The Logic Off Topic list

Hi gang,

Having recently bought a Powerbook with OSX Panther, I'm slowly 
starting to fall in love with this new OS (after switching mindsets, 
coming to terms with the fact that X is not 9, etc :).
However, there's one thing I dearly miss...  On my OS9 machine, I 
have a bunch of popup windows tucked away at the bottom of my screen. 
They all contain aliases to my most used applications -- a window for 
graphics, one for music, one for internet, etc. That way I can launch 
any application I want without having to open a Finder window.  Also 
I can drag & drop files on whichever application to force a file to 
be opened with a non-default application.

Is there a OSX system extension that allows me to do something 
similar?  I tried putting a folder with application-aliases in the 
dock, and even though that allows me to launch applications by 
click-holding on the folder, it does _not_ allow dragging and 
dropping of files on the aliases.  And besides, I hate the fact that 
I have to click-hold-and-wait for the popup to open -- I'd like that 
to be instantaneous, just as the OS9 popup windows are.

Thanks for any pointers in advance.  Oh, and if anyone knows of any 
other tools/utilities/enhancements I should check out, any tips would 
also be mucho appreciated.  I just don't feel like experimenting too 
much with potentially buggy software on a brand new, smooth running 
machine...

Aside: apart from falling in love with OSX in general, I _do_ still 
think the dock is not exactly Apple's greatest invention ever...  It 
reminds me too much of the hateful Windows taskbar (or whatever its 
name is).  Either it takes up screenspace I want to use, or (with 
autohide on, as I have now) it tends to popup unexpectedly as soon as 
you move the mouse too far down.  Visually distracting.  I wish 
ApplWindows got ported to OSX...  Together with the Finder's popup 
windows, this still is the ultimate combo for smooth application 
switching and launching I've ever had.

cheers,
HJ

-- 
Hendrik Jan Veenstra   h @ k n o w a r e . n l
Omega Art: http://www.omega-art.com/

Hendrik Jan Veenstra wrote:

>Is there a OSX system extension that allows me to do something 
>similar?  I tried putting a folder with application-aliases in the 
>dock, and even though that allows me to launch applications by 
>click-holding on the folder, it does _not_ allow dragging and 
>dropping of files on the aliases.  And besides, I hate the fact that 
>I have to click-hold-and-wait for the popup to open -- I'd like that 
>to be instantaneous, just as the OS9 popup windows are.
>  
>
Click on it and the folder opens. Ctrl-click and the popup opens, same 
as click-hold.
Hope that helps.

I wish the dock stayed hidden and could be unhidden with a key command, 
is there a way to do that?

    -smeet

On a fine day, 05-12-2003, Sumit Das wrote:

>Hendrik Jan Veenstra wrote:
>
>>Is there a OSX system extension that allows me to do something
>>similar?  I tried putting a folder with application-aliases in the
>>dock, and even though that allows me to launch applications by
>>click-holding on the folder, it does _not_ allow dragging and
>>dropping of files on the aliases.  And besides, I hate the fact that
>>I have to click-hold-and-wait for the popup to open -- I'd like that
>  >to be instantaneous, just as the OS9 popup windows are.
>
>Click on it and the folder opens.

... as a regular Finder window.  So you first have to click the 
folder, then drag the file on some app in the folder, and later close 
the folder again -- i.e. 3 mouse actions instead of one.  That's just 
a clumsy interface imo.

>Ctrl-click and the popup opens, same as click-hold.

I know -- but I want to be able to drag a file on the folder, then 
have the folder behave as a popup menu, so that I can drag the file 
on an application (alias) that's in the folder.  Just like you drag a 
file on an application in a 'normal' Finder window, except that I 
don't want a window -- I want some popup mechanism.  Surely there 
must be something that implements this in a decent way...?

>Hope that helps.

Uhm, not really, but thanks for trying anyway :).

>I wish the dock stayed hidden and could be unhidden with a key command,
>is there a way to do that?

Not that I know of.  If you ever find out, let me know as well, since 
I hate the dock popping up whenever I come too close to the bottom 
edge of the screen.

-- 
Hendrik Jan Veenstra   h @ k n o w a r e . n l
Omega Art: http://www.omega-art.com/

On Dec 5, 2003, at 2:27 PM, Hendrik Jan Veenstra wrote:

> I know -- but I want to be able to drag a file on the folder, then
> have the folder behave as a popup menu, so that I can drag the file
> on an application (alias) that's in the folder.  Just like you drag a
> file on an application in a 'normal' Finder window, except that I
> don't want a window -- I want some popup mechanism.  Surely there
> must be something that implements this in a decent way...?

I do not know if you can accomplish this or not, but I'm wondering if 
you could graft some applescript and folder actions together to get a 
close approximation? Of course, I'm not an applescript hacker so I 
can't really help you, sorry.

On a fine day, 06-12-2003, Wesley Griffin wrote:

>On Dec 5, 2003, at 2:27 PM, Hendrik Jan Veenstra wrote:
>
>>  I know -- but I want to be able to drag a file on the folder, then
>>  have the folder behave as a popup menu, so that I can drag the file
>>  on an application (alias) that's in the folder.  Just like you drag a
>>  file on an application in a 'normal' Finder window, except that I
>>  don't want a window -- I want some popup mechanism.  Surely there
>>  must be something that implements this in a decent way...?
>
>I do not know if you can accomplish this or not, but I'm wondering if
>you could graft some applescript and folder actions together to get a
>close approximation? Of course, I'm not an applescript hacker so I
>can't really help you, sorry.

Hmm... that's not even a bad idea :-).  Although I still have the 
feeling there must be something out there that does (approx) what I 
want -- the idea is just too obvious...  Thanks for the idea though 
-- if I don't find a ready-made solution I'll surely give it a try.

-- 
Hendrik Jan Veenstra   h @ k n o w a r e . n l
Omega Art: http://www.omega-art.com/