Help us beta test some Witch/Mountain Lion fixes

August 2nd, 2012 by Rob Griffiths

Thanks to our dedicated Mountain Lion testers (that’d be all of you), we’ve been able to identify and, we hope, resolve a couple of issues with Witch. But before we release this in general, we’d like your help testing it—we’re particularly interested in those who use Spaces, image previews, and Total Finder.

Here’s what we fixed in this beta:

  • The pop-up window previews should now work again; some users reported they failed to work in Mountain Lion.
  • Multiple Desktop (Spaces) support is back, mostly. In Mountain Lion, Witch can once again display entries for windows on other Desktops, but we can’t provide Desktop numbers for those windows. (Those numbers, though, were mostly bogus in Lion anyway, as the OS could and did change the numbering at any time.) Instead, you’ll see a gray outline rectangle around the icon for windows on other Desktops.
  • While not directly Mountain Lion related, this build also includes a workaround for duplicate Total Finder windows in the Witch switcher panel.

If you’d like to help test this release, please read on for the details…

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Mountain Lion status report (bonus: three app updates)

July 25th, 2012 by Rob Griffiths

Now that Mountain Lion (aka OS X 10.8) is officially out, we can officially update the status of our apps.

The short version: They all work.

The slightly longer version: To the extent that we were able to test all features in all apps, they all work in Mountain Lion. But there are just two of us, and thousands of features to test. So please, let us know if you find any issues. You can do so by going to the support page for any app (i.e. Moom’s support page), which list a few ways to report issues.

We also have three app updates today that fix minor issues in Mountain Lion—and resolve some other bugs and add some new features.

Get Leech 2.1.1 (release notes), Usher 1.1.5 (release notes) and Butler 4.1.13 (release notes) via in-app updating.

Note: If you’re an App Store purchaser of Usher, you should migrate (for free) to the direct sales version. Here’s how and why.

Posted in Butler, Desktop Curtain, Key Codes, Keymo, Leech, Moom, Name Mangler, Products, Time Sink, Usher, Witch | 3 Comments »

Keymo 1.2 released

July 12th, 2012 by Rob Griffiths

Keymo 1.2 is out now (or very shortly, for you App Store customers). Here’s what’s new and improved in this release:

  • New double-click action.
  • Reduced lag when using highlight.
  • Added variable timeout option to cursor highlight feature.
  • Added a global hotkey to toggle keystrokes off and on.

Direct customers can get the update via in-app updating, or by downloading the new version from our server. App Store customers should see the update on the Updates tab of the App Store application. If it’s not there yet, don’t worry, it will eventually show up.

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How-to: Fix the Moom snap and Desktops issue

June 18th, 2012 by Rob Griffiths

As cool as Moom 3’s new ‘snap to edges’ feature is, there’s one annoying issue that we can’t solve within Moom: if you use Desktops (Spaces in 10.6), the drag-to-edge action is used by OS X to move windows between Desktops/Spaces. If you also use Moom’s snap to edges feature, there’s an obvious issue, wherein a window may both resize and be moved to another Desktop/Space. Not good, obviously.

Unfortunately, we have no control over this action, as it’s owned by OS X. Nor do you, the user, have any control over it: it’s always enabled, with no pref to disable it. Thankfully, there is a way around the issue, such that you can use both Moom’s ‘snap to edges’ and OS X’s ‘drag to new Desktop/Space’ features together.
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Moom 3, it’s snaptastic!

June 8th, 2012 by Rob Griffiths

We’re please to announce the release of Moom 3, featuring a very-often-requested feature from you, our users: the ability to move and zoom windows by snapping them to screen edges or corners.

You control how the windows behave when dragged: how long before you see a preview frame showing the proposed move/zoom action, and what size you get when a window is dragged to each edge (full- or half-screen) or corner (full- or quarter-screen).

In addition, you can now optionally undo Moomed windows by simply dragging the window a little bit. You can even undo any Moom action, not just those resulting from drag operations.

Finally, we’ve added a new custom control, Zoom to Fit. This control mimics the behavior you see when clicking the green button in any window. In most apps, that gets you an intelligent zoom, resizing the window to fit the displayed content. In other apps, it serves different purposes. Whatever the role, though, Moom will simply act like you clicked that green button when you invoke this custom control.

The best news for existing customers is that Moom 3 is a free upgrade for everyone—hooray! For new customers, Moom will cost $10 ($9.99 on the App Store), but it will be on sale for only $5 ($4.99) through the end of June. As always, App Store customers can update via the App Store application; direct customers via in-app updating, or by downloading a fresh copy of the app from the Moom page on our site.

Note: Barring any changes in the App Store sandboxing rules, this is the last App Store version of Moom with any new functionality. From now on, any features we add will only appear in the direct sales version (as we’re not allowed to add them to the App Store version). For those interested in migrating (at no charge) to the direct sales version of Moom, here’s how to do just that.

Posted in Moom, Products | 7 Comments »

How to: Migrate from App Store Witch to direct Witch

June 5th, 2012 by Rob Griffiths

As you may have heard, the App Store is now enforcing sandboxing. As such, apps that aren’t sandboxed cannot be updated with new features; only bug fix updates are acceptable.

Unfortunately, with the rules that are presently in place, Witch is not sandboxable, which means that today’s release of Witch 3.9.1 is the last with any new features in the App Store—unless Apple changes their mind, which has been known to happen if enough users let them know how they feel about things (hint hint!). We fully intend to continue updating Witch with new functionality, but all such updates will only be applicable to the direct sales version. That’s the bad news…

The good news is that we have a way for you to easily migrate to the direct sales version, and making this move is completely free. The process is actually quite simple, too.

  1. Make sure you’ve run the App Store version of Witch 3.9.1 (it must be the most-recently-updated version) at least once.
  2. After running once, quit the App Store version of Witch.
  3. Download Witch 3.9.1 from our site, and install it. (The direct sales version of Witch is a System Preferences panel, not an application; you’ll find it in the Other section of System Preferences after installation.)
  4. There is no step four. Just check the Enable Witch box in the Witch System Preferences panel, and you’re good to go.

You can tell you’ve successfully licensed your app by looking at the About tab; the license in the middle should look like this:

That’s really all there is to it, with one caveat: you must repeat this process for each Mac—or different user on the same Mac—that you would like to convert. That’s because the conversion is tied to a license file which is specific to each user on each Mac.

Posted in How To, Mac App Store, Products, Witch | 6 Comments »

Witch 3.9.1 solves the fat font problem—really!

June 5th, 2012 by Rob Griffiths

Witch 3.9.1 is out today, and it’s got only one change—but it’s a good one, especially for those users who find the fonts in Witch 3.9 too thick, even after setting their preferred font for the switcher.

How did we solve the fat font problem? We added a font smoothing setting to the Font pop-up menu (on the Appearance tab of Witch’s settings panel). You can set font smoothing to Enable, Disable, or System Preferences Default. Enable and Disable are self-explanatory; the final option sets font smoothing to match the state of the “Use LCD font smoothing when available” checkbox in the Appearance System Preferences panel.

The differences are quite noticeable; here’s an example with the bold face of Eurostile, my Witch switcher panel font of choice. The top example is with font smoothing enabled; the bottom, with font smoothing disabled.

A big Many Tricks’ hat tip to Richard L., who helped us figure this out thanks to his use of a hidden OS X font smoothing setting. Once we were aware of the cause, it was relatively easy to add a method of disabling smoothing (without having to disable it system-wide, which wouldn’t be a good solution).

As always, direct purchasers can get the update via in-app updating (or from the Witch web page); App Store customers can get the update via the App Store application.

Note: Barring any changes in the App Store sandboxing rules, this is the last App Store version of Witch with any new functionality. From now on, any features we add will only appear in the direct sales version (as we’re not allowed to add them to the App Store version). For those interested in migrating (at no charge) to the direct sales version, here’s how to do just that.

Posted in Company News, Products, Witch | 1 Comment »

Desktop Curtain 3 makes your desktop clutter weep

May 24th, 2012 by Rob Griffiths

Today we’re releasing Desktop Curtain 3.0, a major upgrade to our solution to desktop clutter. First, the important bits about this release:

  • It’s a free upgrade to all prior purchasers of Desktop Curtain. That’s right, free. Just load up the App Store application, go to Updates, and install the Desktop Curtain update.
  • Desktop Curtain 3 is also available directly from us. Unlike the prior version, we’re selling this one directly, as well as via the App Store. To purchase from us, just visit the Desktop Curtain page.
  • Desktop Curtain 3 will cost $5 ($4.99 in the App Store), but it’s on sale through Sunday, May 27th for $1.99, the same price as the outgoing version.

So what’s new and exciting in Desktop Curtain 3? A ton of stuff, including this lovely new user interface:

In addition to the reworked interface, Desktop Curtain 3 has these awesome new features:

  • Application isolation mode automatically places the curtain behind the frontmost application, letting you focus entirely on that program.
  • A global hot key provides even more isolation, placing the curtain behind everything except the frontmost window.
  • You can use the current desktop image as the curtain image.
  • If the curtain is covering the desktop icons, clicking the curtain will activate the Finder.
  • The curtain image is now translucent, making it simple to change the curtain’s color.
  • New entries in the contextual menu (and in the program’s menu bar menus, and in new Dock item menus) allow you to easily hide the curtain, or change the level at which it’s displayed.

Desktop Curtain 3 represents a huge improvement in functionality over the old version, and it’s available right now. You can download and use it for free (forever, if you wish) in a feature-limited mode, and then use an in-app button to purchase the full version when you’re ready.

Posted in Desktop Curtain, Products | 2 Comments »

Keymo, Time Sink, and Key Codes updated today

April 24th, 2012 by Rob Griffiths

Today we released Keymo 1.1 (it’s first-ever update), Time Sink 1.2.1, and Key Codes 1.2. Here’s a quick look at what’s new in each one.

Keymo
We now support the very-often-requested ability to set custom move distances. Not only can you set custom distances, but Keymo will build a menu of your custom distances, making it easy to reuse them. You can also chain actions together, as you can with Moom. [All Keymo changes]

Time Sink
There are no new features in this Time Sink update; the only changes of note are that Time Sink now ignores floating windows, and we fixed a bug related to application-specific window blacklists. [All Time Sink changes]

Key Codes
Key Codes’ display of key combos that include modifier keys has been improved.

Updates for Keymo and Time Sink can be found via the in-app updater (direct customers), or via the App Store application. Key Codes doesn’t have an in-app updater, so if you downloaded it from us, just download the new version. (App Store customers can update Key Codes via the App Store application.)

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Touch up Tuesdays return: Moom and Witch updated

April 17th, 2012 by Rob Griffiths

Moom 2.4.1 and Witch 3.9 were released this morning, for both direct and App Store customers.

The big news in Witch 3.9 is the Font pop-up menu on the Behavior tab of Witch’s settings panel/window. This is our solution to the “fat font” problem introduced (thanks to Xcode) in Witch 3.8.

Click the Font pop-up menu—and be patient; the first load will take a few seconds—and you can then choose any font on your system for use in the switcher panel. I’m partial to Eurostile, but pick the one you prefer.


The use of Webdings is not advised, unless you’re a fluent reader of Webdings.

You can read about the rest of the changes in Witch 3.9 on the release notes page.

Moom 2.4.1 isn’t as big of an update in terms of eye-catching new features. We did, however, make Moom (and Witch, for that matter) work much better with the virtual keyboard apps Synergy and Teleport (and our own Butler). We’ve also made some changes to how Moom interacts with additional displays; we think it’s now ever smarter than it was. You can find all the changes on Moom’s release notes page.

Both apps can be updated within the app or by downloading a new copy from our site (for direct customers), or via the App Store’s Updates tab (App store customers).

Posted in Butler, Moom, Products, Witch | Comments Off on Touch up Tuesdays return: Moom and Witch updated

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