Application: Letterbox

A great add-on for Mail that I've been using for a while is Letterbox. Letterbox takes the current Apple Mail layout (1 column and 2 rows) and turns it into 3 columns. (See image below.)



This is really nice because when you normally read messages, the mail viewer window is too wide for the message. However, when it's set to 3 columns, the message viewer width is just fine.

After you DUZI Letterbox (Direct download link) go to your Mail.app preferences. Chances are that you'll have to click and hold on the arrow at the far right of the address bar to be able to access the Letterbox preferences.



There are several options here, such as the viewer orientation (the big feature) or alternate line color in the message selector. Browse around and find the best setup for your tastes.

When people were raving about this, I was highly skeptical at first. If you're in the same camp that I was in, then I highly suggest you install it. You can uninstall it later, but odds are you'll love it.

[Letterbox]

Weekly Rental: Be Cool

The 99¢ weekly rental for this week is Be Cool.

Open Be Cool in the iTunes Music Store.

Read about Be Cool on IMDb.

Watch the trailer for Be Cool on YouTube. (Embedded Below.)

Ignore Software Updates [System]

This past week Apple has released an "HP Printer Drivers Update". Now, normally, I would simply click through and install the update. However, it's 90 MB in size. 90 MB isn't huge, but it's still 90 MB that I can use for something else. Also, I don't need these drivers.

If you're in the same predicament that I'm in, there's a simple way to never have to install the update: select it, then hit the Delete key. This will put it into your Ignored Updates list. (You can achieve the same effect by going to the "Update" menu and selecting "Ignore Update..."




Now, let's say that you buy this new super-awesome HP printer and now you need the drivers. Well, you can get the update back by going to "Software Update" menu and selecting "Reset Ignored Updates".

Annotate Images (JPEG, PNG, etc.) in Leopard Preview

RSS Subscribers, there is a video for this post.


With the release of Leopard, something you've been able to do in Preview is annotate PDFs. That is, you can put in notes, arrows, ovals etc. However, if you wanted to annotate to pictures, (JPEGs, PNGs, etc.) then you had to use some other software. (I normally use keynote.)

Fortunately, MacOSXHints points out that you can annotate images, however, you'll need to use the toolbar instead of the menu bar. Here's how:

Step 1: Right click on the toolbar and select "Customize Toolbar..."

Step 2: Select the "Annotate" option and drag it to Preview's toolbar.

Step 3: Click on the "Done" button.

Step 4: Click and hold on the annotate button to pick other options such as line and note.

Step 5: Drag the cursor to where you want to shape or note to be. If you want to resize it, click on the shape or note and drag one of the grey circles.

You can change the color of a shape or note by selecting it and hitting Cmd-Shift-C. Then picking the color you want to change it to. In addition, you can change the size of a shape or note by selecting it and then hitting = and - to enlarge and shrink.

Finally, if you want to see this in action, watch the short video I made for this post.

[Via]

Stop Opening! How To Change The Default Applications [System]

Apple doesn't make it neccessarily easy to change the default application for different stuff (email app, photo app, etc.) Here's a quick guide telling you what's where when you want to change your default applications.

Email

This is probably the worst out of all of these. Instead of putting an option somewhere in System Preferences to change your default email client, you have use Mail.app. First, open up Mail.app from the applications folder. Then, setup an email account. Finally, go to the Mail preferences and under General there is the option to change your default email reader.



Inserting a Camera

I originally had it set so that when I inserted a camera, it opened iPhoto. Not any more though! It's too much of a slow down when I only want one picture. To change this behavior open up the Image Capture application in your Applications folder. Hit Cmd-, to open the preferences and change the option from there.

While you can do this in iPhoto, you get more options with Image Capture. (You can choose "Other...." in Image Capture, but not in iPhoto.)



Web Browser

This one is probably the easiest. You can either do it in FireFox, Safari, Camino, and some others.

For Safari:
Hit Cmd-, to open the Safari preferences.
Click on the General tab.
Change the first option to whichever one you want.


In FireFox:
Hit Cmd-, to go to the FireFox preferences.
Click on the Advanced tab.
Click on the General tab inside the Advanced tab.
Click on the button labeled "Check Now" in the lower right hand corner of the window.



Default IM Program

Like the others, you'll need to open up iChat to change this. After opening iChat.app, hit Cmd-, to go to the preferences, click on the General tab and change the first drop down menu to your desired Default IM Program.



Those are the only one's I can think of that need to be changed like this. If you can think of one please post about it in the comments. Also, you might want to check out one of the third part "Default Application" changers called RCDefaultApp. RCDefaultApp is a preference pane that lets you change seemingly every default application for pretty much anything.

Easier Mail Signatures in Apple Mail [Mail]

A long time back, I wrote a post about how you can make Mail.app email signatures using lots of steps, some HTML editing and then some more steps. It was a very slow way of doing it, but the only way I knew of.

As it turns out though, there is a much better way to make HTML (or Rich text) signatures: Copy and Paste. That's right, as gal04 pointed out in my youtube video concerning the subject, you can just select the item that you want in the signature, and paste it in. This means that you can create a signature in your favorite Rich Text editor and then copy and paste it into the signature window. No more having to deal with the .webarchive files! (Unless, of course, you want something like a youtube video embedded into your signature....)

Two Uses For The Option Key [Expose] [Finder]

This past week, I've discovered two new tricks that holding the option key will do. The first involves Exposé and the second involves Finder.

While I hardly ever use Exposé I'm sure that for some people, it's their favorite feature. Well, one of the problems with Expose is that if you're looking for a specific window, then you have to mouse over every window then read it's name. This can be particularly slow if you are using the keyboard to activate Exposé instead of the mouse. Well, James over at Mac Tips and Tricks points out that if you hold the option key after you activate Exposé, all the window titles will be overlaid the windows.


One of the problems with using Column view in Finder is that sometimes the name of a file is too long for the width of the column. Well, instead of holding your mouse over the file for a couple of seconds waiting for the tooltip with the full file name to appear, you can simply hold the option key. This will make the tooltip instantly appear.

The Top 10 Keyboard Shortcuts [Finder] [System]

I've been writing for the second half of this week about keyboard shortcuts that you should know. I've already covered Safari and Mail. Today I'll finish off the week with Finder and system wide keyboard shortcuts.


Finder

Move to Trash: Cmd-Delete

While it might be cute to see the trash icon change from empty to full when you drag an item into it, it's a very inefficient way of deleting files. Just use Cmd-Delete.
While on the topic of trash, you can empty your trash with Cmd-Shift-Delete or Cmd-Option-Shift-Delete if you don't want to see the warning dialog.


Eject Disk: Cmd-E

In the same way that it's inefficient to drag trash to the dock, it's also inefficient to eject a disk by dragging it to the dock. Use Cmd-E instead. (To help you remember: E as in Eject.)


Slideshow: Cmd-Option-Y

Slideshow (a.k.a. Fullscreen QuickLook) is very helpful if you're wanting to show your pictures in fullscreen. If you don't want to do quicklook in full screen, use Cmd-Y (Or the spacebar if you want to.)


Show Inspector: Cmd-Option-I

This one is really handy to know. Select a file and hit Cmd-Option-I to open up the inspector. This is the same as an Info window (Cmd-I) except if you change your selection, the inspector will change to reflect your new selection.
The advantage of the Inspector is that you can select two or more files and it will do a combined inspect instead of opening a different info window for each item.



System

Desktop: Cmd-Shift-D

This works in both Finder and system wide. If you're in an Open/Save dialog box, then you can hit Cmd-Shift-D to instantly jump to the desktop. The same applies to Finder. If you're in a Finder window, you can hit Cmd-Shift-D to jump to the Desktop from anywhere.


Screen Shots: Cmd-Shift-3/4

If you need help with anything, or you want to show off something funny, then you can use these keyboard shortcuts to take a picture of your screen:

Cmd-Shift-3: Full Screen
Cmd-Shift-4: Drag selection screenshot.
Cmd-Shift-4, then space: Take a screenshot of a window.

If you add Ctrl to any of these, then your screenshot will be saved to the clipboard instead of the Desktop.


Force Quit Application: Cmd-Option-Escape

We Mac users don't like to admit it, but sometimes a program has a problem and you need to force quit it. (Although, this is usually Microsoft applications, right? Right.) Well, if you need to force quit an application, use Cmd-Option-Escape. You can modify this with the Shift key to force quit the front application. However, you'll have to hold down Cmd-Option-Shift-Escape for a short time before anything will happen. (This prevents you from hitting it accidently.)


The Application Switcher: Cmd-Tab

This is a great one that you should use unless you've lost your keyboard. Type Cmd-Tab and a little window will pop up showing you all your open applications. You can then keep holding the Command key and then switch from one application to the next. Once the application you want is selected, you can then let go of the Command key to jump to that application.

Also, instead of just using tab to switch, you can use Shift-Tab to go backwards in the list. In addition, if you keep holding the command key, you can then hit Q to quit or H to hide the selected application. Finally, if you hold Option when you let go of the Command key, all the windows for that application will un-minimize.


Help: Cmd-Shift-/ (Cmd-?)

I wouldn't have included this one in Tiger. But in Leopard's help menus, you can now search menu contents. So, if you want to superscript some selected text in TextEdit, you can hit Cmd-Shift-/ and then type in "Superscript" to find the menu that it's in.


Well, these are my top ten picks for keyboard shortcuts. Obviously you have your favorite keyboard shortcuts, so post away in the comments.

Weekly Rental: The Great Escape

The 99¢ rental for this week is The Great Escape.

Open The Great Escape in the iTunes Music Store.

Read about The Great Escape on the Internet Movie Database.

Watch the trailer on YouTube. (Embedded below.)

Safari's Top 10 Keyboard Shortcuts [Shortcuts]

Yesterday, I wrote about the top 10 shortcuts for Mail.app. Also, I wrote I would be finishing off this week with the top 10 shortcuts for both Safari and Finder/System. So, in keeping with the schedule, here are my top 10 shortcuts for Safari. (* denotes a keyboard shortcut that works in FireFox also.)


* Open Location: Cmd-L

Open location is simply fancy-pants language for "jump to the address bar". Also, if all your windows are closed in Safari/Firefox, then it will open a new window and jump to the address bar. If you aren't using this keyboard shortcut, then you need to. If you are, good job.


The Bookmark Bar Shortcut: Cmd-1 thru Cmd-9

This is probably the biggest reason that I'm using Safari over FireFox. If you're in Safari then you can hit Cmd-1 to open the first bookmark in your bookmarks bar. Cmd-2 will open the second bookmark and so on up until the 9th bookmark.


* Go to Left tab/right tab: Cmd-Shift-[ and Cmd-Shift-]

The other way to go from tab to tab is Cmd-Shift-Left_Arrow/Right_Arrow. However, you run into the problem that when you're in a text box, Cmd-Shift-Right_Arrow selects all the text between the cursor and the beginning of the line and Cmd-Shift-Left_Arrow selects all the text between the cursor and the end of the line. So using the brackets is probably the best way.



* History Backwards/Forwads: Cmd-[ and Cmd-]

Keeping with the brackets, you can use Cmd-[ to go back in your current page and Cmd-] to go forward. In the same way that you can substitute the arrow keys for tab switching, you can substitute the arrow keys in history navigation. However, you run into the same problem that Arrow-Tabbing has: Cmd-Arrow keys is reserved for text field navigation.


* Google Search: Cmd-Option-F (FireFox: Cmd-K)

This is one of those spots where FireFox has an advantage over Safari, but it's easily fixed if you simply change the "Google Search…" keyboard shortcut for Safari using system preferences.
As a side note, Cmd-Option-F is the same keyboard shortcut to search your mailboxes in Mail.app, so at least Apple is consistent.


* Text Management: Cmd-=, Cmd-- (dash), Cmd-0

If you want to enlarge the text on a page, use Cmd-=. If you want to shrink the text, use Cmd-- (dash.) If you messed up the page with your text enlargement/shrinkage, use Cmd-0 to restore it back to normal. You can also use both the enlarge/shrink shortcut with a Shift key if you so desire. (This will make Cmd-= be Cmd-+.) In FireFox, this will enlarge the entire page (images, flash embeds, etc.). You can change this by going to About:Config and changing the browser.zoom.full item to true.


* Downloads Window: Cmd-Option-L (FireFox: Cmd-J)

This one is good to know if you download a lot of stuff. Just hit Cmd-Option-L to see how it's coming along and then Cmd-W to close the window. (On this one, I prefer Cmd-Option-L over Cmd-J because it makes sense: downLoads.)


* New Tab/New Window: Cmd-T and Cmd-N

Tabs are something that you use to a fault, or, you don't use them at all. If you're using tabs, then you probably already use Cmd-T.
Also, Cmd-N is pretty obvious, but I figured I would include it just in case. ;)


Mail Link To This Page: Cmd-Shift-I

This is another Safari feature that I would die without. Granted, there is a FireFox equivalent (File>Send Link…) but mozilla didn't give it a keyboard shortcut. C'mon mozilla!
If you want to, you can also use Cmd-I to send the contents of the webpage. This is kinda cool, but slow on the network.


* Reload/Stop Loading: Cmd-R and Cmd-.

I'm kinda forgetful about using Cmd-R. Mostly I'll just use Cmd-L-Return, but that's bad for my history.
On the flip side, stopping the page from loading with Cmd-. is important to know because you can theoretically stop ads from loading if you do it at the right time.


As with yesterday's shortcuts, using one of these alone may not save you much time (unless it's Cmd-L), but combined together, these can make you a Keyboard Shortcut Browsing Ninja (2nd class).