Messages - Jay Levitt [ switch to compact view ]

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Find And Run Robot / Re: Discussing major features to add to Find and Run Robot 2 continued..
« on: February 12, 2006, 02:48 PM »
One more thought about QuickSilver's adaptive scoring: It adapts not only to how often program #1 and #2 are run, but how often I use a given set of keystrokes to ACCESS those programs.

For instance, I use both Text Wrangler and the Network control panel on a regular basis.  So at first, pressing "N E T" or "T W" both chose Network as the first option, since Network is a more direct match for "T W" than Textwrangler is.  After a few launches, though, QS learned that "T W", to me, means "-T-ext-W-rangler", and no matter how often I launch Network with other shortcuts, that adaptation stays in place.  That's important.

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Find And Run Robot / Re: Another similar app (disclaimer: I haven't tried it)
« on: January 31, 2006, 08:03 PM »
By "F F", I mean "press the F key twice".  The first F shows me all apps with an F in them, with Firefox at the top; the second F narrows it to apps containing two Fs (since QS allows non-consecutive letter searches).  If I had an app "ffilemaker" it'd probably show up before Firefox a few times, since the F's are consecutive, but luckily I don't :)  It also nicely underlines the matching letters so I see why I'm finding things.

As for sorting vs. stable keystrokes: QuickSilver manages it because you DON'T use the number keys to launch the apps.  "F F ENTER" and I'm done, no matter where Firefox initially showed up under the "F" apps.  Also, it combines the dropdown box with the text-entry field, so the arrow keys work more sensibly.  I see now that FARR can in fact launch the first app by pressing ENTER, but it beeps at me, which indicates I did something wrong, and it seems to take a bit longer (maybe that's just the synchronous beep slowing things down).

I've tried the "bonus for already-launched apps", but it's pretty non-granular -  every app I launch gets the same 200 bonus.  I believe QS gives a most-frequently-used score instead.

And while caching launched apps is nice, caching SEARCHED apps would be better (absent pre-caching, of course), so that my common searches would be instant. Every time I press "F", it shows firefox instantly since I've used it, but then has to go load everything else.

Jay

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Find And Run Robot / Discussing major features to add to Find and Run Robot 2 continued..
« on: January 28, 2006, 09:22 AM »
i know that the mac world is gaga over quicksilver.  i think it's half just the normal mac fanaticism, but i know that quicksilver has some nice features - i'm very happy to implement them all in F+R in time, just let us know which features are wanted.
-mouser (December 30, 2005, 02:26 PM)

As a dual-platform user, the things I miss most from Quicksilver are, roughly in order:

1. Pre-searching/caching.  Quicksilver is INSTANT, even on my slow PowerBook.  FARR is not, even on my 2GB Athlon X2 4600+, even just limited to Start Menu and a few app folders.

2. Adaptive sorting.  QS learns which items I select and moves them to the top.

3. Better selection UI.  The large print on QS, combined with the fact that it pre-selects the most likely option, means I can launch apps with few keystrokes and no real brainpower: "F F <enter>" always gets firefox.  With FARR, I have to look at the cluttered display, find the app, and move to the number keys - and if I've added a new app, the old numbers change.

That's really all I miss; I don't use any of the fancy QS plugins, deep-searching, alternate actions, etc.  Unfortunately, #1 and #2 require some pretty hefty infrastructure changes that I think you've said can't really be done before FARR 3, so I'm always keeping my eyes out for a temporary substitute.

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