4. Aquallegro (free)
If I had one wish for any children I might have in the future, it's that they be musically inclined. I played the violin and piano as a child but gave them up too soon - before I realized what I was missing. And I can't sing on key to save my life. (Patrons at the various karaoke bars where I have "performed" will attest to that.) Aquallegro can't help me sing better, but it's taught me a lot about music that I'd forgotten or never knew. Maybe one of these days I'll sign up for piano lessons.
I'm pathetic at recognizing notes by ear. But I vow to improve!
Clint Bradford
March 22, 2007 at 5:39pm
MaxMenus and Overflow have simplified and better-organized my MacBookPro, Leslie.
MaxMenus is a Preference Pane program (http://www.proteron.com) that places small, colored buttons in each corner of your display. What occurs with each of the four when clicked is very customizable - but I have stuck with the deafults: TopLeft = List of Applications; Top Right = Active Programs; Bottom Left = Recent Documents; and Lower Right = System Preferences. There are scores of options.
My Dock was getting full and sometimes confusing. Overflow (http://www.stuntsoftware.com) is, for me, one of the "cleanest" menu grouping utilities. It resides as an app in your Dock, but click on it, and you are able to customize groups of apps, docks, and/or folders to your liking. For example, my Overflow menus are "Internet," "Imaging," "Utilities," and "Recreation." Each of those sub-menus just happens to contain 12 choices each - but that number is, of course, customizable for each menu.
I haven't even scratched the depth of options for these two enhancements.
Thanks for this opportunity!
Clint Bradford,
Mira Loma, CA
Leslie Ayers
March 23, 2007 at 9:28am
I'll definitely check those out. Both seem very useful! (And I'm freakishly obsessed with keeping an uncluttered dock and desktop, so they're both right up my alley.) You might also stay on the lookout for an upcoming how-to screencast that Rik did where he explains how to add a My Apps folder to the dock so you can de-clutter it. Thanks! ~Leslie
