crafterm's weblog

Cool OS X gear!

Browsing my Bloglines subscriptions this morning I came across the creativebits.org website today which explains some really awesome features in Mac OS X and associated applications.

Here are a few:

Quick Definitions in OS X

To get a definition of any word hover over it and type 'control-command-d'. Works in all applications I've tried except for Firefox - I presume they've redefined that key sequence to something else.

Coverflow

Awesome little application that lets you browse your iTunes library by album art, graphically, with animated OpenGL effects.

Dashboard Widgets on the Desktop

Want a Widget on the desktop, simply click on it's icon and then press F12. It stays there till the next Dashboard activation

'ls' Colours in Terminal

alias ls="ls -G" and those file type colours you're used to seeing under Linux come back.

Image dimensions in Finder

Enable "Show Item info" in Finder to have image dimensions listed below the filename of the image itself. Great for checking file sizes of clipart, images, before using them.

Everything you wanted to know about Mac filesystems

This article has some interesting explanations about the "AutoOptimize" and "AutoCluster" features of HFS+ journalized filesystems in Mac OS X:

AutoCluster keeps track of files read frequently over a period of 60 hours and moves them to the "hotband" of the disk which has the best performance considering the actual disk itself.

AutoOptimize automatically defragments files when a file is opened and fragmented into more than 8 parts.

Lots more information in the article.

Measuring Pixels

The developer tools package includes a Grid Widget that you can use to measure widths of any element on your screen via Dashboard desktop transparency.