At the WWDC keynote this week, Steve Jobs remarked that when trying to teach someone how to use a Mac, “everything’s going along fine until you hit the file system, and then the difficulty is staggering for most people.” I remember having my own difficulties understanding file systems back when I was a computer neophyte, and I’m sure others would agree.

On iOS, this learning curve is non-existent, as it has no file manager. Instead, apps use a “library” metaphor, where each app is responsible for presenting its own documents. For example, when you launch Pages for iOS, you get a view of all your documents, so you can swipe through and choose one to edit.

Pages for iPad uses a library to display its documents.

But how can Apple make file management easier on the Mac? Truth is, it has been laying the groundwork for years. The iLife suite, iTunes, and Photo Booth have used the library system since the beginning, and I suspect a new version of iWork will come out that does the same. Apple is furthering this groundwork with Lion; Auto Save, Versions, and Launchpad are all designed to be easier alternatives to using the Finder. AirDrop, the new simple local file sharing tool, is also part of the transition, even though it’s integrated into the Lion Finder. All Apple has to do is take it out of the Finder, and integrate it into each app’s library.

Another piece of the puzzle is iCloud, which makes syncing files across multiple devices easy, requiring no intervention on the user’s part. iCloud has the potential to make drag ‘n’ drop file management a thing of the past. No more copying that important Keynote presentation from one Mac to another with the Finder; With iCloud, it’ll already be there.

It follows that in the future, we could see a Mac OS where there is no Finder, and none of the complexities that come with it. When you want to work with a document, you’ll just fire up the app that’s associated with it and select it from the library. Shared libraries could work between apps, too, like they do now with iPhoto and other Apple apps. There won’t be any need to save files, or launch applications with the Finder; the OS will take care of that for you.

All this isn’t to say that it’ll be easy for Apple to replace the Finder. There are still questions that remain unanswered. For instance, how Apple would deal with downloads or the Desktop folder. Despite this, I have little doubt that Apple will continue to move us towards a Finder-less future. The gains in terms ease of use are simply too great for Apple to pass up.

What are your thoughts? Should Apple ditch the finder, or are the compromises required too great?

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Welcome to another installment of Tips and Tricks. These articles aim to teach you some handy things you might not know about your Apple stuff. Let’s continue the series by looking at Finder.

Dropping Files Onto Applications

If you have a bunch of files you want to open simultaneously with the same application, this trick will save a bit of time. Any files you drag and drop onto the icon of an application in a Finder window will be opened with that program, provided it supports the file type you’re dragging. You can drag and drop more than file at the same time, to help save time. Applications which support the files you’re dragging will be highlighted as you hover over them, and applications which don’t will stay the same. This trick also works the same way with applications in the Dock.

Changing Folder Icons

As some point, you might want to change the icon of a folder. For example, if you have a folder called ‘Movies’ on an external drive, you might want to replace the default folder icon with the same one as Movies in your Home folder. To do this is really easy. First, find the folder with the icon you want to use (in this case it’s Movies). Right- or Control-click it and choose Get Info, or hit Command-I (⌘I). This brings up the Get Info window for the item you had selected.

The part we’re interested in is the small icon in the top left, next to the folder’s name (not the smallest one in the title bar, the larger one below the ‘traffic light’ controls). Click on that to select it and it’ll be highlighted. Now simply press Command-C (⌘C) to copy the icon.

Now go back to the regular Finder window and locate the folder you want to change the icon of. Once again, open up the Get Info window and select the icon at the top. Now press Command-V (⌘V) to paste the icon from the other folder. The icon should change instantly to show the new one you’ve pasted. You can also remove any icon you’ve pasted onto a folder simply by selecting it in the Get Info window and hitting Delete. This sets the icon back to the default plain folder icon.

This trick also works for changing the icons of applications and other files, but it’s not recommended that you do it for those things. If you want to do that, I’d suggest looking into an application such as CandyBar for a safer way to do it.

Finding an Item’s Location

Spotlight, the Finder’s search tool, also has a few tricks up its sleeve. To get started with Spotlight, access the menubar item by pressing Command-Space, or access Spotlight via a Finder window by pressing Option-Command-Space.

If you know what you’re looking for, it’s easier to use the menubar item, but for a more advanced search, use the Spotlight window.

One of my favorite tricks in Spotlight is showing exactly where a file or folder is on my system. To do this, invoke the menu item, then search for a file or folder. Usually what you’re looking for will come up as the Top Hit, but sometimes it won’t. You can use the arrow keys to navigate up and down the list until you have what you want highlighted.

Now, instead of hitting Return to open the item you have highlighted, which would simply open it, press Command-Return. This will open a new Finder window showing you where the item you chose lives on your system. This is great if you have forgotten where you saved something, for example.

Definitions and Calculations

Another useful tip for Spotlight is the way it can give you dictionary definitions and perform calculations. To get a definition, type the word into the menu item. Most of the time the definition will be the topmost item in the list. There’s very little chance that the whole definition will fit in the Spotlight list, but to see the whole thing, highlight the definition and press Return. Dictionary.app will open and show you the definition for the word. You can also hover your mouse over the list item and the definition will be displayed in the yellow tooltip which appears.

It’s the same with performing calculations; type in what you want Spotlight to do and it will show you the answer at the top of the list. It supports powers as well, so things like 3^2 and sqrt(100) will work, too.

I hope you’ve learned something new, and don’t forget to contribute your tips in the comments!

This also works in the Finder:

So, how is this useful? Well, say you’re really deep in the hierarchy of a website and the designer of the website hasn’t provided a link back to the homepage. Rather than clicking the back button a bunch of times, you can just command+click the title bar and scroll down to the root, which is a lot faster.

You probably won’t need to use this that often, but it’s still a neat trick to learn, and, as far as I know, this only works in Safari and Finder. If you know of any other applications where this works, tell us in the comments.

If you’ve ever Control-clicked (also known as ‘right click’) a file, you’ve seen a listing of actions presented to you that can be carried out on that file. This menu is called a contextual menu, but that’s not the point of this exercise. What is the point, is the item called ‘Get Info’. Today, I’d like to show you some of the hidden gems that can be found within this screen.

Get Info is a function of the Finder, and displays properties about a file or folder. To follow along at home, open the Finder and simply right-click any file on your computer, and then choose ‘Get Info’. We’ll start from the top, and work our way down.

1: Title Bar (of Get Info Window)
If you Control-click the icon in the title bar of this window, you’ll see a hierarchy that represents the location of this file on your computer’s hard drive. If you then click on any of the higher level locations listed, a Finder window opens to that folder. This can be useful for files nested many folders deep in a hierarchy.

2: Change the File’s Icon
Below the Title Bar, is a larger icon which represents the file we’re looking at. If you click (just once) on that larger icon, you’ll notice a slight glow outlines it. This is a hint that you can do something with that icon. If you want to change the icon of this file, here’s what you do:

1. Select the icon you want to duplicate and copy it. You can do this simply by locating it in the Finder, clicking it, and copying it with a Command+C keyboard shortcut.
2. Click the large icon in the Get Info window of the file who’s icon you want to change. When the colored glow shows around the icon, use Command+V to paste the icon you copied in step 1. That’s it. Now the Finder will display this file’s new icon.

3: Spotlight Comments
I’ve covered this extensively in years past. Spotlight Comments are sort of keywords that you can manually add to a file. They are indexed by Spotlight for searching.

4: General
(If the arrow next to the name General is pointing to the right, click on it and it will drop down the contents of this section of the window.) There is some general information found here — hence the name. But below the information are two items with check boxes beside them: Stationary Pad, and Locked.

• Stationary Pad – Checking this box makes the current file a template file. Once you’ve checked this box, and then open the file again, a duplicate of this file will be made and opened, so the original will be protected from edits. It’s a nice way to make a template, or keep a pristine version of any kind of file in OS X.
• Locked – If you check the Locked box (I just got a flashback of an Al Gore skit on SNL), you are effectively protecting the file against deletion, or against being moved from its current location.

5: More Info
Brilliantly named, you get more info here. Document Author and a last opened date.

6: Name & Extension
You can alter the name here. Of course you can do that without opening Get Info, so you’re better off doing it from the file location in Finder. But you can also choose to show or hide the file’s extension using the check box here.

7: Open With
This one’s got some power under the hood. I’ll illustrate the usefulness of this part with a personal example:
I’ve got several Text Editors installed on my Mac. I prefer for .txt files to always open into TextMate. I can accomplish this by doing a Get Info on any .txt file, and choosing TextMate as the ‘open with’ option. Once I’ve done that, by clicking the “Change All…” button, all .txt files will automatically open with TextMate rather than any of the other apps that also handle .txt files. If the application you want to use doesn’t show in the drop down list, select ‘Other’ and browse to the application you want. This is a huge time saver for many folks.

8: Preview
Not much to see here. It’s a preview of the document file. But you can’t read it — although it is an exact replica of the actual document’s contents. You can drag the preview image and hold Option to create a copy of the file, if that’s something that’s exciting for you.

9: Sharing & Permissions
If you ever run into problems with being able to read or change a file — or someone else is — then you might check here. Though as fair warning, fiddling with permissions can have adverse affects, so unless you know what you’re changing, you may want to avoid changing these details.

So that concludes our tour. Some of the items within Get Info are obvious. But there are some gems worth knowing. My hope is that you found something you had been looking for, or had not previously known about.

Mac OS X offers a computing experience that, according to many, is still unparalleled by its competitors. Built on a rock solid UNIX foundation and continually adding refinements that make interaction easier, OS X has a lot of powerful functionality that many users were unaware existed. One of these is the idea of “Smart Folders” and with a little primer, you can begin using them to make your Mac experience easier (and faster).

A Brief History

The idea of these Smart Folders are not unique to OS X. In fact, the idea started originally in the mid ‘90s with the now defunct BeOS. When Dominic Giampaolo, a software developer for Be, began working for Apple in 2002, some of the best elements of the BeOS made their way into Apple’s modern operating system. We know these features as “Smart Folders” and Spotlight, both of which launched in Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger, two years after Giampaolo began working for Apple.

A “Smart Folder” (or “Search Folder” as Windows Vista calls them when Microsoft introduced its version in 2006) is based on the idea that this folder is basically a “virtual folder” of its actual contents. This virtual folder doesn’t physically store copies of its contents inside but rather utilizes a database to store attributes about the files (defined either by the system or the user). This offers several advantages: they have a small file size, the ability for on-the-fly fine tuning of the criteria used to define the content as well as allowing the content to dynamically update as new files meet the criteria. Whoa. What does all of that mean? We’re getting there.

Smart Folders Save Time

In short, Smart Folders save you time. You basically give them a list of rules to follow and they automatically fill themselves with content based on the criteria you’ve defined. It’s important though, to realize that these Smart Folders do not actually represent copies of the content, but merely virtually link to them. If you delete a file out of a Smart Folder, you’ve also deleted it from its original location.

How To Make Smart Folders

Making a Smart Folder is quite easy. In fact, if you’re running Leopard or Snow Leopard, several of them have already been created. You might recognize them due to their trademark purple folder icon (also used to serve the same role in other applications, but we’ll discuss that in future articles). In the left side of a default Finder window, you’ll see an area called “Search For” with entries for “Today,” “Yesterday,” “Past Week” and some more. These are built in smart folders that automatically search your entire system for files meeting those criteria. But we can do far more powerful things with Smart Folders if we make our own.

1. To get started, when in the Finder, go to the File menu and select “New Smart Folder.” You’ll have a Finder window that looks like a search window. (You can also start this process simply by searching from a Finder window.)
2. Next, using the bar beneath the title bar of the window, select the location you’d like this folder to search. The default options are your Mac, your home folder and Shared (any other computers you may connected to). If you’d like it to confine the search to a specific folder, simply navigate to that folder and use the Spotlight function built into the Finder window. (Type something into the field to bring up a search; you can then delete what you typed to move to the next step).
3. Unless you’ve specified some phrase or string in the Spotlight search region in the upper right of the window, at this point you’re not going to be seeing any search results. Let’s give it some actual criteria to search.
4. Click the round plus (+) icon on the right side of the window to show another bar beneath the search location. Where it says “Kind” and “Any” is your first search criteria. These work in pairs. You can change “Any” to documents, images, movies or anything you want. Instantly, you’ll see your search results start to populate based on your selection. Perhaps instead of searching by kind, you want to search by name, contents or date. Clicking “Kind” will allow these changes as well as a mystical “other” option which gives you tons of options for a plethora of different uses. Since OS X is media friendly, you can also select criteria that corresponds to metadata in your media files, such as aperture value of a photo, sample rate for an audio file, video bit rate for video files and more.
5. You can continue to add additional criteria by clicking the plus and adding another row of criterion. Each additional criterion further fine tunes your search. For an item to appear in the results, it will need to meet every rule you have created for it.
6. If you want to save a Smart Folder search, click the Save button in the upper right of the window. Your searches are saved in “Saved Searches” inside the Library folder of your home folder. There’s also a checkbox to automatically add your new search to your Finder sidebar.
7. Editing a Smart Folder is as simple as right clicking it in the sidebar and selecting “Show Search Criteria” or selecting the same option from the gears menu once you’ve double clicked a saved Smart Folder.

Again, the beauty and power of Smart Folders comes from the fact that once you’ve defined the rules, this folder will automatically continue to update as new files are created or saved that meet its criteria.

Folder Inspiration

Smart Folders sound great and once you’ve set one up, you’ll see the process is pretty simple. It’s also pretty powerful but, for inspiration, here’s a few examples of interesting and useful Smart Folders that you could create on your system.

Recent Documents: To view all your recent documents, set the kind to document and the last opened date to within the last 3 days.

Important Files: If you use Finder labels, select “Other” and choose “File label.” Then pick the file label that matches your desired results.

By Device: Have several cameras? You can use “Device make” and “Device model” to specify a particular camera (as well as any other EXIF data).

Do you use Smart Folders? Have any tips you’d like to share or comments on this post? Let me know what you think; I’d love to hear your feedback.

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The real power of OS X lies in all of the hidden gems beneath what you see at first glance. Technologies like Expose, Spaces, Stacks, Spotlight and others help users tap the power of their Mac, while keeping the experience sleek and elegant. Aptonic’s Dropzone, a third-party application designed to further simplify your Mac experience, fits into this group perfectly and naturally.

It’s Like an Intern for Your Dock

Dropzone is an application that resides in your Dock like any other app. The power of Dropzone comes into play when you begin dragging files onto its icon. Similar to the appearance of a Stack, Dropzone will expand giving you options of what to do with the file or files you’ve selected. Think of it like Automator for your Dock.

For example, if I have a handful of files selected, and drag them onto my Dropzone icon, I am presented with a series of choices, one of which is “Zip files and email.” As simple as it sounds, dragging the files onto this icon zips the files automatically and attaches them to a new email message inside of Mail. Gone are the days of right-clicking to compress the files, attaching that to an email and then deleting the zip file when I’m done.

Another “destination” included is the ability to install applications quickly by dragging a DMG onto the “Install Application” destination. Behind the scenes, your Mac will mount the DMG file, locate the application inside, copy it to your Applications folder and launch it, unmount the DMG and move the DMG file to the trash.

Other destinations include quick access to uploading images to Flickr (including copying the image URL to your clipboard when its done) or upload files to your FTP server. Want those files zipped before upload? No problem. Just hold down the option key as you drag the files onto the icon. It’s quick and simple and really does save time.

I’m the type of Mac user who likes to keep my Dock as simplified as possible, but I do enjoy the ability to be able to drag files onto an application icon and force the file to open in that application. Dropzone allows me to throw applications I use frequently inside of it and then I have the ability to do just that. Compared to attempting the same thing with a stack in Leopard, I only spawn Finder windows.

Taking It Further

Several optional downloads can extend the functionality of Dropzone. There are add-ons to allow you to start your screensaver, mount/unmount firewire drives, and set your computer to sleep, in addition to many others. Dropzone even includes support for popular web services, including the ability to quickly share photos via TwitPic, shorten a dropped URL via the Is.Gd service (and copy it to the clipboard automatically), and quickly share photos and documents on Posterous.

If you are comfortable programming ruby scripts, Dropzone also offers a scripting API to allow you to create your own “destinations” to further extend the application.

If you’d like to try out Dropzone, it’s currently available for Leopard or Snow Leopard users. Aptonic does provide a trial version of the software, and the cost is only $10 to purchase the full version. The trial does limit you to 15 days of use and up to five “destinations” at a time. I spoke with the developers at Aptonic and they informed me that updates through 1.0 will be freely available to users who register, but the $10 price is likely just an introductory price. Download the demo version here.

I’ll be the first to admit, much like Quicksilver or Spaces, once you get used to integrating this app, it really does save you time. If you have tried out Dropzone, let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

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There are a few ways to get the base Git package (with the Git command-line client and two basic graphical frontends) installed under OS X, including compiling the source-code yourself, or installing it via MacPorts. However the easiest is by simply downloading and running the Git os x installer, which will do everything for you.

Once Git is installed, you can quickly create a local Git ‘clone’ of a source repository such as VLC’s, by opening a terminal window, navigating to the directory you’d like the source to exist and then typing git clone git://git.videolan.org/vlc.git. Once you have your local clone, you can make your changes and stage commits back with the command-line client. To find out all the power and functionality of Git, you can read the tutorials and detailed documentation that’s available at Git’s official webpage.

As Git is quite new, there are not many UI front-ends available yet, and even less specifically for OS X — with none of them being very mature. However, I’ve compiled a list of six tools/apps for managing Git on OS X. The two native OS X apps (GitX and GitNub) should be watched carefully over the next year or so, as they could turn into some excellent software.

Gitk

GitK comes with the command-line git client and is a tcl/tk application that lets you browse the history of repositories. This can be launched by typing gitk in a terminal. It’s not pretty, but it does the job and serves as a reference for future clients.

Git Gui

Git Gui also comes with the command-line client and is likewise also a tcl/tk application. This lets you perform staged commits on your code and can be launched by typing git gui in a terminal. Note the space between the two words, tab-completion on the terminal will not find this, but it is there. While the UI is more appealing than GitK, it leaves a lot to be desired when one is used to the Aqua and Cocoa UI.

GitX

GitX is an attempt to bring OS X’s shiny interface in all its glory to the functionality of gitk and git gui. It currently allows viewing revision history and committing files. You will need to make your local clone manually with the command-line client first, then you can open the cloned directory and use the UI to browse and commit.

GitNub

GitNub is another OS X specific client being written in CocoaRuby. Its not yet officially released and the only way to get it running is by compiling it yourself by cloning the git directory and building it in XCode. Once built and pointed at a local git repository, it allows browsing the various history. Where this goes in the future could be interesting.

OpenInGitGui

OpenInGitGui is an AppleScript extension to Finder that simply enables you to quickly and easily open the current clone in Git Gui without having to manually launch it from a terminal. After installing the compiled AppleScript, you then just drag it onto Finder’s toolbar to create a new tool button. Once you navigate to a local Git clone, you can just click the button to make Git Gui launch.

Eclipse Plugin

There is a Git plugin for the cross platform IDE Eclipse that works under OS X. This is impressively functional with the ability to clone a Git repository and import it directly as an Eclipse project. It then lets you browse history, perform comparisons and diffs and do commits. If you use Eclipse, this is an ideal solution.

The Future

Git is still very new, and as it grows in popularity, the number of clients supporting it will also grow. Stay tuned to TheAppleBlog for news and updates on using Git with our favorite desktop environment.

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Subversion (also known as SVN) is a popular version control system. Accessing SVN repositories with OS X is easy – and there are numerous options to do so. In this article we’ll cover 12 different applications that let you access and use Subversion in OS X.

Version 1.4 of the command-line SVN client ships with OS X Leopard and is the quickest way to get started (for OS X Tiger, or if you need SVN 1.5 an easy installer can be found here). All you need to do is fire up the Terminal application and type svn with the required parameters. A great resource to learning how to use the command-line client (and all the functionality of Subversion) can be found at Version Control with Subversion – a free online book. From the command line you can do everything required. In fact, some people will swear against doing anything SVN-related without dealing directly with the command line.

However there are reasons most of us love OS X, and a large number of those reasons relate to the great user interface experience. So what tools are there that can expose SVN functionality via a user interface?

Mac-Only SVN Clients

XCode

If you have a need to access a subversion repository with OS X, you are likely to already be familiar with XCode, Apple’s development IDE. Like most good IDEs, XCode has built-in support for version control, including SVN (as well as CVS and Perforce). This works well for basic functionality and if the scope of your needs falls within OS X and/or iPhone development, this will do the job.

svnX

svnX is an open source SVN client that uses the SVN command-line client to do the actual work and for a long time it was the best fully-featured native OS X client. The UI, however, is not what we have all come to expect from a great OS X application and it hurts the user experience. Nonetheless, for a free UI solution, one can’t complain.

Versions

Versions is a relatively recent commercial subversion client, made specifically for OS X, and looks like it belongs. It costs €39 ($50), but that’s a reasonable price to pay for such functionality with polish. A 21-day trial can be downloaded for free. Along with Cornerstone described below, it is the cream of the OS X Subversion clients.

Cornerstone

Like Versions, Cornerstone is a commercial subversion client made specially for OS X that leverages its UI. At $69 (a free 14-day trial can be downloaded) it has feature parity with Versions and can also be considered a premium solution for accessing Subversion on OS X.

SCPlugin

SCPlugin is an open-source client that integrates with Finder and enables you to work with your source without loading a separate application. Using icon overlays, it enables you to see at a glance the state of your files, letting you perform SVN actions via the standard Finder popup menu. This was inspired by TortoiseSVN, a popular Windows SVN tool that integrates with Explorer.

SCPlugin is still in development and while it’s mostly functional, there are still issues with reliably badging the icons (you also need to turn off Finder’s Icon Preview feature). Nonetheless, the crucial SVN functionality (checkout, update, commit) work well. When its issues get ironed out this will be a killer solution.

Of note, this can be installed and used along with another option (ie. Versions or Cornerstone) and will simply reflect the SVN status of a local working directory by reading SVN’s hidden control files.

iSVN

iSVN is currently still in development and available for free (license for the final release is still to be determined by the author), however it is quite functional in its pre-release form and requires the command-line SVN client.

Subversion Scripts for Finder

These are a collection of Apple Scripts that enable you to work with SVN directly from within Finder via Finder Scripts. Unlike SCPlugin, these are less intrusive and do not modify the look of Finder in any way. They offer a good middle ground for power users who are used to using SVN on the command line and want a quicker way to perform actions. They also allow for productive use with QuickSilver. It requires the standard SVN command-line client.

Cross Platform SVN Clients

In addition to the above native OS X applications, there are numerous cross-platform clients that will run on OS X. While the big disadvantage to these is the lack of an OS X-friendly user interface, if you need to access Subversion across different platforms, and would like to use the same client everywhere, these will give you a standard and consistence interface. The following clients ran without issue on my OS X 10.5.6 system.

RapidSVN

RapidSVN is an open-source client for Windows, Linux, OS X and other *nixes. It’s simple and functional but requires third-party tools for functionality such as visual Diffs. Its written in C++ and executes native code, so it’s the fastest cross-platform client.

SmartSVN

SmartSVN is a powerful Java-based client that is offered in a basic open-source variety and an advanced commercial variety ($79). While it is Java-based, there are specific versions for Windows, OS X and Linux, each supporting their native environments (the OS X version will add custom popup menus into Finder as an example).

Syncro SVN Client

SyncroSVN is another fully featured, commercial Java-based client available for windows, OS X and Linux, tailored to each platform. It retails for $99 and a free 30-day trial is available. This suffers more than the other cross-platform clients with regards to the user interface (I have never seen MDI child windows with OS X style window management buttons in any other application before).

JSVN

JSVN is a very no-frills, open-source option and is quite functional. It is by far the fastest Java-based client.

Subclipse

Subclipse is an add-on to the cross-platform Eclipse IDE (which is Java-based, but language independent) . This requires you to upgrade the command-line SVN client that comes with Leopard from 1.4 to 1.5, however, and is best suited to those who already use Eclipse regularly.

What do you think?

What’s your favorite Subversion client for OS X? Are there any other clients I don’t know about? Let us know with a comment.

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So what does Fresh do? From the Ironic site, here is their description:

“Fresh was born on that sinking feeling we have whenever we head into the Finder to ‘Find’ that file that we are working on, just downloaded, or like to keep handy. Fresh is designed to hide itself when you are not using it — keeping your onscreen clutter of windows more manageable.”

Translated, Fresh does multiple things:

1. Using the Fresh Files Zone, it’s a replacement for the Finder Recent Items/Folders/Drives feature.
2. Using the Cooler Zone, it is an enhancement for the Open (not Save) dialog box in that you can quickly drag files as email attachments or insert files into another document via drag-and-drop.
3. Using either zone, you can organize your items with tags and filter either the Fresh Files or Cooler Zones by those tags.

The Main UI

Let’s take a look at Fresh. Here is what the app looks like when launched:

Fresh Main UI

As you can see, the two zones are delineated by color (not customizable). The Fresh Files Zone is on top and shows the recently open/edited items. (Note, the blurred items are blurred by me, for privacy…that’s not a “feature” of any sort.)

The Cooler Zone below shows files that I have dragged into it for quick re-use (emails, discovery of files).

If you are a mouse-driven user, then the drag-and-drop Cooler Zone is very useful. If you are keyboard driven, then Fresh’s UI can be a little clunky to use. One good thing is that in the preferences, you can define a hotkey to bring Fresh to the forefront:

Fresh Main Preferences

Tagging

Within Fresh, it is pretty easy to Tag items either within the Fresh Files or within the Cooler Zones. Select an item, right-click it and then click Edit Tag.

I would argue that the folks at Ironic Software are pretty Tag “happy” seeing how they provide TagIt for free and the rest of their app suite supports tags (Yep, Leap, Deep).

Regardless, I don’t really see the point in tagging items within Fresh. The application seems more about discovery and convenience, not about “organization.”

Here is an example of the tag UI:

Fresh Tag UI – Type your tags here

Conclusion

I would say that Fresh does have a bias toward the unorganized masses — no offense folks. For those who keep their desktops clean as well as their download folders empty, this application might not be that useful.

When I first installed it, I thought “hey, maybe I won’t need Default Folder X anymore.” Well, that was wishful thinking. Fresh is pretty, but it just isn’t that functional for someone like me (hyper organized anal retentive). However, for $9 it’s a cheap tool if you like a slick UI wrapped up in a one-trick pony.

My recommendation is to save the $9 and not buy Fresh. Use the Finder. Use Spotlight. They work and they are included in the OS for free.

* I know, I dated myself with this terrible music lyric reference. Get over it.

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Nowadays, we use tags pretty much everywhere we work and play online. Flickr, Facebook, Gmail, this blog (and any other blog), and on and on. It’s an easy, intuitive way to keep track of things, and an organizational strategy that transcends categories and other groupings, like date and subject matter. It’s such a great system, it only makes sense that someone would get the bright idea of applying the concept to your own computer and offline files as well.

This is just what Tags (free trial, $29) from Gravity Apps is designed to do. With it, you can tag pretty much anything on your Mac, and then search for tagged items to quickly retrieve loads of associated files, regardless of where they’re kept, what type of file they are, when they were created, etc. Admittedly, it’s a feature that might not be needed if you maintain an obsessively well-organized folder structure, but for anyone outside of that lonely niche, it is a very useful little tool.

Like Quicksilver, the popular Mac launcher app, Tags works best as an always-on application that runs silently in the background, accessible via a keystroke, dock icon, or menu bar item. Pressing “Control + Space” (default, can be changed) at any time brings up the Tags window, which, as long as you’ve selected a taggable file (in Finder, Mail, iPhoto, or others) will allow you to type in a tag to associate with that item. If you’ve already tagged some other items, the app will auto-suggest tags as you type. You can also batch tag multiple items by selecting more than one and then opening the Tags window.

Besides its basic tagging function, Tags has a lot to offer, and depending on your level of comfort, you can use it to supplement Finder so much that you’ll probably end up having little cause to ever click that poor little blue happy face ever again. Clicking in the upper right corner allows you to search your previously tagged items, reveal your results in Finder, and create smart folders based on your Tags to automatically group tagged files.

From the Tag Manager, accessible via the Menu Bar, you can see all your existing tags, how many files are associated with each, and a list of all files under each tag. You can also remove and rename tags here, so that if you want to change a tag with, say, 50 files associated with it, you don’t have to alter each one individually.

Every aspect of the app’s design is consistent with the theme of kraft paper shipping or sales tags, complete with the reinforced hole for string. It’s a nice look, but personally I’d prefer a skin that integrated more naturally with Leopard’s overall look, especially since this is the type of app that’s meant to be used all the time seamlessly in concert with the operating system’s existing features. I’m also not a huge fan of how Tags stays on top of all other windows. I can see how it’s useful, but I’d appreciate an option to turn that off.

All in all, Tags is a great app for those who would like to keep their Mac more organized, but don’t have the desire or the patience to maintain a rigorously policed folder structure. Heck, even if you do have a pristine folder structure, Tags is designed to transcend that and offer you another way to sift through content, so its probably worth a look for the obsessively organized as well. Best of all, you can try out the 30-day trial first to see if it’s something you’ll actually use for more than a day.

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I’m not a huge fan of Events and there are lots of little things that just annoy me now. One of which is that the iPhoto library now exists as a “package” instead of a readily accessible set of folders. Even after doing “Show Package Contents” on the library file it can get pretty hairy trying to actually get to the raw photographs.

Generally the only time I really have a desire to get to said files is when using a browser to upload photos. You can’t just navigate to your library files and grab the picture you want. There is a way to make it possible, though and it’s fairly straight forward.

1. Access the iPhoto Library Folder

Control-click (or right-click) on the iPhoto Library file and choose “Show Package Contents.”

2. Create Folder Aliases

After doing “Show Package Content” you should now see the folders and files contained in the package.

You’ll see two folders, “Modified” and “Originals,” which contain the actual photo files that iPhoto uses. These folders contain sub-folders which seem to be, for the most part, identical to the Events you might have set up. These are the folders we want access to when getting single files to upload in a browser.

What we have to do is create a folder alias to give us access directly to these folders outside of the iPhoto Library package.

Control-click on the “Modified” folder and choose “Make Alias” from the contextual menu. Leave it named “Modified alias” and then drag the new alias folder to the same directory that your iPhoto Library is in.

Repeat this for the “Originals” folder.

You can then rename the aliases to whatever you choose. You should end up with something like this:

3. Access the Files

Chances are the aliases still won’t give you access to the files when you are just in the Finder, but they will work when you are using a browser to open them.

Take a site like Flickr, for example. I’d like to upload a few of the original photo files to my account. I’m presented with the “Choose File” upload buttons and I can now access the files from within the browser:

And there we have it! It’s definitely a bit of a hack job for what should be a simple task, but until Apple changes this format we seem to be stuck with this solution.

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The WebKit engine underlying Safari also powers both Apple applications, including Mail, and many third party apps, like BareBones’ BBEdit. The next logical step, in my mind, is to WebKit-enable the Finder, letting me type in a URL, search Google, or access my bookmarks directly from my desktop, without having to open Safari. We can already see similar functionality with how you can play MP3 files within the finder without opening iTunes or view photos without opening iPhoto.

Click to See One Mockup of a Safari-Enabled Finder

There’s no good reason that I can type a URL in Windows to open a Web site immediately, and my Mac won’t give me the same option. And Apple’s low market share may actually give the company an advantage when competitive questions are raised. I’ve attached a quick mockup with one way today’s Finder (pre-Leopard) would look with embedded URL entry and bookmark access. What’s holding Apple back? Wouldn’t this be a useful feature?

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Most commonly, as you add and delete applications from your Mac, the list of apps that are optionally available to open different file types grows quickly. The problem then, is that it doesn’t self-heal, and pare itself down as those applications are removed from your system. (Hm, maybe something AppZapper should look into as an added feature!)

So as Dan points out, straight from the Apple Docs site:

1. From the Finder Go menu, choose Home.
2. Open the Library folder in the Home window.
3. Open the Preferences folder.
4. Find com.apple.LaunchServices.plist.
5. Rename “com.apple.LaunchServices”, such as to “com.apple.LaunchServices.old”, or move it to the Trash.

This works great, for getting rid of those extraneous application options of long-gone installations – and as a huge added bonus, your right click response time from the operating system is dramatically improved.

As a side tip – if you have a version of Photoshop installed, you probably get the myriad of droplet files when right clicking and choosing ‘Open With..’ on a graphic file. You’ll find all of these droplets housed in /Applications/[photoshop app folder]/Samples/ I created a Disk Image to store these in, which hides them from the com.apple.LaunchServices.plist. Of course you’ll have to do the above steps AFTER hiding or deleting the droplets for it to take effect in your Contextual Menu.

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