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Launch apps from the Finder without using a mouse
Authored by: mccronin on Mar 25, '04 02:45:12PM
Now that someone has officially evangelized LaunchBar -- as required by law in this situation, I believe ;-) -- I'd like to take this opportunity to evangelize Butler (formerly Another Launcher).

I have been a registered LaunchBar user virtually since its inception, and it is an awesome utility. Now though, I've switched to Butler. As a launcher it behaves much the same way as LaunchBar (abbreviations, intuitive learning, etc.) but it also has many other powerful features, not the least of which is a web search in the menu bar that allows you to perform search on the fly no matter what app you're currently in! I'd mention more features, but there's way too many.

The one ding I have on Butler is it is so powerful that it can be a bit complicated to set up, but once you've got it just right, there's no turning back.

Best of all it's Donationware! I've given the author every cent he asked for and then some. Just my 2 cents, but thought it worth a mention.

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another launcher - QuickSilver
Authored by: Krioni on Mar 25, '04 03:21:35PM
So far I've tried LaunchBar (looks good), Butler (confusing), and QuickSilver. Right now I'm getting used to QuickSilver. I like the fact that it was easy to get started. Butler may be better, but it's got a lot of features I'm not clear on using. QuickSilver is currently free, and the developer is trying to decide whether to actually open-source it, or charge a small (~$10) amount. I'd be willing to pay that, but it sounds like he's interested in open sourcing it, to let others help improve it.

Anyway, you can check out QuickSilver at VersionTracker

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another launcher - QuickSilver
Authored by: Whosawhatsis on Mar 25, '04 07:31:15PM

Quicksilver certainly looks nice, and it's true that Butler's learning curve is a little steep, but Butler allows you to do so much more that I think it is well worth learning to use.

---
I was offered a penny for my thoughts, so I gave my two cents... I got ripped off.



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Launch apps from the Finder without using a mouse
Authored by: Han Solo on Mar 25, '04 06:04:04PM
I tried Butler once (maybe twice), and it just looks too darn complicated. I was left with a bad first impression when it filled my menu bar with lots of little, somewhat cryptic icons. And as near as I can tell (from skimming the Butler web site), it isn't possible to squash that horde down to a single monochromatic menu icon. If it were, I would be more inclined to take a second (third) look. (Yes, I am just about out of room on my menu bar.)

Beyond that, I simply don't have the time to wade through the ins and outs of Butler -- the "Quick Start" is not very useful, IMHO, and the FAQ is overwhelming -- but I would be more than happy to give it another try if one of its advocates wants to submit A Beginner's Guide to Configuring Butler to Maximize Productivity and Minimize Time Spent Futzing as a hint to Mac OS X Hints. (Hint, hint!)

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Launch apps from the Finder without using a mouse
Authored by: asan102 on Mar 25, '04 10:42:10PM

You can set up Butler absolutely any way you want.

Here's a tip that makes it much easier to understand. When you go to the Configuration View in the set-up window, that list you are looking at is what's in your menu bar. Every top-level icon is something that shows up in your actual menu bar, and things further down are children of those menu items (menu items). So if you want to get rid of one of the icons in your menu bar, just find it in the Configuration window and delete it (with the minus button at the bottom or the delete key). Or you can drag it inside another menu, so you can still have access to it.

The only exception is the Invisible Items folder. Although it is a top-level folder, rather predictably those are items that do not appear in any menu – they are still enables, so you can access them with hot-keys or screen corners you assign to them, but they won't be in any menu. If you wish you can even use Butler with no menu at all – just put everything in the Invisible Items folder.



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Launch apps from the Finder without using a mouse
Authored by: swilcox on Mar 28, '04 10:34:31AM

I really don't get why people think Butler is confusing. Try this:

Close all the triangles on the top level menu icons in the configuration setting dialog. Now, see? If you have four icons there, you have four icons in your menu bar. Want only one icon in your menu bar but want to keep all the functions? Put three of the icons under hierarchically under one in the configuration. Want to dump a menu item? Delete it from the configuration. You've got + and - buttons for adding and deleting menu items; you move them where you want them, etc. It's really pretty easy.

Once you have the top level menus (thus your menu bar icons) set up the way you want, and the icons for function items arranged how you want in each top level menu (with separators, submenus, etc.), then you can start adding shortcut keys.

About 10 minutes is all it takes to completely configure Butler to look and do EXACTLY what you want it to do, no more, no less.



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Launch apps from the Finder without using a mouse
Authored by: kupietz on Apr 23, '04 08:13:40PM

I'm surprised to see all these comments about Butler being complicated - it's a little idiosyncratic at points, but I got it up and running with it in no time at all. Launchbar's configuration dialog is certainly more confusing. I found it really easy to configure the custom menus and hot keys, and I love the search box in the menu bar.... all of these are avialable in other utilities, but this seems to be the only one that has them all. [I am not affiliated with the author of Butler :-)]

My only gripe about Butler is it seems a bit sluggish on my iBook 600. Even with icons turned off, custom menus containing folders with many items take waaaay to long to draw.



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