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An AppleScript to quickly launch applications
Authored by: brw3sbc on Feb 23, '04 04:04:11PM

I must say that I am often mystified by hints that seem to take the long way to do something. This is one such hint. It leaves me wondering if I am missing some finer point.

As another reply has stated, an Alias of the Applications folder in the Dock will cause, upon a single mouse click down, the presentation of the Applications folder in a hierarchical manner. Simply sliding the pointer through the folders to the application, then releasing the mouse button, launches the application (or attempts to open the file if it is not application). A single click, one-handed operation. I keep my Dock hidden on the left of my screen, where is springs to life when the pointer touches the edge. It's as close as I have been able to come to the old Apple menu without using third-party solutions.

If, indeed, I have missed the value of this hint, and how it improves upon my solution, I welcome an explanation. Regardless, hats off to the author's Applescript skills and OS knowledge.



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An AppleScript to quickly launch applications
Authored by: edoriv on Feb 24, '04 09:47:06AM

as another has already pointed out...

Some of us have many many applications in our Applications folder... And even though we can organize the ones we install into sub folders apple insists that we not move the ones it installs or else software update breaks.
this makes for a sloppy menu and sloppy organization. Also apple doesn't allow you to sort folders to the top or bottom so apps and folders are a mixed up mess... couple this mixed up mess with many many applications and it is far slower to navigate a menu to launch an app. that simple right click on a dock item would take too long to load the menu in my case... and then rolling up and down the menu, maybe missing the target and having to reopen the menu ( it happens ) just not convenient.

I will give credit to this applescript solution and it's great for a free solution but it is far from Launchbar...

I use Launchbar and it is a true time saver... I simply type command space and then PS and Photoshop launches or FW and Fireworks launches, or DW for Dreamweaver, Ter for Terminal, Tex for Textedit and so on... Launchbar learns the shortcut you want to use for each item as you use them.

it will also open bookmarks and contacts ;-) everything is a command space away... hold the command key while opening an item and it will reveal in the finder .... I only mention launchbar because it really does save time because I don't even have to spell out the entire app name and no extra step of choosing other I simply type and the list of possible matches shrinks most times to only one...

This applescript is great if you don't want to pay or don't want all the extra features but if you have a hard time seeing why this can help speed things up read about launchbar maybe that will help you understand how it can speed workflow.



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An AppleScript to quickly launch applications
Authored by: TomP on Feb 24, '04 02:16:17PM

Anyone who's satisfied with opening the Applications folder to launch applications, can't possibly have very many applications installed. If your needs are simple, then this script probably won't do much for you. I'm not sure how many Panther ships with, but I now have 97 apps under my Appiications directory (organized into folders to keep things manageable), plus a couple dozen more under /Development/Applications. I have my 15 most used apps on the Dock, but getting to the others is aways a bit awkward. I've been wanting something like this script for some time and I'm very happy someone finally sat down and cranked it out.



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