Over on the Office Google Mac Blog they're calling attention to simple little application from Google Mac Team member David Phillip Oster called AppMenuBoy. Basically, it will allow you to get one click access to all your applications by clicking on its Dock icon. David designed it to function like folders on the Dock did back in the good old Tiger days, when you could simply drag your Applications folder to the Dock to get a basic launcher. Though the 10.5.2 update improved things to some degree from the original Stacks behavior in Leopard, AppMenuBoy "shows only applications, follows aliases, and if a folder contains only an application, it silently 'hoists' that application in the menu so you don't have hierarchical menus that contain only a single icon."
AppMenuBoy is a free download from Google Code.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
5-02-2008 @ 11:15AM
Colin R. Campbell said...
You can do this anyway, by placing aliases of applications you want in a separate folder, drag to the dock, and you get a much nicer looking quick launch.
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5-02-2008 @ 11:29AM
YoJIMbo said...
Exactly, I do that on all my Macs
5-02-2008 @ 12:03PM
Allan said...
While that seems like a perfectly acceptable idea... why bother creating aliases for all of the apps you want to use... this one just appears to put them ALL there without having to create anything from every one.
5-02-2008 @ 12:12PM
Colin R. Campbell said...
Why do I want to see ALL my applications? In text form no less.
I only want to see the ones I use. Totally customized, and icon based not text based. Remember this isn't windows, we like nice looking interfaces, and graphics.
5-04-2008 @ 12:57PM
Nicholas Post said...
Me too. I have been doing this simple home-made folder for the past 2 years. You can add or delete anything from it.
It is very your own personal mini-dock apps.
5-02-2008 @ 11:18AM
adisor19 said...
Bah. HimmelBar FTW !
Adi
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5-02-2008 @ 11:50AM
Chad Zeluff said...
Thanks, but I just prefer to open everything using Spotlight. ;)
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5-02-2008 @ 12:27PM
mingistech said...
Same here. Spotlight is lighting fast as an App Launcher.
5-02-2008 @ 12:15PM
psxp said...
How do you create an alias??
Right click and Application (I cant try now as I am on a windows machine)
Then do you drag to a new folder?
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5-02-2008 @ 2:30PM
Dave said...
Click on the app, and start dragging it towards the new folder. As you drag, hold down the command (apple) and option keys - see the cursor change from a regular arrow to a curved alias arrow.
When the app icon's over the new folder, let go of the mouse button THEN let go of the command and option keys. The original app stays where it was, and you've got a shiny new alias in the new folder.
5-02-2008 @ 12:18PM
Mike said...
Quicksilver?
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5-02-2008 @ 12:44PM
Dave said...
What does this do that Leopard's Dock doesn't already allow?
I already had this with stacks, just changed the display method to List.
I just dragged my Utilities folder to the dock and dropped it to the right of the little seperator line. Then right click on the icon and Sort by Name, View As Stack, Display as List.
Now when I click on that icon, I get a nice little list of all the items in the folder.
I guess the google thing doesn't make you drill down a folder, that might be worth something if you have a lot of embedded applications in subfolders.
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5-02-2008 @ 12:54PM
Object-X said...
Like previous commenters, I use Stacks for this.
As to the alias issue, I use aliases with the arrows turned off for my Stack folders (I don't like the arrows and only use aliases for this purpose). The reason for this is that I don't want folder icons in my Stacks folders, it ruins the visual effect. You can't move the Utilities folder out of the Application directory for example. If you do, some installations will put it back. I also use Drawers to pretty them up, as mentions here on TUAW 2007/11/16.
Stacks has become one of my favorite Leopard features.
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5-02-2008 @ 1:35PM
Gilla said...
All my programs are in that folder when I open it up in list form except Quicken 2006, the one I use the most. Why?
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5-02-2008 @ 3:08PM
brian said...
Dear Apple, You make good stuff in general, but even after almost a year, this new Dock still sucks.
The old way (10.0-10.4): drag a folder to the Dock, click on it folder to pop it open, right-click to get a hierarchical menu. Work for apps AND DOCUMENTS and anything else. (Hard disks, servers, you name it.)
The new way: Drag a folder to the Dock. Right-click, choose an option to make it show the folder icon instead of its contents, then right-click again and choose another option to make it show a menu. Now that we've done all that, LEFT-clicking gives a menu of contents (oh, how I love this at work, where I've got both 10.4 and 10.5 machines) and right-clicking... does nothing useful at all. THANKS!!!!!11
Dear God/Steve, couldn't you have at least given us a 'defaults write' option to change it all back?
As for this little app, it's kinda neat in some ways, but one little snag--I've got a lot more folders in my Dock than just /Applications.
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5-02-2008 @ 8:16PM
Big John said...
Man, toggling those two options is excruciating. I mean that takes what, 10 seconds?
I feel your pain, man. I really do.
5-06-2008 @ 10:15AM
brian said...
I wouldn't mind toggling the two settings if the result was that it worked as well as it used to. It was perfect for seven years: a left-click pops it open, right-click shows a hierarchical menu. Now a left click shows a menu and a right-click does nothing. THAT'S my problem.
5-02-2008 @ 3:17PM
Luigi193 said...
Launchbar/quicksilver FTW!!!
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5-02-2008 @ 3:32PM
babyfett said...
I tried doing the stacks way and when I put the folder to the right of the separator the icon automatically looks like the trash icon. Any thoughts on that and how do I turn off the alias arrows?
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5-02-2008 @ 8:15PM
Big John said...
Someone explain to me why a stack in list mode doesn't do the same job?
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