Distraction-free editing with WriteRoom

Hog Bay Software puts out a great distraction-free text editing app title called WriteRoom. Available on the iPhone, iPad and Mac, WriteRoom removes all menus, toolbars, and other user interface distractions from your view.

While it’s nice that WriteRoom works on all three platforms, you don’t want to get stuck worrying about which device holds the latest version. Enter DropBox. With DropBox, you can access your files in WriteRoom over the internet from each device. While WriteRoom on iOS natively supports access to DropBox, WriteRoom on OS X will require the use of the DropBox Mac client to help keep your files organized, but that’s a free download that’s easy to set up.

If you tend to leave your apps running on all three devices, one thing that you may need to do after making edits on your iOS device is select “Revert To Saved” from the File menu as you switch back to OS X. Going the other direction, the iOS version of WriteRoom will pick up on the edits you have made on OS X as you switch between active apps.

Unlike with  a few other DropBox-based text editors for iOS, I’ve also found that WriteRoom is capable of making edits when there is no network connectivity. There’s even a “Sync All Now” button on the DropBox configuration page for iOS devices. This will trigger a sync operation, and ensure that all of your devices have the edits you made while disconnected.

Save keystrokes with TextExpander

Smile’s TextExpander, which is also available on the iPhone, iPad and Mac, is another great tool for cross-platform productivity. Making every keystroke count, TextExpander has a user-configurable library of witty abbreviations that are used to replace the text as you type. It’s a little like a supercharged autocorrect. You type an abbreviation like “brb,” for example, and TextExpander will replace the abbreviation with “be right back.”  On OS X this works with all applications, as it is a system-wide service. TextExpander Touch for iOS depends on other app developers to support TextExpander’s API in order to bring in its abbreviation replacement features. Luckily, WriteRoom is one of many apps that support TextExpander’s iOS API.

TextExpander can handle more complex situations as well.  You can use it to insert the current date in any format you choose, and you can also control where the cursor will be placed after the abbreviation has replaced the text you’ve typed.  This is accomplished by placing a pipe character (“|”) in the definition of the abbreviation. Books like “Take Control of TextExpander,” websites like Alex Poslavsky’s snippet repository and even a video tutorial series can all teach you how to use TextExpander to its full potential.

Managing your abbreviation libraries on DropBox

Once you have TextExpander installed and enabled on your iOS and OS X devices, you will want to start selecting and defining what abbreviation libraries you want to use. You can use your own, but you can also grab predefined libraries in the app itself. Some even use TextExpander to automatically correct common misspellings and typos. Once you’ve decided which abbreviation libraries to use, you’ll want to keep them in sync on every device you type with. And that’s where TextExpander’s DropBox integration comes into play. You can configure TextExpander to sync its database of abbreviations to DropBox, so that any new abbreviation you define on your iPhone, will also be available for use on your iPad and Mac.

Not only have the developers of these solutions created great standalone products, but they’ve also created a collection of apps across all Apple platforms, which is the real key to creating lasting value for Mac and iOS users.

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Aliases

Aliases were introduced in Mac OS System 7 and were then carried forward to Mac OS X. They are a pointer to a file or a folder somewhere else, even on a server. The alias is tied to the unique ID of that file and will continue to work even if you move the original file or folder because it stores this information (and more) in the resource fork of the alias file. Unfortunately, you may have noticed that some applications do not follow aliases properly.

Symbolic Links (or symlinks)

Symbolic Links are an older feature that harken back to the BSD roots of Mac OS X. These files simply contain the path of the target file or directory stored as text. If you move the target file, the symlink will break because it still points to the original location in the link. However, symlinks work at a low-level such that almost all applications and OS features will follow them to the target.

A Note on Hard Links

The “ln” command below is used to create hard links. “ln -s” makes symbolic links. You can read more about hard links on Wikipedia, but we don’t want to use them here. Be sure to use the “-s” switch when you enter the “ln” commands.

The Home Folder

The User folder in OS X contains several important sub-folders for different types of content. The system expects to find those directories inside the user’s home folder. On installation, OS X created my home folder in the default location on the boot drive, which is the SSD. I then used symlinks to replace some of the default sub-folders with pointers to a location on the secondary hard drive. The “~/” notation, used frequently in the steps below is a shortcut to the current user’s home folder. It is the same as entering “/Users/jack” if the short name of the current user account were “jack” on that machine. The notation “~/Downloads” refers to the Downloads folder inside the current user’s home folder. So “~/Downloads” would be the same as “~/Users/jack/Downloads” in our example. You can use the “~/” notation and you will be sure to refer to your own current user folder.

The ~/Library folder

~/Library deserves some discussion because the contents of this folder are both critically important and not very well understood. The user library (~/Library) contains application preferences, settings, and data. The preferences files are generally small, but are read each time an application launches. The data files could be a different story. Mail keeps all your messages inside ~/Library/Mail/ which can grow to be quite large if you have a several email accounts and a lot of email correspondence. My Mail folder is about 10GB, for example. Steam stores game files down inside the Library as well. Be careful when working with your ~/Library folder, but you may find some large folders that could be better off moved elsewhere.

Steps to Create a Symlink

Here are the steps to create a symlink for the ~/Downloads folder. First step is to make sure that the destination folder is in place. I did this by copying my old Downloads folder from the previous system drive (moved to an external drive enclosure) to the new internal hard drive so it could be found at /Volumes/Bucket/Downloads (“Bucket” is the name of my hard drive). Next, remove the existing Downloads folder (make sure it is empty first). You can’t create a symlink file if another file in that directory has the same name . I use “sudo” to override the normal protections because OS X wants to keep this folder in its usual location. You will be prompted for your password after you enter the following command…

 sudo rm -rf ~/Downloads/ 

The next line creates the symlink with the “ln -s” command and sets the target location to “/Volumes/Bucket/Downloads/” and creates the link file at “~/Downloads” in the home folder. If you are following along on your own machine, you will need to replace “Bucket” with the name of your hard drive.

 ln -s /Volumes/Bucket/Downloads/ ~/Downloads 

You could also do something like “/Volumes/Bucket/Links/myname/Downloads” so that you have a directory structure to accommodate multiple users. Your other users could also put their folders in the “Links” directory. Just don’t use “Users” at the root level of the hard drive.

After the symlink is in place, any browser (or other application) that tries to write to ~/Downloads will actually save the file to the linked location on the hard drive. When you look in your home folder, you will see Downloads with an alias icon. Just remember that it’s not an alias, it’s a symlink.

Repeat this process for the other folders that you want to keep on the secondary (non-booting) hard drive.

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So, after trying every keyboard shortcut I could think of, here’s a rundown of all the shortcuts that work on the iPad.

• CMD – c (Copy selected text)
• CMD – x (Cut selected text)
• CMD – v (Paste)
• CMD – z (Undo)
• CMD – shift – z (Redo)
• CMD – Up Arrow (Jump to top of document)
• CMD – Down Arrow (Jump to bottom of document)
• CMD – Left Arrow (Jump to beginning of line)
• CMD – Right Arrow (Jump to end of line)
• CMD – Delete (Delete everything on the current line to the left of the cursor)
• Option – Delete (Delete the word to the left of the cursor, and its preceding space)
• F1 (Dim Screen)
• F2 (Brighten Screen)
• F7 (Back one song)
• F8 (Play/Pause Music)
• F9 (Skip one song ahead)
• F10 (Mute)
• F11 (Volume Down)
• F12 (Volume Up)
• Eject key (Show/hide on-screen keyboard)

Luckily, all of the standard shortcuts for special characters still seem to work, like our beloved option – shift – k.

If I’ve missed any shortcuts, please let me know in the comments!

Apple’s keyboard dock has additional keys for locking the iPad, search, and home. I’m disappointed that those keys did not find an equivalent on the Bluetooth keyboard. I’m also disappointed that not all applications have full access to the key events sent from the keyboard. Most third-party apps that I’ve tested only have access to basic text entry and ignore the escape key or control characters.

The good news is that the shortcomings of the iPad’s keyboard integration are software, and can be fixed. I’ve heard rumors of good things coming in iPhone OS 4, so I’m hoping that CMD-q, CMD-tab, CMD-i, and CMD-b make a comeback. I’m also hoping for some better integration of the keyboard with Safari. Safari will recognized the keyboard for any text entry, but little, if anything, beyond that. The biggest missing feature for Safari for me is the ability to search for text on a page, CMD-F. CMD-I would be great for sending a page via email, and CMD-1 through 9 would be nice for bookmarklets like Instapaper.

Part of the problem with keyboard integration is the melding of the old world and new world. The iPad is meant to be touched and gestured to, but many tasks still require text entry. Typing is faster, far faster for me, than handwriting, and not as awkward as voice recognition software like Dragon Dictation (App Store Link). Looking at Apple’s track record for developing its products, it introduces a new product with very, very few features, and then hones and perfect those features over time, and adds new ones as the product matures. I’m confident that the iPad will one day mature into a writers companion, and a power user’s dream.

So why would anybody need an app to do this when most apps have keyboard shortcuts already? Well the answer is simple if you consider the power of leveraging the large screen on the iPhone. When it launched sans a physical keyboard, Steve Jobs commented that it was a great idea to do away with it, because there are times when you don’t need a full size keyboard. If you are typing in numbers, it would be great to see large numbers instead of individual keys.

The same holds true for shortcuts. Why should I have to press “Shift+Command+Delete” to empty my trash when I could just use one button for that same purpose? Keymote addresses this usability blemish.

Keymote’s setup process is very simple and only requires that your iPhone and Mac share a Wi-Fi connection. Download the remote software on your Mac and it resides on the menu bar. Once you’ve paired the iPhone to your Mac from the app, you’re ready to roll.

Keymote comes with several keysets out of the box but also includes an in-app store that provides a larger wealth of free downloadable keysets for other popular apps, all contributed by users. Instantly download keysets for Aperture, Adobe Illustrator, Pages or any other app you use frequently. My favorite is the Numerical Keypad keyset which will help your stylish Apple keyboard feel a little more powerful.

If there’s not a keyset for an application you like to use, feel free to create your own and share it with others. If a particular keyset is not quite up to your standards, tap a key or spacer and hold. Then you can just drag it to a better location. If a shortcut is missing, just tap the plus and add it right alongside the rest.

The only thing to keep in mind is that you might find yourself using your phone more often than before. In case, my iPhone has become more of an auxiliary keypad and so I needed to adjust my sleep settings to keep my phone awake. Additionally, Keymote requires the software you’re using be the active application. This means if I call up Photoshop key commands and create a new document, it invokes “Command+N.” If Photoshop isn’t the active application, “Command+N” will apply to whichever app is active. The developers are aware of this limitation, and it’s something they are working to address.

With a stylish user interface that looks great not just on my iPhone, but as a “keypad” next to my Mac, Keymote is a great application for those whose regularly harness the power of shortcuts. Keymote is $3.99 and available for download on the App Store. If you’ve had the chance to try it out, please share your thoughts.

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On the keyboard of a MacBook or MacBook Pro, function keys can either be standard or special. As standard function keys, they control certain features of OS X, such as Exposé and numlock. They can also be special function keys to trigger hardware controls such as screen brightness, volume, and keyboard backlighting when they are pressed in tandem with the Fn key. For example, if I want to decrease the brightness of the keyboard backlight, I have to press Fn+F9; if I press F9 alone, Exposé is triggered instead.

In OS X’s Keyboard & Mouse preferences, you can set special features to be triggered either with or without the Fn key. But what if you want to reduce some finger-work, and use only some F-keys with the Fn key, but not others?

This is where FunctionFlip comes in. FunctionFlip lets you ‘flip’ the function keys on your MacBook or Macbook Pro between standard and special mode, allowing you to set which F-key you wish to use alone to access those hardware controls. Since I hardly trigger Exposé via the keyboard (I prefer using an Active Screen Corner for that), I’d much rather have F9 and F10 adjust the keyboard backlight directly. Now I can quickly adjust brightness of the keyboard backlight by pressing either F9 or F10, and trigger Exposé only when I press Fn+F9.

What I absolutely love about FunctionFlip, besides the fact that it is a free application, is that it installs itself as a Preference Pane and works its magic invisibly in the background. Give FunctionFlip a try; I guarantee you’ll like the goodness of the one-finger convenience it brings.

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Since innovation clearly hasn’t skimped out on the iPhone, it’s natural that there are hidden talents built right in. Here are a few quick things I’ve discovered that you may, or may not have known about.

Typing

For Spanish speakers, the iPhone already has a comprehensive ability to understand Spanish vocabulary. But often enough you’ll end up needing an accent mark or a tilde above a letter. In which case, holding down the appropriate letter will give you a mini pop up menu where you can choose the appropriate mark for your letter.

Another handy typing tip is for punctuation. At the end of your sentence, most often enough you’ll use a period. Instead of hitting the “.?123” button and selecting the period, hit Space twice and it will automatically place a period for you and create the proper space for your next sentence.

If you aren’t planning on using a period at the end of your sentence, another simple trick is to hold down the “.?123” and slide your finger to the right punctuation, then release. This will automatically place the punctuation and switch right back to the qwerty pad.

Shortcuts

The iPhone is a phone too, hard to believe I know. It’s not always the quickest of phones only because you jump through a few more hoops than you normally would to place a call.

One way to compensate this is by getting to your “Favorites” quickly. By double clicking the home button from any screen, you automatically are taken to your list of favorite contacts.

Keep in mind though, if you’re playing music from your iPhone or iPod touch, double clicking the home button will give you an iTunes controller pop up instead. It works anytime you navigate away from the iPod menu and is a great feature while you’re driving or going for a run and want to switch songs quickly.

Where the innovation is lacking

One feature request I hope will benefit others would be the ability to cancel an SMS message. One great thing about the iPhone’s SMS capability is that I can hold onto entire conversation threads without ever deleting them. Naturally my SMS section tends to look more like my Contacts section. Often enough when I text someone, I’m only looking at the first couple letters of a name and automatically assume I’m sending it to the right person. Then, as I’m watching the progress of my SMS being sent, I realize it’s the wrong name at the top of the message.

One simple way to alleviate this problem is to include the ability to cancel an in progress message. Take a look at the mock up I’ve provided. Just by adding a quick “x” for canceling to the right of the status bar would provide huge utility to me as a user.

My next issue is with e-mail. I’m really surprised the ability to flag an e-mail in your inbox isn’t currently available. Using Gmail, I can move items to my Starred folder, but I’d much prefer having my flagged e-mails stand out. I think even a simple approach would be very similar to how you can star items in Google Reader’s iPhone application. Maybe when you slide to Delete an e-mail, you’re given the option to flag it as well.

I’d love to know your thoughts on the shortcuts and ideas I’ve listed, or if you have any of your own please share them in the comments below.

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With the release of Firefox 3, I thought I would share my top ten Firefox shortcuts. So without further ado, here they are:

1. ⌘ + l = focus address bar
2. ⌘ + d = bookmark current page
3. ⌘ + k = focus google search bar
4. ⌘ + f = find
5. ⌘ + g = find next
6. ⌘ + t = new tab
7. ⌘ + w = close current tab
8. ⌘ + shift + t = reopen accidentally closed tab (Best one ever!)
9. crtl + tab = tab through tabs
10. crtl + shift + tab = tab backwards through tabs

Bonus for Delicious Extension users:

⌘ + Shift + . = pulls delicious page if you have delicious firefox extension installed

Be sure to checkout our Browser Shortcut Cheat Sheet for a comprehensive listing of shortcuts for both Firefox and Safari.

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I find it comes in quite handy when I’m coding out designs for everyone’s favorite browser, Internet Explorer (boo, hiss), and I need to take a closer look at things that misbehave. I was surprised to find out that this wasn’t necessarily common knowledge, and figured I’d pass it along. Happy zooming!

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