TMO Short Take - All Hail the Haxie: Key Xing, DockFun!, Visage, XShelf, etc... and ‘Marching Icons’

by , 11:00 AM EDT, April 8th, 2002

Today is a great day for science!

Dexter's Laboratory

Back when the "Classic" Mac OS was the only Mac OS, I would regularly elicit cursing and sounds of disbelief from friend when they saw my Mac boot up. They were surprised that my computer actually was stable, considering the number of shareware, freeware and betaware that I had installed on my machine at any given time.

It wasn't a matter of geeky technolust; I was just always on the lookout for any application that could make my computing life easier, make it more fun, or both. Preferably, the latter.

With the introduction of OS X, that lookout became more of a necessity than a thrill seek, because I wasn't looking for the fun- and making-life-easier apps, but I was looking more for apps that made my OS X Mac more like a Mac — you know, the whimsical and customizable experience we Mac users are used to. So, what I want to do is point out a few applications that I've been using for the last few weeks and months -- some indispensable, some optional. Each of them I highly recommend. As always, your mileage may vary.

Key Xing, by John Scalo
I must first mention that if you are looking for an application that allows you to automate nearly everything that you do, you want to go and download Quickeys X, the ultimate macro creator. If you are like me, however, and merely want a way to create shortcuts for things like launching applications and opening folders with simple keystrokes, Key Xing is for you. With a System Preference Pane, you can assign any keystroke you want. For example, I have set up shortcuts to launch AppleWorks, iCab, OmniWeb and Entourage, as well as shortcuts to opening my internet downloads folder and Documents folder. Sure, you can do the same thing with Function keys on any new Mac, but for $7 you can have far greater flexibility.

DockFun! by John MacDonnell.
There are so many things that I want to have in my Dock, but I don't like a Dock full of microscopic icons. This little app takes away my worry. I am able to create up to 10 Docks (sorry, only one Dock at a time, please), each function the way I desire. I have Docks named "URLs/Folders," with icons of URLs and Folders; "Games" for games; and "Media" for all of my media apps (QuickTime, Toast, Dreamweaver, etc.). There is also a contextual menu for switching Docks, as well as custom icons for each Dock. Not bad for a beta app. (Note: there are other apps out there, like multiDock, but DockFun! has come a long way towards perfection since its introduction.

SNAX, by CocoaTech, Inc.
One of the interesting things about OS X is that the Finder is just another application, not an integral part of the operating system. As such, you can do things like quit the Finder while continuing to work. Also, you can replace the Finder with some other file browser, like SNAX. The things I like about SNAX is that it provides the features that I want to see in the Finder. For example, it has the "spring-loaded" folders found in Classic Mac OS. Also, there is a full-featured preview mode (in early version of OS X, you could read a whole text document without opening the document; currently, you can only view the first few lines). Also, you can do other things like make windows transparent. Prior to the latest version, 1.2.6, SNAX performed terribly slow. Now, it gives the native Finder a run for its money. Speaking of money, SNAX costs $32.

3DOSX, by MacWarriors
I don't even know how to describe this one. It's nice for installing and looking at once or twice, but that's about it. Actually, this is the kind of attempt I want to see in the evolution of the modern GUI.

Visage, by Sanity Software
Probably one of the ultimate OS X hacks (check out today's Monday's Mac Gadget, by John F. Braun, on Visage), Visage is a System Preference that allows you to customize the startup features of your Mac: 1) you can change the background picture that shows while the system boots up 2) you can change the log-in panel (the picture that graces the OS X log-in screen) 3) you can change the "boot panel," the picture that backgrounds the startup text messages like "Starting application services..." 4) And speaking of startup text messages, you can also change those to whatever you want. The cost for all of this customization? $10.00.

SwitchPic, by Joe Howard
One of my favorite features in Classic Mac OS was the ability to have rotating desktop pictures by opening the Appearance Control Panel and dropping onto the open window a folder of my favorite pics. OS X doesn't have this ability natively, but with apps like SwitchPic, you do now. Unlike Classic Mac OS, where the desktop pics change on startup, you are able to set your preferred interval (I have my picture changing every minute). The app is $5, but well worth the cost.

XShelf, by Karl Hsu
This app fulfills a need that you may not even realize that you need. XShelf allows you to save a number of files, folders, text, and apps that you wish to cut and paste. Think of it as a pause in the cut-and-paste process. Suppose you want to cut and paste a file. You drag it to the file to the XShelf, and then move on to some other task. When you are finally ready to paste the file, you drag it from the XShelf and finish the cut and paste. Best of all, XShelf is freeware.

I could list more, and I'm sure that you have some that I've overlooked. If you know of an shareware or freeware application that you'd like to mention — OS X or Classic Mac OS — why don't you mention it below?

Now, if only someone can write an app that shows icons marching across my screen as my Mac starts up...

Rodney O. Lain hates the word "Haxie," as well as the word "TiBook." When he isn't trying to see how many shareware apps he can run at one time without crashing his iBook, he writes his iBrotha column for The Mac Observer. Rodney lives in Minnesota.