Textmate, Alfred and Evernote.

I didn't have to travel far on the yellow brick road of productivity to find quite a few apps that have helped me work faster and smarter. Don't worry you won't need any ruby slippers or a wizard for this quick read.

Textmate vs. Dreamweaver

For the longest time I had been an avid user of Dreamweaver (code view of course) and then a few months ago I met Textmate, the good witch.

I kept seeing all of these great bundles available and several version control system bundles. The bundles and the concept of tab trigger were the biggest reasons that I decided to give Textmate a try. I instantly fell in love with creating my own snippets and using a tab trigger to use them. Talk about a productivity boost when you no longer have to type out all of the long css3 properties.

/* CSS3 Gradient */
.gradient {
  background: #1e5799;
  background: -moz-linear-gradient(left, #1e5799 0%, #2989d8 50%, #207cca 51%, #7db9e8 100%);
  background: -webkit-gradient(linear, left top, right top, color-stop(0%,#1e5799), color-stop(50%,#2989d8), color-stop(51%,#207cca), color-stop(100%,#7db9e8));
  background: -webkit-linear-gradient(left, #1e5799 0%,#2989d8 50%,#207cca 51%,#7db9e8 100%);
  background: -o-linear-gradient(left, #1e5799 0%,#2989d8 50%,#207cca 51%,#7db9e8 100%);
  background: -ms-linear-gradient(left, #1e5799 0%,#2989d8 50%,#207cca 51%,#7db9e8 100%);
  filter: progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient( startColorstr='#1e5799', endColorstr='#7db9e8',GradientType=1 );
  background: linear-gradient(left, #1e5799 0%,#2989d8 50%,#207cca 51%,#7db9e8 100%);
}

Some Differences I Noticed

Alfred, Lets Call Him Toto

On my adventure, I decided to check out Alfred. Another little mac app that I've been hearing about. I have to say that it’s nice having my own personal butler. He's kinda like Toto, smart and always there when you need him.

I had been using the mac spotlight for a while and found it a little lacking. I use Alfred for launching apps but also for searching the ExpressionEngine and MojoMotor documentation quickly. I have also been using the calculator more than my 3rd grade math teacher would like. It beats counting on my fingers… I only have 10. It is 10 right? 

Custom Searches I Use

In custom searches use the following in the Search URL field add one of the following. Alfred can walk you through how to create your own.

ExpressionEngine Documentation
http://www.google.com/search?q={query}&as_sitesearch=expressionengine.com%2Fuser_guide%2F&x=0&y=0

MojoMotor Documentation
http://www.google.com/search?q={query}&as_sitesearch=mojomotor.com%2Fuser_guide%2F&x=0&y=0

WoW Head for fellow WoW players
http://www.wowhead.com/search?q={query}

And Rift DB for Rift players
http://www.riftdb.com/search.aspx?search_text={query}

With an issue in Google Checkout not accepting my payment, I haven't tried repurchasing a power pack upgrade. Now, I’m debating whether or not a power pack upgrade would be worth it for how I currently work.  Although I do think that telling Al to play a certain song would be nice, oh Al bark for me will you?

Evernote, Scarecrow with a Big Brain

Another big win in productivity is Evernote. I love being able to access notes on my Mac, iPad and PC. Using notebooks, tags, web clipping, its hard to lose notes that I create. With the newest iPad updates the lack of a basic editor is no longer a complaint. I wouldn't say I'm a power user but I'm working up to it!

Stan Lemon has a great Evernote Alfred script that I think would be great to use if I upgrade to a power pack.

Filed In
Productivity
Referenced
Textmate, Dreamweaver, Alfred, Evernote
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