I have finally had enough. Word 2011 might be highly customizable (compared to Pages ’09, for example), but there are still behaviours that are completely non-sensical and cannot be altered. One of my pet peeves is the non-standard use of the command-G shortcut. In most OS X applications, it means “Find Next”. In MS Word, it […]
There are two things in Word 2011 (admittedly, among numerous other ones) that are a constant source of irritation for me and that are so basic that it’s quite clear that Microsoft’s engineers have absolutely no clue about how people use their software in the real world, so much so that there is no hope of […]
As a professional translator in Canada, I am constantly referring to the TERMIUM database, which became accessible free-of-charge a couple of years ago as part of the Language Portal of Canada. One thing I do not like when using on-line databases, however, is having to retype things. Whenever I have to look up a term, […]
A couple of weeks ago, I asked in a blog post why Apple had decided to ditch the “Save As…” command in its Lion-optimized applications, including Pages ’09 and Numbers ’09. Today, I decided that I was not going to wait for an answer (which in all likelihood will never come) and that instead I should design […]
As Matt Gemmell notes, in Lion the Mail application now has a “Favorites” bar at the top, underneath the toolbar. This bar can be customized like the one in Safari, except that you can only add single mailboxes as buttons, so you are limited by the space available. One of the side benefits of this […]
A few years ago, I wrote about using the Fluid utility to build a stand-alone browser (based on Safari) for the TERMIUM on-line terminology database. Since 2010, TERMIUM is actually a free service, which means that anyone can now use it without having to pay a subscription fee. Having a stand-alone browser for TERMIUM is […]
After reading my recent post about using DragThing to further customize my Pages ’09 work environment by adding an application-specific dock that would function as a floating palette and provide buttons to execute run-only versions of the AppleScript scripts that I also use in combination with Keyboard Maestro to have convenient keyboard shortcuts for common actions, […]
As a French-speaking user of Adobe’s InDesign page layout application, there is little that irritates me more than Adobe’s on-going refusal to support the standard keyboard shortcut for inserting a non-breaking space, a character which is an essential part of French typography (and should be used more often even in English typography). In InDesign, for […]
The default behaviour of the Page Up and Page Down keys in Pages ’09 has one rather irritating aspect. Say you have a multiple-page document open in Pages ’09. You scroll back to the very beginning of the document and then you select the “Fit Page” option in the zoom menu in the bottom-left corner of the […]
When it comes to viewing PDF files, I much prefer Mac OS X’s own Preview application to Adobe’s own monstrosity known as Adobe Reader (to say nothing of the beyond-atrocious Acrobat Pro). Preview launches quickly, it offers high-quality font smoothing, and the latest version (5.0.x, in Snow Leopard) has an improved tool for selecting and […]
Earlier this year, I wrote about this flaw in Mac OS X’s Address Book where, if you have the results of a search currently on display in the application, the “Go to My Card” command fails to work. Now I would like to share a quick workaround that I designed using Keyboard Maestro. I created […]
Over the years, I have developed certain habits when it comes to using iTunes to manage my music library (which is my primary use for iTunes). Ever since Apple added more view options, I have been using a column-based set-up, i.e. with the Column Browser visible on the left next to the sidebar, with two […]
J’ai déjà eu l’occasion de parler des aspects extrêmement frustrants de l’interface utilisateur des logiciels du Grand Robert et du Grand Robert & Collins pour Mac OS X. Aujourd’hui, j’ai des solutions à proposer. Grâce à Keyboard Maestro, il est en effet possible de contourner certains des aspects les plus exaspérants de l’interface de ces […]
As far as I can tell, iTunes has no built-in shortcut to enter its “Search” field in the toolbar: There is also no menu command for it anywhere in the iTunes menu bar. If you want to use the keyboard to enter this “Search” field without having to use the mouse, the only built-in option […]
Early in 2009, I wrote a post about my attempts to fix the stupid default behaviour of the Page Up and Page Down keys in Microsoft Word 2008, which don’t just scroll the document up or down, but also move the cursor (insertion point) at the same time. At the time, I wrote that, since […]