Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, OS, Software, Tips and tricks, Cult of Mac, Apple
Productivity on OS X
Paul Stamatiou is more productive on a Mac. Why? The combination of Exposé, Quicksilver, and Spotlight. These three things taken together really make the Mac a powerhouse of productivity (and I should know since I use the very same tools, though I tend not to need Spotlight that much. I'm just that good).Now, I spend a fair amount of time using Windows and it isn't an awful experience (Windows is good for some things), however, whenever I am on my Mac I feel like I'm getting more done.
So, TUAW readers, share your productivity hints in the comments so that we can all become dynamos of productive power!
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Stephen said 2:05PM on 6-05-2006
I totally feel the same way! I use exposé, spotlight, apple+tab, dock and the little middle button on my mouse to do EVERYTHING seamlessly.. other people get annoyed by my set-up, but truly, itt is ALOT easier to be productive with it.
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John Muir said 2:39PM on 6-05-2006
12" PowerBook = pixels are precious so I do the following:
1. Dock contains running apps ONLY
2. Quicksilver opens all apps
3. I instigate it with a double press of command which is faster when grabbing the computer!
4. Top left and top right corners of the screen are hot corners for Desktop and View All Windows Expose actions respectively ... great when you're not using an external mouse and much faster than hitting the function keys
5. Sidetrack turns my old trackpad into a scrolling one which saves time from unnecessary moves to scrollbars and the arrow keys, it also gives me right click so no more control+click
Using Windows from time to time sucks the most simply because I can't do any of these!
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drfishy520 said 2:46PM on 6-05-2006
Assign exposé to a mouse button. It makes all the difference in the world.
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tom.landy said 2:53PM on 6-05-2006
Completly agree. I have migrated totally from PC, unless I'm doing some Photoshop or playing games to my new MacBookPro
I really do find it so much faster to work and get some progress done in any task on my mac. I use the dash a lot for notes and Fast user switching is an essenial part of my day. if I could share documents and preferences between my users then my life would be perfect...
also don't use quicksilver, just don't like it...
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Henry said 3:06PM on 6-05-2006
I never really figured out quicksilver. Even after installing it and trying to use it, I still have no idea what it does. Can someone enlighten me?
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Tyler Hall said 3:11PM on 6-05-2006
TextMate is my ultimate productivity tool. Being able to edit my code, commit to SVN, FTP to my server, and navigate my project's directory structure - all without taking my hands off the keyboard - is a god send. Quicksilver and Expose are just icing on the cake.
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Snarky said 3:13PM on 6-05-2006
One tool which I use to aid me in my productivity pursuits is Witch. It is apple + tab, only better. It allows one to view all windows in the same manner as apple + tab. It can do much more too. It is very useful. http://www.petermaurer.de/nasi.php?section=witch
-Snarky
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Spike said 3:19PM on 6-05-2006
Windows is good for some things, not somethings.
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Chris said 3:50PM on 6-05-2006
@ John Muir - how do you get to set double command as the hot key for Quicksilver, mine doesn't seem to let me do that??
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Andrew said 4:16PM on 6-05-2006
While Apple+Tabbing, you can hold down Apple to keep the tab window open, then press Q to quit the highlighted application, H to hide it, etc... I've found this one always impressed my friends the most :)
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ipodrulz said 4:18PM on 6-05-2006
Ha.. I do work A LOT faster.. but i just get to distracted trying to find new widgets. Or updating my iWeb.. or going on tuaw... ETC
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Hendrik said 4:27PM on 6-05-2006
Some nice ones in here, even for a Mac Pro ;-)
Thanks!
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christine said 4:55PM on 6-05-2006
I know there have been Quicksilver posts in the past, but is there a really indepth article somewhere? I cannot seem to grasp or enjoy the application at a level as the majority of users and yet I would like to since I'm using my Mac SO much. Thanks
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dan said 4:56PM on 6-05-2006
seriously i'm w/ #5...what's the freakin deal w/ quicksilver...i'm not trying to mock it or anything....i just don't get it
give me examples where i'd use it everyday like exposé and apple+tab
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Eric Domb said 5:00PM on 6-05-2006
As a switcher, I've come to love how OSX manages windows. Microsoft OSes always seem to cover the whole screen up with a single application window. On my Mac I always have a few applications open, and I can always see at least a little bit of each app. That really help with application switching and figuring out where stuff is, instead of relying on the taskbar. Oh yeah, expose and spotlight are pretty sweet too. And tabs (in Firefox and Adium).
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mk said 5:10PM on 6-05-2006
1) add applications folder to the dock.
2) add date to the menubar
2) get STAND for safari and set it to open links in a new tab
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Jasper Van Proeyen said 5:27PM on 6-05-2006
One thing that wasn't yet mentioned is Cmd-` (for switching between more windows in the same application).
The only thing I hate is that it doesn't work in Photoshop (Ctrl-Tab).
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rc said 5:29PM on 6-05-2006
For everyone not familar with quicksilver, there are some very good tutorials, ... it's really worth to try it, after a week or so and some training you'll never want to miss it again. It really changed my way of doing stuff, it's very fast. Here the links: http://docs.blacktree.com/quicksilver/tutorials
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John Muir said 5:34PM on 6-05-2006
Chris: bring up Quicksilver, press command+comma, then go to "Command". Once there select "Modifier-only Activation" and pick "double" and "command" in the two pull down lists. Done. It also lets you keep your other shortcut active too, so you can use either.
As for everyone who doesn't get Quicksilver ... TUAW needs to link a good essay on it. Basically I find it much faster than Spotlight for finding apps and documents and like the "bezel" UI it has which I think of quite like the command+tab interface. Quicksilver's damned fast as I only have a 867MHz G4 yet it's smooth: faster than Spotlight.
What does it add that Spotlight and Expose can't do? Well you can select Actions which are really slick for when you don't *just* want to open a file with an app but do something a little more advanced. Press tab when you have a file up with it and then press down to see what it has. There are a pile of plugins people are developing for it which can be installed from inside the program which really integrate it with many of your other apps.
I use Quicksilver a whole lot. Almost as much as Expose, which was in my opinion the biggest ever new feature in OS X after my introduction back with Jaguar. Epic stuff.
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John Muir said 5:38PM on 6-05-2006
(15: you can change Photoshop's shortcut keys. Look around the menus for it, I've got my copy acting like it should with command+h and command+` etc.)
I'd like to just add that to authenticate my comment above all I had to do was press in order:
command
command
m
return
That started Mail then: down and click on the link.
1.5 ~ 2 seconds.
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