App to add word in menubar?

[johannnn]

Hi,

I am searching for an app that lets me add a word in the menubar.

I've tried several GTD apps but I just lose focus of the current task. I was thinking that it would be awesome if I could just add a word to the menubar, e.g. "book the ticket", which would focus me since I see the word even if I maximize my other programs.

Does anyone of you know such a program?

Thanks

 

[Gregg2]

Not in the menu bar, but. . . if you use iCal and set it to give you an alert, that will pop up on top of everything else and stay on top, whether you want it to or not.

 

[johannnn]

Not exactly what I wanted, but thanks for the tip nevertheless.

 

[Dias]

Why don't you use Stickies? It's built-in in MacOS, and you can make the window always on top of other windows.

 

[johannnn]

Why don't you use Stickies? It's built-in in MacOS, and you can make the window always on top of other windows.

They are more intrusive and cant float over menubar hence partly covering my windows. Thanks anyway.

 

[sammich]

Grab GeekTool. It's a handy app which lets you display bits of information on the screen/desktop. And you can sit one in your menubar.

However, it's kinda static, it will get overlapped by menu bar items from the right, or menu text from the left if you screen is of a lowish resolution and/or there are lots of menu bar items.

Here are some links to get you started:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/628023/ (recommended)
http://www.keynote2keynote.com/2007/04/10/ultimate-geektool-setup-pimp-your-desktop-part-2/
http://www.macgeekery.com/tips/cli/geektool_and_bash_one-liners

Also, if you want to make it simpler, you should get it to read from a text file like:

cat ~/note.txt

That'll look for a file called 'note.txt' in your Home Folder (~ is shortcut for home folder) and print it out, rather than you opening GeekTool to change the message. Note that the former option requires you to set a refresh period and it'll check the file every refresh, while the latter means less hard drive activity.

 

[johannnn]

Grab GeekTool. It's a handy app which lets you display bits of information on the screen/desktop. And you can sit one in your menubar.

However, it's kinda static, it will get overlapped by menu bar items from the right, or menu text from the left if you screen is of a lowish resolution and/or there are lots of menu bar items.

Here are some links to get you started:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/628023/ (recommended)
http://www.keynote2keynote.com/2007/04/10/ultimate-geektool-setup-pimp-your-desktop-part-2/
http://www.macgeekery.com/tips/cli/geektool_and_bash_one-liners

Also, if you want to make it simpler, you should get it to read from a text file like:

cat ~/note.txt

That'll look for a file called 'note.txt' in your Home Folder (~ is shortcut for home folder) and print it out, rather than you opening GeekTool to change the message. Note that the former option requires you to set a refresh period and it'll check the file every refresh, while the latter means less hard drive activity.

Thanks, this worked perfectly!

At first I was reluctant to use GeekTool but it had a lower learning curve than I expected. When you set the font to 14 px, keep on top and 4 px from top, it looks like a real menubar item.

I even played around and made an applescript .app calling the script on http://projects.tynsoe.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=141&sid=5dc80c36321dc5f9619f03083d2d12b8 to have less harddrive activity, but I settled on 15 sec refresh rate. I would guess it also matters less on the SSD in my 11" Air as no drive needs to spin up every time.

edit: The only trouble is that GeekTool has to be on top to be shown in the menubar, but that means it will be on top even when you run a program in full screen e.g. a movie or quicklook. Oh well nothing can be 100% good.

 

[sammich]

Glad it worked out for you

Yep, with a SSD you would have a problem with it reading from a file. But yes, it's a shame about full screen apps, perhaps when Apple releases the next version of OS X, the full screen mode will sit on a different window level (distinct from 'desktop' or 'always on top') and allow GeekTool to stop displaying in full screen.