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uBar 2

dermeister

dermeister

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jan 19, 2003
458
96
NOTE: uBar 4 is out - please continue discussion in the uBar 4 thread.

Hi. I'm the developer of uBar.

uBar is a dock replacement for OS X 10.9 Mavericks or 10.10 Yosemite.

Version 2 is a total rewrite that I have just published outside of the Mac App Store (due to sandboxing requirements). It is a 4 week trial and costs $20 to purchase.

Update: uBar Lite is available on the Mac App Store, but is Sandboxed meaning many features are missing. It is intended as a way for people to discover uBar.

The idea for uBar is to be the Dock replacement for the Mac. It can be configured as either a task bar or dock. Hide titles and set windows to always group, and it is a dock. Show titles and set window grouping to always or automatic, and it is a task bar. uBar designed to be an OS X app before anything, which means it looks beautiful. When uBar is used as a task bar, it looks like it belongs on OS X.

I'm actively developing it and would love to hear everyone's feedback and feature requests. Just look at the release notes to see the huge number of features that are user suggestions!

The latest version is 2.5.1

Twitter: @uBarApp

Reviews:

 
Last edited:
dermeister said:
Hi. I'm the developer of uBar.

uBar is a task bar for OS X 10.9+.

Version 2.0 is a total rewrite that I have just published outside of the Mac App Store (due to sandboxing requirements). It is a 4 week trial and costs $15 to purchase.

I know some of you love the Dock and consider this heresy, but there's a good body of opinion that the pre-Windows 8 task bar was the one thing Microsoft ever got right UI-wise :)

I'm actively developing it and would love to hear everyone's feedback and feature requests.

Here is the current roadmap:

To-do for version 2.1:
  • Reordering of Favourites
  • Drag-drop Favourites
  • Customize the uBar menu
  • Handle image drops on Applications (currently accepts files)
  • Fix: Don't allow Show in Finder and Add to Favourites for Finder
  • French localization

[url=http://brawersoftware.com/gfx/products_ubar_image02.png]Image[/URL]
Click to expand...

Looks good. i've seen this via macupdate. what about bookmarks?
 
Just released 2.0.5. Biggest new thing is the Trash is now on the bar.

Release Notes for Version 2.0.5
  • Feature: Trash added to right side with control/right-click for Empty Trash menu (Suggested by Peter von Diebitsch)
  • Feature: Files can be dragged to Favorites or Trash
  • Tweak: Favorite spacing increased (Suggested by Peter von Diebitsch)
  • Tweak: Added day of the month to clock when uBar has a height of one-line (Suggested by Peter von Diebitsch)
  • Tweak: uBar preference menu reorganized
  • Fix: Finder control/click menu no longer shows Add/Remove to Favorites or Show in Finder
 
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Jessica Lares said:
Tried it out. While I appreciated the little extra space, I just didn't like it in general.
Click to expand...

I understand - it is a matter of personal taste ultimately - Thanks for the feedback about the new Favourites spacing!
 
Hmm right now they are 16x16 wether the bar is in small or large mode. I could make them a tad bigger on large mode.

How big were you thinking?
 
Jessica Lares said:
Thanks! Will have another go then. :D
Click to expand...

Just released 2.0.6. As promised, bigger icons on Large mode. I hope you don't mind you are credited in the release notes :cool:

Release Notes for Version 2.0.6
  • Feature: Bar Appearance now has Auto mode (uses system Appearance, where Blue is Light and Graphite is Dark)
  • Feature: Bar Size now has Auto mode (screen width>1600 is Large and <=1600 is Small)
  • Tweak: App and Favorite icons are now bigger on Large mode (Suggested by Jessica Lares & Peter von Diebitsch)
  • Fix: Finder icon now shows in Yosemite PR2
  • Optimization: Threaded Applications and System Preferences menu rebuilding
 
dermeister said:
Just released 2.0.6. As promised, bigger icons on Large mode. I hope you don't mind you are credited in the release notes :cool:

Release Notes for Version 2.0.6
  • Feature: Bar Appearance now has Auto mode (uses system Appearance, where Blue is Light and Graphite is Dark)
  • Feature: Bar Size now has Auto mode (screen width>1600 is Large and <=1600 is Small)
  • Tweak: App and Favorite icons are now bigger on Large mode (Suggested by Jessica Lares & Peter von Diebitsch)
  • Fix: Finder icon now shows in Yosemite PR2
  • Optimization: Threaded Applications and System Preferences menu rebuilding
Click to expand...

That wouldn't be the first time. :p :D

Much, much, much better! Thank you, thank you sir. Much better on the eyes.
 
instead of having "ubar" at the left end, I'd suggest a circular icon - maybe with a stylized "U" in the center (or something along those lines) that looks a little less intrusive
 
fhall1 said:
instead of having "ubar" at the left end, I'd suggest a circular icon - maybe with a stylized "U" in the center (or something along those lines) that looks a little less intrusive
Click to expand...

Sounds like the uBar.app icon:)

products_ubar_icon128.png


Only problem is it would look like a favourite icon.
 
I would like to try it too, but am still stuck with OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion due to some compatibility issues.

Is there a way to make the app run in OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, or does OS X 10.9 Mavericks have something, uBar needs? It should be a tick or checkbox somewhere to make it compatible with OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion and maybe even Mac OS X 10.7 Lion.
 
Jessica Lares said:
Mmm, there are loads of ways you could tackle that. How about doing it in just one color to begin with? Black on the light theme, white on the dark.
Click to expand...

Ahh, good point! Let me see what I can work up.

simsaladimbamba said:
I would like to try it too, but am still stuck with OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion due to some compatibility issues.

Is there a way to make the app run in OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, or does OS X 10.9 Mavericks have something, uBar needs? It should be a tick or checkbox somewhere to make it compatible with OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion and maybe even Mac OS X 10.7 Lion.
Click to expand...

I know I am using an Accessibility API function that is new in 10.9 but I could fall back to an older API if on <10.9. That's the only one I can think of but I have a feeling there were others that are either new to 10.8 or 10.9. Actually I can remember there is a notification API from 10.8 so 10.7 is definitely out the door.

If you email me at support@brawersoftware.com what I can do is make a test build for 10.8 and you can tell me if it works:)
 
dermeister said:
Ahh, good point! Let me see what I can work up.



I know I am using an Accessibility API function that is new in 10.9 but I could fall back to an older API if on <10.9. That's the only one I can think of but I have a feeling there were others that are either new to 10.8 or 10.9. Actually I can remember there is a notification API from 10.8 so 10.7 is definitely out the door.

If you email me at support@brawersoftware.com what I can do is make a test build for 10.8 and you can tell me if it works:)
Click to expand...

I do not want you to go into that much trouble though, I will sleep over it and think about me needing your application, though even it has Windows written all over it, I would prefer it to the Dock, which I hardly use anyway.
 
Michaelgtrusa said:
That icon looks good. I will test this new app.
Click to expand...

Version 2.0.7 finally out the door. Icon is implemented (set via Bar>Menu>Use Icon).

But best of all... Hold the Control key and uBar becomes an Activity Monitor. This took several hours but was worth it:D

Release Notes for Version 2.0.7
  • Feature: Bar displays CPU and Memory usage for Applications when Control is held
  • Feature: uBar menu can display an Icon instead of text (set in Bar>Menu>Use Icon) (Suggested by Peter von Diebitsch, Fred Hall, & Jessica Lares)

Edit: Actually just realized I should be adding the CPU/Memory use of child processes to their parents... For example Safari is using ~300 MB itself but in reality if you add it's tab processes it's well in the GBs. Will implement that in next release. In meantime, Activity mode is still awesome:)
 
Last edited:
Jessica Lares said:
The logo is awesome!

I love the CPU and memory usage too. That is HUGE.
Click to expand...

Totally, involved super low level BSD code:)

Right now I'm making it so uBar groups all the sub-processes to show just how much Safari really takes for all it's windows (answer: always A LOT). Will publish that as 2.0.8 as soon as it's done as it's technically under-reporting Safari usage.

Just getting started:cool:, I know I want to graphically show which processes are spiking or have high usage, but I have to do it in a very tasteful way. Don't wanna cause seizures/information overload/mess.

Current possibilities:
  • Apps have a red background where the opacity = %CPU (seems reasonable)
  • App rectangle fills horizontally from right with background width = %CPU, and colour of fill is red=100%, green=0% (seems reasonable)
  • Coloured CPU and RAM meters in right of every process (seems messy)

Any ideas on this? I want to get it right!
 
dermeister said:
Totally, involved super low level BSD code:)

Right now I'm making it so uBar groups all the sub-processes to show just how much Safari really takes for all it's windows (answer: always A LOT). Will publish that as 2.0.8 as soon as it's done as it's technically under-reporting Safari usage.

Just getting started:cool:, I know I want to graphically show which processes are spiking or have high usage, but I have to do it in a very tasteful way. Don't wanna cause seizures/information overload/mess.

Current possibilities:
  • Apps have a red background where the opacity = %CPU (seems reasonable)
  • App rectangle fills horizontally from right with background width = %CPU, and colour of fill is red=100%, green=0% (seems reasonable)
  • Coloured CPU and RAM meters in right of every process (seems messy)

Any ideas on this? I want to get it right!
Click to expand...

I like the second option, I wouldn't use color, but a shade of something that matches with the light/dark themes.
 
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