LiteSwitch X - A freeware application switcher
Jun 28, '02 01:16:52AM
Contributed by: robg
I noticed on a few of the product release websites that Proteron today released a freeware program called LiteSwitch X. This simple program replaces (or adds on to) the alt-tab application switching behavior of OS X. As I was a huge fan of Proteron's Action GoMenus in OS 9, I thought I'd give it a try. I'm glad I did, as it's a very useful utility.
Read the rest of the article for a mini-review covering LiteSwitch X and its key features...
LiteSwitch X has one mission - to improve the application switching behavior of OS X. Installation is simple; download the program (which requires completing a simple web form) and run the installer. You can install LiteSwitch for either all users or just the currently active user; it installs as a Preference Pane.
Once installed (no restart required), open the System Prefs app and select LiteSwitch X and enable it. After LiteSwitch X is enabled, pressing alt-tab places a semi-transparent grey box containing all running apps in the center of your screen. This window can be both moved and (by pulling on the tab at the bottom center) resized, making it very easy to find a size and position that suits your needs.
You can set a limited number of options in the LiteSwitch X prefs pane - what are the hot keys to activate it, and how should windows be layered when switching applications. Rather than trying to explain the window layering options in my own words, here's how Proteron explains the choices:
- Normal OS X mode makes no change to how OS X handles window layering.
- Classic Finder Windows makes it so that all of the Finder windows come forward together, but all other programs act normally. This brings back the ability to click on the Desktop and have all your Finder windows pop to the front.
- Classic Window Mode makes it so that when a program comes to the front, all of its windows come to the front, just like they did under every other Mac OS before OS X.
- Single Application Mode hides all other apps every time you switch apps. This makes it always feel like you're only using a single application.
I use Classic Finder Window mode with alt-tab as the trigger keys. By overriding the Apple default switch keys, my dock stays hidden while switching apps. Just like the dock, you can press "H" or "Q" to hide or quit an app while alt-tabbing amongst them. But unlike the dock, you can also press "S" to show the app, "F" (twice) to force quit the app, and "O" to show only the selected app.
There are also contextual menu items with additional options that pop-up when you control-click on an icon in the switcher window, and you can drag-and-drop items onto the switcher window!
Most useful of all, however, is the fact that LiteSwitch X restores the default OS 9 application switching behavior. If you switch between (for example) GoLive and Mozilla, then those two apps are at the front of the list, making it easy to flip back and forth between them. OS X always insists on paging through the apps in the order in which they appear in the dock.
So if you're unhappy with some element of application switching in OS X, try LiteSwitch X. In less than a day, it's become an integral feature of my system on all three of our Macs ... and you can't beat the price (free!).
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Mac OS X Hints
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20020628011652957