October 08, 2009

Back to Quicksilver on Snow Leopard

Quicksilver, the amazing tool that it is, continues to live on life support. A small open source community seem to be giving it attention. I spent an intentional month with LaunchBar and then with Google Quick Search Box each to try and migrate to either of those. It just didn't work out. LB was certainly stable, but still underpowered. Some things in QS that I just depend on can't be done in LB (global triggers one of them). So, then on to Google's attempt, which is developed by QS' creator. It is definitely the underdog in this category... searches didn't even find the files I wanted. You have to use xcode to write plugins for now. I really look forward to trying out gQSB2.0 when it arrives. I expect huge improvements.

So, for now, I'm back with Quicksilver, though I've begun to play with creating Services for some of my own plugins that can now receive global key combinations in Snow Leopard. I have all my Accordance actions running native on Snow Leopard now as Services that don't require Quicksilver, Launchbar or anything. I hope to find the time to make them available soon.

And speaking of Snow Leopard...

On The Apple Blog a month ago, there was a helpful article pointing out that some QS plugins are causing crashes in Snow Leopard.

From what I’ve been reading on support forums, some users of Quicksilver saw no affect from upgrading their machines to Snow Leopard. I however, was not one of those people. And although I am warming more and more to Google Quick Search Box, I still supplement my usage of QSB with Quicksilver where the former is lacking in features. So I tinkered around until I was able to resuscitate and use Quicksilver again under Snow Leopard.
Really, the thing to do is install the latest Open Source build

and then navigate to:
~/Library/Application Support/Quicksilver/PlugIns
and remove all teh plugins and restart QS. If things run well, then you can selectively try plugins to add back in. Definitely stay away from UI plugins and AirPort Module.qsplugin and Services Menu Module.qsplugin.

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6 comments:

  1. Ute & Christian2:32 AM

    I think that LaunchBar is all but underpowered but your right about the triggers.
    Because it is good supported you can expect more goodies connected to Snow Leopard in the near future
    e.g. http://forums.obdev.at/viewtopic.php?p=11169#p11169

    I would definitely be interested in your accordance services ;)

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  2. Danny Zacharias10:06 AM

    Launchbar has been a solid replacement for me. I do miss the triggers a bit, but LB also does things (or does things better) than QS. I miss my QS triggers, but there are LB actions for those now. And your Accordance scripts work great with LB too!

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  3. Danny Zacharias10:09 AM

    p.s. one thing that I have really loved is the ease of creating my own custom searches in LB. I find the preferences of LB easier to work with

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  4. Jason and Rachel2:55 AM

    I loved your QS plugins. The main thing i liked was DISPLAY Scripture verses in Large Type. Your Accordance Automator Actions in conjunction with Snow Leopard's new services options have allowed me to get back on track with Google QSB. Thank you so much for all your contributions. The service I've got set up is equivalent to InstaVerse (unavailable on mac) and I'd like to make it available to other Accordance users, but it's so dependent on your Automator action, I thought maybe you'd be the one to do it.

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  5. Joe Weaks4:19 AM

    Thanks for the comments. I have put my Quicksilver actions into Automator Services on Snow Leopard. I haven't taken the time to package them up for distribution. Hope to soon.

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  6. Jason and Rachel6:19 AM

    Is it ok for me to ask you how you are able to write applescripts with Accordance without Accordance having a dictionary?

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