Tag Archives: OS X

‘Building OS X Apps with JavaScript’ by Tyler Gaw

I’m such a huge fan of tutorials which take the time to explain why to do something a certain way, not just how. Today’s shining example: ‘Building OS X Apps with JavaScript’ by the talented, Brooklyn-based designer/developer Tyler Gaw.

Tackling a subject which I’ve been giving a lot of thought to recently as I plan future scripting projects, Tyler documents some of OS X’s new JavaScript automation possibilities with this very thoughtful primer. Not only has he created an additional page of app examples to flesh things out further, but he invokes a screenshot of Prince to illustrate his work – an act which alone merits an additional 94.9003 bonus points on the Veritrope Scale of Excellence™.

Highly recommended.

This is a link post – You can visit the site mentioned by clicking the main link above (or just click here).

Stack Social Sale Ending Soon…

If you follow as many Mac websites as I do, you’ll notice waves of people talking all at once about the same apps being on sale. Usually it’s because there’s a good affiliate program promotion going on and, you know, earning money for helping other people save money is A Good Thing™ (especially for hard-working writers).

Case-in-Point – Making its way across the Twittersphere right now are really good sales on three Mac apps via StackSocial.

Quickly, they are:

  1. Text Expander 4. Truly one of my “essentials”, TE4 has become one of those “How the hell would I live without this?” apps for me. When I use my wife’s computer and forget that she doesn’t have it installed, I groan every time I have to type something out the long way. (The fact that I haven’t convinced her to try it yet is, to date, my greatest failure of Nerd-suasion ever.) You’ll want to snap this one up ASAP as the sale ends in a few hours.
  2. Dragon Dictate 4. I’ve used Dragon Dictate for years and it keeps getting better and better. The latest version adds built-in transcription of audio files (a feature that I’ve been concocting some fun/unholy experiments with here in my secret Veritrope Lab). If you’re a creative person who sometimes can’t type as fast as you think, I think this is a fantastic tool to capture those thoughts quickly.
  3. Undercover. This is one of the better theft-recovery apps and it’s what I use for peace of mind on all my Macs. Warning: If you steal my Macbook Pro, I have the ability to track you down and/or play bad US Top 40 songs at full volume until you lose the will to live and are begging Ryan Seacrest to offer you the sweet release of death. (This is a little extreme, don’t you think? Just give me back my computer and no one gets hurt, capiche?)

I use each of these apps myself and think these prices represent a very good bargain. If you’ve been considering purchasing any – or all – of these apps, I’d buy them on sale while you can!

Two Methods To Use AppleScripts Faster Through Keyboard Shortcuts

If you’re interested in learning more about AppleScript, be sure to check out the AppleScript and Automator Resources Page. It’s filled with links to books, videos, tools, and websites that’ll help you get started!
-Justin.

A reader sent me a message because she was having a hard time setting up a keyboard shortcut to run an AppleScript. She wasn’t a new Mac user by any stretch — in fact, she’s a tech professional! So I went back and re-read my own previous descriptions of how to assign a keyboard shortcut to a script.

Looking at it with fresh eyes, I realized that I could do better… and that it was important to do so. Proper use of keyboard shortcuts can have a massively positive impact on making your computer a lot easier to use!

In the same way, AppleScripts are designed to speed up the way you use your Mac. When people understand how they can use both scripts and shortcuts together — invoking complex actions with the same ease as cutting-and-pasting inside a document — they tend to become really enthusiastic about using them. For a “utility script” that you only use occasionally, it’s no problem to manually run it. But for the scripts you want to use repeatedly throughout the day, keyboard shortcuts aren’t just desirable — they’re essential!

So let’s take another pass at this and walk through two ways you can set up a keyboard shortcut to run an AppleScript.

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