MacMatrix - mac.tech.blog

Welcome to MacMatrix

2013-01-01T06:30:00.000+02:00

☜ ☆  ☆ ☞

✭ MacMatrix ✭

is a tips and tricks blog
for Mac, Google and beyond

MacMatrix is the official tech blog of..

click the logo to visit iSimon

iSimon is Simon Barnett who does web and app development, tech blogging,
computer tech support, training, and design / dtp in Cape Town, South Africa

Fresh Mac

2012-11-28T21:12:00.000+02:00

My Mac tips have been updated and moved to

Fresh Mac for business users: Power Fundamentals series

1

Power Fundamentals Part 1
Fresh Mac

2

Power Fundamentals Part 2
Tips for using Finder

3

Power Fundamentals Part 3
Navigate Finder windows

4

Expanding Spotlight:
Power tips to search your Mac with ease

5

Expanding Spotlight:
Advanced tips for the Finder window

6 Mac sharing Part 1
How to get connected

Click here for all Tech Republic content by Simon Barnett

Finder Filing

2012-11-28T16:57:00.000+02:00

My Mac tips have been updated and moved to

SideEffects Credits

2012-11-18T00:23:00.000+02:00

Credits | Acknowledgements

Thank you, dear user,

for your patience, tech input, words of support

and donations during testing.

Many thanks to

cooViewerZoom (ColorfulfulSidebar)

Norio Nomura

Mike Solomon (SIMBL)

for making their rocket science freely available.

Created using Apple Packagemaker by

Simon Barnett
aka iSimon aka Simbasounds

in Cape Town, South Africa

www.simonbarnett.co.za

simon@simonbarnett.co.za

via PayPal
(text link in case that button malfunctions)

~• Many Thanks •~

Many Thanks to all of you who donated to this project since it started in June 2012.
Thanks to your kind contributions you have allowed SideEffects to continue to improve.

Alan Barbour
andrea corti
Antonio Bernhard
ARIUS Video Productions
Artez'n llc
Barry Thomas
Bayview Resort
Bonnie Wenborg
Brad Robinson
Bruce Bladon
Bruno Ribeiro
Cameron Haase-Pettingell
Carlton Stout
Carol DeLancey
Color Consult AB
Completed
Cozy McFee
David Entermann
David Negvesky
David Robison
Delores Orridge
Dr Jonathan S Berman
Edward Goss
Elana M. Messer
Ellen Slocum
Ezynic, S.L.
F Robert Falbo
Fergus Lalor
Franck SAUTRON
Frank Parth
Georgios Papadoukakis
Giuliano Bonaiuti
Gunnar Reed
Harald Oehmt
Harvey Jeffries
Helle Madsen
Jason Starr
Jill Holmquist
Joe Goddard
Johannes Merkler
John Drake

Justin Winchester
Kathleen Traylor
Katie Anderson
Keith Spann
Kimbakat
Kjetil Berge
Klaus Zander
Larry Lusch
Leo LaPan
Lester Bagley
Lori Griffin
Malama Web Design and Hosting
Mark Edwards
Martin Camacho
Matti Rissanen
Michael Trollope
Mike Schultze
MODELS.com, Inc.
pacefiction.com
Paolo Casagni
Patrick Elma
Patrick Schannong
Philip Beaudet
Raffael Stüken
Rainer Schaaf
Richard Schilling
Ron Cohen
Ronnie Montgomery
Ross Hudgins
scott squire
Simon Carroll
Simon Knight
Sofia Ames
Spiral Ingenuity LLC
Stephen Armand
Stephen Marmon
Ted Robinson Graphic Design
tomasz sikora
Walter Bowen
William Luckie

SideEffects Story

2012-11-18T00:17:00.000+02:00

SideEffects

Background Story

One of the non-optional changes in Mac OS X 10.7 Lion and 10.8 Mountain Lion was taking away color icons in the Sidebar of every Finder window.

Although more in line with iOS and arguably less distracting, some more visually-oriented users found this change very distressing.

Modifying the functionality of the Sidebar requires some fairly advanced workarounds. The real heroes here are the developers of the components.

☜ InsideSideEffects

EasySIMBL by Norio Nomura is an ingenious app / user account-based rewrite of SIMBL - a popular application enhancer. EasySIMBL is more streamlined and protected. It works via your user account, meaning you should install SideEffects again for each user who would like color in their Finder windows.

ColorfulSidebar.bundle by cooViewerZoom is a SIMBL plugin that injects the required code into the Finder to allow colour icons to be displayed in the sidebar.

PowerBoxInjector.app by cooViewerZoom runs automatically to give color to some Open / Save dialog boxes.

When cooViewerZoom published his SIMBL plugin, users were pleased at the option to choose between grey, non-customized icons to color, but found the process of installing the components (ColorfulSidebar and SIMBL) tricky and in some cases it didn't function.

Enter SideEffects. In June 2012 I made a simple app to install the components. EasySIMBL was released about 6 months later, making SIMBL functional in Mountain Lion and with much-improved reliability. Some minor issues have been ironed out by adding several installer scripts to ensure clean installation and reliability across multiple Mac platforms and system versions.

SideEffects 1.8.7 uninstalls the older original version of SIMBL (0.9.9), moves existing SIMBL plugins folder contents to your new plugins folder in your user account, and installs or upgrades components as needed.

Installer Task List

1. Uninstall SIMBL (if it exists)

2. Install EasySIMBL.app to

/Applications

3. Launch EasySIMBL to activate it and create it's Plugins folder in

~/Library/Application Support/SIMBL/Plugins

4. Install ColorfulSidebar.bundle to /private/temp

5. Move ColorfulSidebar.bundle to

User/$USER/Library/Application Support/SIMBL/Plugins

6. Move any existing SIMBL plugins from

/Library/Application Support/SIMBL/Plugins

User/$USER/Library/Application Support/SIMBL/Plugins

7. Relaunch the Finder

8. Install PowerBoxInjector.app to Login Items and

/Applications

9. Quit EasySIMBL.app

The Apple Look

2012-11-17T23:40:00.002+02:00

Ever been asked by a client to make their brochure or website have "The Apple Look"?
Clean, white, elegant, white, minimalist, white?

It's not all white, but each element must fit in with that cleaner-than-ivory look, so here's an analysis taken by sampling screenshots using the Macs default color profile.

Web colors and relevant HSB values are given.

Global
Drop Shadow: #cdcdcd (B:80%)
Grey Lines: #cccccc (B:80%)

Links Bar

Top Buttons Gradient - off:
Darkest: #5e5e5e (B:37%)
Lightest: #8b8b8b (B:55%)

Top Buttons Gradient - on:
Darkest: #090909 (B:4%)
Lightest: #424242 (B:26%)

Headings

Headings Gradient:
Darkest: #424242 (B:26%)
Lightest: #898989 (B:54%)

Product Shelf Ribbon:
#f8f8f8 (B:97%)

Navigation Panel background
Top: #596167
Bottom: #efefef (B:94%)

SideEffects Troubleshooting

2012-11-17T23:15:00.000+02:00

SideEffects

Side Effects

No issues reported with latest version 1.8.7

Techies may still find this page interesting reading.

So why is it so complicated to make some simple icons color?

(icons, that is, which used to be color in MacOS X 10.6 Snow Leopard)
Scroll down for a technical explanation of
what it takes to perform this seemingly simple tweak.

As for the reasoning

it could be one, or a combination of two things:

1

Apple are making a clear design point:
This is their new style and we must all adapt.

That is what Apple do, and usually we're grateful.. somewhere down the line.
Some prefer the grey icons. Myself and 100 000 SideEffects users disagree here.
When I'm building SideEffects my system goes back to grey, and it isn't growing on me.

But why did Apple go to the lengths they have,
making it impossible to change the icons to color without advanced code-injection?

2

It's possible that in the slow convergence of their mobile and desktop lines Apple directly transplanted some iOS code, completely replacing the old Sidebar with something designed for the iPad. That would explain why it requires some advanced code tweaking.

So are you having issues getting color to appear?

In the previous version: 1.8.6, some users reported no change / grey icons.

This version (1.8.6.1) hopefully fixes this with a new permissions script.

Just in case, I have not removed my repair instructions for the last version:

Issues? Still Grey?

If it doesn't seem to work first time, then type

⌘ - option (alt) - esc

Choose Finder, then click Relaunch.

Type ⌘n to open a new Finder window
Color in the Sidebar
Yes? No?

|

 Menu - Log out and then in again

|
Yes? No?
|

 Menu - Restart

|
Yes? No?
|

Uninstall and re-install SideEffects

|
Yes? No?
|

Open Spotlight by holding ⌘ and tapping the spacebar.

Start typing easysimbl, then hit enter to launch it.

Check "Use SIMBL" if it ain't.

Close EasySIMBL and relaunch the Finder.

|
Yes? No?
|

EasySIMBL may still require some coaxing before it kicks in:

relaunch the Finder, log out and in again, restart the Mac.

|
Yes? No?
|

Go to Lagente, get BatCHmod (free / donation) and open it:

⌘⇧G in Finder, go to

~/Library/Application Support/SIMBL/Plugins

Drop colorfulsidebar.bundle onto BatCHmod's window

Change owner to your username, apply to enclosed

Relaunch the Finder..
(alt-right-click in the Dock
or
type ⌘-alt-esc and choose Finder)

|
Yes? No?
|

Try previous version

Sticky "Use SIMBL" button?

In other words: Problem - Easy SIMBL resets itself every time you restart.
Sidebar is grey again until you open EasySIMBL and check "Use SIMBL".

Note: This fix has been incorporated into SideEffects 1.8.7

First try installing SideEffects again and / or logging out and in again.

⌘⇧G in Finder, paste in:
/private/var/db/launchd.db/com.apple.launchd.peruser.501/

 Right-click, open the file "overrides.plist" with Text Edit
..unless you have a dedicated editor for .plist files,
you'll need to dig it out of Applications.

 Look for:
<key> com.github.norio-nomura.SIMBL-Agent </key>
<dict>
<key> Disabled </key>
<true/>
</dict>

 Change <true/> to <false/>

 Save and Close

Open EasySIMBL - should be fine now..

Slow Finder Solved ✓

I was experiencing long delays in the Finder with SideEffects installed - usually about 5 seconds, but sometimes longer - especially when switching from other applications to the Finder.

Do you have Folders in your sidebar which reside on remote servers (online or offline) and external disks? They're the reason.. remove them from the SideBar.

I haven't finished testing, but it may be ok to add them again after SideEffects is installed.

Otherwise a workaround would be try making an alias of the folder and adding that..

Or else making a folder of aliases, and adding the folder - not as direct, but it won't cause ColorfulSidebar / EasySIMBL to get into a data logjam, which is what was happening.

Will update my findings here as I work it all out..

Notes on SIMBL / EasySIMBL / ColorfulSidebar

SIMBL is an application enhancer developed originally by Mike Solomon, recently updated to EasySIMBL for Lion/ML by Norio Nomura.

SIMBL / EasySIMBL is a framework which allows code to be injected into parts of the system not usually accessed by applications. It's a framework for other developers to plug into.

ColorfulSidebar by cooViewerZoom is one such plugin.

When developers write apps they are given a kit of resources to work with. The Mac Finder is an app which uses special core resources located deeper within the system to give it enhanced efficiency.

To change the Sidebar icon colors, the ColorfulSideBar.bundle plugs into and uses the enhancement framework, EasySIMBL to get the old color icons from a bundle in the system.

You can look inside this bundle if you like. In the Finder type ⌘⇧G, copy and paste:
/System/Library/CoreServices/CoreTypes.bundle/Contents/Resources
..then hit Enter.

CoreTypes.bundle/Contents/Resources - look, but don't touch.

Be careful in here - I don't advise changing anything.
And yes.. I did originally try changing the grey icons in here to color ones and it doesn't work - just makes grey silhouettes in the Sidebar.

Once ColorfulSideBar.bundle has the code for the icons, then every time Sidebar icons need to be displayed it injects that code back into the Finder. This behavior is outside of the "normal" functionality of the system (so it could be described as a "hack", although I use that word with caution seeing as it has acquired negative connotations and is sometimes associated with Viruses and Trojans).

In the case of SIMBL or EasySIMBL the most serious type of problem I've personally heard of as a result of having it on the system is a conflict with another app. If you experience any issues use the uninstaller provided.

Performance

EasySIMBL has to act additionally to the system so it adds to activity, but not to a significant degree. Although EasySIMBL logs errors, it's calls are very quick - they don't significantly impact performance to a noticeable degree, except in the particular scenario outlined earlier on this page: "Slow Finder Solved". With that particular issue seen-to, performance is excellent. I use my Mac for graphics and music production and I'm very happy with it's performance with SideEffects / EasySIMBL / ColorfulSidebar.

Error reports

Looking at the console log for SIMBL might make you nervous - all sorts of errors like:

2012/11/21 11:32:35,310 PM SIMBL Agent[1095]: -[NSProcessInfo enableSuddenTermination] has been invoked more times than necessary to balance invocations of -[NSProcessInfo disableSuddenTermination]. Ignoring.

2012/11/21 11:32:34,682 PM SIMBL Agent[1095]: warning: failed to get scripting definition from /Applications/Utilities/Console.app; it may not be scriptable.

Class SIMBL is implemented in both..

Much of the way a computer functions is by calling if/then statements. It's possible that because EasySIMBL must get in "under the hood" ie. outside of the normal resources given to apps it has to act in an unorthodox manner and therefore publishes more error messages. So instead of checking a standard resource variable with an if/then statement it has to steer it's behavior using other methods. These methods aren't any more resource-hungry than the "normal" methods, but they get logged by the system.

For example the message "Class SIMBL is implemented in both ..." may be logged because SIMBL needs to be in a different place to handle sandboxed apps. Just because a check was performed which is classified as an error by the system and therefore was logged doesn't necessarily equate to being a performance-hog.

If you have any questions relating to ColorfulSidebar you might want to try contacting cooViewerZoom at cvz_cooviewerzoom@yahoo.co.jp.

EasySIMBL is developed by Norio Nomura at norio.nomura@gmail.com.

I'm the guy who makes the installer: simon@simonbarnett.co.za

SidebarTricks

2012-07-27T22:54:00.001+02:00

SideEffects

Sidebar Tricks

A guide to tweaking icons and the MacOS Finder sidebar.

Part of the Sideeffects and Finder Series of posts.

For many more tips
please see my new series on
CBS / Tech Republic

Fresh Mac for business users
Power Fundamentals series

Tip #1

BIG sidebar icons

 ➙ System Preferences ➙ General (prefpane)

Sidebar icon size: Large

Tip #2

Sidebar dividers

Create a folder with a name consisting of a series of characters eg. ______

Then use it as a Sidebar divider.

Put a copy of the divider folder into each user folder that you want to divide

ie. one in Pictures, one in Downloads etc. then drag it into the sidebar.

or..

If each divider was slightly different you could put them all into one folder somewhere on your System.

By making creative use of characters you can have some pretty fancy dividers eg.

◢◤◢◤◢◤◢◤◢◤◢◤◢◤◢◤◢◤

This is a cheap, but crafty trick involving an invisible (transparent) folder icon and some custom characters, in this case a ◢ and a ◤ pasted next to each other.

Click here to download a full character set,

and an invisible folder icon.

Go wild with your own copy / paste customizations.

☂ ☔ ✈ ☀ ☼ ☁ ⚡ ⌁ ☇ ☈ ❄ ❅ ❆ ☃ ☉ ☄ ★ ☆ ☽ ☾ ⌛ ⌚ ⌂ ✆ ☎ ☏ ✉ ☑ ✓ ✔ ⎷ ⍻ ✖ ✗ ✘ ☒ ✕ ☓ ☕ ♿ ✌ ☚ ☛ ☜ ☝ ☞ ☟ ☹ ☺ ☻ ☯ ⚘ ☮ ⚰ ⚱ ⚠ ☠ ☢ ⚔ ⚓ ⎈ ⚒ ⚑ ⚐ ☡ ❂ ⚕ ⚖ ⚗ ✇ ☣ ⚙ ☤ ⚚ ⚛ ⚜ ☥ ✝ ☦ ☧ ☨ ☩ † ☪ ☫ ☬ ☭ ✁ ✂ ✃ ✄ ✍ ✎ ✏ ✐  ✑ ✒ ✙ ✚ ✜ ✛ ♰ ♱ ✞ ✟ ✠ ✡ ☸ ✢ ✣ ✤ ✥ ✦ ✧ ✩ ✪ ✫ ✬ ✭ ✮ ✯ ✰ ✲ ✱ ✳ ✴ ✵ ✶ ✷ ✸ ✹ ✺ ✻ ✼ ✽ ✾ ❀ ✿ ❁ ❃ ❇ ❈ ❉ ❊ ❋ ⁕ ☘ ❦ ❧ ☙ ❢ ❣ ♀ ♂ ⚢ ⚣ ⚤ ⚦ ⚧ ⚨ ⚩ ☿ ♁ ⚯ ♛ ♕ ♚ ♔ ♜ ♖ ♝ ♗ ♞ ♘ ♟ ♙ ☗ ☖ ♠ ♣ ♦ ♥ ❤ ❥ ♡ ♢ ♤ ♧ ⚀ ⚁ ⚂ ⚃ ⚄ ⚅ ⚇ ⚆ ⚈ ⚉ ♨ ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬ ♭ ♮ ♯  ⌨ ⏏ ⎗ ⎘ ⎙ ⎚ ⌥ ⎇ ⌘ ⌦ ⌫ ⌧ ♲ ♳ ♴ ♵ ♶ ♷ ♸ ♹ ♺ ♻ ♼ ♽ ⁌ ⁍ ⎌ ⌇ ⌲ ⍝ ⍟ ⍣ ⍤ ⍥ ⍨ ⍩ ⎋ ♃ ♄ ♅ ♆ ♇ ♈ ♉ ♊ ♋ ♌ ♍ ♎ ♏ ♐ ♑ ♒ ♓ ⏚ ⏛
↪ ↩ ← ↑ → ↓ ↔ ↕ ↖ ↗ ↘ ↙ ↚ ↛ ↜ ↝ ↞ ↟ ↠ ↡ ↢ ↣ ↤ ↦ ↥ ↧ ↨ ↫ ↬ ↭ ↮ ↯ ↰ ↱ ↲ ↴ ↳ ↵ ↶ ↷ ↸ ↹ ↺ ↻ ⟲ ⟳ ↼ ↽ ↾ ↿ ⇀ ⇁ ⇂ ⇃ ⇄ ⇅ ⇆ ⇇ ⇈ ⇉ ⇊ ⇋ ⇌ ⇍ ⇏ ⇎ ⇑ ⇓ ⇐ ⇒ ⇔ ⇕ ⇖ ⇗ ⇘ ⇙ ⇳ ⇚ ⇛ ⇜ ⇝ ⇞ ⇟ ⇠ ⇡ ⇢ ⇣ ⇤ ⇥ ⇦ ⇨ ⇩ ⇪ ⇧ ⇫ ⇬ ⇭ ⇮ ⇯ ⇰ ⇱ ⇲ ⇴ ⇵ ⇶ ⇷ ⇸ ⇹ ⇺ ⇻ ⇼ ⇽ ⇾ ⇿ ⟰ ⟱ ⟴ ⟵ ⟶ ⟷ ⟸ ⟹ ⟽ ⟾ ⟺ ⟻ ⟼ ⟿ ⤀ ⤁ ⤅ ⤂ ⤃ ⤄ ⤆ ⤇ ⤈ ⤉ ⤊ ⤋ ⤌ ⤍ ⤎ ⤏ ⤐ ⤑ ⤒ ⤓ ⤔ ⤕ ⤖ ⤗ ⤘ ⤙ ⤚ ⤛ ⤜ ⤝ ⤞ ⤟ ⤠ ⤡ ⤢ ⤣ ⤤ ⤥ ⤦ ⤧ ⤨ ⤩ ⤪ ⤭ ⤮ ⤯ ⤰ ⤱ ⤲ ⤳ ⤻ ⤸ ⤾ ⤿ ⤺ ⤼ ⤽ ⤴ ⤵ ⤶ ⤷ ⤹ ⥀ ⥁ ⥂ ⥃ ⥄ ⥅ ⥆ ⥇ ⥈ ⥉ ⥒ ⥓ ⥔ ⥕ ⥖ ⥗ ⥘ ⥙ ⥚ ⥛ ⥜ ⥝ ⥞ ⥟ ⥠ ⥡ ⥢ ⥣ ⥤ ⥥ ⥦ ⥧ ⥨ ⥩ ⥪ ⥫ ⥬ ⥭ ⥮ ⥯ ⥰ ⥱ ⥲ ⥳ ⥴ ⥵ ⥶ ⥷ ⥸ ⥹ ⥺ ⥻ ➔ ➘ ➙ ➚ ➛ ➜ ➝ ➞ ➟ ➠ ➡ ➢ ➣ ➤ ➥ ➦ ➧ ➨ ➩ ➪ ➫ ➬ ➭ ➮ ➯ ➱ ➲ ➳ ➴ ➵ ➶ ➷ ➸ ➹ ➺ ➻ ➼ ➽ ➾ ⬀ ⬁ ⬂ ⬃ ⬄ ⬅ ⬆ ⬇ ⬈ ⬉ ⬊ ⬋ ⬌ ⬍ ⏎ ▲ ▼ ◀ ▶ ⬎ ⬏ ⬐ ⬑ ☇ ☈ ⍃ ⍄ ⍇ ⍈ ⍐ ⍗ ⍌ ⍓ ⍍ ⍔ ⍏ ⍖ ⍅ ⍆
▲ ▼ ◀ ▶ ◢ ◣ ◥ ◤ △ ▽ ◿ ◺ ◹ ◸ ▴ ▾ ◂ ▸ ▵ ▿ ◃ ▹ ◁ ▷ ◅ ▻ ◬ ⟁ ⧋ ⧊ ⊿ ∆ ∇ ◭ ◮ ⧩ ⧨ ⌔ ⟐ ◇ ◆ ◈ ⬖ ⬗ ⬘ ⬙ ⬠ ⬡ ⎔ ⋄ ◊ ⧫ ⬢ ⬣ ▰ ▪ ◼ ▮ ◾ ▗ ▖ ■ ∎ ▃ ▄ ▅ ▆ ▇ █ ▌ ▐ ▍ ▎ ▉ ▊ ▋ ❘ ❙ ❚ ▀ ▘ ▝ ▙ ▚ ▛ ▜ ▟ ▞ ░ ▒ ▓ ▂ ▁ ▬ ▔ ▫ ▯ ▭ ▱ ◽ □ ◻ ▢ ⊞ ⊡ ⊟ ⊠ ▣ ▤ ▥ ▦ ⬚ ▧ ▨ ▩ ⬓ ◧ ⬒ ◨ ◩ ◪ ⬔ ⬕ ❏ ❐ ❑ ❒ ⧈ ◰ ◱ ◳ ◲ ◫ ⧇ ⧅ ⧄ ⍁ ⍂ ⟡ ⧉ ○ ◌ ◍ ◎ ◯ ❍ ◉ ⦾ ⊙ ⦿ ⊜ ⊖ ⊘ ⊚ ⊛ ⊝ ● ⚫ ⦁ ◐ ◑ ◒ ◓ ◔ ◕ ⦶ ⦸ ◵ ◴ ◶ ◷ ⊕ ⊗ ⦇ ⦈ ⦉ ⦊ ❨ ❩ ⸨ ⸩ ◖ ◗ ❪ ❫ ❮ ❯ ❬ ❭ ❰ ❱ ⊏ ⊐ ⊑ ⊒ ◘ ◙ ◚ ◛ ◜ ◝ ◞ ◟ ◠ ◡ ⋒ ⋓ ⋐ ⋑ ⥰ ╰ ╮ ╭ ╯ ⌒ ⥿ ⥾ ⥽ ⥼ ⥊ ⥋ ⥌ ⥍ ⥎ ⥐ ⥑ ⥏ ╳ ✕ ⤫ ⤬ ╱ ╲ ⧸ ⧹ ⌓ ◦ ❖ ✖ ✚ ✜ ⧓ ⧗ ⧑ ⧒ ⧖ _ ⚊ ╴ ╼ ╾ ‐ ⁃ ‑ ‒ - – ⎯ — ― ╶ ╺ ╸ ─ ━ ┄ ┅ ┈ ┉ ╌ ╍ ═ ≣ ≡ ☰ ☱ ☲ ☳ ☴ ☵ ☶ ☷ ╵ ╷ ╹ ╻ │ ▕ ▏ ┃ ┆ ┇ ┊ ╎ ┋ ╿ ╽ ⌞ ⌟ ⌜ ⌝ ⌊ ⌋ ⌈ ⌉ ⌋ ┌ ┍ ┎ ┏ ┐ ┑ ┒ ┓ └ ┕ ┖ ┗ ┘ ┙ ┚ ┛ ├ ┝ ┞ ┟ ┠ ┡ ┢ ┣ ┤ ┥ ┦ ┧ ┨ ┩ ┪ ┫ ┬ ┭ ┮ ┳ ┴ ┵ ┶ ┷ ┸ ┹ ┺ ┻ ┼ ┽ ┾ ┿ ╀ ╁ ╂ ╃ ╄ ╅ ╆ ╇ ╈ ╉ ╊ ╋ ╏ ║ ╔ ╒ ╓ ╕ ╖ ╗ ╚ ╘ ╙ ╛ ╜ ╝ ╞ ╟ ╠ ╡ ╢ ╣ ╤ ╥ ╦ ╧ ╨ ╩ ╪ ╫ ╬
∞ ⟀ ⟁ ⟂ ⟃ ⟄ ⟇ ⟈ ⟉ ⟊ ⟐ ⟑ ⟒ ⟓ ⟔ ⟕ ⟖ ⟗ ⟘ ⟙ ⟚ ⟛ ⟜ ⟝ ⟞ ⟟ ⟠ ⟡ ⟢ ⟣ ⟤ ⟥ ⟦ ⟧ ⟨ ⟩ ⟪ ⟫ ⦀ ⦁ ⦂ ⦃ ⦄ ⦅ ⦆ ⦇ ⦈ ⦉ ⦊ ⦋ ⦌ ⦍ ⦎ ⦏ ⦐ ⦑ ⦒ ⦓ ⦔ ⦕ ⦖ ⦗ ⦘ ⦙ ⦚ ⦛ ⦜ ⦝ ⦞ ⦟ ⦠ ⦡ ⦢ ⦣ ⦤ ⦥ ⦦ ⦧ ⦨ ⦩ ⦪ ⦫ ⦬ ⦭ ⦮ ⦯ ⦰ ⦱ ⦲ ⦳ ⦴ ⦵ ⦶ ⦷ ⦸ ⦹ ⦺ ⦻ ⦼ ⦽ ⦾ ⦿ ⧀ ⧁ ⧂ ⧃ ⧄ ⧅ ⧆ ⧇ ⧈ ⧉ ⧊ ⧋ ⧌ ⧍ ⧎ ⧏ ⧐ ⧑ ⧒ ⧓ ⧔ ⧕ ⧖ ⧗ ⧘ ⧙ ⧚ ⧛ ⧜ ⧝ ⧞ ⧟ ⧡ ⧢ ⧣ ⧤ ⧥ ⧦ ⧧ ⧨ ⧩ ⧪ ⧫ ⧬ ⧭ ⧮ ⧯ ⧰ ⧱ ⧲ ⧳ ⧴ ⧵ ⧶ ⧷ ⧸ ⧹ ⧺ ⧻ ⧼ ⧽ ⧾ ⧿ ∀ ∁ ∂ ∃ ∄ ∅ ∆ ∇ ∈ ∉ ∊ ∋ ∌ ∍ ∎ ∏ ∐ ∑ − ∓ ∔ ∕ ∖ ∗ ∘ ∙ √ ∛ ∜ ∝ ∟ ∠ ∡ ∢ ∣ ∤ ∥ ∦ ∧ ∨ ∩ ∪ ∫ ∬ ∭ ∮ ∯ ∰ ∱ ∲ ∳ ∴ ∵ ∶ ∷ ∸ ∹ ∺ ∻ ∼ ∽ ∾ ∿ ≀ ≁ ≂ ≃ ≄ ≅ ≆ ≇ ≈ ≉ ≊ ≋ ≌ ≍ ≎ ≏ ≐ ≑ ≒ ≓ ≔ ≕ ≖ ≗ ≘ ≙ ≚ ≛ ≜ ≝ ≞ ≟ ≠ ≡ ≢ ≣ ≤ ≥ ≦ ≧ ≨ ≩ ≪ ≫ ≬ ≭ ≮ ≯ ≰ ≱ ≲ ≳ ≴ ≵ ≶ ≷ ≸ ≹ ≺ ≻ ≼ ≽ ≾ ≿ ⊀ ⊁ ⊂ ⊃ ⊄ ⊅ ⊆ ⊇ ⊈ ⊉ ⊊ ⊋ ⊌ ⊍ ⊎ ⊏ ⊐ ⊑ ⊒ ⊓ ⊔ ⊕ ⊖ ⊗ ⊘ ⊙ ⊚ ⊛ ⊜ ⊝ ⊞ ⊟ ⊠ ⊡ ⊢ ⊣ ⊤ ⊥ ⊦ ⊧ ⊨ ⊩ ⊪ ⊫ ⊬ ⊭ ⊮ ⊯ ⊰ ⊱ ⊲ ⊳ ⊴ ⊵ ⊶ ⊷ ⊸ ⊹ ⊺ ⊻ ⊼ ⊽ ⊾ ⊿ ⋀ ⋁ ⋂ ⋃ ⋄ ⋅ ⋆ ⋇ ⋈ ⋉ ⋊ ⋋ ⋌ ⋍ ⋎ ⋏ ⋐ ⋑ ⋒ ⋓ ⋔ ⋕ ⋖ ⋗ ⋘ ⋙ ⋚ ⋛ ⋜ ⋝ ⋞ ⋟ ⋠ ⋡ ⋢ ⋣ ⋤ ⋥ ⋦ ⋧ ⋨ ⋩ ⋪ ⋫ ⋬ ⋭ ⋮ ⋯ ⋰ ⋱ ⋲ ⋳ ⋴ ⋵ ⋶ ⋷ ⋸ ⋹ ⋺ ⋻ ⋼ ⋽ ⋾ ⋿ ✕ ✖ ✚
⓵ ⓶ ⓷ ⓸ ⓹ ⓺ ⓻ ⓼ ⓽ ⓾ ⒈ ⒉ ⒊ ⒋ ⒌ ⒍ ⒎ ⒏ ⒐ ⒑ ⒒ ⒓ ⒔ ⒕ ⒖ ⒗ ⒘ ⒙ ⒚ ⒛ ⓪ ① ② ③ ④ ⑤ ⑥ ⑦ ⑧ ⑨ ⑩ ➀ ➁ ➂ ➃ ➄ ➅ ➆ ➇ ➈ ➉ ⑪ ⑫ ⑬ ⑭ ⑮ ⑯ ⑰ ⑱ ⑲ ⑳ ⓿ ❶ ❷ ❸ ❹ ❺ ❻ ❼ ❽ ❾ ❿ ➊ ➋ ➌ ➍ ➎ ➏ ➐ ➑ ➒ ➓ ⓫ ⓬ ⓭ ⓮ ⓯ ⓰ ⓱ ⓲ ⓳ ⓴ ⑴ ⑵ ⑶ ⑷ ⑸ ⑹ ⑺ ⑻ ⑼ ⑽ ⑾ ⑿ ⒀ ⒁ ⒂ ⒃ ⒄ ⒅ ⒆ ⒇ ¹ ² ³ ↉ ½ ⅓ ¼ ⅕ ⅙ ⅐ ⅛ ⅑ ⅒ ⅔ ⅖ ¾ ⅗ ⅜ ⅘ ⅚ ⅝ ⅞

Tip #3

Create a folder icon

Open an image, any image, in Preview.app

Click on the image in Preview

⌘A (Select All) and then ⌘C (Copy)

Click on an item in the Finder. Type ⌘I (get info)

In the Info window, click the little image, top left and ⌘V paste.

Tip #4

Access default system icons

Highlight and copy ⌘C the following: /System/Library/CoreServices/CoreTypes.bundle/Contents/Resources

Now in the Finder type ⌘⇧G (command shift G)

Hit ⌘V and then hit enter

Warning: changing these icons is not recommended
- copy and paste them elsewhere if you want to modify them

TopTips

2012-05-28T21:48:00.000+02:00

Top Tips from other Sites

MakeUseOf
is an excellent free source of
tips, tricks, manuals and geeky humour

Blogger Hacks

2012-05-24T23:49:00.001+02:00

A compilation of the best hacks
to Google Blogspot / Blogger's standard templates.

Important Note
Although you will find easier guides on the web, you don't need to read this page at all.
Why? Because what this page offers is a completely
BLANK TEMPLATE
with most of these hacks applied*, downloadable by clicking the link.

These hacks have been applied to a standard Google template.
In theory this means you can host your own customised code..
..and yet retain the full functionality of Google's editing tools..
Voila! Full custom free CMS..

From time to time Google will change the rules..
..so these hacks are guaranteed not to remain working.
I will, however, endeavour to keep it updated.

HTML Hacks

(via Template - Edit HTML)

Hide Blog Title

Look for: .Header h1 {

Add: display:none;

Hide Blog Description

Look for: .Header .description {

Add: display:none;

Remove Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)

(Go to dashboard/ template/ edit HTML)
Click the 'Expand Widgets Templates' box
Find and Remove:

<b:include data='feedLinks' name='feedLinksBody'/>

Remove Home (link)

(Go to dashboard/ template/ edit HTML)
Click the 'Expand Widgets Templates' box
Find and Remove:

Remove NavBar

(Go to dashboard/ template/ edit HTML)
Paste inside the head section:

#navbar-iframe
{ display: none !important; }

Remove Top Margin

(Go to dashboard/ template/ edit HTML)
Find outer-wrapper
Look for margin-top: (value)px;
Set the value (can be a negative value)

Remove Top Padding / Margin

(Go to dashboard/ template/ edit HTML)
Find <Variable name="main.padding.top"
Change value= to "0px"

eg.
<Variable name="main.padding.top" description="Main Padding Top" type="length" default="0px" value="0px"/>and/or

.post-outer {

padding: 15px 20px;
margin: 0 0 25px;

Remove Post Background

Create a 1px transparent .png
Upload and copy it's URL
Go to dashboard/ template/ edit HTML
Replace background-color: $(post.background.color) with background: url(image_url) repeat;

Remove Image Border

.post-body img, .post-body .tr-caption-container {

padding: 0px;

Remove Post Footer

Paste this code just after ]]></b:skin> :

Remove Page Title

Paste this code just after </b:skin> :

<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "static_page"'>
<style>
.post-title.entry-title{
display: none;
}
</style>
</b:if>

Centre Title

Paste this code just before ]]></b:skin> :

h3.post-title { text-align:center; }

Remove Attribution

Search for Attribution
locked='false'
Layout -> Edit Attribution -> Remove

Remove Link Underlines
a:link {
text-decoration:underline;
}
a:visited {
text-decoration:underline;
}
a:hover {
text-decoration:underline;
}

To

a:link {
text-decoration:none;
}
a:visited {
text-decoration:none;
}
a:hover {
text-decoration:none;
}

CSS Hacks

(via Template - Customise - Advanced - Edit CSS)

Note that CSS hacks you Customize will disappear from the template editor.
and end up in the HTML template.

Horizontal Gradient

body {

background:-webkit-gradient(linear, left bottom, right bottom, from(#000000), to(#ffffff));
background: -moz-linear-gradient(left, black, white);

}

Remove NavBar

#navbar-iframe { height: 0px; visibility: hidden; display: none;}
#navbar { height: 0px; visibility: hidden; display: none;}

Remove Image Border

.post-body img, .post-body .tr-caption-container, .Profile img,
.Image img, .BlogList .item-thumbnail img {
border: 0px;
-moz-box-shadow: 0px 0px 0px rgba(0, 0, 0, .0);
-webkit-box-shadow: 0px 0px 0px rgba(0, 0, 0, .0);
box-shadow: 0px 0px 0px rgba(0, 0, 0, .0);
border-radius: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
background: none;

Remove Post Footer

.post-footer
{
display: none;
}

Remove Attribution

#Attribution1 {display: none;}

External Links
(Top Tips and Tuts from other sites)

W3 Schools
W3C: CSS tips & tricks
Smashing Magazine
CSS Tricks
Learn CSS Positioning in Ten Steps
Hongkiat: 20 Useful CSS Tips For Beginners
Web Vamp - CSS Image Rollovers

Google power searching with [site:] (site colon)

2012-05-11T20:31:00.001+02:00

This tutorial will show you how to do your own power-searches
or plunder the contents of a specific website using

For Mac Spotlight power-searching, click here:

To summarize

In a Google search, paste in the URL of a website, but type site: instead of http://www.

Now type a space, followed by your search query eg.

Now for the long-winded version:

Meet my favourite

Google party trick

site:

By the end of this, you will have a useful

tool for power-searching an entire website.

What is it?

A Google listing of all indexed webpages for a specific site

Why would I need that?

To get a good overview of the

number of, or types of pages on a site

Trick #1 site:

By the way..

this isn't the best bit, that's

#2 site: + query

and even better is

#2.1 site: + query (images)

but we needed to start here, so..

Think of a website

Copy it's URL (address)

Now, in a standard Google search, type:

site:[root address of the site you want to explore]

Note: something in [green] is a suggestion from me ie. you should type your own stuff there

or in other words..

replace the

http://www.

with

site:

eg. site:apple.com

and now we are one click away from..

Trick #1.1 site: (images)

If you click the Images link / button on the side

you've got all images on the site

Trick #2 site: + query

Now we're cookin'..

How to find something specific on a website

(without using the website's own search engine)

In a google search box, type:

site:[root address] + [space] + [query]

So if you typed

site:apple.com xyz

(take note of the space before the xyz)

then you would have

every reference to xyz

on Apple's whole site

Trick #2.1 site:query (images)

If you click the images link (for google images)

you've got all images of xyz on Apple

that's all, folks

Top Mac Apps

2012-05-04T14:03:00.001+02:00

The best Mac Apps

(in the author's opinion, of course..)

Alternative App Store

Bodega

The alternative App Store. A great selection of genuinely useful apps in a funky user-friendly interface..

Finder Tabs

TotalFinder

Tabbed Browsing - Add tabs on top of Finder. The same tabs as seen in Google Chrome.

Internet

Google Chrome

Currently the fastest and most popular web browser

Flash Player

Unless you use Chrome, you're probably going to need this

Google Drive

Drop files into a folder to back them up to your Google account. Edit them anywhere online.

Dropbox

Like Google Drive.. the original online sharing app

Skype

Cheap phone calls

Transmission

Torrent client

Multimedia

VLC

Plays anything

Perian

Extra codecs for Quicktime player

MPEG Streamclip

Advanced, free video converter

File Management

Tidy Up!

Intelligent, customizable dupe finder

Archiver

Alternative archive handler

A Better Finder Rename
Highly advanced file renamer

EasyFind

Non-index based searching for when the brilliant Spotlight is proving to be a little too "clever"

Big Mean Folder Machine

Categorize files into folders based on their file type

Super Flexible File Synchronizer

Back-up your data and synchronize Macs, servers, notebooks, and online storage space.

Technical Tools

TeamViewer
Easy to install and use cross-platform LAN and internet remote desktop tech support.

CoRD
LAN-based desktop sharing with Windows computers for Mac.

iPartition
An alternative to the excellent Apple Disk Utility.app, iPartition includes a huge number of partition types and the ability to write MBR boot code to drives for advanced boot capabilities.

Pacifist
An alternative to the default Apple Installer.app allowing force-installation, .pkg unpacking and installation to external devices for when Installer.app won't allow it.

DiskWarrior
The stalwart of Mac tech support is still the only completely reliable way of rebuilding a corrupt file-system. Disk Warrior will rescue unmountable disks in most cases (for damage beyond file-system, see Test Disk). Recommended as part of advanced maintenance.

testdisk
Recovers lost or damaged boot sectors. Will recover a drive when Disk Warrior can't see it.

rEFIt
An alternative to the default Apple boot loader, rEFIt offers added file-system support (extfs) and overcomes problems with Boot Camp.

Lingon
See what's been installed to the system by third-party installers and disable problematic and performance-reducing startup items.

BatChmod
Change permissions and remove ACLs on files and folders of files and sub-folders.

TuxeraNTFS
The best NTFS driver for Mac, allowing excellent write-capability and adding extra formatting and repair functions to Disk Utility.app.

Cleaning and Maintenance

CleanMyMac
Safely slims down the size of Apps by removing unused languages and leftover code. Cleans caches not cleaned by other apps: use it with Lion Cache Cleaner, MainMenu or OnyX. Has been known to free up to 3Gb of space, depending on what's installed.

Lion Cache Cleaner

More than just a cache cleaner, LCC (or Snow Leopard Cache Cleaner) is one of the most complete set of Mac maintenance, repair and settings suites around.

MainMenu Pro
Full maintenance, repair and settings suite accessible from the menu bar.

AppZapper

App uninstaller

Test Drive Devices

2012-04-29T17:39:00.001+02:00

iPhone 4

MacOS X Tiger
(fly-a-kite)

LocalVoice

2012-04-24T22:03:00.002+02:00

Speak any text using a voice from your region..

In this example I'm using "Tessa", familiar to South Africans as the original recorded voice of Telkom.

The voice of Tessa needs to be downloaded from Apple. It's big: 500mb or so..

 Apple Menu

System Preferences

Wait for it to download...

Now open TextEdit

(⌘ spacebar, type texted, hit enter)

Type something.. anything or copy and paste..

Highlight the text

Right (or ctrl) click

Speech ▶ Start Speaking

Expanding SpotLight

2011-12-16T01:00:00.000+02:00

Expanding Spotlight will be published on Tech Republic, along with all my other Mac tips. More info here..

MacMatrix - mac.tech.blog

Welcome to MacMatrix

Fresh Mac

My Mac tips have been updated and moved to

Fresh Mac for business users: Power Fundamentals series

1

Page 1 ::: Page 2

2

3

4

5

6

Finder Filing

My Mac tips have been updated and moved to

SideEffects Credits

Credits | Acknowledgements

~• Many Thanks •~

SideEffects Story

Background Story

☜ InsideSideEffects

Installer Task List

The Apple Look

SideEffects Troubleshooting

Side Effects

No issues reported with latest version 1.8.7

So why is it so complicated to make some simple icons color?

As for the reasoning

1

2

So are you having issues getting color to appear?

Issues? Still Grey?

Sticky "Use SIMBL" button?

Note: This fix has been incorporated into SideEffects 1.8.7

First try installing SideEffects again and / or logging out and in again.

Slow Finder Solved ✓

Notes on SIMBL / EasySIMBL / ColorfulSidebar

Performance

Error reports

SidebarTricks

Sidebar Tricks

For many more tipsplease see my new series onCBS / Tech Republic

Tip #1

BIG sidebar icons

Tip #2

Sidebar dividers

Tip #3

Create a folder icon

Tip #4

Access default system icons

TopTips

Top Tips from other Sites

OSX Daily

MacWorld

OSX Daily

Blogger Hacks

Google power searching with [site:] (site colon)

Top Mac Apps

Test Drive Devices

LocalVoice

Expanding SpotLight

For many more tips
please see my new series on
CBS / Tech Republic