Mac users demand a lot of performance from their computers, and nothing allows a user to perform faster than using key equivalents for everything under the sun. Why use a mouse to open the Applications folder, look for the app you want to launch, and then double–click it, when you can launch it from anywhere with a global key equiv? Apps Are Go is a launcher that lets you create as many tabbed docked windows as you want, fill them with apps, files, folder, or scripts, then either launch them the slow way (with the mouse) or the quick way (by assigning key equivs to them).
I know there are tons of launchers out there, but none of them worked as well or offered as many features as that good ol’ Mac utility DragThing by James Thomson, which I’d been using since its first year. Sadly, he stopped development on it, and that’s why I wrote Apps Are Go. If you loved DragThing, you’ll probably find that Apps Are Go is a worthy modern replacement. There are even a bunch of liveries (like DragThing’s themes), and you can easily create your own with a built–in Livery Editor!
Key features:
Docks snap to any edge of any screen.
Lots of liveries to customize each dock’s look. Some even follow Light/Dark Mode.
Livery Editor to make your own special paint jobs.
Change the look, sorting, alignment, opacity, and many other attributes of each dock.
Choose sounds to accompany different actions.
AppleScriptable!
Box of Fun
If you read digital versions of comic books (or even magazines), this is the app for you. It’s a pleasure to use and offers many ways to customize your viewing experience.
Key features:
Compatible with cbr, cbz, and pdf files.
Advanced Comic Book Format compatible to provide translations, frames, and text–to–speech.
Customizable viewing for landscape and portrait modes.
Fun reading surfaces let you pretend you’re reading on the floor or secretly in your notebook at school.
Choose from 6 different app icons to match your favorite genre.
Import files from any app that offers file sharing, or add them in iTunes’ File Sharing.
Some basic documentation can be downloaded if you can’t figure out how to get comics into Box of Fun.
ButTunes 1.1
This is a little menubar app for controlling iTunes/Music. You can choose from different styles and assign global key equivalents to the various actions.
Note that macOS 11 broke 1.0.x, so I fixed what I could as far as mouse usage goes. The buttons are still separated by 17 miles of useless space that Apple decided to add between menubar icons. I’ll report this obvious design flaw and hope they come to their senses and fix it.
Key features:
Styles! Nobody wants to be boring.
Key equivs! Nobody wants to use a mouse when the keyboard’s right there.
Daily You 1.0
You've probably seen the results when people post videos of themselves over the course of time. Now it's easy and fun to make your own time–lapse video. Daily You can remind you every day to take a photo of yourself. Or your cat. Or your… well, whatever—anything you can think of to point your camera at. You can even point it at bad grammar! Daily You can handle any number of albums, each with their own subject, so go nuts!
Key features:
Use either front or back cameras.
Keep the subject in the same location within the frame by using a ghost image of the first or last photo in the album.
Choose the time–lapse speed when generating a video.
Photos are all stored in Daily You’s documents folder, so they won't get lost or mess up your Photos library.
Folder Crazy 1.3 (04/09/2024)
Love having your photos appear in the screensaver, but wish you had a lot more control over them? This is the screensaver you’re looking for.
Key features:
Add one or more folders. Each folder will be searched recursively for images.
Each folder can use a different chance percentage for how often images in it will appear.
Limit a folder to only an individual screen or all screens.
Omit any folder on certain days. (New in 1.1)
Choose between showing the raw image or with an instant photo type border with the file name scribbled on the bottom.
Optionally have the current iTunes (er, Music, the boring new name they gave it) track info float around the main screen.
Add Spotlight filters to only show certain images. (New in 1.2?)
Folder Crazy Desktop
Remember how great the Desktop image feature in macOS was before they removed the Tile option? Just like Folder Crazy vastly improves the screensaver experience, Folder Crazy Desktop vastly improves your desktop image experience. It is a total replacement for the Desktop system pref.
Key features:
Add one or more folders. Each folder will be searched recursively for images.
Each folder can use a different chance percentage for how often images in it will appear.
Limit a folder to only an individual screen or all screens.
Omit any folder on certain days. (New in 1.1)
Choose between four scaling modes and optional edge filling with a solid color or by blurring the image.
Use the Dock menu to pause image changing, force any or all screens to change their image, or open the current or previous images.
To keep prying eyes away from your private images, it can optionally switch to a generic image when quitting (hence, when logging out).
Add Spotlight filters to only show certain images. (New in 1.4)
Image Chest
If you love to collect images or movies, but hate to organize them, Image Chest might be the answer. Tagging images with keywords is the key to good organization, and Image Chest makes that task easy and quick using the Set Keywords dialog. Adding new ones or assigning existing keywords is as simple as typing and hitting return.
After you’ve built up a nice set of keywords for a catalog, assign them to new images can be even faster by assigning key equivalents to your keywords. “Summer” could be control-s. “Halloween” could be F10. “Pumpkin” could be shift-F10. As long as the key equivalent is not already used by Image Chest of the OS, you can assign it to a keyword.
Image Chest also offers multiple view modes and sorting options, so you can concentrate on finding the right file. Powerful searches are also handled with ease, from simple file name searches to complex boolean expressions involving names, dates, sizes, types, keywords, notes, and whether or not a file is missing. And those complex search patterns can be saved in each document so you don’t waste time building them each time.
Files can also be moved, copied, aliased, renamed, trashed, and QuickLooked right from within Image Chest, so you can spend your time using one application instead of many.
Key features:
Unlimited undo/redo.
Autosave to ensure data integrity.
Fast! Even monstrous catalogs with tens of thousands of images perform like lightning.
Add assets individually, by adding an entire folder, or by drag & drop.
Asset information is stored in the catalog for offline searching.
Update asset info by re–adding them to the catalog.
Slideshow!
AppleScriptable!
Some basic documentation can be downloaded to help with any questions.
Image Snooper
Have you ever downloaded an image only to find out later that you already had it? Or have you ever wanted to find all of the photos from your vacation that include your dad in his lime green Hawaiian shirt? Image Snooper can help.
Using fast and simple comparison algorithms, Image Snooper can easily find all images in a folder (and its subfolders) that resemble the search image. It can also quickly gather images that contain a certain color—useful for finding images of a certain brand logo or that compliment a color theme.
The search image and search folder are easily set by simply dragging & dropping a file or folder to Image Snooper’s icon, so you can spend less time digging through the Open dialog. You can also save commonly used search folders as favorites.
Key features:
Fast image comparison.
Adjustable comparison approximation.
Compares images rotated at 90°, 180°, and 270°.
Attempts to find partial matches.
Contextual menu for opening, revealing, and trashing files.
Sort results by name or match score.
Morsing Around
Beep-beeeep beep-beeeep-beep beeeep-beeeep-beep!
If you've ever wanted to learn Morse Code, this app can help. Or if you already know it and want to hone your keying skills, a Morse Code keyboard can be installed so you can type your next novel using Morse Code if you have a hankerin' to. Morsing Around offers a full list of features:
Key features:
Morse Code reference list, including pictograms that makes learning the dits (dots) and dahs (dashes) of most characters much easier, and sample playback of each Morse Code.
Screens for learning Keying and Deciphering. Running these over and over is one of the best ways to learn.
A conversion utility that can translate to and from Morse Code using common dit and dah characters, as well as send the Morse Code using beeps or flashes.
Full customization of beeps, speed, and other common keyboard settings.
YooniKey
There have been Unicode® keyboards for iOS before, but none of them were free and none of them offered a search function. Enter YooniKey, a better Unicode® keyboard and browser app.
Key features:
Full Unicode® chart in the keyboard, not limited to a small number of code points.
Search right in the keyboard instead of having to visit an app.
Keep a list of favorites and recently used code points, shared by the app and keyboard.
Navigate through related code points to explore the possibilities of the vastness of Unicode®.
Convert alpha text to styled alpha code points from the Mathematical Alphanumeric Symbols code block. And back!
