All posts in the ‘Witch’ category

Subscribe to the RSS feed for the 'Witch' category

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

How-to: Five tips for using Witch (video)

Thursday, February 17th, 2011

In conjunction with the Witch 3.6.1 release today, we’ve created a video that discusses five things you can do with Witch:

  • Basic window switching (really basic!)
  • Creating global hot keys for certain window-related actions
  • Fast toggling between windows without seeing the Witch panel
  • Using shortcuts to see window info, switch to windows, and perform actions on windows
  • Setting up Witch for use with a mouse or trackpad

The video runs just under 10 minutes in length, and is available in two sizes: 640×480 [31MB] or 1024×768 [73MB]. (Both versions are also available in the sidebar on the Witch page.)

Posted in How To, Products, Witch | 1 Comment »

Witch 3.6.1 slides onto the scene

Thursday, February 17th, 2011

This latest Witch update—for both the Mac App Store and web site versions of Witch—includes two requested features and a number of minor bug fixes. (Note for App Store users: it may be anywhere from 15 minutes to a couple of hours until you see the update in the App Store.) The two new features are:

  • Witch can now “see” many more windows without titles than it previously could. In particular, if you save Mail drafts without Subject lines, Witch should now show those as (Untitled) windows.

    Of course, because they have no title, you’ll want to use the pop-up preview feature to see what’s actually in those untitled windows. Witch should also display untitled windows in Elgato’s applications, and Sparrow, the minimalist Gmail client.

  • There’s a new slider in the Behavior tab of Witch’s settings that controls how long Witch will wait to hear from an application before giving up on it.

    Witch works by polling all applications, asking for information about their windows. If an application is slow to respond, we’re forced to make a choice: wait to display the switcher panel, or display the switcher panel in a reasonable amount of time, but leave out the slow-responding application (because we can’t determine its window states).

    Witch is set to wait 0.2 seconds, which is typically more than enough time. Certain troublesome apps, though, may work better with a longer timeout. You can use this new slider—which will let you set a timeout of up to two seconds—to find a balancing point that you’re happy with. Note: Unless you’re having trouble with missing windows, we suggest leaving this slider where it is.

  • If you use Matrox products to use extra displays on your laptop Mac, Witch now has some hidden settings that greatly improve the appearance of the switcher panel on those machines. If you’re one of those users, write to me and I’ll provide the usage instructions.

Mac App Store users can update via the App Store application; users of the web site version of Witch should be notified of the available update. (Check the Update tab in settings to make sure you’re set up for automatic notification of new updates.)

Posted in Mac App Store, Products, Witch | 2 Comments »

Conversations with the App Store

Saturday, January 29th, 2011

We’re now roughly three weeks into the Mac App Store’s existence, and both Peter and I have been thrilled with how it’s gone. We’ve found it generally pleasant working with Apple (they’ve yet to reject one of our apps or updates), and the users we’ve chatted with have found the store to be a pleasant place to browse and shop.

With that said, there’s one feature missing from the store that impacts our ability to interact with customers and prospects: there’s no mechanism for developers to respond to questions or comments in users’ reviews. (We could modify our program’s descriptions, but using that space to answer questions seems like using a hammer to crack an egg.)

So we’ve decided to start an occasional series here on our blog, of which you’re reading the first installment: Conversations with the App Store. Each installment will address some of the questions and comments raised in reviews on the global (those we can read, at any rate!) Mac App Stores.

While this isn’t an ideal feedback mechanism—Apple should really allow developers to post responses directly—we hope it provides useful information to those who may have similar comments or questions about our programs. So without further ado, here’s the first edition of Conversations with the App Store.

(more…)

Posted in Company News, Desktop Curtain, Mac App Store, Name Mangler, Witch | 5 Comments »

Witch, $9.99 pricing, and the future

Friday, January 28th, 2011

As we’ve now reached the point where the Witch $9.99 sale is scheduled to end, we thought we’d take some time to talk about how the two-day sale has gone, and what that means regarding Witch’s future price.

Before the sale began, Witch was doing a decent volume in the App Store, and fluctuating between the 20s and 60s on the Top Paid and Top Grossing charts for the Utilities category. So what impact did the sale have?

Unit volume increased twenty-fold, and Witch moved to (as of this writing) number two in Top Paid and number three in Top Grossing in the Utilities category—and it’s hovering around the top 20 in those charts for All Categories as well. Simply put, we’ve been floored…and obviously, the volume numbers got us thinking about pricing over the last two days.

It’s clear from these results that many people felt Witch was a utility they wanted, but one that was simply too expensive at $16.99 (the App Store’s no-preview-images price) and $19 (for the fully-featured version on our site). So we’ve decided to do two things:

  • The current $9.99 sale has been extended through the weekend; it will now end at 11:59pm (PST) on Sunday, January 30th.
  • The new standard price of Witch will be $14 ($13.99 App Store), a reduction of over 25% from the previous level. After talking with some users, and seeing what other utilities are priced at, we feel this is a fair and affordable price for an excellent window-switching tool.

It’s our objective to get our programs into as many users’ hands as possible, and yet do so at a level that will allow us to sustain the company and add support and development resources in the future.

We think Witch’s new pricing strikes the perfect balance between those two objectives—it’s more affordable for everyone now, and yet not so inexpensive that we’re mortgaging the company’s future to achieve unit growth today. After all, what good is the best window switching utility out there if there’s nobody around to support it any more?

Posted in Company News, Products, Witch | 7 Comments »

Witch + window previews + App Store = Save!

Wednesday, January 26th, 2011

Pardon the mathematically-influenced headline, but Witch 3.6 is now available in the App Store. The big news here is that it now includes the pop-up window previews that are present in the standalone version of Witch. This puts the App Store version of Witch at feature parity (excluding software updates) with the independent version.

To be honest, we weren’t sure the image previews would be approved…and now that they have been, we feel like celebrating.

So for the next 48 hours (until 7:00am Pacific Time on Friday, January 28th), Witch is on sale for only $9.99…regardless of whether you buy it from the App Store or from our site.

If you’ve been considering Witch, now’s the time to act. Once the sale ends, both versions of Witch will return to their standard ($19 direct, $18.99 App Store) prices.

Posted in Products, Witch | 6 Comments »

Witch now available in the Mac App Store

Tuesday, January 11th, 2011

After waiting and wondering for over two weeks, we were quite happily surprised when the App Store version of Witch was approved this evening and made available for sale at $16.99

If you’re good at math, you’ll quickly realize that’s “over $2 less!” than Witch costs when purchased directly from our site. So why is it cheaper on the Mac App Store than directly from us? One simple reason: the App Store version of Witch lacks the pop-up window previews available in the version for sale on our site. Why not? As of now, we’re not certain that the method we use to show those previews will pass muster with the App Store reviewers, so we chose to leave them out of this initial release.

Everything else, though—including the ability to assign Command-Tab as the Witch trigger—is there. (OK, one other thing you won’t find is in-app updates, as the App Store app itself handles those updates for you.)

None of our other App Store apps are missing a key feature, so this was new ground for us. After talking it over, we decided that the lack of previews was worth a couple dollar reduction in sales price, at least until we know for sure if we can get them in or not.

So that’s why Witch is cheaper on the App Store than here on our site. If you like the image previews, and want them now, then you should buy Witch on our site. If you don’t think you’ll need image previews, you can save yourself a couple bucks by purchasing the App Store version instead.

We’re thrilled to have our fourth app (joining Name Mangler, Time Sink, and Usher on the App Store. And here’s a little secret…we’ve submitted a fifth app, and it’s now in the review queue for approval. Which app? Well, that piece of information will have to remain undisclosed for just a bit longer…stay tuned! (Note to Butler fans: no, it’s not Butler 5, sorry!)

Posted in Company News, Name Mangler, Time Sink, Usher, Witch | 4 Comments »

Another installment of Touch-up Tuesdays

Tuesday, January 11th, 2011

After getting through the end-of-year holiday rush, which was combined with the Mac App Store launch (thanks for that timing, Apple!), we’ve finally had a chance to catch up on some minor updates for Name Mangler, Usher, and Witch.

You can get the updates via in-app updating (this can be enabled on the Updates tab of Name Mangler and Usher’s Preferences, and on the About tab in Witch’s System Preferences panel), or by downloading the full versions from our web site.

So what’s new? As always, the release notes page for each app (Name Mangler • Usher • Witch) provide all the details, but here are some highlights:

Name Mangler 2.3.3

  • The help files have been completely rewritten in the new Many Tricks’ style. For you users of Advanced mode, there’s even a handy function reference that lets you navigate directly to each available function.
  • In expired-trial mode (after 25 launches), Name Mangler now limits features (five files renamed at once, no droplet use) instead of presenting annoying dialogs with countdown timers.
  • Name Mangler no longer accepts files dragged and dropped directly from iPhoto or Aperture. Because these programs use an internal database, all renaming should be done either before the photos are added to the programs, or within the programs themselves.

Usher 1.1.1

  • Usher can now manage Elgato TV recordings (playback will be handled by the Elgato EyeTV player).
  • A new Save As contextual menu lets you save a selection of movies, in their native format, to a folder of your choosing. This is basically ‘export without conversion.’
  • Usher should now use less memory usage during some operations.

Witch 3.5.8

  • Using a hidden pref (detailed on the release notes page), windowless apps can be forced to the bottom of the switcher panel when used in application-specific sort modes.
  • Updated help files, and numerous other small fixes and improvements.

Note that both Name Mangler and Witch skipped a minor version number. We did this to keep the version numbers in sync between these releases and those on the Mac App Store (Name Mangler is there already, Witch is still in review).

Posted in Name Mangler, Products, Usher, Witch | Comments Off on Another installment of Touch-up Tuesdays

Name Mangler 2.3.1 and Witch 3.5.6

Wednesday, December 8th, 2010

While we’ve had Minor update Mondays and Touch-up Tuesdays in the past, it turns out that Wednesday isn’t very amenable to cute blog title naming schemes (“Wicked Wednesday” just didn’t seem right). So I’ve forgone the fanciful title this time out, which was possible mainly because we have just two minor updates today.

Witch 3.5.6 includes a few bug fixes and a couple new hidden prefs (to disable the fade-out effect for the panel, and to disable the overlay icon for minimized windows). Full details on the release notes page, as usual.

Name Mangler 2.3.1 will be of interest to those who rename lots—as in thousands and tens of thousands—of files at a time. Previous versions of Name Mangler would crash if you had selected thousands of files in Finder or Path Finder, and then clicked Name Mangler’s “Populate with…” icons. Even if you got your long list into Name Mangler, it would then crash during the renaming process. Both of these issues are fixed in this release; you can read the release notes if you want, but really, those are the only two changes.

As always, updates are available via in-app updating (enable this via the Updates tab in each program’s Preferences), or by downloading the programs from their respective web pages.

Posted in Name Mangler, Products, Witch | Comments Off on Name Mangler 2.3.1 and Witch 3.5.6

It’s Touch-up Tuesday

Tuesday, September 21st, 2010

Normally we have Minor Update Mondays around these parts, but hey, delays are unavoidable at times—so welcome to our first Touch-up Tuesday instead!

The highlights of today’s updates include (but check out the release notes page for each app for the full story)…

  • Leech 2.0.6’s browser plug-in now works with the WebKit Nightly Builds.

  • Name Mangler 2.2.3 adds the ability to prepend (as well as the existing append) a file name when numbering sequentially or using a terms list.

    A creative solutionIt also includes a new “Replace All” setting in a confirmation dialog; this new feature owes its existence to user Mike B., who requested it and demonstrated its need by including the image seen at right.

    Yes, that’s a small heavy bottle resting on the Return key, so that it can be automatically pressed to dismiss the dialog every time it appears! Time to retire the bottle, Mike.

  • Witch 3.5.5, which includes some performance improvements and a fix to make it work much better with the new App Tamer from St. Clair Software.
  • Taking a cue from Leech, Safari Guardian also now works with the WebKit Nightly Builds.

In addition to the above, we’re still hard at work on both Usher and our new time-tracking app; stay tuned for news on both fronts in the near future…and yes, work continues on Butler 5 as well!

Posted in Leech, Name Mangler, Products, Safari Guardian, Witch | 3 Comments »

Witch now officially supports multiple monitors

Wednesday, September 8th, 2010

A couple days back, we posted a hint on using Witch on Macs with multiple displays. The hint explained how to use Terminal to make Witch appear on the display containing the mouse, instead of on the main display.

The feedback from this hidden feature was quite strong, so we decided to make it much simpler to implement. In Witch 3.5.4 (update via in-app updating, or from the Witch page), a new drop-down menu on the Behavior tab now allows you to choose where the Witch panel appears.

If you use multiple displays, try this out—you may find, as I do, that Witch is much easier to use when it appears on the screen you’re actively working on.

Posted in Products, Witch | 5 Comments »

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »