Following my implementation of a Flash based desktop widget for viewing RSS feeds, I decided to experiment with Mozilla Prism.   This idea is simple; rather than having to load up a web browser and type the url to a web app, you can instead create a mini app of it on your desktop. So for example, clicking on the icon for Facebook, will load that and only that into a stripped down web browser. No buttons, menu bars or tabs getting in the way, just simply the page you want.   To get more info, check out the Mozilla Labs blog, where you can also download a beta version for Mac (there are...

So your a budding new web designer, or even a seasoned pro? Whatever your skill level, no master is complete without a good set of tools. Luckily for us there are lots of tools to help us on our way. The first thing to do is arm yourselves with a good web browser. My weapon of choice is Firefox as its simple, easy to use and there are lots of add-ons that are very useful. It is these add-ons that enable me as a web designer to be able to adjust and edit my sites, quickly and easily. I have included my favourites here. Firebug Firebug integrates with Firefox to put a wealth of development tools...

CandyBar 3 is finally out. I’ve been really looking forward to the new features, and they include: Integrated CandyBar together with Pixadex with an entirely new interface Added large (512 x 512) icon support Leopard dock customization Additional system icons Quick Look integration More reliable system icon restoration, and much more The program can be downloaded for a 15-day/250-icon limit trial here. The program is $29 for new users. Owners of either CandyBar 2 or Pixadex 2 can upgrade for $24. Owners of both Pixadex and CandyBar 2 can upgrade for $19. Any user who bought CandyBar 2...

Just a quick update to my previous entry on how to make the stacks look pretty. Rather than downloading FileXaminer I decided to modify the dates myself so all you now need to do is drop them into your stack and click arrange by date modified. It’s as simple as that!! enjoy. To download the updated icons click here!

Seems that i’m not the only the one that isn’t a fan of the old IE browser. This is the icon for the Mac only CSSEdit. (By the way look in the bottom left corner) It made me smile non the less. Oh and IE/Windows fans, don’t bother with any silly comments!!

Here is a REALLY simple way to tidy up your stacks in Leopard. The basis for the idea was found over at XD’s blog. By default the stack will show the icon of the newest entry to the containing folder. The basic idea is to use a nice icon to always show in the stack, rather than the cluttered ‘mess‘ you see at present. We could simply add an icon and rename the icon to ‘aa’ and select sort by name for the stack. This isn’t exactly perfect as the whole idea of stacks is to show the most recent items of a folder for quick retreival. The original idea was to edit...

Enough said!! Thats my Leopard disk right there on my MacBook today at about half two. Thats right – before it was officially released. I pre-ordered and it was delivered by special delivery. This is my first blog entry written in Leopard, and what a breeze it was to install. It was as simple as: put the disk in, click install and sit back and relax. No troubled updates, hardware upgrades or re-formatting of disks for me (aka Vista). In all it took about 45 mins (although it did say 3hrs 38 when it first started)! At the moment, Time Machine is working in the background making sure i’m...

Are you ready for the most hyped software release of the century (I have no supported facts on this, but considering that the personal computers haven’t been mainstream for that long, and this is the best there has been so far, its a pretty safe conclusion)? No doubt blogs worldwide will go mental with reviews and posts about Leopard, filling up places such as Digg with repetitive headlines about new features. I will try and refrain from posting such blogs (although technically I suppose this one counts as such a post). Oh well, not long to go now, the weekend will be taken up, wasting hours...

Just when you thought that Leopard was perfect with its 300+ new innovations Apple decides to give us another treat in the form of ‘Back to my Mac’. Put simply it allows  you to control and view your Mac from any other Mac (running Leopard) via your .Mac account. Without going into too much detail i’ll allow you to read Apple’s rather stunning review. This is just another reason why Apple is beating Microsoft – a better OS with even better add-ons.

Just a quick note. On the Apple site, it states that you must have an Apple Remote in order to use Front Row in Leopard. This may be a bit of a bummer for you guys that don’t own one. Fear not, Front Row is always there and can be accesed by hitting Command + Esc. You may already know this, but I thought i’d share it anyway. I wonder why Apple haven’t publised this? By the way the Command button is the one with the ⌘ logo. You could also press F1, depending on the age of your machine. If you do have an Apple Remote, head here to see some nifty little functions you may not...