My favorite Mac software

June 20, 2004 · Comments

I was looking through my archives and I realized that I haven’t done this in a while. I also removed the part of the site that “credited” the software I used, and there’s been some requests so here goes.

As I’m now leading a bi-platform life (and still quite happily, thankyouverymuch) I have two lists. These are my Mac favorites, the PC stuff will be in the next entry. I use a lot of little utilities and apps too, but here’s the applications that are my mainstays. They’re all fully paid for and worth the money spent.

h2. Dreamweaver MX 2004, Adobe InDesign CS, Adobe Photoshop CS, Adobe Illustrator CS

My “bread & butter” applications. This is where most of my software budget in the last few years has gone, and the new versions are worth it. Illustrator CS quits every now and then, but the other applications are rock solid (yes, even Dreamweaver has been reliable “style amnesia” issues aside). When you look at my G5’s dock, these applications are always running.

h2. Font Agent Pro 2.1

I “reviewed”:http://www.momathome.com/viewfromhome/software_reviews/fontagent_pro_2.php this font utility back in January. My review then was positive, and the opinion still stands. I’ve added to my font collection since then, confident that the new players won’t cause any damage to the existing team. I have organized my fonts according to style (sans serif, humanist, elegant script, etc.) so when it’s time to find the perfect font for the occasion I can type some sample text and compare in every font in the same style. My only complaint about Font Reserve is that it lacks the ability to turn fonts on temporarily. I’d love the ability to have the font slate wiped clean with a restart.

h2. Art Director’s Toolkit 4

I did write a review of this software, but I haven’t gotten around to finishing it. It’s another application that’s always open. You may have version 3 that came with your computer. The $15 upgrade fee to version 4 is worth it. It would take an entire entry to go through what makes this software indispensable to the graphic designer, but here I’ll say that I use this software in cooperation with another gem, Painter’s Picker Pro 2, to create color palettes and then apply them in any other application easily. In the RGB pane of ADTK, click on the color bar to bring up the system color picker. Painter’s Picker is a module that let’s you quickly devise color schemes based on a single reference color. Once you have the scheme you want, it’s a few clicks to add them to ADTK’s floating global window. That window is visible in *any* other application and shows the HEX and RGB breakdown of each color. The latest version of ADTK allows you to save and reuse colors added to the global palette.

There are other ways of finding this information and there are other color mixers, but this has worked very well for me.

h2. “Microsoft Word 2004″:http://www.microsoft.com/mac/products/word2004/word2004.aspx?pid=word2004

It’s the only application in Office 2004 that I use regularly. I can’t say I “love” this one, but I’d miss it if I didn’t have it so I’m including it in this list. I mostly use Word to get text formatted correctly for input into InDesign. Or I’m using it to design letterhead/envelope templates for clients. I could do just fine with Word vX but there are some subtle improvements in Word 2004, especially the note taking features that I use more on my iBook than the G5.

h2. “Preview”:http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/preview/

Is this application a swiss army knife, or what? I have it set as my default PDF application. If I need to add pages to a PDF or check for separations, I’ll fire up “Acrobat 6 Professional”:http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobatpro/main.html (and go for a coffee break while it launches…come on, Adobe). But otherwise, Preview does the job. And it’s fast. It’s so good, it’s amazing that it’s freely available with the operating system. Now here’s another example where Adobe has clearly set its priorities. Maybe because they know that most Mac OS X users would rather use Preview, I don’t know. But the Mac version of Acrobat (Pro or Reader) is not nearly as fast or as elegant as the PC version. There’s something wrong when a cross platform application runs better on my Celeron than my G5.

h2. “ecto”:http://www.kung-foo.tv/ecto/ “Safari,”:http://www.apple.com/safari/ “Transmit 2,”:http://panic.com/transmit/ Thoth, “Watson,”:http://www.karelia.com/watson/ “Timbuktu Pro,”:http://www.netopia.com/software/products/tb2/ “LaunchBar,”:http://www.obdev.at/products/launchbar/ “iTunes,”:http://www.apple.com/itunes/ “ChronoSync,”:http://www.econtechnologies.com/site/Pages/ChronoSync/chrono_overview.html “Web Confidential”:http://www.web-confidential.com/

This rounds out my “essential” list. There are many other smaller utilities that I trot out when needed or that complement another application (such as “Woodwing SmartStyles”:http://www.woodwing.com/smartstyles.htm for InDesign) but these are the applications that I think of when I want to remind myself why I’m still using a Mac. With the exception of Timbuktu Pro, these applications were designed for the Mac and run best on a Mac.

In a sentence or so each:

* Of course, *ecto* is the software I’m using right now. I haven’t shopped around web blogging software for the Mac, but I’ve tried to find an equivalent for the PC and keep coming up short. Including ecto for Windows.
* Although Firefox is a close second, *Safari* is the best web browser. All that’s missing for me is better tab control.
* *Transmit* has been my favorite FTP application for years. Never lets me down.
* I know Thoth is no longer developed or supported, but it’s still the best usenet reader around. I’ll use it until it stops functioning.
* Yesterday I used Watson to instantly find where the movie was, and it’s the best interface for looking up phone numbers or seeing what’s on television. Despite the new Mac OS X Sherlock (does anyone really use it?) Watson has survived and even thrived. Still actively developed and no regrets for purchasing it shortly after its first release.
* Timbuktu has saved my bacon (and my Mom’s) many times as I’ve been with my iBook in a remote location and remembered a file left on the G5.
* For application launching there’s nothing better than LaunchBar.
* I don’t think I have to say anything about iTunes. It’s Apple’s shining jewel right now, and rightfully so.
* ChronoSync backs up my work files to my external drive every 30 minutes during the day. Comforting.
* And Web Confidential keeps all my software registration codes in one place. I just sorted the list by date and the first entry was added in 2001, so I’ve been using this software for a while. I have the data file backed up in multiple places, including my Palm.

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