I know a lot of people have complained about Tags, and don't see the value in them. (Admittedly, many benefits of tagging are seen only when you change your workflow) Well here's a very pragmatic use I think most will find beneficial.
I have lots of apps with names that have no bearing on their function, and sometimes I just forget about them. I typically launch apps either from the Dock or from Spotlight, and almost never go into the Applications directory unless I'm searching for an obscure utility app.
It dawned on me that I could tag applications with their functions, such as "graphics" or "writing". Now I can type the tag in Spotlight and it will list all the relevant applications. For instance, if I type "writing" it lists Scrivener, Nisus Writer Pro, and Textmate2. Since I've set Applications to show at the top of the Spotlight results, it's just a quick down arrow key and boom, I'm launching the app.
Okay, now here I must be truthful Spotlight in Mavericks doesn't search tags by default (hopefully this is fixed in Yosemite?). What you have to do is start your search with "tag:", but you only have to type a few letters for it to return results, such as "tag:wri". Overall, it's made me a bit more efficient in my workflow, and that's always a good thing.
I have lots of apps with names that have no bearing on their function, and sometimes I just forget about them. I typically launch apps either from the Dock or from Spotlight, and almost never go into the Applications directory unless I'm searching for an obscure utility app.
It dawned on me that I could tag applications with their functions, such as "graphics" or "writing". Now I can type the tag in Spotlight and it will list all the relevant applications. For instance, if I type "writing" it lists Scrivener, Nisus Writer Pro, and Textmate2. Since I've set Applications to show at the top of the Spotlight results, it's just a quick down arrow key and boom, I'm launching the app.
Okay, now here I must be truthful Spotlight in Mavericks doesn't search tags by default (hopefully this is fixed in Yosemite?). What you have to do is start your search with "tag:", but you only have to type a few letters for it to return results, such as "tag:wri". Overall, it's made me a bit more efficient in my workflow, and that's always a good thing.