What’s new under the sun, Mac users? Not much. We’re still waiting around for Siri to show up on the Mac and become a truly personal intelligent assistant.
Until then, we’re stuck launching our apps the old fashioned way. The Dock.
It’s not that I don’t appreciate the Dock. It works. It’s easy enough to figure out. But there’s one huge design flaw that even a clever magnification feature doesn’t help. The Dock gets crowded with apps and documents.
In keeping with the political season, what this country needs is a good five cent cigar, a chicken in every pot, and more Docks for the Mac.
Apple has a good history of taking technology that already exists and making it better. That’s what Tab Launcher does. It works like the Dock so you’re familiar with it already.
Think of extra Docks that can float on the left or right of the Mac’s screen. Simply move the screen pointer to the side and the Tab Launcher tabs pop out. That’s simple and efficient.
Even better, each Tab Launcher can have multiple tabs. One for Utilities, one for frequently used Apps, one for Apple apps, and so on.
Add as many tabs as you need (up to that point where the clutter begins). Personalize tabs by font, shadow, shape, color, icon size, and location. Tab Launcher even displays the most recently modified files in a specified folder.
Tab Launcher isn’t the Dock. In many ways it’s better than the Dock, cleverly done, and helps you keep the clutter out of the Dock.
For me, there is no faster, simpler way to launch any app than by typing: Command-Spacebar, first two or three letters of the app, return/enter. The dock, launchpad, and all of the apps that try to make it easier to launch apps are much slower – and I don’t even know how to touch-type!
Forget using the keyboard. I just move the screen pointer down to the Dock and click. Simple.
All those keyboard shortcuts are a pain to remember. Spotlight is worthless. Type in a few keys and it brings up plenty of what I don’t want. Ditto for Quicksilver, too.
Drag Thing is nice but overly complex to setup. TabLauncher looks nice, but it’s really just another dock.