My Favourite Mac Apps

By markwarner on February 15, 2010 in Technology

Following in the footsteps of Doug Belshaw and Kevin McLaughlin, I have decided to record the applications that I use on my Mac computers most often:

Daily Essentials:

Launchbar - An amazing timesaver which lets you open applications, copy and paste, perform operations, search online, find contact information and much more… all using the keyboard. Also has a multiple clipboard feature, so it will remember the last 20 things you have copied and let you repaste them over and over again. I’ve been using this for years and would struggle without it!
Path Finder - I’m currently in my 30 day trial with this software. It makes file management much easier and is just how the standard Mac Finder should be.
OmniFocus - As well as teaching, I also run a number of different websites. This productivity software helps me to keep track of all of the different tasks that I need to complete in different aspects of my life. It also syncs with the iPhone version so I can manage my ‘to-dos’ on the move.
Skitch - A wonderful piece of free software for taking and editing screenshots. Also uploads images to an online server with a single click.
1Password - This stores the different passwords that I use for online services (shopping sites / social networking etc.). It integrates with your web browser and also has an iPhone version so you can check passwords when you’re not at your main computer.
Tweetie - My Twitter application of choice, always running in the background.
iCal - Unlike every other teacher at my school, my diary is kept digitally. iCal isn’t the best calendar tool out there I’m sure, but the iPhone syncing via MobileMe makes life much easier.
Dropbox - Allows the storage of files which can be shared between Windows / Mac machines and the iPhone. As essential tool which every teacher should use.
Evernote - My second brain which is used on a daily basis. I use Evernote to save anything that I want to remember (e.g. examples of web coding), notes for school (stored as photographs on which Evernote can identify the text) and more.
Reader Notifier - A simple menubar application which shows the number of unread items in my Google Reader account.

Web / Creative Tools:

Dreamweaver - This is an old version but I regularly use this to make / edit web pages.
Fireworks - A REALLY old version of the image editing software. I really ought to upgrade, but this seems to do everything I need at the moment.
Coda - Coda is great for editing HTML / CSS really quickly.
Feeder - Used for updating RSS feeds for various sites that I have. Publishes the feeds online too.
Transmit - FTP software which lets me upload files to various servers. Great for updating my websites and downloading files.
Art Text - This generates WordArt-style text but with a much wider range of options and at a much higher quality. Very useful.
Comic Life - Every teacher should be familiar with Comic Life… it lets students make comics with their digital photos. I mostly use it to create fancy text and logos using the wonderful fonts and styles available.
Shape Collage - Creates beautiful photo collages using your digital photos.
BackupSites - This is an app that I made using Automator (free with every Mac). Automator is a really useful (and incredibly powerful) tool which can carry out repetitive tasks quickly. Once you’ve set up your procedures (using the drag and drop options), Automator then creates a program for you. This program runs backup scripts on my various websites, saving me having to load different scripts / websites individually. A huge timesaver.

Other Useful Apps:

AppZapper - Deletes applications if you no longer want / need them. Also gets rid of any stray files that might otherwise be left behind.
I Can Animate - We use this at school to make stop-motion animations. Great fun.
Moneydance - I use Moneydance to record my bank statements. It lets you download statements from online banks, categorise transations and generate reports.
Garagesale - Garagesale lets you list items on eBay really easily and using eye-catching themes.
Handbrake - For backing up / storing the contents of DVDs on your Mac. Great for transferring films on to my AppleTV and iPhone.
Cocktail - A Mac utility which runs lots of maintenance scripts. Macs don’t seem to need the regular updates and cleaning programs that Windows machines use, but I do use this occasionally to keep things running smoothly.
Superduper - Generates a bootable backup of my computers onto an external hard drive.
Email Backup Pro - Backs up my rather large collection email (in Apple’s Mail software) automatically.
JungleDisk - Backs up my important documents to an online service (Amazon S3), so that I always have an off-site backup of my files. Can you tell that I like keeping backups
Pages, Numbers and Keynote - Apple’s word processing / publishing, spreadsheet and presentation software. Just as useful as Microsoft Office but much prettier and easier to use!
Notebook - Smart Notebook, which I use regularly with our Smartboards at school.
TypeIt4Me - This isn’t an application, but a System Preference pane. It is a fantastic timesaver, as it stores huge amounts of text which you type by entering a particular keystroke. For example, if I type ‘bw’ (in any application), TypeIt4Me replaces that text with my email signature (Best wishes, Mark… followed by links to my websites). I use it to quickly update RSS feeds and enter large amounts of HTML code with short keystrokes. Very useful.