Filed under: Software, Odds and ends
Fantasktik taskbar app for Leopard
After installing Fantasktik, a small taskbar appears either just below the menu bar or just above the Dock -- you can set the location from System Preferences. The taskbar shows all of your open applications and windows in small icons, and by hovering your cursor over the icons you see a preview of the window contents. The preview is powered by Core Animation and provides a look at all open windows for an application through a MultiTouch-like interface called Click and Slide.
You can minimize the Fantasktik taskbar by clicking one of the small buttons on either end, and double-clicking an application icon collapses or expands all window icons associated with that app.
Fantasktik requires Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. A 15-day free trial is available from the Fantasktik website.
Get a WordPress.com Blog
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Fernando said 6:17PM on 8-19-2008
Is that a windows taskbar? Thanks, but no thanks, I didn't switch for that :P
Reply
(01) said 10:46PM on 8-19-2008
Right? That's one of my main problems with the Windows UI; one that I didn't realize until I switched.
Collin said 6:26PM on 8-19-2008
That was my first thought. Way too much like a Windows taskbar.
Reply
Information Central said 4:50AM on 8-20-2008
No; the Windows taskbar tends to work properly. Apple deserves a little credit for admitting as much, but then deserves scorn for obscuring the indicator of what's running (come on, putting a little "shine" under the app icons?) and also for botching the Command-Tab functionality. When you Command-Tab to an app, it doesn't restore its window. WTF is the point of tabbing to an app when it remains minimized in the dock?
Duh.
Kyle said 8:03AM on 8-20-2008
"for botching the Command-Tab functionality. When you Command-Tab to an app, it doesn't restore its window. WTF is the point of tabbing to an app when it remains minimized in the dock?"
Because I'm Command+Tabbing to the app, not the window/document. If I choose an app in the list, I want to work with the app, not necessarily the document within it.
This is especially true when using Spaces.
Don Parr said 6:33PM on 8-19-2008
I'll check it out, cause that's what I do :).
Reply
tiroger said 6:39PM on 8-19-2008
Expose works nicely for me, but this may be helpful i guess. It might be better to have the option to place the "taskbar" on the side, as it tends to take up quite a bit of horizontal real estate, especially on a 13.3-inch macbook screen.
Reply
killerfish said 6:44PM on 8-19-2008
Doesn't show up on all spaces for me. Only shows up on first space.
Reply
fail said 11:36AM on 8-20-2008
one line of code to fix.
[window setCollectionBehavior: NSWindowCollectionBehaviorCanJoinAllSpaces];
Chuwy said 12:10PM on 8-20-2008
Go into System Preferences then Spaces, set it to appear in all spaces from there.
Steve Carl said 6:43PM on 8-19-2008
I think this is pretty useful... yeah, similar to the Windows taskbar, but you can hide it and change it's position... I like it. Sometimes there's just too many windows on the screen.
Reply
Marc said 6:46PM on 8-19-2008
why not just use the apple-tab keyboard shortcut?
Reply
Joshua Wallace said 6:45PM on 8-19-2008
Only works in one space... total deal breaker for me.
Reply
Chuwy said 12:10PM on 8-20-2008
Go into System Preferences then Spaces, set it to appear in all spaces from there.
Darren said 6:45PM on 8-19-2008
This would definitely help ease the transition for some switchers. Back in the day when I first started playing with Linux, the lack of task bar in most window managers really bugged me.
Two things I don't like about it:
1. The preview popups. There should be a way to disable the preview as well as configure their size.
2. It's too easy for windows to appear under the task bar. Either make the Window Manager aware of the taskbar, so zoomed windows don't appear underneath, or have an auto-hide option, triggered by a hot corner; i.e., throwing the mouse cursor to the bottom left corner causes the task bar to slide out.
Reply
Rocky said 6:48PM on 8-19-2008
Cool! It's a Windows Taskbar for my Mac! Just what I wanted!!
NOT.
Reply
sonicwind said 6:51PM on 8-19-2008
I think it's a great idea. Congratulations to Microsoft for thinking of it. Can you also make a button that pops up a list of all the programs on the computer to execute? Sort of a Button to Start with when you want to do something on the computer. That would be awesome.
Reply
jozen5555 said 7:44PM on 8-19-2008
better yet
a side panel to display mini HTML coded applications
that would be so sweet
Rick said 6:51PM on 8-19-2008
Are people really willing to pay $10 for this?
Reply
Kevlar said 6:57PM on 8-19-2008
Yeah, the complete lack of customizability, and incompatibility with spaces makes it completely useless. Even setting the internal "Fantasktik.app" file to show on every space doesn't work.
Neat idea, for sure. Just needs a LOT of work to be viable.
Reply