MaxMenus

ipsyd · #1 February 19th, 2005, 07:52 PM

MaxMenus lets you put up to 12(!) fully customisable menus discreetly in the corners of your screen. The menus appear as small coloured spots, so subtle that anyone not familiar with the interface may never notice they are there.

But the menus behind the spots can be simply awesome. You can put Applications, recent files, any folder, any file - in fact, just about anything - in any of the menus. The contents of any folder can appear either as a heirarchical submenu, or as items in the menu itself. You can rename menu items without renaming the objects they link to. You can add separators, and change the order of menu items in any way you please. You nominate (for each individual menu) whether it pops up when you simply point at it, or remains hidden until you click.

But the best feature of all is that the menus are fully Finder-functional. By this I mean that you can drag a file to a closed menu, which will pop open, and then you continue to drag the file through the menu and its whole heirarchy of subfolders, finally dropping it exactly where you want it, in just one move. I have my Home folder in one of my MaxMenus, and I can't tell you how many hours of filing time this has saved me. Unbelievably simple!

Get MaxMenus at www.proteron.com.

Brilliant, unobtrusive, rock-solid, cheap & indispensible. Simply the best!

Gerard McLean · #2 February 19th, 2005, 09:48 PM

two things missing:
1. scale font size
2. can't select the application to open files with.

Other than that, good software.. just missing the last 2% (like almost everything Apple gives us be default in OSX)

G.

ipsyd · #3 February 19th, 2005, 10:47 PM

G

1. True, but not a big deal (for me anyway).
2. Don't get your point - what has this to do with custom menus?
FWIW, you can put your Applications folder in a MaxMenus menu. Then, from the Finder, drag any file onto the menu (which opens), then to any app in the Applications folder to use that app to open it. This is the same as Finder behaviour, but better, because you don't have to have the Applications folder visible when you start the drag - the menu is available from anywhere.

Gerard McLean · #4 February 19th, 2005, 11:46 PM

An example:
By default, I open PDF files with Preview because it is quick.
In the Finder (Desktop) if I want to EDIT the files, I can then right click on the icon and Open with... Acrobat.

I want a filing system that sits in the corner, waiting for me to open it (like MaxMenus does well) and drill down to the document I need and I can open it.. but I want to have a choice to open it with Acrobat or Preview. If I want to open with Preview, there is no problem..MaxMenus works.

But if I need to open the file with something else, I have to open a finder window, click.click.click.click to where I stored the file, right click open with...

I like a clean, organized filing system. UnMac-like, maybe, but keeps me sane. Organize and file a document once. Not being able to manage a file in place without using 2-3 different tools to open it is just silly.

Folder Tabs used to let you do all this in OS 9. I just find it unconscionable that OSX has been out for years and we're still asking for BASIC features that we once had. In desperation, we cobble together all these little utilities that kinda work.. mostly...

Sometimes moving from OS 9 to OSX feels like trading in an old car for a more reliable new car, with a better engine, nicer seats but no tires. Upgraded, yes, but moving down the road takes twice as much effort.... Apple just didn't polish the edges on OS X for the Finder. And from the looks of things, they aren't going to.

G.

bobw · #5 February 20th, 2005, 08:36 AM

This is an older program - no updates in quite some time
Release Date - 2003-11-03

Randman · #6 February 20th, 2005, 09:13 AM

F10 is a much more robust application launcher for the menu bar. Quite customisable, even lets you select certain text files if you wish.

bobw · #7 February 20th, 2005, 09:16 AM

FruitMenu is my favorite. Very versatile.

Randman · #8 February 20th, 2005, 09:22 AM

Fruitmenu and F10 are different. I use both and love both. Fruitmenu does a good job of customizing menus. F10 is a pure application/item launcher from the menu bar. It allows you to access every item on your computer via icon or text and even sort them out to certain sub-categories (such as games, GUI, utilities, etc.). Was going to do a recommend on it.