Forums | MacLife

idoaudio · 2003-11-25 4:15 pm

What's the preferred launcher app for OS X?

I've tried -

Dock Extender - Liked it, but slowwww navigation & buggy

F10 Launcher - Liked it a lot, but it has a clumbsy interface for editing menus. Sure is solid though.

Alias Menu - seems to have great potential, but buggy on my Mac.

I still miss my superfast menus from OS9 and my empty apple menu that I could customise till my hearts content. Finding and launching apps is a huge shortfall in OS X if you ask me. Seems silly to have to dig into the finder for anything not kept in the dock... and then launch the app & then close the finder window - or leave it open as clutter.

I'm a minimalist & love things organized and tidy!

Thoughts?

DannyG · 2003-11-25 4:23 pm

Have you tried putting your Applications folder in the Dock? Or make up a folder of shortcuts to various programs (say "Work" or "Games") that you then put in the Dock? Then you can select your programs with a right-click (if you've got a two button mouse) or Cntl-click without opening the folder.

Good luck.

djkowall · 2003-11-25 4:32 pm

I've heard great things about LaunchBar

idoaudio · 2003-11-25 5:16 pm

Well, add launchbar to the list of apps I've tried. It's superb - assuming it's the sort of thing you'd like, which I didn't.

What I really want is a giant bookmarks list in my dock or menubar that is FAST and easy to edit. I know I could put a folder in my dock to accomplish this by right-clicking... but that annoys me because I keep forgetting to right-click...

mahakali · 2003-11-25 5:50 pm

Well, add launchbar to the list of apps I've tried. It's superb - assuming it's the sort of thing you'd like, which I didn't.

What I really want is a giant bookmarks list in my dock or menubar that is FAST and easy to edit. I know I could put a folder in my dock to accomplish this by right-clicking... but that annoys me because I keep forgetting to right-click...

You can click-and-hold, usually takes about 1 sec. I've been using folders with aliases and applications (gotta love bundled apps.)

orbit · 2003-11-25 7:32 pm

What I really want is a giant bookmarks list in my dock or menubar that is FAST and easy to edit.

MaxMenus is pretty sweet. I have a whole menu for Apps, another for MP3s and the other two... I don't use. But it's completely customizable and pretty quick in Panther too on my slow machine, i.e. much faster than the dock.

orbit · 2003-11-25 8:03 pm

Are you taking advantage of your function keys? That gives you twelve apps right there with something like iKey. And iKey is free too.

idoaudio · 2003-11-25 8:45 pm

Thanks for the tip on MaxMenus - I'll check it out.

I've got my function keys eaten up with things like Synergy (for iTunes control) - http://synergy.wincent.com/

DBvader · 2003-11-25 9:17 pm

I use a combination of Launchbar and iKey, and love it.

Launchbar, imo, is one of the handiest program i have ever seen, and other than iTunes is the best application i have used since switching.

iKey is great too, especially for those apps that you use a lot.

I think that the best part of either is that it keeps the crap out of your dock.

For iKey, this is my setup:

F5: Safari
F6: iTunes
F7: Mail
F8: Terminal

F9: Previous Song for iTunes (using scripts)
F10: Play/Pause
F11: Next Song

(my expose keys are remapped to F1-F3, though i mostly use the desktop corner triggering [whatever that is called])

fizzwinkus · 2003-11-25 10:49 pm

i use a combination of key xing and a folder in the dock full of aliases. key xing is setup as follows:

f1=previous track
f2=play/pause
f3=play/pause
f4=next track

f5=ical
f6=addressbook
f7=nettunes
f8=itunes

(these are setup in order of how they appear on my monitors so there is a positional connotation from left to right)
f9=safari
f10=xchat
f11=mail
f12=ichat

b_dubb · 2003-11-26 12:19 am

here's my solution

i create aliases for different apps and put the different aliases in subfolders organized by their use.

example:

i made aliases for all my Macromedia apps and put the aliases in a subfolder. give the folder (which i leave in Applications) a Macromedia icon and put the folder with the aliases in the dock.

i have done this for iApps and Productivity (Appleworks and MS Office, etc)

i have also created a similar dock shortcut for folders i tend to spend lots of time in ... like web sites that i'm developing.

i will frequently add an icon to the alias folder to set it apart from your average folder

fizzwinkus · 2003-11-26 2:05 am

smile

Temetka · 2003-11-26 5:38 pm

I happen to like dragthing.

joemikeb · 2003-11-26 5:45 pm

I have used Snard for some time now. It can either be placed in the Menu bar or the Dock. It isn't flashy, but very stable and reliable and has never had an impact on system performance.

muscmonkey · 2003-11-26 11:37 pm

If you miss the old customizable apple menu from OS 9 then you might consider installing FruitMenu. It does everything the old apple menu did and then some. It's very affordable and I have never had any problems with it except that Unsanity still hasn't released the update for Panther yet. It is supposed to be released early next week.

Egress · 2003-11-27 12:18 am

My most frequently used apps are in the Dock.

I use the Favorites folder for aliases of less-used apps. (I had to use it for something!)

b_dubb · 2007-04-11 11:39 am

b_dubb wrote:
here's my solution

i create aliases for different apps and put the different aliases in subfolders organized by their use.

example:

i made aliases for all my Macromedia apps and put the aliases in a subfolder. give the folder (which i leave in Applications) a Macromedia icon and put the folder with the aliases in the dock.

i have done this for iApps and Productivity (Appleworks and MS Office, etc)

i have also created a similar dock shortcut for folders i tend to spend lots of time in ... like web sites that i'm developing.

i will frequently add an icon to the alias folder to set it apart from your average folder

http://homepage.mac.com/clairaudiant/dock.jpg

Rik .... i thought your video how to sounded familiar. i really like the refinements. renaming the alias to create groups by function. NICE

Last edited by b_dubb (2007-04-11 11:41 am)

ephemeron · 2007-04-11 12:01 pm

I use Quicksilver. It's not an always-visible menu of stuff like Launchbar or the Dock, though; more of a pop-up search interface, keyboard- rather then mouse-centric.

maleko · 2007-04-11 12:27 pm

Yup, Quicksilver is the best thing ever. If you want a menu, I like TigerLaunch.

sturner · 2007-04-11 12:38 pm

Fruit Menu has been rock solid for me. I've used it since 10.2.8 and I'm up to 10.4.9. The combination of context sensitive mousing and the addition of features to the menu selection as well as able to place specific applications in the menu is very nice.

Donkey Butter · 2007-04-11 1:22 pm

I use Xmenu. it puts a little icon in my menu bar and I fill it with whatever I want. there are presets for documents, applications, developers, home or user defined. it's free and it works great.

w p h · 2007-04-11 3:39 pm

A thread from 2003?

I use Google Desktop.

maxintosh · 2007-04-11 5:25 pm

I use Overflow and Quicksilver.

F041 · 2007-04-11 5:56 pm

I use Butler but am trying to learn about Quicksilver. Anyone know of any good tutorials?

Pariah · 2007-04-11 5:59 pm

I use FinderPop to add a menu of favorite apps to the right click context menus, just like I have for 10 years under both the Old OS and OSX.
FinderPop rocks and it's even universal now!
http://www.finderpop.com/

Forums | MacLife

#1 2003-11-25 4:15 pm

Preferred launcher app for OS X?

#2 2003-11-25 4:23 pm

Re: Preferred launcher app for OS X?

#3 2003-11-25 4:32 pm

Re: Preferred launcher app for OS X?

#4 2003-11-25 5:16 pm

Re: Preferred launcher app for OS X?

#5 2003-11-25 5:50 pm

Re: Preferred launcher app for OS X?

#6 2003-11-25 7:32 pm

Re: Preferred launcher app for OS X?

#7 2003-11-25 8:03 pm

Re: Preferred launcher app for OS X?

#8 2003-11-25 8:45 pm

Re: Preferred launcher app for OS X?

#9 2003-11-25 9:17 pm

Re: Preferred launcher app for OS X?

#10 2003-11-25 10:49 pm

Re: Preferred launcher app for OS X?

#11 2003-11-26 12:19 am

Re: Preferred launcher app for OS X?

#12 2003-11-26 2:05 am

Re: Preferred launcher app for OS X?

#13 2003-11-26 5:38 pm

Re: Preferred launcher app for OS X?

#14 2003-11-26 5:45 pm

Re: Preferred launcher app for OS X?

#15 2003-11-26 11:37 pm

Re: Preferred launcher app for OS X?

#16 2003-11-27 12:18 am

Re: Preferred launcher app for OS X?

#17 2007-04-11 11:39 am

Re: Preferred launcher app for OS X?

b_dubb wrote:

#18 2007-04-11 12:01 pm

Re: Preferred launcher app for OS X?

#19 2007-04-11 12:27 pm

Re: Preferred launcher app for OS X?

#20 2007-04-11 12:38 pm

Re: Preferred launcher app for OS X?

#21 2007-04-11 1:22 pm

Re: Preferred launcher app for OS X?

#22 2007-04-11 3:39 pm

Re: Preferred launcher app for OS X?

#23 2007-04-11 5:25 pm

Re: Preferred launcher app for OS X?

#24 2007-04-11 5:56 pm

Re: Preferred launcher app for OS X?

#25 2007-04-11 5:59 pm

Re: Preferred launcher app for OS X?

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