dmg software

Drag URL to Safari tab bar to open new tab

2005-08-12T20:44:00.000-07:00

Did you know you can drag the URL from a web page up to Safari's tab bar and drop it there to create a new tab?

I don't know how I discovered this, but find myself using it subconsciously quite often.

Drag URLs to Dock apps

2005-08-12T20:41:00.000-07:00

Did you know you can drag a URL from Mail, drop it on a web browser icon in the Dock, and have the URL open in the browser?

I didn't. And it's very useful if you wish to open a URL in the non-default browser.

Client-side personal wiki

2005-07-31T03:38:00.000-07:00

Find computer based calendars, diaries, and to do lists awkward to use? Want an easy to create and update web site? Want to take your web site or to-do list with you?

Do all of these things and more with TiddlyWiki.

Farscape's Chiana sings Poison

2005-07-31T03:30:00.000-07:00

Listen to Gigi Edgley's musical composition, Poison.

Gigi is the actress who played Chiana in Farscape. It's quite a good song, but what strikes me most is that it's the song I'd expect Chiana to compose!

While you're at Gigi's web site, check out the cool Flash (?) animation of her body; she shimmers from flat coloured cartoon character to topless human.

Music and Dr Who

2005-05-18T04:38:00.000-07:00

The new Dr Who series premieres in Australia on ABC TV at 7:30 PM this coming Saturday.

To help you get in the mood visit whomix. It's dedicated to remixes of the Dr Who theme. My favourite is Zinc Turner's reinterpretation (very bottom of the page).

And tonight on Channel Ten is the last episode of Battlestar Galactica, series 1. A must see!

Happy Who, you.

Tiger is great!

2005-05-14T05:50:00.000-07:00

I still haven't received my copy of Mac OS X 10.4 from Apple yet! Even though they mailed on Saturday, 30 April to me. But, they did send me an email last Friday explaining how I could download it from their servers. So 2.7 GB and one DVD later I was able to install Tiger.

It's an excellent update. My PowerMac G4/500 runs smoother. While Spotlight isn't blindingly fast on my 5 yr old Mac, it is extremely quick and useful. Logging in and out is also much faster under Tiger.

Surprisingly, I'm using Dashboard widgets far more than I thought I would. I first wrote this feature off as eye candy. But it's quite useful. Kiel's off to SF for WWDC 2005 soon, so I can set up the weather and time widgets to tell me what the day's like in SF. The 6 day forecast in the weather widget is useful to Arriane too, being a washing nazi, but she's convinced it's not accurate. As if weather forecasts have every been accurate!

Well that's all for the moment. I'll try and write again soon. Actually, I should try out that Blogger Dashboard widget I've read about. That might encourage me to post more often :-)

Sidekick 1.2 is out the door!

2005-02-09T06:02:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been almost 18 months since I released version 1.1.1. I honestly didn't think it'd take this long to release a new version. But it has. And it's not like I haven't written other software in the meantime. It's just not software that my employer would release to the public.

Now I have to finish off a web site, start a new software project that should be the start of something new, and get back to an Internet Setup Assistant that I've been developing! Am I busy. And I forgot about the little extra things I like doing, like the Address Book plugin that works with AppleWorks.

By the looks, I'd better get back to it.

Battlestar Galactica starts on TEN this Friday, 11 Feb

2005-02-05T04:07:00.000-08:00

TEN is showing Battlestar Galactica (both the mini-series and series) in Australia!

It starts Friday, 11 Feb with an 8:30 PM time slot!

It's great that it's being picked up by an Aussie TV network so soon, that it's free 2 air (unlike Farscape), and the time slot is early evening. Hopefully it'll stay in this slot if the Australian public give it the same support the Americans and UKers did.

I wonder when the series will be available on DVD in Australia?

[AppleWorks 6] Brief History of AppleWorks

2004-11-06T02:17:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time there was a little bitty program called StyleWare. Little did it know that it would grow up to become AppleWorks 6...

To read more from one of the creators of AppleWorks 6 visit Bob Hearne's Brief History of ClarisWorks.

Dale

Winners of WestCiv's CSS template competition

2004-11-05T01:38:00.000-08:00

WestCiv's CSS template competition has finished and the winners announced.

My favourite is Bruno Kerrien's entry (the runner-up). And Chug's Print Template is very nice too, as is Jan Schrieber's brown coloured entry.

Head over and check it out!

Dale

[AppleWorks 6] Program slow? Spinning ball appears?

2004-11-02T01:20:00.000-08:00

SYMPTOMS
Is AppleWorks slow to open? Does the wait cursor (spinning ball) appear every time you change a document (eg typing characters)?

SOLUTION
These symptoms are usually caused by a full Recent Items folder, or less commonly, a full Auto Save folder. Follow these steps to empty the Recent Items folder or Auto Save folder.

1. Quit AppleWorks.

2. Locate the Recent Items and delete the aliases inside it.

If you're using Mac OS X the Recent Items folder can be found at:
YourMacintoshHD/Users/YourName/Documents/AppleWorks User Data/Starting Points/Recent Items.

If you're using Mac OS 8 or Mac OS 9 you can find the Recent Items folder at:
YourMacintoshHD/Documents/AppleWorks User Data/Starting Points/Recent Items.

3. Locate the Auto Save folder and delete the documents inside it.

If you're using Mac OS X the Auto Save folder can be found at:
YourMacintoshHD/Users/YourName/Documents/AppleWorks User Data/AutoSave.

If you're using Mac OS 8 or 9 you can find the Auto Save folder at:
YourMacintoshHD/Documents/AppleWorks User Data/AutoSave.

4. If you do not use either the Recent Items or Auto Save (aka Auto Recovery) features of AppleWorks you can disable them from the AppleWorks Preferences.

To disable either of these preferences:

a. In Mac OS X, start AppleWorks and choose the AppleWorks > Preferences > General menu.
In Mac OS 8 or 9, start AppleWorks and choose the Edit > Preferences > General menu.
b. Select the Files option in the Topic popup menu.
c. Uncheck the Auto-Save and Recent Items checkboxes.
d. Click the OK button.

In the longer term you can manage your Recent Items folder by using Barry and my free AppleScript, Trash Recent Items; or using my shareware program Sidekick, which among other things manages AppleWorks' recent items.

Dale

[AppleWorks 6] Error creating file." "1008:5,-5000 Access denied

2004-10-29T05:29:00.000-07:00

Occassionally a user has problems updating AppleWorks 6. Specifically, an Error creating file." "1008:5,-5000 Access denied message is displayed as the update process fails.

This isn't directly an AppleWorks problem. It's actually a fairly common problem when using the third party installer Apple use, MindVision's Installer VISE.

According to a MindVision support document, this is a Mac OS X permissions issue. Though no workaround is offered by the document, I'd guess the problem can be fixed by repairing the Mac's permissions. Here's how to do this from Mac OS X 10.3.

1. Start Disk Utility. It's in the Applications/Utilities folder
2. Select the First Aid tab
3. Click the Repair Disk Permissions button
4. Consume your favourite beveridge while you're waiting
5. Try the AppleWorks Updater again

How to name your Cocoa code

2004-10-28T05:03:00.000-07:00

Scott Stevenson's got an excellent 2 part article on Cocoa Dev Central explaining how to name Cocoa classes, methods, etc. I s'pose you could think of it as a mini-style guide.

The article is almost a condensed version of Apple's Cocoa Coding Guidelines. But the big difference is the excellent examples and advice that Scott gives to illustrate the points he's making.

Well done, Scott!

Dale