Click image to download Exo font family
OS X Mountain Lion & Adobe Creative Suite 6 working perfectly together
Drag & drop between OS X Full Screen apps just got easier
I get to try a LOT of applications and utilities, but few of them remain installed on my Macs for the long haul. This is especially true of small shareware utilities that tend to solve a relatively minor issue that few people even consider a problem to begin with.
When I tried Yoink, from Eternal Storms Software, I suspected this might be yet another one of those apps that was more trouble than the problem it attempted to solve. After using it for a short while, I was happy to find this was not the case at all.
When Lion shipped with the Full Screen feature, I found it to be cumbersome to use all the time because it limited drag & drop access between the Finder and apps that were in Full Screen mode. The problem for me was, I was really starting to enjoy using Full Screen with as many apps that would support it. Yoink solves the single, very annoying problem.
Yoink places a small window on your screen as soon as you start dragging a file which you can then drop the file on to store it. You can drag multiple files to the window if you wish. Then when you’re ready to drop the files into another program, you simply drag them out of the window. Normally, Yoink’s window lives on the screen edge, but you can configure it to appear just next to your mouse cursor when you start dragging a file.
I find Yoink particularly useful when I want to attach several files located in multiple locations in the Finder into Mail when it’s in Full Screen mode.
You can view a brief video of Yoink in action, then purchase Yoink here for only $2.99. If you’re unsure if Yoink will work for you, there is a 15-day trial available.
Design tip: Choose your fonts wisely
A quick tip for designers who find themselves re-branding a company or designing a campaign. Choose your fonts wisely. That really cool font you download from the Internet probably looks great in the headline. But keep in mind that you’ll likely find out later on that the client wants to use it in the body copy of their brochures, posters, annual reports, etc. The last thing you want to be stuck with is a font family that has only a regular and bold font.
Try to use font families that offer a wide range of fonts. You’ll likely need a light, regular, semibold, bold and black version, as well as condensed versions of all of them.
Recent acquisitions should make you wary of buying new apps
The headline sounds a bit over-the-top, I know. But it sums-up my point best. With Google acquiring Sparrow (the extremely popular email client software for OS X and iOS), and Facebook buying out Acrylic (makers of the popular RSS reader, Pulp), and Instagram, it’s clear that no matter how small or large your favorite app or service is – it’s entirely possible that it will cease to exist at any time.
With Instagram, Facebook chose to allow it to live-on for now – but I suspect it will eventually get fully integrated into Facebook’s brand apps. Unfortunately, Google has not been as kind. They’ve made it clear that they have no intention on adding features to it in the future. It’s dead. And while Facebook only hired the developers and not purchased the apps themselves, they’re essentially dead as well.
I’m not suggesting that you should not buy apps from independent developers. They’re what makes the Apple community great. And I absolutely do not blame any developer for selling their company for large sums of money. They worked hard to create a great app or service and they deserve the rewards.
But you should take these recent acquisitions into consideration when you purchase your next app that may be a mission-critical one. Let me give you an example. (more…)
Adobe InDesign offers JPG export of individual items
When exporting as JPG from Adobe InDesign, most users export an entire page, then do any cropping necessary in Photoshop. But there’s an easily missed feature that allows you to export only what you want.
Simply select the object(s) on your InDesign page that you want to export before hitting Command + E (File>Export) and choosing JPG from the drop-down menu. When the JPG Export dialog box appears, tick the Selection button at the top before setting your other JPG options. InDesign will export a flattened JPG the size of your object(s) at your specified resolution and color mode.
Extensis Universal Type Server updated for Adobe CS6
Extensis recently announced the immediate availability of updates for the Universal Type Server Client font management software. The updates provide plug-in based font auto-activation to teams that use Adobe Creative Suite 6 (CS6) applications.
The updates are available as a FREE download for Universal Type Client for Mac OS X, and include plug-ins for Adobe InDesign, Illustrator and InCopy.
[ilink url=”http://typeserver.com “]Click here for more information about Universal Type Server[/ilink]
Adobe offers temporary fix for InDesign crashing bug on newly released Macs
If you just bought a new Retina MacBook Pro or MacBook Air and you’re experiencing crashes in Adobe InDesign, here’s a temporary fix until Apple & Adobe completely fix the issue.
Apple’s Mac App Store Sandboxing rules already claiming victims
Developers who wish to sell their software in Apple’s Mac App Store have to abide by certain rules. As of last month, Sandboxing is in effect, which restricts the level of integration with the OS any particular app has. In theory (and in practice, actually) this will help protect unsuspecting Mac users from malicious software downloaded from the Mac App Store.
The realities of Apple’s Sandboxing rules go much deeper though. For developers of some extremely popular applications like TextExpander, YoJimbo, BBEdit, TextWrangler, a difficult decision must be made. Do they completely withdraw the app from the store, or remove the features which don’t comply with Apple’s Sandboxing rules? Removing features is likely to anger existing customers, and greatly reduce the enticement to purchase the app to begin with. Removing the app from the store completely means a significant drop in exposure for the app, and more expenses involved with selling it on their own.
Ted Landau has some great commentary on the whole Sandboxing issue, along with some thoughts from a few high-profile developers and Apple pundits in his Apple’s Sandboxing…One Month In article.
Why Google+ is losing the battle with Facebook: It’s simple
If you’re using a Mac (and you probably are if you visit this website), one reason you do is probably because it’s simple to use and maintain. If you’re a designer in the advertising business you know that the simpler the ad, the better the results.
Simple is always better. Simple-to-use always beats feature-rich-but-complicated. If you believe that, then you know why Facebook is beating the digital pants off Google+ in the social media arena.
Facebook is a fairly simple service:
- You sign up
- You search for friends or companies you want to follow
- You click a “Like” button on their page
- You get a feed of everything they post (text and photos)
There’s very little thinking or learning-curve involved with using Facebook. Finding new friends is dead simple using Facebook, as is finding brands you wish to follow, and sharing photos and video. There is very little in the way of techy lingo used on the site, and outside of the privacy controls, the entire site is easy for even the most non-geek user to navigate and use. Now let’s look at Google+. (more…)