Tuesday, 09-Feb-2010 07:53:29 EST
- For the latest, install both the latest Safari and Webkit β, then use the Webkit β.
- Block ads with GlimmerBlocker, an http proxy (with settings in System Preferences); it can also add a download link for high quality in YouTube, and has extra filters to do things like kill pop-up previews in blogs.
- YouTube now has a non-Flash, HTML5-based website for Safari/Chrome.
- JavaScript bookmarklet for translation (drag to Bookmarks Bar) to click while viewing relevant page.
Graphics
- Vector graphics ("draw"): OpenOffice (Draw)
- Lots more tools than basics: e.g., gradient shading, transparency, primitive 3D.
- Retuns to Select tool after use of any other tool.
- Uses click, click-&-drag, & double-click instead of left, middle, & right mouse buttons.
- Includes text editor (Writer) that's better at reading MS Word files than TextEdit.
- Sun PDF Import Extension allows editing of PDF.
- 3D graphics (raytracing, etc.): Art of Illusion (Java);
saves as JPG (e.g.), but Preview will convert to PDF.
- Bitmap graphics ("paint"):
- JaxoDraw (Java) draws Feynman diagrams with just the mouse. (Others require programming & specifying coordinates.)
- STIX fonts have all the characters of TeX's Computer Modern fonts in a form that can be used in other programs, e.g., when making figures. ("STIXGeneral.otf" and "STIXGeneralItalic.otf" are the most important ones: TeX does math numerals as roman, math letters as italic.)
Also, Computer Modern Unicode fonts (Latin/Greek/Cyrillic only; "cmunrm.otf" and "cmunti.otf" are the ones most relevant for math.)
Other freeware
- TexShop
- Simplest GUI front end for TeX.
- Installed by MacTeX.
- SyncTeX: ⌘-click on input/output to find same spot in other window.
- Now with source line numbering.
- If you have font cache problems, try this bug fix.
- To get Preview Window Magnification to work, you need to set After Window Resize to Fixed Magnification.
- To convert pdf to eps (Mac OS X will do eps → pdf & pdf → ps, but not pdf → eps), open the pdf in TeXShop, choose the "Selection" tool in the Preview window toolbar, select all (either with ⌘-A or manually), choose "Preview>Save Selection to File...", & save as eps.
- Modeled on TeXShop, TeXworks is for all platforms (included in MacTeX, TeX Live, & MiKTeX); includes SyncTeX.
- MacFusion is an interface to
MacFuse, which
allows mounting (s)ftp volumes as the Finder should, so you can add files, & edit with TextEdit (or use the latest iWeb, which includes ftp). To get it to work with Snow Leopard:
- Replace its preference pane, in /Library/PreferencePanes/ with the updated
MacFUSE.prefPane.
- Update to the latest β of MacFuse via its preference pane in System Preferences.
- Remove the file
/Applications/Macfusion.app/Contents/PlugIns/sshfs.mfplugin/Contents/Resources/sshnodelay.so
(using control-click on MacFusion to get Show Package Contents, as usual), or replace it with the update found @ the above link for the preference pane.
- Screensavers
- Radar in Motion: weather widget
- Fortran & related stuff;
CERNLIB & other HEP.
Tips
Text
- Substitution, built-in (e.g., 1/2 → ½) or added (e.g., ^2 → ²).
Set up in System Preferences…>Personal>Language & Text>Text.
Use menu item Edit>Substitutions>Text Replacement.
Great if you like to type math (in email, e.g.) as Unicode.
- Option-delete deletes words.
- Control-click on selected word(s) to look up in Dictionary, Google, or Spotlight;
hold control-⌘-D to go from word to word for Dictionary.
- Control-clicking on a typo to choose a correct spelling is easier than retyping;
control-T between 2 letters to transpose them.
- Click & drag to select text as contiguous letters,
double-click & drag to do it with words,
triple-click with paragraphs.
- Character Viewer for all Unicode characters (e.g., math in Mail):
"Edit>Special Characters...", or add directly to Title Bar by selecting in
"System Preferences…>Personal>Language & Text>Input Sources".
(See also my Unicode page.)
- Xcode (install separate from System) includes FileMerge
(or opendiff in Terminal):
Compare 2 files (etc.) with nice interface.
- In TextEdit, you need the setting "Format>Wrap to Page" to get the magnification bar in the lower-right corner.
Finder
- Screen Sharing (also in iChat) allows remote control of your Mac (even over the internet).
- ⌘-Shift-4 to select portion of screen for snapshot, or hit space
for camera to select window (or dock, menu bar, or desktop for all).
- When a file won't delete because it claims it's in use, Secure Empty Trash.
Preview
- Delete files directly from Preview.
- If you want PDF to fill the screen in Two Pages mode, set "Initial document scale" to (@ least) twice what you want for a single page.
Other
- News/rumors:
AppleInsider
(RSS),
MacRumors
(RSS),
MacBidouille
(RSS),
Ars Technica
(RSS).
- Apple keynote coverage:
Gizmodo,
gdgt,
engadget.
- Quicktime X does screen video capture.
- Grapher (in Applications>Utilities) also does equations nicely;
for arithmetic, just delete the "x=" (or whatever) & type.
- Turn picture into icon in Terminal with "sips -i".
(Cut & paste icons in Finder with Get Info.) Useful to give icons transparency.
- If a program gives some weird error message doing something it did fine the day before, and seems to run fine otherwise, restart it.