7 things Mac users should know
I’ve been using my Mac for about 3 months now and I have gathered a few resources and some advice for people that are new to Apple’s computer or experts wondering how they could make their Mac experience a little better. Rather than reinvent the wheel, I decided to link to the resources and applications that have helped me the most. This is written from a “web developer” perspective, but even the average computer user should be able to implement a few of these tips into their daily work flow.
1. Backup everything and back it up often.
A hard drive failure is devastating (I know from experience). But it doesn’t have to be. Derek Punsalan has provided a great guide on how to make bootable disk images so that if your hard drive crashes you can keep working like nothing happened.
I personally use a 320gb Western Digital MyBook with a FireWire connection and SuperDuper to automatically backup my drive 4 times a week. It might sound like a paranoia - but in the event my hard drive fails I lose 1 day of work - no big deal.
2. Quicksilver can do anything
If you like a clean dock, download Quicksilver. It is a great launch utility that stays out of your way until you need it. You can play a specific song in iTunes, load one of your favorites in Firefox, or quickly find something in Gmail.
Go get it, try it out, and you’ll wonder how you ever used your Mac without it. There are also some great guides at the Quicksilver documentation page.
3. Bootcamp is nice, Parallels is better
If you use Windows on a regular basis to test web pages, work with personal finance applications, or do school work then Parallels is the solution you should be using. Sure Bootcamp is free, but it interrupts your work flow. Parallels lets you run Windows while still logged into OSX and the new versions let you run Windows applications in OSX - great for testing web sites in IE6 and IE7.
4. Transmit rocks
I use FTP a lot so I need something that is easy to use but has all the options I want. Transmit fits the bill. It is easily the best FTP solution for Macs. It costs $30, but for such a great piece of software that’s a fair price.
5. AdiumX is the best multi-protocol instant messaging client available.
If you’re like me you probably use Gtalk, MSN, and AIM to talk to people. Rather than load up all those applications it’s nice to have everything in one. AdiumX is a free piece of software that looks great and is highly customizable. My only complaint with it is that it doesn’t support video chat as iChat does.
6. Windows Media Player doesn’t work on a Mac
It’s not a problem though. Flip4Mac does the job and saves you from installing another media player when you already have iTunes.
7. TextMate rocks for web development
I downloaded a few text editors when I first got my Mac. After trying them all I decided that TextMate was the best. I haven’t regretted the decision. For every new site I create a new project and I can continually add or delete files from that project through TextMate’s project interface. I also love the tabbed files, it makes editing WordPress templates a breeze.
15 responses so far ↓
9 Dec 2006 at 3:24 pm
Just to let you Know Windows Media Player for Mac DOES work, it’s crap and won’t work on Intel Proc. very good.
9 Dec 2006 at 4:20 pm
What always interests me about posts like this is the total cost of software we are talking about. For example, we are talking $650 for Photoshop (which I assume you use given your graphic design skill), $30 for Transmit, ~$50 for TextMate, and $80 for Parallels. That’s roughly $800 total for just those applications. Assuming all this software was actually *purchased*, that’s a whole heck of a lot of money for college students like yourself (and for me at 21 and recently graduated)…
This isn’t a shot at you by any means but more a reaction to the cost of software and an observation on the tools that younger designers suggest that they use. Either it’s just an unspoken thing that younger IT people use BitTorrent or a lot of people have a lot of money…
Anyway, I just recently (last week) switched over to the Mac world so this list peaked my interest - thank you.
9 Dec 2006 at 4:27 pm
Paul - it was all purchased. I make enough money from web design and other business deals that the ~$1,000 I’ve spent on software was worth it. It is a lot for the average college student - I agree. But, with Apple there are a lot of great free pieces of software for people that don’t require the same amount of control I do.
I didn’t mention Photoshop in this post because it is too expensive for the average user to spend on graphic design, even with student discounts it was about $400 I think.
Anyway - maybe a post about some great free software for the Mac would be nice too
I’ll start working on that 
9 Dec 2006 at 4:59 pm
Ben - Don’t get me wrong, I certainly don’t question that you purchased your software. My comment was directed more at the inability for some to have as much control as others over their software purchases, leading still some to obtain copies in other ways, which is very unfortunate. That said, I’m currently employed in (desktop) software engineering and those prices are certainly an honest representation of the work that went into their development, so it’s easy to see that side too - an uneasy dichotomy in my mind.
All that mumbling aside, a list of free software that aids in web development would definitely be of interest to me.
Regardless, thanks for your response - consider me a new reader.
9 Dec 2006 at 9:49 pm
Cool tips, thanks for this.
10 Dec 2006 at 6:43 am
I’m not sure complaining about the cost of SW is relevant here. If you’re interested in developing professional web sites and charging professional fees, you need professional tools.
There’s a reason designers charge professinal fees to develop and deliver their services. The cost of operations warrants certain overhead that needs to considered. Not everything is free.
As a college student, your education cost you in the neighborhood of 1000-3000x more than a full license of Photoshop! I’ve spent more time using Photoshop than i did i in 4 years of classes…(random, i know) anyway
Don’t forget, if you’re currently a student, you’re eligible for a healthy student discount.
Anyone who’s purchased Photoshop, that I know anyway, has ever doubted it’s value. It’s superior software that keeps getting updated, reasonably. On the other hand, Quicken, MS Office, Quark (among other $ software that underwhelms) is a different story. I can’t think of another piece of SW I haven’t hesitated in paying for the upgrade as little as for Photoshop (I’ve owned it since version 2.0 - and I don’t mean CS 2.0, - I think that’s 10 upgrades…there were a couple .5 versions in there, I’m sure there’s a wiki…)
10 Dec 2006 at 8:01 am
James - As I said, “those prices are certainly an honest representation of the work that went into their development”. I know this because I work for a software development company that sells software to businesses for more money then I may ever see in my lifetime. Therefore, I was certainly not complaining about the cost of software but rather noting that it’s nice to be able to afford such things at such a young age, implying that Ben must be good at what he does to recover the costs of such an expensive, yet powerful tool set. My parents always wonder how/why I could spend $1600 on Borland Delphi 2006, a software development IDE, and not have any physical thing other than a CD…
10 Dec 2006 at 8:33 am
Interesting tips, but there’s a display problem with you site in Internet Explorer 7 that makes it almost impossible to read your blog posts.
Here’s a screenshot that illustrates the problem:
http://homeusers.brutele.be/anon2064/ie7.gif
10 Dec 2006 at 8:51 am
I recently read an article on running a MAMP development workstation which, at the end, listed some good open source (free) tools to replace the commercial tools listed in the article. Honestly, I like your write-up better, but you seem to have aimed it at a different audience.
This is the article:
http://5thirtyone.com/archives/707
To summarize the section in question here:
- Text editor: Smultron
- FTP client: CyberDuck
- Windows Apps: Wine
I’ve tried both and while I’ll never leave Transmit behind, I find that Smultron is not a bad text editor at all. CyberDuck isn’t bad, I just really like Transmit. I haven’t used Wine so you’re on your own there.
Hope this helps!
11 Dec 2006 at 11:58 am
Did you mean Derek Punsalan instead of Powazek?
11 Dec 2006 at 12:14 pm
The Seinfeldian - Yes, in fact I did
31 Dec 2006 at 1:10 am
Let’s not forget Fetch (http://fetchsoftworks.com) for FTP, which is free for the education types and the new version isn’t bad.
Also, TextWrangler (http://www.barebones.com/products/textwrangler/) is another great text editor (think of web-tuned and scaled-back BBEdit) that’s free.
However, if you have the money, those are great choices.
7 Jan 2007 at 6:41 pm
Great site Ben.
Here are my top 5 programs for OS X.
21 Feb 2007 at 8:43 am
Hey cousin…I’ve read this page like 10 times…okay maybe not that many, but I find it very interesting as I am learning to use my mac. Heck I should hire you to teach me everything you know…I’ve had this computer for a year and a half…and even though I know how to use it I feel like there is soooo much more for me to know. I’ve been looking for a back up recently since I’ve got a lot of files that I have to keep for 4+ years and seeing how you can’t rely on technology…figured I ought to back it up. Thanks for the recommendation on a backup. I was a little leary about buying one and finding out I couldn’t get it linked to my computer or something…think I’ll take your suggestion- price was pretty resonable. O and by the way adium IS awesome. thanks for all the tips! Hope school is going well.
1 Feb 2008 at 5:17 pm
the only problem with aduim (i don’t know why you put an X after it) is file sharing. it is a terrible client for direct connections in AIM for things like pictures or files.
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