uBar 2

[regwiztr]

Disable option for right click menu on the uBar

I really wish to disable right click menu on the uBar pferefences. Some new users can confuse between menus to quit apps (by right click) and uBar's itself.

This maybe helps to novice switchers.

 

[MacTCE]

Window managing apps like Moom can potentially conflict with uBar's ability to keep windows from going under it since both use Accessibility to control windows. But if Moom isn't configured in a way that would stop uBar from resizing windows that went under it, it should be fine. It's a minor potential issue.

Thanks for the clarification.

 

[SolusCado]

allowDockOverlap not working

Hi; I've tried adding the allowDockOverlap key to the plist file as specified in this thread, but when I relaunch uBar it still forces me to move the dock to one of the sides. Is there another key that I need to set? Is this functionality still around?

 

[dermeister]

Hi; I've tried adding the allowDockOverlap key to the plist file as specified in this thread, but when I relaunch uBar it still forces me to move the dock to one of the sides. Is there another key that I need to set? Is this functionality still around?

It should work. Code looks good but I have to go out for the rest of the night so I don't have time to verify.

One possibility - I don't know if you know this so sorry if it sounds obvious - it could be that you are running into Maverick's preference caching mechanism. Since 10.9 it's a bit harder to edit prefs due to this. Try these instructions to editing prefs in 10.9+: http://manytricks.com/blog/?p=3049

Again sorry if that is obvious just want to make sure. Let me know, I'll look more into it tomorrow if it's still not working.

Cheers

 

[cbp0012]

Very awesome take on a task bar for OS X. So I've managed to add a shortcut but cannot remove the Desktop shortcut. Is there any way to remove it, along with the uB icon? Enjoying the app, but don't need "Start button" functionality at all-- just a quick shortcut to Launchpad does the trick, and honestly the icon, while nicely designed, is a bit of an eyesore and disruptive to what the OS X experience should be-- in short, a lack of symbolic fragmentation.

Speaking of (I'm going too far this time), have you considered attempting to make the task bar visible when Launchpad is in use?

 

[dermeister]

I really wish to disable right click menu on the uBar pferefences. Some new users can confuse between menus to quit apps (by right click) and uBar's itself.

This maybe helps to novice switchers.

Hi regwiztr,

I'm trying to balance what works for most people with avoiding the Preferences being too complicated (meaning too many options). I hope it won't be too difficult to get used to it.

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Very awesome take on a task bar for OS X. So I've managed to add a shortcut but cannot remove the Desktop shortcut. Is there any way to remove it, along with the uB icon? Enjoying the app, but don't need "Start button" functionality at all-- just a quick shortcut to Launchpad does the trick, and honestly the icon, while nicely designed, is a bit of an eyesore and disruptive to what the OS X experience should be-- in short, a lack of symbolic fragmentation.

Speaking of (I'm going too far this time), have you considered attempting to make the task bar visible when Launchpad is in use?

Thanks! The Desktop is built-in for now, but I will be working on using a more modern Yosemite-like icon as the current one is an older one provided by the system. Will also look into making the Desktop and Trash optional. You can at least set the uBar menu to use the (uB) icon, which may help make it less obtrusive for you.

Making uBar visible with LaunchPad activated is something I will look into. If it's possible it sounds like a good idea!

 

[dermeister]

Tons of fix updates.

Release notes for 2.2.7

• Fix: Drag & Drop files onto applications now works with uBar in Auto-Hide (Reported by River Brandon & Kurt Trew)
• Fix: Fixed rare crash involving poorly written Preference Panes (Reported by Alex McCollister)

Release notes for 2.2.8

• Fix: Better support for applications that don’t implement the Accessibility API properly such as X11 (Reported by Chris Andreae)
• Fix: Window proxy icons now normally sized on Yosemite (Reported by Simon Gustavsson)
• Fix: Downloads folder icon now shows on Yosemite (Reported by Ashish Gandhi)
• Tweak: Updated Desktop favorite icon
• Note: Moom is now compatible with uBar (Thanks to Many Tricks)

 

[SolusCado]

Very awesome take on a task bar for OS X. So I've managed to add a shortcut but cannot remove the Desktop shortcut. Is there any way to remove it, along with the uB icon? Enjoying the app, but don't need "Start button" functionality at all-- just a quick shortcut to Launchpad does the trick, and honestly the icon, while nicely designed, is a bit of an eyesore and disruptive to what the OS X experience should be-- in short, a lack of symbolic fragmentation.

I'd like the icon to be customizable... So I could switch between an Apple icon, uB, or even Windows.

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It should work. Code looks good but I have to go out for the rest of the night so I don't have time to verify.

One possibility - I don't know if you know this so sorry if it sounds obvious - it could be that you are running into Maverick's preference caching mechanism. Since 10.9 it's a bit harder to edit prefs due to this. Try these instructions to editing prefs in 10.9+: http://manytricks.com/blog/?p=3049

Again sorry if that is obvious just want to make sure. Let me know, I'll look more into it tomorrow if it's still not working.

Cheers

My mistake... I was expecting all these changes to disable the check on startup for the Dock position, but I see now that it merely prevents uBar from detecting Dock position changes. Of course, that means I have to move it back to the side and then back to the bottom again every time I reboot, which is kind of a hassle.

 

[Jessica Lares]

I would rather have the option not to have the desktop icon at all. It confuses ME as a Mac user who mistakes it for the Finder.

 

[dermeister]

I'd like the icon to be customizable... So I could switch between an Apple icon, uB, or even Windows.

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My mistake... I was expecting all these changes to disable the check on startup for the Dock position, but I see now that it merely prevents uBar from detecting Dock position changes. Of course, that means I have to move it back to the side and then back to the bottom again every time I reboot, which is kind of a hassle.

I'm going to make uBar much more... bold in terms of dealing with the Dock in the future. Many people are asking for that. Stay tuned.

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I would rather have the option not to have the desktop icon at all. It confuses ME as a Mac user who mistakes it for the Finder.

Yup I will make it optional at some point along with the trash!

 

[dermeister]

HUGE update. Manual application order and exclusions, plus Japanese and Dutch localization. Check it out:

Release notes for 2.2.9

• Feature: Manual Application Order
• Feature: Applications can now be excluded
• Feature: Japanese localization now complete (Thanks to Daisuke Saito)
• Feature: Dutch localization added (Thanks to Jordi Bruin)
• Tweak: When titles are disabled, tooltips for applications can now include badge text
• Tweak: uBar will no longer Open on Login if explicitly quit regardless of Open on Login Preference (Suggested by Peter Maurer)
• Fix: Application order respected on launch (Reported by Simon Gustavsson)

 

[Watabou]

I've been trying out uBar and been liking it, I like the little things like how the Finder icon also shows the title, and the Mail showing the Messages count, that's really useful.

Can I also put an Applications/Documents/Downloads folder in it or to my favorites for quicker access? I couldn't find a way to bring it to uBar outside of me having to click the uBar icon, and then clicking those folders.

I would rather have the option not to have the desktop icon at all. It confuses ME as a Mac user who mistakes it for the Finder.

Same here, but I do like the Trash icon being there. The 'turn off favorites' option in Preferences turns both of them off.

 

[dermeister]

I've been trying out uBar and been liking it, I like the little things like how the Finder icon also shows the title, and the Mail showing the Messages count, that's really useful.

Can I also put an Applications/Documents/Downloads folder in it for quicker access? I couldn't find a way to bring it to uBar outside of me having to click the uBar icon, and then clicking those folders.

Yup: To add any file, folder, or application, you can control or right-click it in the Finder and select "Services" and then "Add to uBar Favorites". To enable this service, check it via "System Preferences>Keyboard>Shortcuts>Services".

So you can add the Downloads folder to the favourites!

 

[Watabou]

Yup: To add any file, folder, or application, you can control or right-click it in the Finder and select "Services" and then "Add to uBar Favorites". To enable this service, check it via "System Preferences>Keyboard>Shortcuts>Services".

So you can add the Downloads folder to the favourites!

Oh great, thanks! Are new services by third party developers disabled by default?

Oh and another thing is that uBar still uses the Light mode even if I set Yosemite's theme to 'Dark'. But maybe the uBar theme based on Yosemite's theme would be hard to actually implement unless Apple provides an API call for that.

 

[dermeister]

Oh great, thanks! Are new services by third party developers disabled by default?

Oh and another thing is that uBar still uses the Light mode even if I set Yosemite's theme to 'Dark'. But maybe the uBar theme based on Yosemite's theme would be hard to actually implement unless Apple provides an API call for that.

Exactly, I'm trying to find some sort of a notification, though it's going to be hard to find any web documentation until the Yosemite NDA is done.

As for services - I always assumed that being disabled by default was normal, but I'm looking into it now and it looks like it's possible to enable it by default! Thanks

-----

Update: I figured out how to enable it by default - you can PM me your name if you want to be credited in next release notes

Update 2: Yosemite must have had the notification added in a recent beta - fixed the System Theme under Yosemite as well!

 

[dermeister]

Release notes for 2.3.0

• Tweak: “Add to uBar” service is now enabled by default for the Finder (Suggested by Akshay Hegde)
• Fix: Issue where Safari & Chrome would stop updating windows is fixed
• Fix: Setting theme to automatic now works in Yosemite (Reported by Akshay Hegde)

 

[Jessica Lares]

Thank you for the app exclusion tab. I'm very glad I don't have to see my Wacom driver startup thing in there anymore.

It doesn't show up in fullscreen anymore though, is that normal? (I need to pay more attention )

EDIT: It just auto hides in fullscreen now, works for me.

 

[dermeister]

Thank you for the app exclusion tab. I'm very glad I don't have to see my Wacom driver startup thing in there anymore.

It doesn't show up in fullscreen anymore though, is that normal? (I need to pay more attention )

EDIT: It just auto hides in fullscreen now, works for me.

My pleasure App exclusions and manual order was probably the most frequent request!

 

[Watabou]

Hmm, maybe this is a minor bug, I had two windows of iTerm open, and then updated the app (and it restarted itself), uBar still shows that there are 2 windows of iTerm even though there are only one.

Here's a screenshot, it thinks there are two windows open, but I only have one. Opening another iTerm window will increment that count to 3, even though I have 2 windows open now.

Thoughts? Not a big deal however. This is really minor. Restarting iTerm fixed it anyway.

 

[gctseng]

Feature suggestion

Just saw this cruising through the forums and installed the trial--played with it for a few minutes. I don't have a lot of time to comment because I have a patent application I promised a client I'd finish today (tonight, haha), but I wanted to suggest (or maybe ask if I somehow missed it):

I. Larger, "Dock"-style icons with intergration of pop-up menus and elmination fo wasted "bar space".

It would be nice to be able to have the features of the "pop-up" menu (with window grouping and badges) in uBar but have the icon presentation of the Dock.

Yes, kind of like a love child between the task bar of Windows and the dock of OS X, but combining the "best part of each"? Besides simply aesthetical reasons (or preferences, if you would), I believe this mode would have value because:

1. there seems to be a lot of wasted space even when I turn of the Left/Right Pinning of uBar. See attached, where half of the space occupied by uBar is "empty".

2. being able to "zoom in" on icons of the Dock helps identification and selection of the app (or one of the windows of the app)--kudos on the timing and UI responsiveness "feel". I have been around computers a long time, and am pretty sensitive (read: annoyed) to timing and feedback issues. It seems like you've got it down.

3. pop-up menus once you click on the (magnified) icon of the app--perhaps also adding some of the display/desktop assignment menus offered in the Dock.

I know that uBar is meant to be more of a "Windows" approach and replacement of the dock, but I've always felt the Windows taskbar has some annoyances (see 1, above). On one hand, a lot of thought has gone into the design of the Dock, on the other, it may be argued that the same effort has been placed on the design of the Taskbar (as well as your uBar). Thus, why not take the best features of both?

Is there anyway to quit the Dock when uBar launches?

Lastly, at least until I have more time to play with the app more (I really didn't mean for these comments to be so long), I hope the app doesn't become "too configurable" like how Cairo dockl (http://glx-dock.org/) has suffered.

 

[allan.nyholm]

I have a few suggestions after a few tries with this app that I bought out of willingness to support the developer despite maybe not using the app that much..

Anyway, here goes.

(apologies for bringing this up again)
it would be nice if that you could allow the Dock to be at the bottom on initial launch instead of insisting on the Dock being on either side - for making the window appear to minimize down into the uBar taskbar, perhaps with that nifty Terminal command as something that is built-in to the application?
I guess that I can just move the Dock back down under afterwards..
(/apologies)

Or then perhaps take it a step further and make uBar as also being vertical rather than just horisontal.

Could you make the Trash follow OS X Trash for showing full - now that you only have an empty image for each state. Perhaps show; Number of items and Size in a popup or on a trigger key(CTRL?).

How about a translation of sorts? Would it be possible to let the various items in the uBar taskbar to follow the language of the OS? Things like Logout/Shutdown/System Preferences-section and what else is there that can be OS language dependent. I'm a Danish native speaker and would like to lend a helping hand if that should be the case - that you would like to add the option of translation?

Also, perhaps allow for a custom uBar-logo - that would be awesome.

 

[dermeister]

Release notes for 2.3.1

• Feature: Option-click applications to hide/unhide them (Suggested by Mike Tselikman)
• Feature: Command-click applications or favorites to reveal them in the Finder (Suggested by Simon Gustavsson)
• Feature: Command-right-click Trash to perform Secure Empty Trash (Suggested by Gary Chike)
• Fix: 2nd level of Applications folder now respects Finder filename display preferences (Reported by Frederic Nimmermann)

Hmm, maybe this is a minor bug, I had two windows of iTerm open, and then updated the app (and it restarted itself), uBar still shows that there are 2 windows of iTerm even though there are only one.

Here's a screenshot, it thinks there are two windows open, but I only have one. Opening another iTerm window will increment that count to 3, even though I have 2 windows open now.

Thoughts? Not a big deal however. This is really minor. Restarting iTerm fixed it anyway.

Try 2.3.1, should fix!

Just saw this cruising through the forums and installed the trial--played with it for a few minutes. I don't have a lot of time to comment because I have a patent application I promised a client I'd finish today (tonight, haha), but I wanted to suggest (or maybe ask if I somehow missed it):

I. Larger, "Dock"-style icons with intergration of pop-up menus and elmination fo wasted "bar space".

It would be nice to be able to have the features of the "pop-up" menu (with window grouping and badges) in uBar but have the icon presentation of the Dock.

Yes, kind of like a love child between the task bar of Windows and the dock of OS X, but combining the "best part of each"? Besides simply aesthetical reasons (or preferences, if you would), I believe this mode would have value because:

1. there seems to be a lot of wasted space even when I turn of the Left/Right Pinning of uBar. See attached, where half of the space occupied by uBar is "empty".

2. being able to "zoom in" on icons of the Dock helps identification and selection of the app (or one of the windows of the app)--kudos on the timing and UI responsiveness "feel". I have been around computers a long time, and am pretty sensitive (read: annoyed) to timing and feedback issues. It seems like you've got it down.

3. pop-up menus once you click on the (magnified) icon of the app--perhaps also adding some of the display/desktop assignment menus offered in the Dock.

I know that uBar is meant to be more of a "Windows" approach and replacement of the dock, but I've always felt the Windows taskbar has some annoyances (see 1, above). On one hand, a lot of thought has gone into the design of the Dock, on the other, it may be argued that the same effort has been placed on the design of the Taskbar (as well as your uBar). Thus, why not take the best features of both?

Is there anyway to quit the Dock when uBar launches?

Lastly, at least until I have more time to play with the app more (I really didn't mean for these comments to be so long), I hope the app doesn't become "too configurable" like how Cairo dockl (http://glx-dock.org/) has suffered.

Thanks for the great feedback and hope the patent application went well

I definitely will be looking into larger dock-style icons in the future, but that is a ways off now as I am concentrating on lower hanging fruit in terms of functionality. Thanks for your comments about responsiveness of the UI. One current request is that I switch to a "show menu on mouse DOWN instead of UP" approach. I would like to know what you think about that

The empty space will be reclaimed in an update sometime soon when pinning is off. Will also take a look at advanced display assignment too. I could make the Dock quit on uBar launching but OS X uses the Dock for a bunch of stuff. That said, see here to achieve the same practical effect.

As for complexity, it is definitely a design imperative of mine to avoid uBar's preferences becoming like the cockpit of a 747 So I am always thinking of how to walk the line between effective customizability and vomiting checkboxes all over the users.

Thanks!

I have a few suggestions after a few tries with this app that I bought out of willingness to support the developer despite maybe not using the app that much..

Anyway, here goes.

(apologies for bringing this up again)
it would be nice if that you could allow the Dock to be at the bottom on initial launch instead of insisting on the Dock being on either side - for making the window appear to minimize down into the uBar taskbar, perhaps with that nifty Terminal command as something that is built-in to the application?
I guess that I can just move the Dock back down under afterwards..
(/apologies)

Or then perhaps take it a step further and make uBar as also being vertical rather than just horisontal.

Could you make the Trash follow OS X Trash for showing full - now that you only have an empty image for each state. Perhaps show; Number of items and Size in a popup or on a trigger key(CTRL?).

How about a translation of sorts? Would it be possible to let the various items in the uBar taskbar to follow the language of the OS? Things like Logout/Shutdown/System Preferences-section and what else is there that can be OS language dependent. I'm a Danish native speaker and would like to lend a helping hand if that should be the case - that you would like to add the option of translation?

Also, perhaps allow for a custom uBar-logo - that would be awesome.

I apologize if I didn't follow-up with you on this, I don't remember Here are the steps to allow the Dock to overlap. Is is not allowed by default because most users would consider it a bug.

• Quit uBar
• Restart
• Go to ~/Library/Preferences/ca.brawer.uBar.plist
• and add the key allowDockOverlap
• And set it to YES
• Launch uBar

I will looking into allowing uBar to be vertical in the future, but it's a ways off.

Will get the Trash icon reflecting contents sometime soon! It's just a bit complex as the Trash isn't a real place - or rather, it's a place that exists on every volume. But I will attack the issue soon

I would absolutely love for uBar to be in Danish - please email me and I will send you instructions - thanks so much!

I am thinking about logos - goes together with broader context of customization - will address this somehow in near future.

---

Thanks everyone for your great feedback and suggestions!

 

[dermeister]

Release notes for 2.3.2

• Feature: Danish localization added (Thanks to Allan Nyholm Nielsen)
• Fix: Application badges now dynamically adapt their update frequency and are much more responsive (Reported by Jeff Branc)
• Fix: Proper instance is switched to when running multiple instances of same application (Reported by Seb Insua)

 

[z06gal]

The one [and only] thing that I miss from Windows is the task bar. I just prefer it over a dock and I was so happy to be introduced to uBar today via a screenshot on the "show your desktop" thread here. I really like it and would like to thank the dev for creating it. It is a keeper for sure

 

[dermeister]

The one [and only] thing that I miss from Windows is the task bar. I just prefer it over a dock and I was so happy to be introduced to uBar today via a screenshot on the "show your desktop" thread here. I really like it and would like to thank the dev for creating it. It is a keeper for sure

You're welcome

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Folder favourites now display as lists, and uBar is now in Norwegian!

Release notes for 2.3.3

• Feature: Folder favorites now list the folder contents when clicked (Suggested by James Veitch)
• Feature: Norwegian localization added (Thanks to Roar Lochar, Ramberg Media)
• Feature: Option + Right-clicking an application tile gives the option to Force-Quit (Suggested by George Plymale)
• Fix: Control-clicking now brings up contextual menus (Reported by Matthew Mitchell)