absolutely love the website at blacktree... it's full of mystery. More on that later)
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A listing of QuickSilver Tutorials.
http://docs.blacktree.com/quicksilver/tutorials
Thank you for the link howard.
(I absolutely love the website at blacktree... it's full of mystery. More on that later)
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Screencasts for learning QuickSilver
One thing about QuickSilver that LaunchBar doesn't have... is a zealot following, which I'm going to post about the religious qualities of QuickSilver in another post and award a point. Why so many zealots? A cynic could say because there was never any usable documentation, and so the users are forced to learn it or leave it, as well as creating the documentation for QuickSilver.
An open source fanatic may counter with, it's a free application, with plugins created by users... software for the people by the people.
Or it could be that QuickSilver is a free program... boggles the mind that such an incredible piece of software is still free and no ads on their site either. That's enough to make anyone a zealot about it.
And then there are the fans who just love the software. It does inspire a small warm glow inside you when you use it, it's just not mentioned openly.
The Apple Blog has been putting together a collection of screencasts to walk us through different QuickSilver functions. And because a picture is worth a bunch of words...
Check them out here:
The Apple Blog Screencasts
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An open source fanatic may counter with, it's a free application, with plugins created by users... software for the people by the people.
Or it could be that QuickSilver is a free program... boggles the mind that such an incredible piece of software is still free and no ads on their site either. That's enough to make anyone a zealot about it.
And then there are the fans who just love the software. It does inspire a small warm glow inside you when you use it, it's just not mentioned openly.
The Apple Blog has been putting together a collection of screencasts to walk us through different QuickSilver functions. And because a picture is worth a bunch of words...
Check them out here:
The Apple Blog Screencasts
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Monday, February 26, 2007
Holding it down on da Engineering: LB 1: QS 0
In a conversation with howard, he brought to mind why I love Macs so much... holding it down on the engineering.
Why are Apple Macintoshes better than W? Because you can't customize as much. Apple goes for elegance, W for bombardment.
If Apple is a Sniper, Windose is D-Day. Windows hits you with every customizable pimpdaddyable configurable option. Windows gives you a b-52 while the Mac hands you an M82.
Windows has Five upgrade options.
Let that sink in... F I V E.
When Apple Leopard comes out, know how many upgrade options they will have?
Hmm... I'll give you a hint...
It's the loneliest number that you'll ever do
Two can be just as bad
It's the lonliest number since the number o-o-one
It's why I like Apple. They give you a fair price on a great product, without it feeling like they are attempting to milk you for money.
It's like this, I would rather go to an auto mechanic that I trust will tell me the truth and pay him fairly, than try to get a cheaper mechanic who may lie to me to up the price.
Okay, so back to LaunchBar vs QuickSilver. LaunchBar is less over engineered than QuickSilver. QuickSilver is very customizable. But do you need to pimp it up?
I'll admit, I love the way QuickSilver looks, and animates. It's just freakin' fun. And tricking out QuickSilver can be fun also. LaunchBar... mmm... not so fun, but very solid and sturdy... and closer to elegance than QuickSilver.
I'm torn between the two sides... and somewhere in between is elegance. Too complex and you become bloated and slowed down. Too simple, and it takes more work to get something done than should. The middle is elegance...
From WikiPedia
Elegance is the attribute of being unusually effective and simple. It is frequently used as a standard of tastefulness, particularly in the areas of visual design and decoration. Elegant things exhibit refined grace and dignified propriety.
And so... although the features of QuickSilver are piling up the points, I'll award the elegance feature to LaunchBar... keepin' it real... for now.
Time to pimp up my blog a bit and clutter it with some video examples...
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Why are Apple Macintoshes better than W? Because you can't customize as much. Apple goes for elegance, W for bombardment.
If Apple is a Sniper, Windose is D-Day. Windows hits you with every customizable pimpdaddyable configurable option. Windows gives you a b-52 while the Mac hands you an M82.
Windows has Five upgrade options.
Let that sink in... F I V E.
When Apple Leopard comes out, know how many upgrade options they will have?
Hmm... I'll give you a hint...
It's the loneliest number that you'll ever do
Two can be just as bad
It's the lonliest number since the number o-o-one
It's why I like Apple. They give you a fair price on a great product, without it feeling like they are attempting to milk you for money.
It's like this, I would rather go to an auto mechanic that I trust will tell me the truth and pay him fairly, than try to get a cheaper mechanic who may lie to me to up the price.
Okay, so back to LaunchBar vs QuickSilver. LaunchBar is less over engineered than QuickSilver. QuickSilver is very customizable. But do you need to pimp it up?
I'll admit, I love the way QuickSilver looks, and animates. It's just freakin' fun. And tricking out QuickSilver can be fun also. LaunchBar... mmm... not so fun, but very solid and sturdy... and closer to elegance than QuickSilver.
I'm torn between the two sides... and somewhere in between is elegance. Too complex and you become bloated and slowed down. Too simple, and it takes more work to get something done than should. The middle is elegance...
From WikiPedia
Elegance is the attribute of being unusually effective and simple. It is frequently used as a standard of tastefulness, particularly in the areas of visual design and decoration. Elegant things exhibit refined grace and dignified propriety.
And so... although the features of QuickSilver are piling up the points, I'll award the elegance feature to LaunchBar... keepin' it real... for now.
Time to pimp up my blog a bit and clutter it with some video examples...
Seed Newsvine
Customizable Triggers: LB 0: QS 1
A fellow blogger, howard, commented his love of the QuickSilver triggers in the post about Filing Files from the Desktop.
While this is a huge advantage... and LaunchBar does not have the ability to create triggers... I feel that the triggers are a crutch for developing an elegant solution for getting to files and folders quickly. In my opinion, the point of LaunchBar & Quicksilver is to get away from triggers... to get away from remembering keystroke shortcuts, and glean from the user the users keystrokes. The program should be organic, learning as it goes, and becoming an extension of the user. Quicksilver should bend to the user, and not the user bend to Quicksilver (even if it is the user's own customizable keystroke shortcuts that the user is bending to).
On one hand, it would make sense to award QS a point for the use of triggers, and being able to customize them. On the other hand, if the application is developed correctly, you won't have the need to memorize additional keystrokes.
However, being that I just posted about using the active menu items... using a customizable trigger... the trigger does allow you to create your own... separate applications. Like accessing the menu bar items from the active application. And there are a couple other customizable shortcuts I have, one for searching a specific folder full of applescripts I have. Again, in LaunchBar, I don't need a trigger for the applescripts. I just type the first letter of the folder, spacebar and I'm in for a subsearch. In QuickSilver, browsing is not as easy to do. It can be done, but unless you've tried Launchbar and QuickSilver both, you won't know how much easier and intuitive Launchbar is for browsing through folders.
Here's a article explaining how to set up triggers along with an intro to QuickSilver:
QuickSilver changes everything
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While this is a huge advantage... and LaunchBar does not have the ability to create triggers... I feel that the triggers are a crutch for developing an elegant solution for getting to files and folders quickly. In my opinion, the point of LaunchBar & Quicksilver is to get away from triggers... to get away from remembering keystroke shortcuts, and glean from the user the users keystrokes. The program should be organic, learning as it goes, and becoming an extension of the user. Quicksilver should bend to the user, and not the user bend to Quicksilver (even if it is the user's own customizable keystroke shortcuts that the user is bending to).
On one hand, it would make sense to award QS a point for the use of triggers, and being able to customize them. On the other hand, if the application is developed correctly, you won't have the need to memorize additional keystrokes.
However, being that I just posted about using the active menu items... using a customizable trigger... the trigger does allow you to create your own... separate applications. Like accessing the menu bar items from the active application. And there are a couple other customizable shortcuts I have, one for searching a specific folder full of applescripts I have. Again, in LaunchBar, I don't need a trigger for the applescripts. I just type the first letter of the folder, spacebar and I'm in for a subsearch. In QuickSilver, browsing is not as easy to do. It can be done, but unless you've tried Launchbar and QuickSilver both, you won't know how much easier and intuitive Launchbar is for browsing through folders.
Here's a article explaining how to set up triggers along with an intro to QuickSilver:
QuickSilver changes everything
Seed Newsvine
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Accessing Menu Items: LB 0: QS 3
At first glance this may seem unfair to give QS three points compared to LB. But this feature is so freakin' cool... it blows my mind. I think you may agree it's worth the three points.
Within QuickSilver a user is able to access any menu bar item from the current application. Why is this so insanely great?
You create your own dynamic keyboard shortcuts!
let me say this again...
You create your own dynamic keyboard shortcuts!
No more memorizing the keyboard shortcut for save, QS will begin to remember what you type the most and bring up s for save.
For example:
For me to open up a new tab, all I do is
option+spacebar
nt
enter
Now... you may be scoffing... thinking... hmphph... I already know that command+n is a new tab. Why would I want to spend three keystrokes when I can do it in one.
And that's a valid argument. I'll probably continue to use command+n myself.
But do you know what the keystroke is for the menu item 'mail link to this page'?
I don't... but I can easily find out.
option+spacebar
down arrow
will show me all options!
or
option+spacebar
s
will show me all menu items with an s in them.
I can browse the menu items with the keyboard!
command+option
c
tab
mb
enter
and I can browse the menu bar items to find the specific name of the menu bar item!
Maybe three points isn't enough for this one. It's just about game over with that trick.
LaunchBar still does many tasks more efficiently. QuickSilver is a sleeping behomath... not yet awakened, with a little polish it could take over the world.
I have many more comparisons, and LaunchBar doesn't do as badly as I was fearing at first. I LaunchBar is great if you don't want to have to fool with it. QuickSilver will do so much more, but is not as elegant and has a steep learning curve.
Here's a post that tells you how to set this up:
http://theappleblog.com/2006/11/01/quicksilver-does-menus-too/
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Within QuickSilver a user is able to access any menu bar item from the current application. Why is this so insanely great?
You create your own dynamic keyboard shortcuts!
let me say this again...
You create your own dynamic keyboard shortcuts!
No more memorizing the keyboard shortcut for save, QS will begin to remember what you type the most and bring up s for save.
For example:
For me to open up a new tab, all I do is
option+spacebar
nt
enter
Now... you may be scoffing... thinking... hmphph... I already know that command+n is a new tab. Why would I want to spend three keystrokes when I can do it in one.
And that's a valid argument. I'll probably continue to use command+n myself.
But do you know what the keystroke is for the menu item 'mail link to this page'?
I don't... but I can easily find out.
option+spacebar
down arrow
will show me all options!
or
option+spacebar
s
will show me all menu items with an s in them.
I can browse the menu items with the keyboard!
command+option
c
tab
mb
enter
and I can browse the menu bar items to find the specific name of the menu bar item!
Maybe three points isn't enough for this one. It's just about game over with that trick.
LaunchBar still does many tasks more efficiently. QuickSilver is a sleeping behomath... not yet awakened, with a little polish it could take over the world.
I have many more comparisons, and LaunchBar doesn't do as badly as I was fearing at first. I LaunchBar is great if you don't want to have to fool with it. QuickSilver will do so much more, but is not as elegant and has a steep learning curve.
Here's a post that tells you how to set this up:
http://theappleblog.com/2006/11/01/quicksilver-does-menus-too/
Seed Newsvine
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