I have an idea, I hope you like it
Robthecomputerguy
I don't know how to program so I could not do this myself... and I'm a
long time Windows user that really has trouble with many of the ways
in which Mac navigates/interfaces.
I would love to have the ability to make a folder of aliases and
access them from AppMenuBoy.
Right now I have downloaded so many applications from the internet,
plus the applications I have purchased, I have 107 programs (plus
programs in folders) in my Applications folder. I was getting to the
point that I forgot the programs I downloaded to try, so I made a "1
Applications" folder just so I could put the newly downloaded programs
in there as some sort of 'Applications Inbox' ...
The thing is it's impractical for me scrolling down this list of 107
programs, and the way I used to set up my taskbar in Windows, well, I
don't like the dock, really. But to have 1-2-3 menuboys with a few
sets of programs would really, really make my day. I could take out
70 programs and put them in alternate folders or organize them into 30
folders...?
I could give you an idea of some basic program sets that would save
dock space for me:
-"Other browsers" leaving safari and firefox in my dock
-Parallels Machines - I have 5 virtual machines in Parallels I'd like
to click-click to
-Canon Printer/Scanner/Camera applications
And if I was doing aliases, I guess I could put my top 5 clients in a
menuboy, no?
I really like this app. I've seen similar ones but they really don't
match simplicity and straightforwardness.
If nothing else, thanks for listening!
Rob
David Oster
On Aug 3, 2008, at 9:34 AM, Robthecomputerguy wrote:
> I would love to have the ability to make a folder of aliases and
> access them from AppMenuBoy.
>
You are in luck: you can already do this with AppMenuBoy. If you put
aliases in /Applications, AppMenuBoy will follow them.
I keep most of my applications in a "3rd Party Apps" folder, but the
developer tools install into /Developer/Applications. A simple alias
from there to /Applications, and AppMenuBoy shows them too.
AppMenuBoy builds its menus when it starts. If you edit the
application folder tree, you'll need to restart AppMenuBoy to see the
changes.
All of the above is assuming that a single hierarchical menu is good
enough. If you want multiple icons in the Dock, you'll have to do a
bit of programming.
You can have as many AppMenuBoys as you want, if you are willing to
fetch the source code and compile it. You can set which folder the
program looks at, and what the application's icon is. If you edit the
application's signature in its Info.plist file, you can easily have
multiple copies running simultaneously.
Or, have I misunderstood you completely?
-- David Phillip Oster
Rob Reale
No, you have understood me completely, except that I have zero programming ability.
The way the program works to my mind works perfectly especially with the 1 menu deep thing.
Honestly, I'm going to work with it as is, and reorganize my applications folder... and just make a folder for "Secondary Apps" for the 75 applications or so that I don't want to see frequently.
It is very helpful, and the simplicity is genius. :)
(Although I will keep the options you mentioned in mind, even if I have to pay someone for the programming!)
Thanks!