Automator is much improved

It's funny that after all I've read about the new improvements to Leopard, no one has mentioned the new additions to Automator. Well, maybe they don't use it that often, but for a person who is by far more comfortable with scripting than programming, I think Automator makes my life exceedingly easy.

I can say that there are still things you can't do in 'Otto', but most things are now possible with the addition of Terminal commands. It is very easy to create a simple workflow or app to click on to run something you would normally have to type in the terminal to do. Not to mention, it makes hard to remember steps quite easy. For example, it has been circulating the internet that everyone hates the new 3D dock. And I must say, I used someone else's trick to change it to the 2D version for a little while, until I learned that I could change the color of the shelf. But it doesn't stop there. I can add textures, make it shinier, bolder, subtler, whatever I want. The hard part is changing the files each time I want a new look. Enter Automator. I have quickly and easily made it possible to change my dock shelf with a simple click on a workflow, choose my color and voila, a new and improved dock. Let me show you how I did it.

First, you have to modify the image or png files. These are all located in System/Library/CoreServices/Dock.app,
You'll have to right or command click and choose 'Show Package Contents'. Then navigate to /Contents/Resources
Here there are 4 files all beginning with Scurve-x.png, where x is either l, m, xl, s.

Copy these files. I chose to make a folder where I keep all my modified system images, I called it DockColors, and it contains subfolders for each new set of images I render in different colors. Right now I have several which I'd like to show.

This one is simply Red

This one I call Lime

This one I call Charcoal

This one I call Cement

This one I call Sumi

Okay, now that I've shown off, let me explain how Automator helped me to make this change as simple as clicking on a workflow.

First, start your copy of Automator and drag to it "Run Shell Script" from the Utilities menu. Type the following in for the script making changes to paths as necessary.

cd /Users/z_evil_genius/Pictures/MyArt/ModifiedSystemImages/DockScurve

cp -fR Sumi-e/ /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD2/System/Library/CoreServices/Dock.app/Contents/Resources/

killall Dock

Save it as a workflow with a meaningful name to tell you the color, I chose to put it in a folder called Dock Color Scripts and put that in my Scripts folder. The first line changes the current working directory to one that has all your subfolders containing copies of the Scurve files.

Notice in the second command I have 'cp -fR Sumi-e/', This is copying the contents of the folder Sumi-e which contains copies of the Scurve image files. This also means that you'll need to change this name to the folder you created to house the image files. For example, I called my Red one Blood (even if it isn't quite the right color yet) and so to copy my red Scurve files I would type cp -fR Blood/

The last line obviously restarts the dock.

For every new set of colors you'll want to create a new script like this and a new folder to store the Scurve files. Now, this script is runable as is. Just go to your scripts folder and open the new folder Dock Color Scripts, click on your new color and watch the magic.

I certainly hope this helps you to appreciate the power of Automator as well as learn a new trick to making that hard to see dock look much better.

Apple Feedback

A note about Letterbox for Mail

Letterbox is a great hack for Apple's Mail. I complained about the lack of options to change the view for Mail from the typical Outlook format to something a little more widescreen friendly. Enter, Letterbox. It is a hack that rearranges the panes so that the message pane is all the way to the right and full screen top to bottom. I liked it a lot for my widescreen macbook. But... After using it for many months, maybe even a full year, I am back to the old style. Why? Well, it seems that after fiddling with smart folders and filters, I've managed to get everything set up in such a  way that I don't need a huge long list of emails to show up. Plus, I get mail from Apple, Amazon, and Tiger that all use html and the three vertical pane view just doesn't cut it. I guess the Apple designers who didn't offer the option knew why it wouldn't be necessary. But still, is it that hard to add one additional interface, a slight tweak to the existing one? I mean, they could offer it, knowing it might be inferior for MOST of their users, but still make ALL users happy.  So, I've included a link to Letterbox if you are one of those people that prefer 3 vertical panes. And it would work even better on a larger screen, like that of a macbook pro. 

Don't let me confuse you, I sound like I'm on a rampage complaining about Apple, but I'm nowhere near that. Considering all the mistakes that microsoft has done, Apple is awesome. But, they do seem to be slacking lately with lack of customizabilty. Leapard is a good example, but since I don't own it yet I will refrain from making any comments. 

Apple Feedback

It's almost here!

I am waiting patiently for my copy of Leopard to arrive, which should be today or tomorrow. I've read tons on it, some good, some bad, but I have a plan. I will not, repeat: WILL NOT upgrade. As tempting as it is to not have to reinstall all my applications and import mail, address book, and keychain items, no good can come from an upgrade. I use X11 rather frequently, particularly for work where I need to access linux systems remotely and run GUI programs. Yet, I've heard that an upgrade to Leopard breaks all X apps. So, at the risk of spending days getting my computer back up to speed, I will be grateful to have a clean install.

I've taken steps to ensure that the most important programs get installed early. I've listed all programs that run on startup that I use, all dock items (I only put the most important of apps there), preference panes I've installed, and Software I've actually paid for. These are the things I will restore first. Next I'll restore my unix environment by importing config files such as .xinitrc and .bash_profile. I've also started a list of applications that I know are Leopard ready. Lastly, I'm the type of computer user who likes to mess with sensitive aspects of the system without taking many precautions.

Apple Feedback