Recommended Applications Thread

Dunno what mods think about this, but how about a thread with a number of categories with names and links to FREE/SHAREWARE applications which may be useful to this forums members/guests which is then edited accordingly to add more recommendations for each category from people? (Possibly a sticky also for everyone also?)

Here's just a few categories and links I have to start it off.

Desktop Customization

Candybar - Apply different Mac icons
Shapeshifter - Apply Mac themes application
Mac Themes
Mac Icons
High Resolution Wallpapers
MenuCalendarClock - Adds a calendar drop down to your system bar
Desk Tunes - Displays your currently playing song and album cover on your desktop.
Drag Thing

Movie Format Converters

Handbrake - Converts your DVDs to MPG/AVI/MP4 etc
iSquint - Converts videos to iPod format (mp4)

Messenger Apps

Mercury Messenger (Includes webcam support)
Adium X
Microsoft Messenger
aMSN

Other Apps

Cocoa MySQL - MySQL database manager

Interesting idea Liam. I would add Skype to your Messenger apps list.

Other categories that could be added:

- Graphics (GIMP, Iconverter, CocoViewX, Xee, etc.),

- Office Software (Abiword, NeoOffice, Acrobat, etc.),

- FTP Clients (Cyberduck, CaptainFTP, PureFTPdManager, etc.) and

- Text Editors (Smultron, TextWrangler, etc.)

These come to mind immediately. I am sure that there could be several others.

my adds:

onyx - excellent maintenance tool, great for cache maintenance and tweaking preferences

delocalizer - will free up a couple gigs of space by removing extra language support if you don't need it (i recovered about 2.8Gb by removing all support except us and uk english and spanish).

unison - great newsreader/binary downloader if you need that sort of thing.

audion - great mp3/audio program. great alternative to itunes if thats not your bag.


edit: second on mac57's Xee suggestion.

Liam said:

Dunno what mods think about this, but how about a thread with a number of categories with names and links to FREE/SHAREWARE applications which may be useful to this forums members/guests

Click to expand...

We like it so much, we made a sticky thread on recommended software already:

Switchers Guide to OS X Software

The apps listed on the links from that thread are fairly standard and widely used by many members here.

Other members have thought recommended app threads were useful as well. Here is just one example of the many threads created by members in the past:

Top 10 User Recommended - OS X Tiger Must Have/Best Applications

This topic is one of the best reasons for members to use the search function of the forums. There are already quite a few threads asking for/giving app recommendations.

Because new software is released almost every day, it is an almost Herculean task to keep threads like this updated and current. Searching the forums here for advice is good, but the best thing I would suggest to do is to check out sites like www.macupdate.com or www.versiontracker.com for software suggestions. You can search there by category, get reviews, see screenshots and get the most current and updated software available. They do such a good job there, we really won't have to worry about the chore here. :black:

I recommend Delicious Library http://www.delicious-monster.com/

It's another great use for your iSight

I see a difference between what Liam is suggesting and the rest of the links above. Instead of endorsing a specific title for a specific task, he is suggesting that we assemble major categories of tasks, like Customization, Converters, Messenging and so on. Instead of presenting a "here it is" approach, recommending, say, Adium, for Messenging, instead he is suggesting that we say "Messaging, well, you can use this, or that, or that..."

One of the complaints I still regularily hear from my Windows friends (and actually believed myself at the time I switched) was that the selection of software titles for Macs was actually quite limited. In fact, the absolute reverse is true, and the idea Liam has will be a marvellous illustration of that, as well as a real aid to new switchers.

I have just finished a "Linux to Mac Switcher's Guide" (see http://www.campbell-tx.net/MacOSX/Linux2Mac/linux2mac.html ), and am about to start a new version of it targeted as a "Windows to Mac Switcher's Guide". I think that Liam's idea is so valuable that I would like to take the overall concept and embed it in both of these guides.

Opinions?