As devoted maniacs of all things Apple, we’d like to share what we consider are the Top 10 most useful Mac Apps. This list doesn’t include Microsoft Office, Adobe apps or any of theApps bundled with your Mac. Instead it’s focus is on freeware and shareware apps leveraging the genius of various indie Mac developers.
Nvu. Nvu is an open source web authoring app, that rivals Microsoft Frontpage andAdobe Dreamweaver. Nvu is aimed at the beginner web master, and is regarded as one of the most practical solutions for amateur web designers. Switching between WYSIWYGand code views is just a mouse click away, as is managing your content, which is displayed with a nice tabbed interface. When your site is ready, Nvu features an integrated FTP program. This also means that you can directly alter the files on your webserver, without having to download them first, edit them, then re-upload them.
NewsFire. My favourite RSS news reader. It has a very minimalistic style, and slick user interface, making reading your favourite feeds a pleasure. You can even create custom feeds based on keywords, and it will go out to various services online, and collate items for your feed based on your keyword selection. It can be set to automatically download data inside the feed (e.g. MP3’s of Video files), in the background, so when you come to read it, your media file is there ready and waiting. A great app, one that I couldn’t live without.
SOHO Notes. As the label says: “The premier digital note-taking application for Macintosh”. The app used to be called StickyBrain. I use this App daily to store snippets of information (or entire web pages) that are going to come in handy again. It can store rich text, PDF’s, images, files, movies, audio, bookmarks and web archives. You can even create your own custom forms for storing specific information like credit cards, passwords etc. The latter being what I use it for most, and thus refer to it multiple times a day. The program automatically backs up your data, and with a .Mac account enables syncing your data across multiple Macs. It even allows you to encrypt (AES-256) particularly sensitive things (that perhaps you wouldn’t want your significant other to see!). A no brainer.
Flickr Export. Works seamlessly with iPhoto, enabling you to easily share your photos via Flickr. If you want to just “show someone” a set of photo’s, what could be easier than sending them directly to Flickr from iPhoto, with you hardly having to lift a finger..? Brilliant.
Transmit. The “weapon of choice” for FTP applications. Seriously. This is the only App that I recommend to our clients that are new to the Mac and need to transfer files to our servers. It has a great interface, and an easy learning curve. It also has some advanced features hidden under the hood, like “droplets”, enabling you to drag files onto these to have them magically uploaded in the background. It support FTP, SFTP (secure FTP) and Webdav servers, meaning you never need to use another FTP app, ever.
Growl. A lot of people ask why they actually need growl. Short answer is you don’t, but it just looks so damn cool. Of all the things that show off how good your Mac is over your PC friends, this little (free) app stands out above the rest. In a nutshell, growl is a global notification system for Os X. Most “trendy” applications auto-register with growl when you install them, for example NewsFire, Transmit, iTunes, Mail etc. Growl will then “announce” to you for example, when a FTP download/upload is complete, when new mail arrives, the next track name in iTunes, a new RSS news item etc. Just trust us on this one. You need it, badly…
Firefox. Whilst in comparison to IE, safari is a great speedy browser pre-installed on the Mac, it still chokes on a few sites. Firefox however always seems to breeze through without any issues. Add to this it’s massive arsenal of extensions, themes and toolbars and you really are looking at the browser of choice (both on PC and Mac).
Textmate. The missing editor for OS X. Think of it as a text editor for geeks! They key to this app is that every little aspect of it can be tweaked to your way of working. So if you spend your time handwriting html, or writing code, then the sheer power and flexibility of Texmate could be shaving hours off your time with enhanced productivity.
Skype. Whilst iChat on the Mac is damn cool (4 way video chat anyone..?), it’s not very useful if most of your buddies or work colleagues are on a PC. So, enter Skype, who have put in quite a lot of work recently in giving the whole app a more Mac feel to it. Recent upgrades have seen improvements in the video codec, as well as improved noise canceling enhancements. So if you need to keep in touch with overseas buddies without burning your phone bill, Skype is probably your best bet.
Style Master. If words like XHTML and CSS bring you out in a cold sweat, then maybe this app could be your salvation. It’s a complete tool not only for creating styles, but also for learning the complexities of CSS.
Tags: Mac Gossip, Mac Tips
