Mac Applications I use regularly
4:28PM, July 27, 2008 - [ Permalink]
Since becoming a Mac user back at the end of 2003 (December 27th, 2003, if you must know), and in my lines of work (web development and video editing), you tend to try a whole bunch of applications. Here's a list of the ones that have become my favourites.
Apple Applications
iTunes
If my computer is on, iTunes is running. I love music, and I listen to music almost my entire workday. iTunes makes organizing music easy with its playlists.
Mail.app
Mail handles all of my email, across several accounts, and has some wonderful features such as Smart Folders. In fact, wrote a blog post called "Email Smart Mailbox tip for Mail" back in October of 2007.
Safari
Safari is my default web browser, although I do use others, I still prefer Safari's speed and features.
Address Book and iCal
These two applications are a cornerstone of keeping me organized, on schedule and in contact. For example, if you put someone's birthday into Address Book, it will show up in your iCal.
Video Applications
iDVD
This is an impressively powerful application for making DVDs on your Mac - powerful enough that I use it for many of my event videos that I shoot that don't require any complex DVD programming.
Final Cut Express
I started editing on the Mac, I used Final Cut Express, and I whole-heartedly recommend users who find iMovie too limiting to move up to Final Cut Express to start. In fact, the first Belly Dancing DVD I edited Halyma's Belly Dance Lesson One: Absolute Basics for Absolute Beginners was done entirely inside Final Cut Express.
Final Cut Pro
I moved up to Final Cut Pro (and then Studio) to do the second DVD, (specifically for the enhanced colour correction tools), and I have to say I love FCP.
Motion
Motion is really handy for doing (duh) motion graphics and is good for doing beautiful lower thirds.
Compressor
Once a project is finished, using Compressor to convert to the various file formats is very helpful.
DVD Studio Pro
When I'm not using iDVD for DVD authoring, this is a extremely powerful application.
Techspansion's Visual Hub
This is a tool that everyone working with video should have - and for less than $25, there is almost no excuse not to have it for the amount of time it saves moving video from one format to another.
Apple's Quicktime Pro
This comes with Final Cut Studio, but is invaluable for quick and fast edits, easily rotating video, and other miscellaneous video alterations, Quicktime Pro can be a real time-saver.
Web Development
Macromates' Textmate
Textmate is my text editor of choice and includes many features like bundles (even ColdFusion!), nested scopes, macros, snippets, commands, code folding, and has project management features.
MacRabbit's CSSEdit
Whenever I need to edit CSS (which is frequently), I use CSS Edit 2.0 - simple, easy to use, and it works. Well work the $$$.
Panic's Transmit
The application works exactly as it should, handling FTP and SFTP (you *are* using SFTP, aren't you?) with great ease. One of the best things I like about Transmit is Panic's support - they've been extremely helpful whenever I have had a question.
Pixelmator
This application is under development, and is *rapidly* improving. Think of it as an inexpensive Photoshop; much of the same functionality. For $59, you can't go wrong.
Online
AdiumX
My instant messenger of choice. Works with all the popular networks, which is important, but it doesn't do video or audio, for those I go to iChat.
Inquisitor
This is the kind of little program Apple should just buy up and integrate into Safari. However, until they do that, Inquisitor makes searching in Safari's search box quicker than before as it looks at Google as you type, suggesting results as you type.
FireFox
Firefox is the other web browser I use, and has all the bells and whistles you would expect from a modern, leading edge browser. Well, and is a shining example of what an open source project can be.
NewsFire
I've started using NewsFire after I got it in one of the MacHeist deals as a way of saving myself time reading all of the
General use
Delicious Library
My wife and I have a rather large DVD collection and Delicious Library arrived just in time to help keep us organized. The barcode scanner makes adding DVDs, CDs and other stuff *super* easy. You can track all your stuff, and who you lent it to.
Parallels Desktop
With Parallels, I can run various versions of Windows, and Linux without needing to reboot my machine to use Boot Camp or have a dedicated Windows / Linux box sitting around.
Marketcircle's Billings 2.5
Billings has made my time-tracking and invoicing much, much more efficient. If you are running a small business, then this application can open your eyes to the amount of time you spend working on various jobs.
TextExpander
Super-handy little macro application. I use to for short-handing anything that gets typed over and over, like email addresses; @w gets "expanded" into wtleroux@gmail.com, or ddate becomes 2008-07-26- which I use when naming lots of files. This saves bucket-loads of time *and* prevents typos.
DScreen
Ever want to have your screen-saver as a desktop backdrop? Now you can. For serious eye-candy - try Arabesque, Flurry, or Shell.
Decimus' Synk Standard
For local backups, I use Apple's Time Machine, but I highly recommend using one of Decimus' Synk applications to manage your offsite backups. I wrote an article titled "Backing up. Not just for the Paranoid" to remind those of you that having a comprehensive on and off-site backup.
Hog Bay Software's WriteRoom
When you need to write without any distractions, WriteRoom is a good choice. It blanks out the rest of the computer, leaving only the text you are working on. In fact, most of this blog post was written in WriteRoom.
Game
BZ Flag
This is great fun. Open source (that means free) game where you drive your tank around blowing up other people's tanks. Now that's entertainment.
