almost 7 years ago from Jonathan Shariat, Designer @ Google | Author @ O'Reilly | Podcaster @ DesignReview
I just started a new job and I love having a fresh new laptop to set up.
What are some must have tools I should install?
Once you've installed everything in this thread, install Bartender to tidy up your menu bar a bit.
Here are some handy ones I get a lot of use out of:
Great list! Thanks.
+99999 for Alfred
I'm a Launchbar man, m'self.
It's kinda funny you said that in an Alfred accent.
Good show, my dear fellow.
It's looking a little old fashioned these days, but I find Quicksilver to be superior to Alfred. It takes a little more effort to get the hang of it, but once you start descending in directories, filtering directory contents with your keyboard, comma selecting multiple objects, and dragging items out of the command window wherever you please QS is really hard to beat. And it's free, not freemium like Alfred.
I had no idea Qs was still in dev. gonna try it again
Good list
Or Atom instead of Sublime?
I always used Sublime until a recent job change where everyone uses Atom. I'm not against Sublime, just giving an alternative.
I opted for Atom as well.
Serious question. I never got into Alfred before Apple added Spotlight search to their OS. What advantages does it have over Apple's implementation that makes it worth co-existing on my Mac with Apple's solution?
I can read features on a website but I want to know how people use it in their daily lives....Thanks!
Same question. Clearly there must be a lot of value here since so many people tout it, but I've never understood the advantage in light of Spotlight.
Great question.
For me, the Alfred workflows are indispensable. They are Alfred specific scripts that you can very easily create using their GUI. And you can also hook in JavaScript, AppleScript, PHP, Bash to turn your computer into the sickest productivity machine in the land.
Some practical ones I built are:
As far as I can tell Apple's Spotlight search is really just for searching for files and programs and opening them.
Any good tutorials or videos you'd recommend to learn how to set those up?
I suggest downloading some Workflows and deconstructing them to see how they work. Many of us will add comments and notes directly into the Workflow file.
There are a ton on Packal, the Alfred forums, and on the Alfred workflow page.
Why do this with Alfred rather than Terminal?
Are you referring to a specific workflow? My 'local' Alfred workflow launches the necessary Terminal windows (sometimes 3 or 4) to run Sass commands and start the server. My 'hidden' workflow is a Bash script so I don't have to open Terminal.
Interested to know more about your 'local' workflow. Is it published on Github or Packal?
No it's not publicly available yet, but I can work on that and let you know when it's up!
First/basic use case: perform a Google search (or other engine of your choice) without having to go to Safari. Say, I'm coding somethign hard - in Atom ;) - and need to quickly look at the framework docs...
Second: shortcuts for custom searches, for instance i can setup Alfred to search eBay by typing "e macbook".. same goes for virtually any website that uses URL parameters for search strings (most of them).
You can consolidate LICECap and Paparazzi with CloudApp.
I started using it recently for sharing screenshots and gifs for code reviews and collaboration with PMs. I love it because once you complete a screenshot or gif, it places the direct link into your clipboard to share immediately. So far the free account has been sufficient for me.
Thanks for the suggestion! I tried CloudApp forever ago, but it got lost in my shuffle of changing computers over time. Definitely reinstalling now.
CloudApp changed their free plan to be ridiculously limited, so I ditched it forever.. JumpShare offers the same functionalities and it's free with a generous space for your uploads.
Monosnap is also a good alternative, although it only record video instead of GIF.
I prefer puu.sh for screenshots since it uploads them. Makes it very easy to share with colleagues.
Spectacle is a good free alternative to moom
Um, shouldn't this be profession related?
BetterTouchTool for window tiling and the ability to customize all your input devices (trackpad, mouse, touchbar, and more) to basically do anything.
This is fantastic.
Yes, yes, yes, this is the best. I have custom scripts for Illustrator that make so many operations a breeze. I also am one of the few people to buy a Leap Motion so I can 'minority report' my music controls :P
I installed spectacle and I couldn't live without it now. I have it set up so that CMD + ← or → gives the active window half the screen to the left or the right, CMD + ↓ minimises it and CMD + ↑. It doesn't seem to affect PS for some reason so I can still nudge things around.
I also found an app called Next Meeting which simply shows you the next event in your calendar in the menubar.
Lastly, Unibox is a great email app if you haven't heard of it already
+1 for Unibox, by far the best way of organising emails IMO
Agreed - I just hope it doesn't get abandoned. If I remember correctly, it's just one guy making it and he only pushed some minor bug fix updates in the recent months.
Did not know about Spectacle but am using Divvy for many years with great pleasure :)
Flux, for better sleep Sip (color picker), a great color picker DiskInventoryX, to use when you are running out of space Free Ruler, to measure anything on screen Itsycal, calendar events at a glance from the menubar
Have you tried https://colorsnapper.com/ instead of SIP? I don't know if SIP fixed that bug they had for years where a window behind photoshop would always be brought to the front, but CS always seemed simpler and more robust compared to all the crap SIP is trying to work into the app.
I use Sip and I haven't noticed this issue. Must have been fixed! The free version is adequate, but the moreI use it, the more I think I'll be springing ($10) for the premium version soon!
I agree. I find the color names like "Supernova", "Green Blue", "East Bay", etc. really helpful when you have similar colors lined up.
I use it primarily because Adobe products don't work with tiling managers (I use a laptop), and it is annoying to drag the window to use the eye dropper.
This reminds me, Grand Perspective is amazing.
Similar to DiskInverntory but the looks of things. Looks like crap... great app for visualising the size of files!
I'd recommend OmniDiskSweeper from OmniGroup - much more readable to me than those ugly rectangles in both of above examples.
Try DaisyDisk.
Does SIP has the possibility to change the profil? You can do that in the digital color meter and this is a really strong feature to me. But acutally I'm also using Color Snapper but there you can't change the profile so actually I'm looking for a new color picker.
In addition to lots of the apps already mentioned here, in no particular order:
Airmail - e-mail; I tried lots and lots of email clients but always keep coming back to Airmail. Not perfect either, but closest to that for me
Pinboard.in + Spillo - minimalistic bookmarking
Paws for Trello - desktop app for Trello, if you're using that
Numi - useful multiline calculator
Later - simple reminders, especially useful if you use it with its iOS counterpart for a simple "remind me when I'm back at my mac" option
Also, if you do coding, I can totally recommend ...
Atom - code editor, made by the Github people
CodeKit - preprocessor compiler, jshint, etc. all-in-one
Tower - best Git-GUI-client I have found so far
Transmit - FTP client
SnippetsLab - store all your code snippets
MAMP - local web server with GUI
Sequel Pro - database manager
Spillo looks great, thanks! Paws looks good too, if I can get past the icon...
Hehe, completely agreed. Sometimes I create custom icons just because of that ...
In regards to the coding bit, i have the same setup (except for codekit, npm or gulp for me)!
Throw in Hyper, its like Atom but as your Terminal. Super cool.
Congrats on the new job!
One thing I haven't seen on the list is Noizio. It's great for people like me who can't stop singing along with songs. Not always a problem, but when I need to concentrate this is when I need Noizio.
probably needs some cleaning up, but here's my install script for new machines
Ha! I didn’t realise iStat Menus was installable with Homebrew Cask. That’s ace!
https://www.spectacleapp.com/ more minimal window management
Also if you are using the command line:
https://www.iterm2.com/ - better terminal (split windows etc..)
https://fishshell.com/ - alternative to bash shell (autocomplete, partial command history, bunch of other stuff)
http://fisherman.sh/ - super easy plugin manager for fish shell (themes, git stuff, z, etc..)
Have you tried z shell and oh-my-zsh? I heard it's similar to fish shell.
Always surprised that seemingly no one has heard of BetterSnapTool… literally one of the first things I install on a new mac (after Alfred!)
Couldn't live without Divvy.
+1 for ClipMenu.
Yoink is very useful, and I don't think anyone's mentioned it.
Congrats on your new Job @ Intuit!
CleanMyMac 3
A few I haven't seen mentioned yet:
Yoink - Had serious withdrawal when the deprecated dragondrop stopped working on Sierra. I've tried the alternatives (dropzone, sorta-using quicksilver's drag-drop, etc) and yoink's the best so far.
homebrew - mentioning again
Ninjakit - greasemonkey scripts for safari.
Jumpcut - older clipboard history manager, though after reading comments I may try ClipMenu
FormatMatch - basically strip text decorations when pasting text to make it plaintext - occasionally useful.
Dash - despite all the recent issues with kapeli and the mac app store, Dash has paid for itself over and over.
Macdown - free markdown editor/viewer. Also use Marked on occasion for markdown -> pdf conversion.
NValt - Oldie but a goodie, can't wait for bitwriter. sync it with simplenote.
Atlassian Sourcetree - still prefer this over the other git graphical interfaces, this maybe out of habit though.
licecap - old gif-making tool.
LiveReload - nobody mentioned it but it's still useful for front-end webdev.
Also, as a shameless plug, I make Thimble as a PS/Sketch/SketchUp gesture plugin, and am looking forward to hearing feedback and doing some more updates in 2017.
Great list!
XTree Gold
Was looking for someone to post this. Super handy and underrated
I could spend hours playing in Fontstand.
Don't install anything because it's on some list. Just use your computer as is, feel the pain points and then look for specific solutions. Enjoy an uncluttered system as long as you can.
That being said some nice apps have been mentioned :)
Here's my list...
Ummm... That's a good start.
Polymail Best email client since Sparrow died imo, with some great features like read notifications, undo sent email, etc.
App Trap Removes associated files when you drag an app to the trash.
Helium When you wanna watch something while working.
Clean Archive the files from your desktop when it gets too messy.
Letterspace Simple note taking app that supports markdown.
+1 Polymail is fantastic.
I just installed Helium, i did not know i needed this. Thank you.
· Alfred · Divvy · Bartender · Dash · Sublime · Dropbox · Bear App (or Evernote) · ColorSnapper · SnapRuler (though it's been sluggish on the new Mac, so maybe XScope) · Spotify (Apple Music blows) · Fantastical
Split Screen App (https://splitscreenapp.com/) is the great app to manage windows on your Mac. With window snapping and keyboard shortcuts, you can quickly split windows and boost your productivity.
Freeter for organizing the workflow.
Panda App extension for chrome, Atom, Slack, pomodorro w/ trello... In fact most of my tools are online now
Laravel Valet is freaking amazing and has been the biggest game changer in my development workflow in years.
Bear is beautiful too and I couldn't live without Wunderlist for task management.
try this and congrats
Surprised no one mentioned Forklift, a powerful FTP, SFTP, S3 (and more..) client & dual-pane file manager. $19.99 on the AppStore, but sometimes it's heavily discounted.
Forklift is great. FTP kinda sucks, but the app is terrific.
Flycut - Clipboard manager. You never knew you needed this until you try it... Copy between multiple documents, then paste in a different order? Not a problem anymore... No back and forth. Also ThumbsUp - Drag and drop any image file to convert it to another format (it's free). For example drag 20 PSD files and obtain 20 renamed JPEG, resized, resampled, ready to be sent by email.
ThumbsUp sounds sweet, I spend a lot of time scaling images in Photoshop.
How do you use it though? Am i supposed to drag n’ drop somewhere?
This is what I’m seeing right now. (screenshot: http://www.tiikoni.com/tis/view/image.php?id=d0f4f1e)
i wrote a whole big list with links etc and then it all disappeared.... so here is the abridged version: Magnet - window management hocus focus - hides inactive windows wetransfer - menu bar uploads affinity photo/designer - enough said polarr - photo editing rocket - slack style emoji input everywhere
Aw, lame. Thanks for sharing again!
yeah, i didnt refresh or anything, just switched tabs and then came back and it was gone. sorry there are no links.
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