Author Topic: LifeHacker launcher application voting and FARR Name (Read 36977 times)

czb · « **Reply #25 on:** May 21, 2008, 01:38 PM »

I never read help files. Video tutorials would be much better

But I agree, GUI definitely needs to be improved!

And I also think that FARR should be as simple as possible with option to switch to more advanced mode => by simple as possible I do not mean only less options but BFU friendly, so that I can install it on my grandmother's pc

BTW: is it possible to translate FARR?

ThalSwe · « **Reply #26 on:** May 21, 2008, 01:52 PM »

Added my vote to support the launcher I personally find to be the best: Lau....just kidding. FARR definatly is my choice in this case. The community around it is a bit part of that

nitrix-ud · « **Reply #27 on:** May 21, 2008, 01:56 PM »

@mouser

kartal talks about %date% %time%
there is also %datetime% i think...

is it possible to pass those in a run command ??

it DOES WORK with %cliptext% !!
but i cannot make it work with other variables...

my next question is :
how hard would it be to make those variables work like the %cliptext% variable...

then :
could you add some variables which are available for plugins... like the one with the last active windows for instance...

thanks for your answer

nudone · « **Reply #28 on:** May 21, 2008, 02:09 PM »

i've emailed my vote in - i hope it appears.

Nod5 · « **Reply #29 on:** May 21, 2008, 02:40 PM »

As for the name issue that vitalyb brought up, I think shortening is the way to go: FindRun. Easy to pronounce, easy to remember, and it doesn't lose much meaning from the current name, because I'm not really sure what functionality in FARR is supposed to be the "robot" part.

Another alternative would be some animal-ish name like Firefox, Thunderbird, RSSowl... The hard task is to find a nice, catchy sounding and vacant animal.

tomos · « **Reply #30 on:** May 21, 2008, 02:47 PM »

I couldnt vote cause I had "joined" before with same email address - doh!
Joined again so post made & awaiting approval

yotta · « **Reply #31 on:** May 21, 2008, 03:33 PM »

well the lh editors do go over it manually i think

,

my vote would probably be for launchy, its quicker, but im not going to vote on this one, and maybe try out what others use.

s.newave · « **Reply #32 on:** May 21, 2008, 04:49 PM »

Have to agree with most of the others in saying that the biggest obstacle imo holding FARR back from getting the attention it deserves is that it is not as intuitive or accessible as some of the other launchers on that list. Just doesnt have the same "sex appeal"

even though it is farr more powerful. As i mentioned in another thread i think adding the following features to FARR and having it use the Large icon slide by default with only location as the other row would help.

With regards to the interface i think one nice option would be to add an icon to the left of the query box right above the search results which would reflect the icon from the first search result. Taking that one step further you could also display the name from the first result as well in a different color/font perhaps. I think this allows you visually to identify the result you are looking for quicker. I see this as a middle ground between using the small icon report, which i use as i prefer having more results with a larger query font, and the large icon slide.

Would it be possible to add another set of "Report Columns" options in the display tab for the large icon slide display style. This way you would have a "Report Columns" for each display style and could specify different columns to use for each style. To be more accurate it would probably be a "Report Columns" for the small icon report and "Report Rows" for the large icon slide style. I think this would work well especially with the functionality to automatically switch display styles. I find myself using the large icons for regular app launching etc where i wouldnt normally need to view a lot of the other columns however when it automatically switches to the small icon report for dir results as well as a lot of the plugin results i would like to see the other columns.

Likewise it would be great if in the Fonts tab you could have the option to set the font/size for the other rows besides the "Name" row when using the large icon style. Being able to change the fonts would imo be very helpful in making the "Name" row more prominent and distinguishable from any other rows the user has specified.
-s.newave (May 17, 2008, 12:26 PM)

Lastly an improved help file would be good although some screencasts would be A LOT better.
Keep up the great work though Mouser and i cant wait for the next release

Perry Mowbray · « **Reply #33 on:** May 21, 2008, 10:36 PM »

Maybe there is a wiki but we can start a slow Farr wiki maybe.
-kartal (May 21, 2008, 01:28 PM)

I think a WIKI in this situation would be perfect. Lots of other software is going down that track: all it needs is enthusiastic members (and we have lots of those).

I'm sure that a lot of members would learn a thing or two as well! as rjbull said:

I don't, for one... Maybe part of the "problem" is lack of tutorials, which is why sri's is useful? It would help to have a simple summary of all the things FARR can do, whether you have add extra tools to make them work, whether the aliases are pre-configured, and what platforms they run on (e.g., not everyone has .NET installed).
-rjbull (May 21, 2008, 11:01 AM)

Just for the record: I don't for two! I use just what I need to get by (always seem to be time poor).

xbeta · « **Reply #34 on:** May 21, 2008, 11:00 PM »

I know the power of FARR, although I did not use it.
so I intorduce it to Chinese users:
http://xbeta.info/ask-quick-launch.htm
if you cannot read Chinse, see the google translated page.

and ask my readers to help translate the homepage & FARR into Chinese.
ask for Mouser's permission of translate.

mouser · « **Reply #35 on:** May 21, 2008, 11:06 PM »

xbeta i always appreciate when you translate one of our pages and i would be very happy to be able to link to a Chinese translated FARR page.

Ghostly · « **Reply #36 on:** May 22, 2008, 12:48 AM »

Well Mouser, I wouldn't take this too seriously, as I have read something like a dozen different articles and polls about command launchers like Launchy and FARR. To be honest, I had heard passing references to FARR many times, but never once thought to use it until I was reading an article about launchers on LifeHacker and saw quite a few people in the comments section swearing by FARR. So while I admit you are going to get some biased opinions, you are always going to get some good free publicity from these things as well. And I can't remember one of those articles that didn't have FARR mentioned on the list or in the comments.

Grorgy · « **Reply #37 on:** May 22, 2008, 12:58 AM »

andthe only complaint i've ever heard about it (apart from its name lol) is that it isnt pretty enough! What i like about it is it does whats needed and goes away, how long do you want to look at the beauty of your launcher for?

Besides i reckon it looks good anyway

mouser · « **Reply #38 on:** May 22, 2008, 01:06 AM »

Thanks Ghostly -- you are right.

It's like most things in that it's less important which program is chosen as "winner" as it is to have new people find out about all the different programs.

Part of what sometimes inspires a coder to work on and improve a program is hearing how people like it, and I know I feel that way about many of my programs. Seeing people comment that they like FARR makes me want to hurry up and release new versions with new goodies (I've been working with ecaradec and czechboy recently to try and get the new version of FARR with new features for plugin writers out the door this month).

kartal · « **Reply #39 on:** May 22, 2008, 01:26 AM »

I really think that Farr is very very nicely designed and optimized software. It achieves so much with so little. Many other apps would need additional plugins for what Farr does by default with minimal design.

Please keep up the good work Mouser.

rjbull · « **Reply #40 on:** May 22, 2008, 04:57 AM »

yes this is true, but i think the first thing would be to have a good help file (very good ?),
but let's not forget FARR is pretty much one man's work, and it is freeware ... so i will not complain
-nitrix-ud (May 21, 2008, 01:23 PM)

It's easy to forget FARR is one man's work

but as Perry Mowbray points out, it now has a large community of enthusiastic users. Much of the material on FARR is still in the forum and doesn't seem to have made it to an integrated help/tutorial, so given that nobody likes writing help files/documentation, Perry Mowbray's suggestion of a wiki makes sense.

Two things that disorient me about FARR are that some features, extra programs and aliases discussed in the forum just aren't in the release of FARR I'm using (2.00.145), and how you configure FARR also makes a difference, e.g. whether you set it to Alt-numbers or plain numbers. Maybe two archives should be available, one bare-bones for people who just want a launcher, and one fully-loaded, like plain Total Commander vs. the Power Pack edition.

mouser · « **Reply #41 on:** May 22, 2008, 08:08 AM »

Lots of very good suggestions -- the next big FARR release will be at the end of this month, and will be mainly focused on adding features for plugin writers, fixing lingering minor bugs, and adding a few features. After that cycle of new features I should probably try to see what we can do to make FARR a little easier to use and configure and understand. I will also try to finally make some tutorials on how to do advanced stuff in FARR.

Perry Mowbray · « **Reply #42 on:** May 22, 2008, 09:57 AM »

I will also try to finally make some tutorials on how to do advanced stuff in FARR.
-mouser (May 22, 2008, 08:08 AM)

Didn't I read somewhere in the FARR help something about the new format making it easier to share FARR settings?

What I'd really like to also see is a bit of a "library' where people can share (i.e. upload for other users to download) some of their settings.

mouser · « **Reply #43 on:** May 22, 2008, 10:03 AM »

Version 2 of FARR made it very easy to make and share alias packs.

kartal · « **Reply #44 on:** May 22, 2008, 10:45 AM »

Some youtube videos may help as well.

s.newave · « **Reply #45 on:** May 22, 2008, 10:48 AM »

Unfortunately i think most ppl gravitate towards things that are shiny and intuitive to use. I feel like a lot of ppl may try farr and not stick with it long enough to truly understand how powerful it is or what it can do because of its purpose driven interface/design. I know it took me about 2-3 tries to get hooked

I think a few interface tweaks and perhaps a FARR Screencast series highlighting different features such as plugins, aliases, display settings etc would really go a long way. A wiki would be great for power users but again most novice users need instant gratification and immediate understanding or they will move on to the next shiny new thing.

kartal · « **Reply #46 on:** May 22, 2008, 10:51 AM »

It is all about the defaults that come with the app. You know Farr can beat launchy or any other on that list so easily on any day.

kartal · « **Reply #47 on:** May 22, 2008, 10:55 AM »

Maybe someone can create "auto alias" plugin which would go through desktop and start programs and create aliases for installed shortcuts. So for newbie users that would make things faster.

Armando · « **Reply #48 on:** May 22, 2008, 07:47 PM »

Just finished eating and took a few minutes to post my own comment on lifehacker. Wonder if it's going to pass the, ahem, quality control filter...

tomos · « **Reply #49 on:** May 23, 2008, 03:05 AM »

Just finished eating and took a few minutes to post my own comment on lifehacker. Wonder if it's going to pass the, ahem, quality control filter...
-Armando (May 22, 2008, 07:47 PM)

mine doesnt seem to have - posted in the first round 1 & half days ago - no sign of it