Author Topic: What's your favorite launch bar? Your favorite features? Missing Features? (Read 91486 times)

VSiAQ · « **Reply #50 on:** February 01, 2006, 04:14 AM »

I love mayk. Not a true launch bar. But it works greatly for me, a person who like to use command-line tools.

Just google and you'll find it. Small and really fast. Simple interface. Rich-feature. It definitely worths a try.

nontroppo · « **Reply #51 on:** February 01, 2006, 01:42 PM »

OK, I'll be up front. I had originally demoed TrueLaunchBar and loved it (it is great software). I made all my menu's in a detailed organised hierarchy (spending quite some time). Then, I happened to stumble on the marvelous FARR, made by Mouser. I ended up not using the launch bar anymore. FARR takes the tedium and manual hard graft out of maintaining hierarches. It also learns and adapts to your computer use. It is minimalist, simple but effective[1].

Nevertheless, to keep ontopic, here are the features TrueLaunchBar has that were really great:

1) Virtual Folders: I could hook the TLB menus into my previous Start Menu hierarchy. The brilliant thing was when I added shortcuts to TLB, my custom Start Menu sections were updated automatically. Brilliant.

2) Collapsing Seperators: I could drag-n-drop links around and seperate them with titled dividing lines to give visual order. The neat thing is that seperators can be "folded"/"collapsed", so groups of programs I use infrequently didn't obscure more used programs, but a simple click would show them.

3) Recently accessed: a menu comprised of all the links I had recently used. Very useful and a bit of the creamy goodness of FARRs adaptivity in the normally static world of launch bars.

4) I never used this but it sounds very smart — auto-sensing toolbars! Basically, the menu structure can be linked to the active application. So if you are running a text editor, you could have a menu of coding utilities close to hand!!!

5) Aesthetics: Quite simply, it is very flexible in terms of fonts / colours / icons / number of columns / view types. You can get a really visually pleasant interface out out of it!

----
[1] It reminds me of when I dropped The Bat as a mail client; brilliant and rich functionality, but based on the flawed model of foldered email management. An much more basic mail client that used a database engine, without bells-n-whistles, won over it because the underlying concept was "better".

nontroppo · « **Reply #52 on:** February 01, 2006, 07:01 PM »

I've made a mockup of how it would be possible to use FARR as a launchbar type app while still allowing it to work well as an adaptive launch maestro. Mouser, this seems far more beneficial to you; one code base to manage and less overhead.

https://www.donation...dex.php?topic=2272.0

XMinus1 · « **Reply #53 on:** February 01, 2006, 11:29 PM »

My current favorite is Pegtop's PStart. I use alternative shells: GeoShell for a bit, years ago, then Litestep for the last few years, now happily back to Geoshell. I found the perfect LS theme for my needs, so for years I didn't need a stand-alone app launcher. Now that I've returned to GS I need some way to manage all of my apps. PStart is the perfect tool for me: drag and drop capablity, simple and straightforward. my favorite feature is it's ability to be invoked by the mouse, just where the cursor is at, by configuring the mouse to pass on a particular button click as a global keystroke, i.e. I no longer have to move the cursor to the systray to start apps. Of course, that's not a unique feature, but it's nice that such a relatively small app has just those features that are critical to me. I like it's simplicity: it's not the one-stop-shop that some app-launchers aspire to.

I used Kana Launcher, another small launcher, but had problems with it after I rebuilt and reloaded my WinXP box, so I gave it up for PStart.

tinyvillager · « **Reply #54 on:** February 06, 2006, 09:14 PM »

Thought maybe i'd pend it to this thread,don't know...

Microsoft has a new launch bar...groupbar
http://research.micr...m/vibe/groupbar.aspx

"GroupBar requires no installation - just download the executable (GroupBar.exe) and run it. (Put in in your start-up group to run it automatically on start-up.) Note: creating Snapshots with the GroupBar produces .gss files in the same folder as GroupBar.exe, so save it in its own folder if you would like to avoid cluttering up other folders. GroupBar requires no uninstallation either - simply delete GroupBar.exe and any Snapshot (.gss) files it has created, and it is gone."

P.S.

There's an Internal
http://msrweb/vibe/groupbar/install.aspx<-get a 404 on that one

And an external
http://research.micr.../research/downloads/

I'm confused

scruffdaddy · « **Reply #55 on:** March 02, 2006, 07:57 PM »

I like ObjectDock from Windowsblinds, but I prefer the Tabbed Visulization, that way I can group similiar programs per tab. But I've stopped using it due to finding an idea I like a little better.....(slickrun)

SlickRun is a pretty cool "launcher" that I like for it's simplicity and power.

http://www.bayden.com/SlickRun/. I haven't had to make any shortcuts anymore since using it (not the normal ones anyway, just 'magicwords',...

Anyway, check it out.

- scruff

mouser · « **Reply #56 on:** March 02, 2006, 08:26 PM »

if you're talking about slickrun you should defnitely check out our own Find+Run Robot: https://www.donation...r/findrun/index.html

and discuss it here: https://www.donation...index.php?board=12.0

gottadoit · « **Reply #57 on:** March 09, 2006, 06:28 AM »

I use alternative shells: GeoShell for a bit, years ago, then Litestep for the last few years, now happily back to Geoshell.
-XMinus1 (February 01, 2006, 11:29 PM)

I also used to use GeoShell for a while and I still switch between explorer and geoshell for my window manager sometimes. One thing that was a big negative was that geoshell wasn't 64bit clean and there were some comments that it would be a big job cleaning it up. One really useful thing that I got from using geoshell was reading this article on usability from the geoshell docs site, that article references the asktog.com site and this article on Fitts Law which is also a great read. I really found putting a vertical geobar on the left edge of screen #1 (I use dual monitors) easy & fast, application of those principles was easy and "obviously better" once tested (a sign of a really good idea)

If there was one single thing that eventually allowed me not to care which program I was using as a windows manager it would have to be FARR, I now use explorer most of the time and 99% of the time I use FARR to launch programs so the window manager has become largely irrelevant

I probably should have posted my comments about being able to run as a limited user and securely caching credentials in this thread, but seing as the post is already done its just as easy to read them in the launchbar commander similar apps thread

masu · « **Reply #58 on:** August 09, 2007, 11:11 AM »

Besides FARR, RocketDock is a really nice piece of software

saxydan · « **Reply #59 on:** November 05, 2008, 05:56 AM »

I got to know about Launchbar Commander in your e-mail this morning, tried it, and promptly switched over to it. Have been using KeyLink up until now, and it's still sitting there in the background: Simple, straightforward, keyboard-orientated app. You wanna launch Firefox? Hit CTRL+WIN or WIN+ALT, type fo or fox or fi or ref, and hit ENTER. Just sits there, in the tray, waiting. Almost non-existent learning curve. Sticks with you on all your desktops if you're using something like VirtuaWin. Still have to test the VirtuaWin bit with LCB, but all thumbs up so far!

lanux128 · « **Reply #60 on:** November 05, 2008, 06:32 AM »

just had a glimpse of KeyLink but here its equivalent would be Find And Run Robot (Farr). give it a try as well.

more screenshots here.

• https://www.donation...ware/Mouser/findrun/

rjbull · « **Reply #61 on:** November 05, 2008, 10:11 AM »

Have been using KeyLink
-saxydan (November 05, 2008, 05:56 AM)

How would KeyLink compare with SlickRun?

robinsiebler · « **Reply #62 on:** January 21, 2009, 07:16 PM »

I've used PowerPro on and off since it was Stiletto and I actually registered it before it became freeware. I have a love/hate relationship with it - it does so many things, but personally, I find it's scripting language hideous!

Currently, I use TrueLaunchbar. I only use about 10% of its functionality (which goes for PPro was well), but I really like being able to see CPU/Memory usage in the taskbar. The problem I have with Samurize, widgets, etc. is that you have to minimize everything to see them. Or, if they are on a dock, you end up popping it up by mistake all the time when you are trying to move or resize a window.

rjbull · « **Reply #63 on:** January 22, 2009, 05:49 AM »

PowerPro ... I find it's scripting language hideous!
-robinsiebler (January 21, 2009, 07:16 PM)

I use PowerPro and find its scripting hard work, but that goes for other programs as well. E.g., AutoHotKey is very popular on DC, but not being a programmer, AHK scripts look gibberish to me... I just wish PPro had a learn-by-example script recorder and editor, like Macro Express.

Coeluh · « **Reply #64 on:** January 27, 2009, 06:09 PM »

I would like an feature of the mac with the growing icons when you hover above them on the quicklaunch bar. Also the option to just have a flag instead of the word start next to it (im not going to use reshack, hate it)

songless · « **Reply #65 on:** February 14, 2009, 08:00 PM »

I'm looking for something like bbIconBox in bbLean, auto-hide and movable panels with shortcuts and full drag-n-drop support.

kartal · « **Reply #66 on:** May 03, 2009, 04:36 PM »

Hi

I am looking for a free nice launcher bar . I probably will use for documents launcher(since Farr does everything else for me). I use Pstart but was wondering if there is anything better out there

Deozaan · « **Reply #67 on:** May 03, 2009, 04:48 PM »

I haven't used many but I really like FreeLaunchBar.

mouser · « **Reply #68 on:** May 03, 2009, 04:55 PM »

and if you like FARR, you might like my LaunchBar Commander.

kartal · « **Reply #69 on:** May 03, 2009, 07:18 PM »

Hey mouser that is great. The only thing I cannot figure out is the sounds. How can I stop them?

kartal · « **Reply #70 on:** May 03, 2009, 07:33 PM »

Btw it is giving me a debug error "returning icon 0 for (path)" when I try to use the folder node.

mouser · « **Reply #71 on:** May 03, 2009, 09:47 PM »

hmm.. ill look into it debug warning -- did the icon for the folder look wrong or empty?

there is an option for sounds in each launch bar.

Coeluh · « **Reply #72 on:** May 04, 2009, 09:59 AM »

farr ftw

cyberdiva · « **Reply #73 on:** May 04, 2009, 11:04 AM »

and if you like FARR, you might like my LaunchBar Commander.
-mouser (May 03, 2009, 04:55 PM)

I've never tried FARR, but I absolutely LOVE LaunchBar Commander!

I suppose one of these days I should take a look at FARR, but between LaunchBar Commander and ActiveWords (which enables me to launch documents, substitute text, open folders, navigate to websites, and arrange for more complicated activities by means of its scripting ability), I suspect I may not need FARR.

Innuendo · « **Reply #74 on:** May 04, 2009, 12:41 PM »

I had never heard of ActiveWords before so I checked out their web site. The program looks to be very powerful & while ActiveWords looks fascinating I have to wonder if it is indeed $50 worth of fascinating.

That's a lot of money for a program launcher & scripting utility. Sure, the ActiveWords implementation is on steroids, but still...that's a lot more expensive than any of their competitors.