shortcuts
Latest
CoverSutra - a customizable iTunes controller with style
These days, there is absolutely no shortage of apps that let you control iTunes in one way or another. You can use your PSP, tiny menubar controllers, countless iTunes widgets and now - CoverSutra. Featuring a stylish bezel with loads of control feedback and album art display, CoverSutra aims to give you complete control over iTunes without invading your space. It can even work with the Apple Remote, offering visual feedback without the need to enter something like Front Row. A 10-day demo of CoverSutra is available, and it sells for just under $13 USD (€9.95). While CoverSutra is a brand new 1.0 app, the developer is promising "plenty of new things in [the works] for you," and upgrades are free until version 2.0. If other controllers such as the über-everything Quicksilver don't quite float yer boat, CoverSutra looks like a great solution for controlling iTunes without interrupting your flow.
Use Mac OS X keyboard and shortcuts on Windows
If you're jonesing for your Mac OS X keyboard shortcuts to work on Windows, or if you just can't give up Apple's keyboard while using Boot Camp, the AppleK Pro keyboard driver for Windows might just be your fix. This little driver allows you to use most Mac OS X shortcuts (such as cmd - shift 3/4 for screenshots and cmd - opt - esc for the Windows Task Manager), and you can even plug in an Apple USB keyboard to keep on truckin' (great for the Boot Camp users in the audience).My big gripe with AppleK Pro however (besides the logo), is its outlandish $25 price. $5 - sure. $10 - I'd consider it (if I had to use Windows, that is). Even $15 might be reasonable, as long as you throw in the answer to the meaning of life or something. But $25 for some keyboard shortcuts? I might as well buy a new keyboard - at least then I could have one of those cool Matrix-style, multi-keyboard setups and act like I can actually see things when I stare at scrolling Klingon-ish code. Maybe these guys should hook up with MacZOT to cut the Mac shortcut addicts a break.
Strange new sidebar shortcuts in iTunes 7
A post at Mac OS X Hints lists some bizarre shortcuts that appear to be new in iTunes 7. The shortcuts apply to selecting the various content sections such as Music, Movies and the Store, but what's strange is that if you have any playlists which begin with the same letter as the shortcut, the playlist takes precedence. For example: the letter M (amongst others) can take you to your Movies section, but if you have a playlist titled "Mashups," the letter M will take you to the playlist, not the major content section.These shortcuts are very strange indeed, and it would be nice to have a more unified and universal list tucked away under a menu somewhere, so the shortcuts worked no matter what you were doing in iTunes, or what was selected. Still, if you're interested, check out Mac OS X Hint's list of shortcuts found so far.
TUAW Tip: shortcuts for Sleep, Restart and Shut Down
We here at TUAW are suckers for productive shortcuts, and since yesterday's System Preferences tip was such a hit, I thought I'd post a few shortcuts to speed up the Sleep, Restart and Shut Down commands. There's actually quite a few ways to accomplish these tasks, so I'll try to mention all the methods I've heard of. The first: hold the option key while selecting Restart or Shut Down from the Apple Menu to bypass the 'Are You Sure?' dialog, and cut right to the chase. You even get visual feedback in the Apple Menu; click the menu, then press the option key to see the trailing dots disappear from those two commands (as far as I know, this is a typical UI feedback element used throughout the OS; any commands - at least in Cocoa apps - that have keyboard modifiers will change their appearance in the menu if you press the modifier before choosing the option).The second method is my personal favorite: 100% keyboard shortcuts. Here's a list: Sleep = opt + cmd + eject Restart = ctrl + cmd + eject Shut Down = ctrl + opt + cmd + eject The third method, involving the power key, can still be counted as a keyboard shortcut, but since I almost never touch the power key (I Sleep my Macs about 99% of the time via my aforementioned favorite method), I don't really consider it part of my typical keystroke regimen. For you power key lovers out there, you can press your Mac's power key, and at the resulting 'Are you sure?' dialog that contains four buttons (Restart, Sleep, Cancel and Shut Down), you can press the first letters of a couple of these actions. Specifically, 'r' for Restart, 's' for Sleep and Enter for Shut Down. 'C' for Cancel doesn't seem to work, but Esc should get you out of the dialog if you need to keep computing.Here's hoping you don't have a Homer Simpson-like brain, where each new shortcut you learn knocks out an old one. Feel free to chime in with your thoughts on these shortcuts, and enjoy one more trick for working with your Mac just a little bit faster.
GmailUI Extension for Thunderbird
If Gmail's UI floats your boat but you prefer using a desktop email client for 'no waiting for a refresh' feel, Ken Mixter has developed a Thunderbird extension just for you. The GmailUI extension brings many of the shortcuts and search expressions of Gmail to Mozilla's Thunderbird client. Keyboard shortcuts like J and K for moving up and down through messages, as well as search expressions such as 'subject:' and 'from:' can now be a part of your Thunderbird experience. Ken even went so far as to include Gmail's 'archive' functionality and (oddly) a quick calculation function, right from within Thunderbird's search box.The extension appears to be completely free, and Ken is accepting feedback and suggestions at his site. Head over to Mozilla's addons site to grab the extension, or check out Ken's site for a lot more details of everything GmailUI is capable of.[via Gmail.pro]
Unsanity's ClearDock and Menu Master go Universal
Hot on the heels of brining Universal status to their Application Enhancer, Unsanity has released UB versions of ClearDock (free) and Menu Master ($10). ClearDock, as you might glean from the name, is a one-trick pony that can strip the dock of its transparent background or allow you to adjust the background and the application triangle color to your liking. Menu Master is a slick utility for assigning, removing and rearranging shortcuts for menu items in any Mac OS X application. It also has a Menu Accelerator feature which allows you to "access menu items by name without using the mouse". Both applications have received feature additions and improvements, as well as bug fixes along with their UB updates.ClearDock again is free, while Menu Master has a demo available, and a license will run you $10. Both require the previously mentioned Application Enhancer in order to work their magic on your Mac.
Service Scrubber is Universal
I'm not sure when it turned, but Service Scrubber has become a Universal Binary. We've mentioned this slick utility before, but in case you're unfamiliar, Service Scrubber allows you to do three fundamental things with that powerful, but seldom used, Services menu underneath your active Application menu in the menubar: restructure the services menu change service keyboard shortcuts disable services It's a very handy utility, especially for those of you who like to tinker with lots of different apps and utilities and suddenly find yourselves overrun with services.Service Scrubber is donationware and available from Peter Maurer's site.
Widget Watch: xCuts - a Mac OS X shortcut reference
Now here is a widget that everyone can enjoy: more better keyboard shortcuts. xCuts is a reference widget for Mac OS X's keyboard shortcuts, organized by Category, Scope and Object, allowing you more control over which kinds of shortcuts to browse through. You can even live-search the database, and the widget allows you to copy and paste the shortcut text into documents. Nice.
TUAW Tip: keyboard shortcuts during Mac OS X startup
For today's TUAW Tip, I thought I'd cover some of the basic essentials for starting up your Mac, especially for recent switchers who feel naked and lost without their BIOS. I compiled the list I have here from Magical Macintosh Key Sequences (which Dave mentioned last September), Apple's own keyboard shortcut documentation and personal experience: X during startup - Force Mac OS X startup option - (eventually) brings up a screen with startup volume choices Option-Command-Shift-Delete - Bypass primary startup volume and seek a different startup volume (such as a CD or external disk) C - Start up from a CD that has a system folder N - Attempt to start up from a compatible network server (NetBoot) T - Start up in FireWire Target Disk mode (very handy for plugging your Mac into another as an external hard drive) Shift - start up in Safe Boot mode and temporarily disable login items and non-essential kernel extension files (Mac OS X 10.2 and later) Command-V - Start up in Verbose mode. Command-S - Start up in Single-User mode cmd-opt-p-r - Zap PRAM. Hold down until second chime. cmd-opt-n-v - Clear NV RAM. Similar to reset-all in Open Firmware. cmd-opt-o-f - Boot into open firmware hold mouse click - force eject a CD/DVD While this by no means is a definitive list (and I'm not sure if every one transfers over to the new Intel Macs), it should get you started with what your Mac is capable of on startup. Feel free to add your own in the comments. One word of caution, however: some of these shortcuts aren't meant to be used on a daily basis. For example, Apple doesn't recommend (and neither do I) that you use the Zap PRAM or Clear NV RAM shortcuts any old time your Mac starts acting funny; those are mainly for situation-specific troubleshooting circumstances.
The function keys are your friends
I just love learning new keyboard shortcuts. Anything that keeps my hands on the keys and off of the mouse makes me happy. I thought I had a good repertoire of shortcuts memorized, but every now and then I come across a few that are new to me. Such was the case when I stumbled across these gems at Appleology: F2 plus Control = Navigate the menu bar, starting from the left hand side. F3 plus Control = Navigate the dock, using the left and right arrow keys to move between icons and the up and down arrow keys to view the navigate thought the contextual menu. F4 plus Control = cycle through all of the open windows. F8 plus Control = navigate through the right side of the menu bar. Note that this only works with some menu bar icons. In fact, I was only able to select the Remote Desktop icon this way Pretty nice. If you knew this already consider it a refresher, if not I hope you find these shortcuts useful.
Shortcut Roundup: NetNewsWire
I've said it before and I'll say it again: I'm a nut for getting things done quicker through the beauty of keyboard shortcuts. I'm also a nut for NetNewsWire, and after a week of giving a few online newsreaders like Bloglines and Google Reader an honest try, I have to come back home to my comfortable, productive, plugin-able and del.icio.us-friendly NetNewsWire. Why, you ask? Well, to put it simply: it's those gosh darn productively intoxicating keyboard shortcuts.Since I find these shortcuts so handy and since you have to dig for some of them, I figured I'd share my favorites in case anyone was wondering how to leverage the power of NNW. These shortcuts are based off a couple of assumptions: 1) You're using the regular NetNewsWire, not the Lite version; I've never used Lite, so I don't know what shortcuts and functionality are present, and 2) you have at least a group (folder) or two of feeds instead of just one big flat list: tab - shifts selection/focus from the feeds list to headlines to articles themselves. Handy for invoking other shortcuts. space bar - scrolls the present article, then selects the next unread article, not just the next one in the list k - marks all articles in a feed or group as read. Oddly, the shortcut for this action under the News menu is cmd k u - mark as unread. While k can mark an entire group as read, u will not perform the opposite on an entire group; only an individual headline. Not sure why. d - delete read items from a group. Handy for customized housecleaning if you have a boatload of subscriptions (I have 252) and set the preference to hold on to articles. b (or right arrow) - open in browser. Again, under the News menu this option is cmd b. Again, not sure why. . (the period key) - when a group is selected, this will expand the group , (the comma key) - collapsing a group ' (the apostrophe) - expands all groups ; (semicolon) - you should be able to figure out this one a and z - when the focus is on the subscription list, these select the previous and next subscriptions, respectivelyNow you have a few more shortcuts to help breeze through your mounting pile of news subscriptions. If any NNW ninjas out there want to toss in their thoughts on handy shortcuts, fire away in the comments.
