I like to have a fairly traditional file hierarchy to store my files, but the collection of files that I’m currently working on can be scattered across this hierarchy. I’ve been trying to sort out a system for managing and accessing documents that I’m currently working on. Once you’ve got your head around the way they work - it helps if you look at some of the examples provided - you’re up and running. It allows you to chain together hotkeys, scripts, searches and so on that enable you to do some very complex things. There are some fabulous new features in Alfred 2, and the workflow system in particular is really powerful. I’ve been a devoted user of Alfred for quite a while, so I was excited to see the announcement about the beta version of Alfred 2. If you’re interested in Slate and would like to see how I configured my system, I’ve put my. I thought that this might be hard to get used to because I’ve been a heavy user of Spaces (and before that Virtual Desktops on both Mac and Linux), but actually I’ve adjusted to it easily. I now just use one main Space, but have Terminal (and sometimes Preview) full screen in additional Spaces. Since being able to control and focus windows much more easily solves the problem that I used Spaces to overcome, I’ve stopped using Spaces. Some features of Slate (like hinting) only work for the windows in the current Space. I did have to make a small adjustment, because I used to use Spaces on the Mac to impose some order on my windows. I’ve got a similar thing set up for Sublime Text 2 and Preview (using Hyper+5), as I often write LaTeX this way, or make notes in Markdown while reading a PDF. Even better, I can press Hyper+4 to bring both windows (Sublime Text 2 and Marked) in front of the others at the same time. I can toggle focus between the left and right by hitting my Hyper key 1 and (for left) and ’ (for right). I also have special settings for particular configurations, such as the one I’m using right now with my text editor (Sublime Text 2) half size on the left, and Marked on the right previewing what I’m writing. If I want to change window sizes on the fly, I also have keybindings to set a window to full screen, or to make it fit half the screen (left or right). Now I have Slate set up to resize and arrange all my windows automatically the way I want them when it detects particular screen sizes. As I have my laptop connected to an external screen at work, I often found when I disconnected the screen that my windows would be at all kinds of odd sizes, and the same in reverse when I connected the screen. It’s true that it doesn’t, and it’s annoying. It’s a common complaint of new users of Mac OS who have moved from Windows that the so-called ‘zoom’ window button (the green one) doesn’t do what you expect it to do: maximise the window to the full size of the screen. If you want to bind a particular key to focus a particular application’s window, you can do that too, or you can set up a keybinding to ’throw’ a window on to another screen, which is handy in a multi-monitor setup. You then type that letter to focus that window. It also has a nice ‘hinting’ feature whereby activating a keyboard combination shows overlays on your screen labelled with letters showing each of your windows. These layouts can be triggered by a keybinding or can be activated automatically as the default for that particular combination of screens. So you can have one layout for the small screen of your laptop, and another for when you have your laptop connected to a large external monitor. You can do advanced things like activating a certain layout of your applications’ windows on particular screens. Where it goes beyond those utilities is that it allows you very precise and fine-grained control, and is easy to configure for use from the keyboard. Slate is similar to Moom (and other window resizing applications) in that it allows you to move, position and resize windows. However, I am the kind of loon who enjoys writing config files, and I also like having a lot of control (particularly keyboard control) over my computer. It’s an excellent and easy to use utility, and I would highly recommend it if you’re not the kind of loon who enjoys writing config files. For some time, I’ve used an application called Moom for resizing and moving around windows on my computer. The first object of my tinkering was Slate. As regular readers will know, there is little that I enjoy more than tinkering with my setup, and since I enjoy reading about other people’s set ups, I thought I would write a bit about what I’ve done. I’ve been having a bit of fun recently playing around with a couple of computer workflow improvements.
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