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What are some of your favorite apps to use on your mac?

G

gc15

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 23, 2012
181
2
Im just looking into some new programs to play around with. Plus I'm wanting to get some pro apps to help with photoshop, and other various types of editing, but I don't know what apps are favorable.
 
Beamer is awesome for streaming any media files to your Apple TV via AirPlay.

Also look into these (none are PS related as such):
- Duet (iPhone/iPad as wired external display)
- Karabiner
- Pixelmator, as mentioned above
- The Unarchiver
- DaisyDisk
- CloudApp
- Flash Cache Saver
 
macID for using Touch ID on your iPhone to lock or unlock your mac.
 
Safari, Lightroom, Word, Pages, Numbers, Airmail, VPNoneclick, iTunes.
 
Golly gosh, if only Apple had thought to include some sort of program that would enable users to look at what applications are available, and to browse by category, and to see which are the most popular, and to read reviews, and to visit the publishers’ websites. Leaving that out sure was a big oversight on their part. Oh well, I guess since nothing like that exists, I may as well list the programs I like.

Applications
Chrome (web browser)
Bean (rich text editor / lightweight word processor)
TextWrangler (plain text editor)
Numbers (spreadsheets)
Acorn (image editing—I also have Pixelmator, but prefer Acorn)
iDraw (vector drawing)
Xcode (programming)
FreeMat (Matlab clone)

Utilities
BetterTouchTool (custom gestures & shortcuts—my #1 recommendation)
Karabiner (remap keyboard)
Seil (low-level key remapping, useful for Caps Lock)
TinkerTool (hidden system prefs)
Boom (system-wide equalizer & volume enhancer)
QuickRes (change screen resolution quickly & beyond default options)
The Unarchiver (decompress lots of file formats)
(and previously Ukelele, but now I’ve finished my custom keyboard layout)

JTToft said:
- Karabiner
Click to expand...
Mind if I ask how you’re using Karabiner?
 
For content creation, which I use my Macs most frequently for, I use
  • Final Cut Pro X
  • Compressor
  • Pixelmator
  • Pages
  • Numbers
  • Keynote (which is actually an excellent title creator for FCPX)

For entertainment I use
  • iTunes
  • µTorrent
  • Steam
  • Spotify
  • Beamer -> possibly the best app ever

For travel planning (motorcycle & hiking/citytrips) I use
  • Garmin Basecamp
  • Safari
  • Maps
  • iBooks (I use this mainly for Lonely Planet and technical documentation)

For my geeky needs I use
  • Geekbench
  • Cinebench
  • BlackMagic DiskSpeedTest
 
Qaanol said:
Mind if I ask how you’re using Karabiner?
Click to expand...

- I actually just installed it a few days ago. For now, I've simply remapped the Launchpad key on my Apple Wireless Keyboard to function as the traditional Dashboard key instead - I find I have no use for Launchpad.
I'd like to find something useful for the F5 and F6 keys to do as well (and possibly the brightness keys, since I use an external display and thus can't use them), but haven't yet. So if you have any ideas...
 
JTToft said:
- I actually just installed it a few days ago. For now, I've simply remapped the Launchpad key on my Apple Wireless Keyboard to function as the traditional Dashboard key instead - I find I have no use for Launchpad.
I'd like to find something useful for the F5 and F6 keys to do as well (and possibly the brightness keys, since I use an external display and thus can't use them), but haven't yet. So if you have any ideas...
Click to expand...

Gotcha, that makes sense. My settings range from convenient to esoteric. The more generally-useful ones aren’t my original ideas, but they work very well.

First, I set my shift keys to “Shift when held down, but ‘(’ and ‘)’ when tapped”.

Then I swapped Esc and Caps Lock, since I need to hit Esc frequently and only rarely Caps Lock. Additionally, I made the Caps Lock key function as “Esc when tapped, but Cmd-Opt-Ctrl when held down”.

That way I can make custom keyboard shortcuts (either through System Preferences or through BetterTouchTool) using Cmd-Opt-Ctrl and activate them with just one physical modifier key.

All of these required custom settings, which I’d be happy to share if you’d like.
 
Qaanol said:
All of these required custom settings, which I’d be happy to share if you’d like.
Click to expand...

- Sure, send me those. The Shift one sounds quite cool, actually. Thanks.
Have you done something about your Caps Lock light (if your keyboard has one) or does that just switch on and off when you need the Escape or Cmd+Ctrl+Opt functions? :D
 
JTToft said:
- Sure, send me those. The Shift one sounds quite cool, actually. Thanks.
Have you done something about your Caps Lock light (if your keyboard has one) or does that just switch on and off when you need the Escape or Cmd+Ctrl+Opt functions? :D
Click to expand...
Good question! It turns out that whatever key you set to act like Caps Lock in Karabiner, will toggle the light properly.

However, it’s worth mentioning that the Caps Lock key operates on a lower level than the rest, and it requires Seil (by the same developer as Karabiner) to modify properly. Luckily it’s just one setting in Seil: change Caps Lock to keycode 80 (which represents the F19 keys).

Anyway, here’s the Karabiner code for Caps Lock to Cmd-Opt-Ctrl (technically it’s F19 to Cmd-Opt-Ctrl, for reasons just explained):

Code: 
    <item>
      <name>Remap F19 to Cmd-Opt-Ctrl</name>
      <appendix>(+ When you type F19 only, send Escape)</appendix>
      <identifier>private.f19_to_cmd_opt_ctrl_escape</identifier>
      <autogen>
        __KeyOverlaidModifier__
        KeyCode::F19,
        
        @begin
        KeyCode::CONTROL_L,
        ModifierFlag::OPTION_L | ModifierFlag::COMMAND_L,
        @end
        
        @begin
        KeyCode::ESCAPE
        @end
      </autogen>
    </item>

The escape-to-caps-lock setting is a prefab option in Karabiner, but here’s its code anyway:
Code: 
    <item>
      <name>Escape to CapsLock</name>
      <identifier>remap.escape2capslock_2</identifier>
      <autogen>__KeyToKey__ KeyCode::ESCAPE, KeyCode::CAPSLOCK</autogen>
    </item>

With the above settings and the aforementioned Seil change for Caps Lock (note: you should follow the advice in Seil and use System Preferences to change the default Caps Lock behavior to No Action) then you’ll have your very own super modifier key! (Furthermore, Escape will be easily accessible as a tap of the physical Caps Lock key.)

Okay, here’s the shift-to-parentheses code:
Code: 
    <item>
      <name>Shift-Shift to Two Parentheses</name>
      <appendix>Shifts, when used together, produce () or )(</appendix>
      <identifier>private.shift_rolls_to_paren_pairs</identifier>
      
      <!-- Disable the item when other modifiers are in use. -->
      <modifier_not>
        ModifierFlag::COMMAND_L,
        ModifierFlag::COMMAND_R,
        ModifierFlag::CONTROL_L,
        ModifierFlag::CONTROL_R,
        ModifierFlag::FN,
        ModifierFlag::OPTION_L,
        ModifierFlag::OPTION_R,
      </modifier_not>
      
      <!--
          Remap the "rolls" of () and )( because it's too easy to hit one
          before finishing the other, and there's no other reason to be
          pressing both shift keys at once anyway
      -->
      <autogen>
        --KeyToKey--
        KeyCode::SHIFT_L, ModifierFlag::SHIFT_R,
        KeyCode::KEY_0, ModifierFlag::SHIFT_L,
        KeyCode::KEY_9, ModifierFlag::SHIFT_L
      </autogen>
      <autogen>
        --KeyToKey--
        KeyCode::SHIFT_R, ModifierFlag::SHIFT_L,
        KeyCode::KEY_9, ModifierFlag::SHIFT_L,
        KeyCode::KEY_0, ModifierFlag::SHIFT_L
      </autogen>
    </item>
    
    <item>
      <name>Shifts to Parentheses</name>
      <appendix>Shifts, when pressed alone, type parentheses.</appendix>
      <appendix>When used with other keys they're normal shifts.</appendix>
      <identifier>private.shifts_to_parens</identifier>
      
      <!-- Disable the item when other modifiers are in use. -->
      <modifier_not>
        ModifierFlag::COMMAND_L,
        ModifierFlag::COMMAND_R,
        ModifierFlag::CONTROL_L,
        ModifierFlag::CONTROL_R,
        ModifierFlag::FN,
        ModifierFlag::OPTION_L,
        ModifierFlag::OPTION_R,
      </modifier_not>
      
      <!-- This is the basic mapping. -->
      <autogen>    --KeyOverlaidModifier--
                   KeyCode::SHIFT_R,
                   KeyCode::SHIFT_R,
                   KeyCode::KEY_0, ModifierFlag::SHIFT_L
      </autogen>
      <autogen>    --KeyOverlaidModifier--
                   KeyCode::SHIFT_L,
                   KeyCode::SHIFT_L,
                   KeyCode::KEY_9, ModifierFlag::SHIFT_R
      </autogen>
  
      <!--
          Remap Rshift+Space to ') ' and Lshift(+Space to '( ', because when typing a paren and
          then a space I tend to hit space before I let go of shift.
          
          Edit: Removed Lshift version because when I type '> ' it was coming out as '>( '
      -->
      <autogen>
        --KeyToKey--
        KeyCode::SPACE, ModifierFlag::SHIFT_R,
        KeyCode::KEY_0, ModifierFlag::SHIFT_L,
        KeyCode::SPACE
      </autogen>
    </item>
 
I guess, if one would gather stats to what apps I use 95% of the time:

TextMate 2
Terminal
Safari

:D
 
Qaanol said:
Okay, here’s the shift-to-parentheses code:
Click to expand...

- Works wonderfully, and should be quite useful.
I just had to change every instance of "KEY_0" to "KEY_9" and "KEY_9" to "KEY_8", since the parentheses are on 8 and 9 on my Danish keyboard. Otherwise, I'd have had ')' for L.Shift and '=' for R.Shift, which perhaps isn't very useful.
Also, I removed the ') ' function of Shift+Space, because I found it interferes with using capitalized letters if I haven't quite released Shift before hitting Space.

I'm not sure I'll find a use for the Caps Lock remapping, but I definitely get why you've done it - I don't use Caps Lock very much, either.

Thanks for sharing it.
 
- Radium (elegant internet radio app)
- Hyperdock (For snapping windows, and windows preview of docked apps)
- Leaf (very nice RSS Reader)
- 1Password
- Wunderlist (my wife has it on her phone/mac air too, and we have a shared grocery list we randomly add items to)
- Logic Pro


For my HTPC Mac Mini:

- Kodi (XBMC) with project free TV and Navi-x repositories.
 
JTToft said:
- Works wonderfully, and should be quite useful.
I just had to change every instance of "KEY_0" to "KEY_9" and "KEY_9" to "KEY_8", since the parentheses are on 8 and 9 on my Danish keyboard. Otherwise, I'd have had ')' for L.Shift and '=' for R.Shift, which perhaps isn't very useful.
Also, I removed the ') ' function of Shift+Space, because I found it interferes with using capitalized letters if I haven't quite released Shift before hitting Space.

I'm not sure I'll find a use for the Caps Lock remapping, but I definitely get why you've done it - I don't use Caps Lock very much, either.

Thanks for sharing it.
Click to expand...

You’re welcome, glad you like it!
 
JTToft said:
- Hadn't heard of that. Is it actually useful/elegant in execution?
Click to expand...

It actually works quite well. It display an notification on your phone so you dont even have to unlock you phone to unlock you mac.
 
Skika said:
It actually works quite well. It display an notification on your phone so you dont even have to unlock you phone to unlock you mac.
Click to expand...

- Yes, rather impressive actually. It's perhaps mostly a gimmick, but it is fun to unlock your mac with your fingerprint.
I just wish I could remove the icon from the menubar...
 
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