A Guide to ÒThings Mac OS XÓ on the Net...
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General Mac OS X Info
Mac OS X Lion
Mac OS X Community
Mac Software Collections
Mac OS X Interface
  • Bring Back a Proper Textual Drag and Drop Ð How to fix CocoaÕs drag-n-drop delay flaw
  • Script Menu Ð A handy AppleScript menu
  • Drag Thing Ð Dock alternative; restore Trash to desktop
  • TinkerTool Ð Customize Finder settings from the GUI instead of the CLI
  • Jumpcut Ð Clipboard buffering/history (Open Source)
  • Path Finder (SNAX) Ð Mac OS X Finder Pro?
  • Drop Drawers Ð AppÕs, URLÕs and clippings at your fingertips
  • ASM Ð Adds an Application Switcher Menu to the right side of the Mac OS X menu bar
  • piPop Ð Restores Apple Menu functionality sans menu (RealBasic app)
  • ResExcellence Mac OS X Modifications Ð A page of many UI mods, tricks, hacks, etc.
  • Quitling Ð Kill, launch, or relaunch processes from menu bar
  • WindowShade X Ð Brings classic WindowShade functionality to Mac OS X. Note: Use with caution; some have reported systemÐwide problems after using this product.
Unix ÒlocateÓ (Find File) GUIÕs
  • Locator Ð Freeware GUI front-end for the CLI locate command (find file); nice interface
  • SubRosa QuickFind Ð Another freeware GUI front-end for locate
  • Look4 Ð Another GUI front-end for locate. Shareware; v1.1 is not as good as either the free Locator nor SubRosa
Spotlight alternatives/enhancements
  • EasyFind Ð Alternative to Spotlight; finds files, folders or contents without indexing
  • Better Search Ð Search deeply in your HD for invisible directories, packages, etc.
  • HoudahSpot Ð File search tool based on Apple Spotlight technology
  • SpotLook Ð GUI for Leopard Spotlight; open-source project
  • SpotInside Ð Preview result documents with highlighted search words
  • FileSpot Ð Provides an enhanced interface to Spotlight (was MoRU)
Mac OS X Utilities
  • DiskWarrior Ð Everybody should have this disk utility
  • Disk Inventory X Ð Shows sizes of files and folders in graphical ÒtreemapsÓ
  • PrefEdit Ð Inspect and edit preference settings for Mac OS X applications
  • HexEdit Ð Inspect and edit binary files
  • OpenLDAP, PostgreSQL and TCP Flow Recorder Ð Tips and instructions for installing these under Mac OS X
  • Cyclone Ð Character set text converter (useful for web development, among other things)
  • CronniX Ð A GUI cron front-end
  • BatChmod Ð A GUI chown, chgrp, chmod, and it can Force Empty the Trash too; obsolete since Jaguar?
CD/DVD Burning
  • Burn Ð Simple disc burning, with a lot of advanced options Ð Free and open source
  • SimplyBurns Ð Burn CD/DVD media; copy mode Ð Free and open source
  • LiquidCD Ð Burn CD/DVD media Ð Freeware
  • BurnX Free Ð Burn CD's with multiple sessions Ð Freeware
  • Patchburn Ð Allows legacy versions of Mac OS X to burn with many third-party DVD or CD writers
Mac OS X Web Browsers
  • iCab Ð Feature rich; now based on WebKit engine
  • Firefox Ð UI now more Mac-like; Powerful plug-in architecture; Gecko engine
  • NetVideoHunter Ð Download videos from many video sharing sites (e.g. YouTube) Ð Firefox
  • Safari Ð AppleÕs AppleWebKit/KHTML based browser
  • Autocomplete Always On! Ð Patches Webcore (SafariÕs HTML engine) to ignore the ÒautocompleteÓ flag so AutoFill works on more pages
  • Safari Tidy Ð Validates webpages for (x)html compliance
  • Cocoa Cookies Ð Utility to search (with regex) and delete (with undo) HTTP cookies used by Safari, Dashboard, NetNewsWire, Sherlock, Shiira, et al.
  • DownloadComment Ð Saves URI in the Finder/Spotlight Comments
  • PimpMySafari Ð Safari customizations
  • Web Development with... Safari Ð Safari enhancements (mostly obsolete now)
  • OmniWeb Ð Now free
  • Camino Ð Camino (formerly Chimera) Cocoa UI, Gecko engine; simple, small, fast
  • PimpMyCamino Ð Camino customizations
  • Shiira Ð A Cocoa, Open source, WebKit browser
  • Bookit Ð Cross-browser bookmark sync tool
  • Mozilla Ð Open source version of Netscape
  • Google Chrome Ð Crash resistant; unwieldily amalgam of URI & search boxes is just dreadful, however
Ad Blockers for Web Browsers
  • ClickToFlash Ð Block Flash on WebKit browsers (e.g. Safari, Chrome, iCab); one click viewing; higher quality YouTube; reduce CPU usage, extend battery life
  • GlimmerBlocker Ð A proxy-filter ad-blocker compatible with 64-bit Safari, other WebKit browsers, and FireFox (when manually configured)
  • SafariBlock Ð A Firefox AdBlock clone for Safari (32-bit Safari only)
  • Ad Blocking for Firefox, Mozilla, Camino, and Safari Ð CSS based ad Blocking for Firefox, Mozilla, Camino, and Safari
  • PithHelmet Ð Ad, Flash, Shockwave blocker for Safari (WebKit)
  • Adblock Plus Ð Ad blocker for Firefox
  • Flashblock Ð Flash blocker for Firefox
Spreadsheet
  • Numbers Ð Part of AppleÕs iWork suite
  • Mariner Calc Ð Lean yet capable spreadsheet app; Excel file compatibility
  • Tables Ð Cocoa app
  • Mesa Ð Cocoa; icon-based interface; Excel compatible
Audio/Video Software
  • Plex Media Center for OS X Ð iTunes & Front Row alternative
  • Plex competes with Front Row Ð Macworld Plex Review
  • EyeTV Ð Turn your Mac into a DVR
  • ETVComskip Ð EyeTV plugin to skip past commercials
  • PyeTV Ð Plugin to access EyeTV within Front Row's top-level menu
  • Perian Ð Open source; adds QuickTime support for many popular video formats
  • VLC Ð Open source; plays most multimedias files as well as DVD, Audio CD, VCD, and various streaming protocols
  • Lunettes Ð Death of VLC for Mac is Ògreatly exaggeratedÓ
  • HandBrake Ð Video transcoder; e.g. move videos from DVD to iPod; Open Source
  • Audio In Ð Great little App to capture audio input
  • Audio Hijack, Detour, et al Ð Useful Mac OS X sound redirection tools
  • xACT Ð GUI front-end to Shorten, shntool, monkey's audio compressor,flac and cdda2wav (with paranoia support)
  • Flip4Mac Ð Play Windoze Media files (.wma and .wmv) in QuickTime Player or in a web browser
Mapping Software
Graphics Software
  • Google SketchUp Ð Create, modify and share 3D models
  • Pixen Ð Designed for pixel artists; somewhere between a powerful Paint, or a simple, Photoshop. Open Source.
  • Paintbrush Ð Bitmap image editor (like MacPaint); open source
  • Seashore Ð Cocoa image editor. Gradients, textures, anti-aliasing, layers and alpha channel editing. Uses GIMP technology, but only for basic image editing. Open Source
  • Tux Paint Ð Drawing software for children ages 3 to 12. Open Source.
  • MacGIMP Ð GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) for your Mac
  • GIMPShop Ð A more Photoshop-like version of GIMP
  • InterfaceLIFT: Icons Ð Free Mac OS X icons
Other Mac OS X Software
  • Pangea Payroll Ð Open Source: calculate employee payroll taxes for small businesses
  • HPConnect Ð Open Source: Connect to HP calculators with USB (e.g. HP49G+, HP50)
  • Archicad Ð Architectural virtual design
  • Undercover Ð Anti-theft software; transmits pictures of the thief
  • MyMahj Ð A freeware MahJongg Solitaire game; similar to ActivisionÕs Shanghai for Mac OS 8, but without the wonderful sound effects and dancing dragon
Apache, PHP, MySQL, PostgreSQL, HTML, CGI
Databases
Data/Network Security
Encryption
eMail
News Readers
  • MT-NewsWatcher Ð A descendant of John NorstadÕs venerable NewsWatcher; now carbonized for Mac OS X
  • NewsWatcher-X Ð A carbonized version of John NorstadÕs venerable NewsWatcher
  • Halime Ð Mac OS X news reader technology preview (under development, but worth keeping an eye on)
Screen sharing/remote control
Networking/File Transfer (e.g. SSH, sFTP, FTP)
  • Fugu Ð A Mac OS X SFTP, SCP and SSH Frontend
  • Macfusion Ð Mount servers from across the internet directly in the Finder as a ÒVolumeÓ; requires GoogleÕs MacFUSE
  • FileZilla Ð Cross-platform FTP, FTPS and SFTP client
  • Cyberduck Ð A Mac OS X FTP and SFTP client; open-source (GPL)
  • SSHKeychain Ð GUI Keychain management for SSH Keys, and SSH Tunnels
  • MacSSH & MacSFTP Ð Secure Telnet applications (freeware/Classic & shareware/Carbon)
  • RsyncX Ð rsync with HFS+ support through either CLI or GUI
  • Radmind Ð (remote administration daemon) a collection of Unix command line tools to manage file systems of multiple machines
  • Synk Ð Sounds like (but may not be) rsync with a GUI frontend
  • RBrowser Ð Commercial graphical FTP/SSH/SFTP client
  • osXigen Ð A feature-rich sharware FTP/SFTP client (Cocoa)
  • FTP client comparison Ð from Indiana University; links, descriptions and chart
  • CaptainFTP Ð Freeware and Shareware versions of a graphical FTP client
  • Transmit 2 Ð Commercial graphical FTP/SFTP/SSH client (Cocoa)
  • Gideon Ð A sharware FTP/SFTP client (Cocoa)
  • Interarchy Ð Commercial graphical FTP/SSH/SFTP client (formerly called Anarchie)
  • Fetch Ð Commercial graphical FTP client
  • Net::SSH::Perl Ð Perl client interface to Secure Shell
  • AlmostVPN Ð A Preference Panel for managing ssh tunnels
  • SSH Tunnel Manager Ð A CLI tool to manage SSH Tunnels. It can set up many tunnels, each containing many port redirections
  • see also: Things Macintosh (Users) Ð for classic Mac software
Technical Mac OS X Info
Command Line Interface (CLI)
Packages and Ports
CVS Information
GUI front-ends for CVS
Backup Software
Beer Making
AppleScript

Wordsmithing & OCR

Word Processors (General Purpose)
  • Nisus Writer Ð Multilingual word processing; Mac-only; commercial
  • Mellel Ð Multilingual word processor; designed for scholars, creative and technical writing; Mac-only; commercial
  • Mariner Write Ð ÒPowerful, yet streamlined word processorÓ; Mac-only; commercial
  • AbiWord Ð A free word processor; Mac/Lin/Win; open source
Word Processors (Creative Writing)
  • Montage Ð Screenwriting software; Mac-only; commercial
  • Storymill (nee: Avenir) Ð Novel writing software; Mac-only; commercial
  • Scrivener Ð Virtual writing studio; integrates outlining, storyboarding, research and writing; store and cross-reference your research; Mac-only; commercial
  • Storyist Ð Story development tool for novelists and screenwriters; Mac-only; commercial
  • JerÕs Novel Writer Ð Simple word processor with support for creative writing projects; Mac-only; commercial
  • CopyWrite Ð Project-oriented manager Òfor writers of all kindsÓ; Mac-only; commercial
  • Ulysses Ð Text editor for creative writers; Mac-only; commercial
  • Celtx Ð Pre-Production software for film, video, theatre, and animation; Mac/Win; free, open source
  • Manuscript Ð Specialised word-processor for writers; Mac-only; shareware
  • Final Draft Ð Designed for writing movie scripts, television episodics and stage plays; Mac/Win; commercial
Word Processors (Layout)
  • Wolfram Publicon Ð ÒTechnical publishing made easyÓ; FrameMaker alternative?; commercial
  • Scribus Ð Open Source Desktop Publishing; cross platform
  • TeXShop Ð A LaTeX based editor for Mac; some assembly required; GPL
Text Editors
  • Smultron Ð Cocoa based Text editor; features for HTML, coding, etc.; author seems to be taking a wait-and-see approach to future development based on App Store sales ($5); no longer open source
  • Fraise Ð A fork of Smultron (v 3.5 or 3.6); open source; apparently abandoned
  • TextForge Ð Worth a look; Open Source
  • TextWrangler Ð aka BBEdit Lite
  • Tex-Edit Plus Ð A Carbon text editor; was well supported (until 2007)
  • SubEthaEdit Ð Collaborative text editor
  • TextMate Ð Cocoa based Text editor; shareware
  • Writeroom Ð ÒSimplicity of a typewriterÓ; full-screen writing environment; shareware
  • mi Ð Text editor for HTML, programming, etc.; freeware
  • Jedit Ð Cocoa based Text editor; shareware
  • CSSEdit Ð CSS editor; shareware
  • Tag Ð ÒIntuitiveÓ XHTML editor; shareware
GUI versions of CLI Text Editors
  • MacVim Ð A Cocoa GUI version of the CLI text editor Vim
  • Aquamacs Ð Emacs editor with an aqua GUI
Outliners
  • MyMind Ð Outliner and ÒMind MappingÓ software; Donationware
  • FreeMind Ð ÒMind MappingÓ software; free
  • OmniOutliner Ð Commercial
Office Suites
  • OpenOffice Ð Open-source office software suite for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases, etc.; an alternative to Microsoft Office
  • NeoOffice Ð ÒAn office suite that is adapted to the unique needs of Mac users by taking the features inÉ OpenOffice.orgÉ and adding improvementsÓ
  • NeoOffice MD5 Checksums
  • Papyrus OFFICE Ð Commercial; Word-processing, desktop publishing, spreadsheets, relational database, Òphonetic searchÓ option
  • KOffice.org Ð Primarily an X11 suite, but a Mac GUI is available
Bibliography Management & Research Aides
  • Sente Ð ÒAcademic Reference Manager for Mac OS XÓ
  • Bookends Ð Reference management and bibliography generation software for Macintosh
  • Papers Ð ÒYour personal library of researchÓ for Mac OS X
  • EndNote Ð ÒBibliographies made easyÓ is the claim; not all users agree; cross platform
  • Bibus Ð Open Source; bibliographic and reference management software; cross platform
  • BibDesk Ð Open Source; Mac OS X BibTeX front-end for use with LaTeX; external DB connectivity for importing/exporting & linking to local documents
  • Mendeley Ð Academic reference management software for researchers; Organize, collaborate & discover; Like iTunes for research papers
  • Zotero Ð Firefox extension; collect, manage, cite, and share research sources
  • Comparison of reference management software Ð Wikipedia
OCR
  • OCRKit Ð ÒSimple and Streamlined OCRÓ (25 languages; AppleScript Support; App Store)
  • Prizmo for Mac Ð ÒAccurate OCRÉ in 10 languagesÓ
  • VueScan Ð A flatbed and film scanner program with OCR
  • ABBYY FineReader for Mac Ð Commercial OCR
  • Readiris 12 for Mac Ð Commercial OCR; poor reviews on Amazon.com
  • Presto! PageManager 9 Ð ÒDocument Scanning and Management Solution for MacÓ; has OCR
  • Clara OCR Ð Open source; POSIX X Window System GUI, and a Web interface
  • GNU Ocrad Ð Open source for Unix-like OSÕs; No Mac GUI
  • Tesseract-OCR Ð Open source for Unix-like OSÕs; No Mac GUI; ÒProbably one of the most accurate open source OCR engines availableÓ
Dictionary
Spelling & Grammar
Typographic Considerations

Other pages in the ÒThingsÓ series are:
This page was last updated on 14-September-2011