Our Verdict
I now and again take a second look at products that have been substantially updated since their original Mac Gems look back — specially if those products are among our preferred Gems , and especially if the changes justify a novel rating . Today I ’m taking just such a look attworecent Gems , Fantastical($20;Mac App Store link ) andMoom($5;Mac App Store connectedness ) .
Fantastical 1.1
I in the beginning reviewed Fantastical 1.0 back in May , praising it as “ a great package that handles — with an attractive interface and some impressive options — most of the thing you apply your ‘ big ’ calendar plan to do . ” If you ’ve never used Fantastical , its icon dwell in your menu bar , displaying the Clarence Shepard Day Jr. ’s date . Click the picture , and a beautiful calendar drop down , showing the current calendar month , with upcoming effect listed below ; you choose which calendar ’ events appear , as well as the routine of events or days ’ Charles Frederick Worth of events . Click an event to view its details , or tick a engagement to see its events ; a hunt field have you quickly get events .
It ’s also loose to create new event from within Fantastical . you’re able to double - click a appointment and then satisfy in the event ’s details , but Fantastical ’s standout lineament is its natural - spoken language case creation . You just typecast ( in English ) a conversational description of the event ; Fantastical parses your school text to sate in the details consequently . Press Return , and the raw case is create , letting you get right back to workplace . ( For good example , if I typeMacworld Staff Meeting Friday 10a Rm500 /work , Fantastical creates a new event , Macworld Staff Meeting , in my Work calendar with the upcoming Friday as the escort , room 500 as the location , and 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. as the time . ) admit the name of an Address Book contact , and Fantastical can add that person to the event ’s invite inclination . Lion ’s edition of iCal offer similar functionality , but Fantastical simply works much best , and Fantastical solve with any calendar you ’ve set up in Apple ’s iCal , BusyMac ’s BusyCal , or Microsoft ’s Entourage or Outlook , as well as with MobileMe , iCloud , Google Calendar , and Yahoo Calendar accounts .
Fantastical 1.1 now give up you to edit out upshot and total notes .
Fantastical 1.1 now allows you to edit events and add notes.
What ’s new : Since interlingual rendition 1.0 , the developer of Fantastical , Flexibits , has updated the program four time , and those update have brought a issue of new and useful feature , as well as the usual minor improvements and bug fixes . The most significant fresh feature of speech are the capability to edit and delete result — activity that antecedently required you to open up your favorite calendar curriculum — and the capability to add and edit notes for events .
My other favorite new feature is the Fantastical menu extra ( 22 kb download nexus ) . Run this lilliputian program , and you’re able to dislodge the Fantastical menu anywhere in the carte - extras sphere of your menu bar . ( I opt it near the proper sharpness of the cover , next to Apple ’s clock menu . ) Other new feature film have you add multiple alarms automatically ; use “ launcher ” apps such as LaunchBar and Alfred to send data instantly to Fantastical ; and utilise several Lion trackpad gesture and extra keyboard shortcut to pilot outcome and calendar .
In my original review , I wrote that Fantastical does n’t include every feature you might want . Fantastical 1.1 has closed that gap considerably , to the point where many mass could get by without ever open up iCal .
Moom now lets you draw custom window sizes and positions on its screen grid.
Moom 2.3.1
When Ifirst review Moom 1.1 back in April , it had already become one of my favourite Mac utilities by make it easier to resize , move , and manage windows in OS X. With Moom installed , if you move the mouse cursor over the fleeceable “ zoom ” button in the upper - left corner of any windowpane , a palette come out containing a little dustup of iconic buttons , with each button illustrate a common windowpane sizing and spatial relation : full screen or filling exactly half of the concealment on the left , right , top , or bottom . snap one of these button , and , like trick , the window is moved and resized appropriately . ( Click - drag one of these half - blind buttons , and you could dislodge the window to occupy a quarter of the screen or , if you have multiple displays , to move it to a dissimilar display . )
If you favor using the keyboard , contract a keyboard shortcut bring up Moom ’s keyboard - control overlay ( bezel ) , which lets you apply the arrow keys to move and resize the current window ; changer keys let you determine how much to move or resize with each key press . you could also utilize Return , Space , and Tab to zoom the current window to fill the projection screen ; move the window to the shopping center of its current display ; or revert the windowpane to its original size of it and location . ( You choose , in Moom ’s configurations , which of these key performs each action . )
Moom now countenance you draw custom windowpane size and office on its screen grid .
You can also now create custom presets with keyboard shortcuts.
What ’s new : Moom has been update eight times since my original review , adding dozens of improvements and new features . For those who favour mouse - cursor ascendance , my favored new feature article presentation , just below the soar - button presets , a gridiron correspond the current display and the window ’s current position on it . only draw a rectangle anywhere on that grid , and the windowpane is resize and reposition consequently . ( As you ’re drawing , a utilitarian windowpane - preview outline appear on your screen to show you precisely where , and how big , the result window will be . ) It ’s a quick - and - easy way to on the dot move and reposition window , and you’re able to choose , in Moom ’s options , the number of rows and columns in the power grid — in other word , how precisely you’re able to resize . you may also access and employ this grid with keyboard commands .
But you are n’t limited to Moom ’s presets or manually drawing windowpane place on a grid , as Moom ’s new Custom preferences blind now lets you configure custom presets and actions . The uncommitted option let in various combinations of moving and resizing windows to custom sizes and positions , moving and resizing windows by specific increments , and moving windows between displays . Your customs duty action at law come along in a raw menu within Moom ’s zoom - release palette .
you may also now create tradition presets with keyboard shortcuts .
you’re able to also assign a keyboard shortcut — single - key or multi - central — to each custom natural action . Multi - cardinal shortcuts work at any time , without requiring you to bring up Moom ’s keyboard - control overlay . To access an action using a single - winder shortcut , you first bring up that overlay , then press the one - key shortcut . ( As an example , I ’ve assigned B to a preset that represents my favourite window sizing and place for BBEdit . ) To help you remember your shortcuts , whenever you bring up the keyboard - command overlay , you’re able to now see a “ cheat canvass ” that displays all useable actions and shortcuts .
The other big raw feature of speech is multi - window - layout snapshots . If you ’ve got a favorite frame-up , with each program ’s window meticulously organise , you could take a shot of that layout and then use Moom to restore it at any prison term . This feature of speech can be helpful for bushel ordering , but it ’s also quite utile if , for lesson , you ’ve got a Mac laptop computer and you on a regular basis throw between using one presentation ( just the laptop ’s ) and multiple displays ( the laptop ’s and an extraneous show while at the office ) . you may manually spark the appropriate snap , but even easier is Moom ’s setting to automatically restore a snapshot whenever you alternate to a particular number of displays ( or whenever your exhibit matches a finical resolve — utilitarian if you switch betweendifferentsingle displays ) .
Moom ’s developer , Many Tricks , has also summate a number of minor - but - useful options and tweaks ; and Moom now works with more programs , better put up multi - display configuration , and include some basic AppleScript accompaniment . And both mouse and keyboard control now work with Quick Look windows .
There are many windowpane - direction apps out there — I’ve visualize literally dozens debut in the preceding twelvemonth alone . I ’ve tried most of them , and Moom remains my dearie by being simple enough for new users , while offering plentitude of features and flexibility for those who hunger more options . It ’s also one of the few that can meet both keyboard junkies and those who prefer to use a black eye , trackpad , or trackball .
( Disclosure : Former Macworld editor program Rob Griffiths is now an employee of Many Tricks , the developer of Moom . )
