Hi, I'm Grace Smith

Mac OS X Productivity Series: Part One

Grace — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 15:28:25 +0000

This is the first in a three part in-depth series on how to get the best out of both the in-built features and the applications available in OS X, to take your productivity to the next level.

Part One gets inside QuickSilver and Spotlight before parts two and three discuss Applications, Spaces and the Dock. So make sure you are subscribed so as not to miss out when these are published over the next two weeks.

Why A Mac Is My Greatest Productivity Weapon

Any freelancer will tell you when it comes to working in and on your business, productivity is high on the agenda. Being as efficient as possible is extremely important, to keep within budgets, deadlines and to ensure we are making the most of our time and energy.

Since buying an iMac just over two years ago, It has been far and away the best investment I’ve ever made in regards to my business. Personally I find a Mac makes me more productive and happier at work.

In this article I’m going to briefly show how I use Quicksilver and Spotlight to help stay productive.

QuickSilver – A Mac Owners Best Friend

QuickSilver is so much more than an application launcher. With a few simple triggers I can create lists, launch websites, tag folders and run detailed searches. The more I get used to doing things with Quicksilver, the more things I want to do with it.

I use Command + Space to launch the Quicksilver interface and from there my usual tasks are:

Applications – I type in the first few letters, Quicksilver will then show the best matches, from there I just hit return to launch the app I need. Every Quicksilver query I do ‘teaches’ the system a little better about what objects, apps and actions I’m likely to use.
Bookmarks – Very often I want to quickly search my bookmarks or launch one without going through Safari or Firefox. I just type a few letters of the title of a bookmark, an icon and name appears for it. I hit return and voila.
Browse/Control iTunes – Once iTunes is running (heck it always is with me), I invoke Quicksilver, type browse then an item called Browse Albums comes up along with more iTunes options.
Write a text note – I press period to go to text entry mode, this is extremely handy as I often need to write short notes throughout the day.
Recent Documents – I type the name of the app I want to open, then press the right arrow to put the most recent document that was opened with that app into focus, with the other most recent docs off to the right.

This is only a taste of how Quicksilver can be used, for further Quicksilver resources check out:

Spotlight – The Mother Of All Searches

Spotlight is no substitute for good file organisation, however it can be extremely useful when searching for certain documents. It’s power can’t be underestimated!

The most regular searches I perform are:

Search by Kind – This is easily the most useful search for me personally, It helps to restrict the search to a certain file format, the searches I usually perform are – kind:image, kind:font, kind:pdf and kind:word. For instance if you wanted to find a PDF called Freelance your search query would be – Freelance kind:pdf.You can also limit your search to e-mail messages, music files, System Preferences, applications, and more. For phrases rather than keywords just use quotation marks, for example, “Mac Tips”.
Calculations – For quick calculations I often use Spotlight, for instance if I type 2*2, I’ll get 4. There’s a real range of calculation formulas available to use, so don’t be shy in testing it out! Although you should avoid hitting return in Spotlight as this will launch Calculator for you.
By Creation Date – This can be extremely useful If you are not sure of the exact file name but know the approximate date it was created. To perform this type of search you can use the following characters [ < > = ], for example, created:>1/11/09 will find files that were created AFTER November, 2009 while created:=1/11/09 will find files created ON 1 November, 2009.
Search Filters – Spotlight indexes your entire hard drive and by default searches within everything on Leopard. However to speed up your searches you can decided the exact search filters used by going to System Preferences > Spotlight Preferences > From there you can enable and disable the categories of te spotlight search by ticking and un-ticking boxes.
Time Saver – To save a little time I use Command + Return to open the selected file in Finder.

Spotlight Resources

That covers my QuickSilver and Spotlight tips and tricks, but are there any I’m missing or that you personally use? I would love to hear your feedback on this.
Image Credit

Big App Giveaway Code: ProductivityRocks

Interview: Michael Rose – The Freelance Advisor

Grace — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 13:44:17 +0000

The Freelance Advisor is one of the most in-depth freelance resources online and is designed to help freelancers and contractors in every field with detailed setup advice and ongoing help that even the most experienced freelancers and contractors will find useful.

The fact that all the contributors to the site are all freelancers and contractors with years of work in the marketplace under their belt means it’s one freelance resource you should most definitely be subscribed to!

It’s been on my radar for some time (even more so now with The Freelance Feed regularly featuring it), and I wanted to feature on this blog for those in my audience who may not have heard of it before.

I had the chance to talk with Michael Rose recently who is one of the main contributors. In this interview we discuss his background, the foundation of Freelance Advisor, freelancing in general and UK Freelance Conferences.

Can you tell us about yourself and your involvement with Freelance Advisor?

I’m a Web Editor living in Brighton. I fell in love with the web over ten years ago when I was at University and used Mosaic (one of the first graphical browsers) for the first time. With a degree in journalism and a love of all things hyperlinked, a career in “Web journalism” seemed obvious. Since then I’ve worked for AOL, Netscape, BT.com and FT.com and also some really small startups and I saw a few crumble and fail along the way (no names!).

Of course with the advent of blogging “Web Editor” doesn’t seem to mean much these days so I guess you could call me a “Site Manager” too. Basically I’m a rubbish designer and my code is even worse but I’ve always been able to get projects off the ground and bring a journalistic, end-user-focused eye.

I joined Freelance Advisor right at the beginning when it was a small blog with only a few posts. The founder, Darren Fell, asked for help on a local new media mailing list and jumped at the chance.

Why was Freelance Advisor setup and what do you hope to accomplish with it?

FA was setup to help everyone who freelances for a living. That includes contractors and consultants too but, like the PCG, we see ‘Freelance’ as the simplest umbrella terms for everyone who works for themselves from B&B owners to high-powered consultants and entrepreneurs. We hope to become the place to visit to have your questions answered whether it’s a query about tax, legal advice or just a recommendation for a good home-office chair – we hope to cover every aspect of freelancing, working from home and working on short-term contracts.

If we’ve not got a blog or podcast covering a topic then we’re certainly going to have someone in our community with a view or opinion – our forums are full of really interesting and helpful folk and they love sinking their teeth into difficult questions about tax or contract law.

What makes Freelance Advisor different to other sites focused around freelancing?

I think we’re unique in that we’re a community site and it’s been built exclusively by freelancers for freelancers with blogposts, designs and code all created by people passionate about the project. We’ve got blogs and jobs listings (who doesn’t?!) but we’ve also got a great series of podcasts, an events feed which anyone can add their events to, an awesome employment service called Workline which helps people get advice about the contract or job they’re currently in, plus the forum (a new addition this year) which is growing really quickly.

What topics do you discuss on the podcast and how do you choose your guests?

Our next podcast is with author Barbara Winter, author of “Making a Living Without a Job”. I think I spotted a tweet of hers (probably re-tweeted by someone else) and I thought the book would be interesting to FA readers. I sent here a message and we took it from there. It’s a great two-part interview, really inspiring.

We also have a lot of setup advice, accountancy advice (the podcast is sponsored by Crunch.co.uk) and there is always lots of discussion about marketing yourself, getting inspired and getting out there.

Are there any freelance specific events that you would recommend to UK freelancers?

National Freelancers Day has just gone… so… National Freelancers Day 2010!

I’d also encourage people to think local when it comes to events. Freelancing can be a lonely business and local, social, evening events are a great way to get out of the house, meet people of a similar mindset and find work.

In Brighton we are blessed with a thriving community with five co-working spaces, most of which have evening workshops and events, plus there is a huge Brighton New Media mailing list and ‘The Farm’ and ‘Writeclub’ meetups are great for getting connected and involved. It’s a very techie scene (lots of developer and designers) but we also have lots of small businesses, artists and entrepreneurs and local events are the best way to tap into that. BarCamps are also excellent! I’ve done three now and they’re quite addictive.

Your Introduction to Freelancing e-book is excellent and has been very successful, do you have any plans to follow up with any further books or premium resources?

Yes, the “Go Freelance guide” is one of our most popular posts and still gets hundred of downloads a month after a year of being out there. We’re planning on a ‘Go Freelance 2010′ update in January and several smaller ‘bite-sized’ guides throughout the year.

UPDATE: This is now available to download via The Freelance Advisor website.

What advice would you give to someone who wants to break into freelancing but doesn’t know where or how to start?

Well, again the ‘Go Freelance’ guide is a good starting point as it covers everything from ’should I?’ to ‘how do I?’.

I think if anyone is considering it seriously then they should just go for it… most people don’t even want to think about life without a steady pay-cheque, so if you’re even considering it you are well on the way.

I’ve known a lot of people who have agonised about the decision for months before taking the plunge and none of them have since regretted it… so… what are you waiting for?

What three articles from Freelance Advisor would you recommend for my readers as an introduction to the site?

I’d like to say a huge thanks to Michael for taking the time to take part in the interview and for his continuing work with the extremely helpful Freelance Advisor.

Big App Giveaway Code: ProductivityRocks

9 Must Have iPhone Apps For Font Addicts

Grace — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 15:32:42 +0000

If you’re a Typography Nerd raise your hand….I knew I wasn’t the only one obsessed with the art and techniques of arranging type and type design. As designers we seem to have an innate passion for Typography with an understanding it is at the very core of our work. It’s even been said that Web Design is 95% Typography.

So what better way to keep ourselves entertained, enlightened or just plain amused with Type than with these 9 Typography based apps.

1.The Font Game: Website | iTunes Store

Think you know your Century from your Myriad Pro? Well The Font Game will most definitely test your typography knowledge! There are three levels to choose from, beginning with ‘Somewhat Difficult’ through to the incredibly challenging ‘Exceedingly Difficult’, with a Hall of Fame which holds the latest and greatest scores. It was created by the Typography obsessed John Boardley, Kari Pätilä and Justin Stahl.

2. KERN: Website | iTunes Store

KERN is a challenging and thoroughly addictive game with the aim being to place a missing letter into a falling word while avoiding unnecessary ligatures. The letter appears at a variable point size and as the leading begins to shrink, you navigate the missing letter to the proper space and release its handle to lock it in place. It’s a wonderfully designed app that will bring out the Typography addict within.

3. Typography: Website | iTunes Store

This uniquely interesting app uses a random set of letters published on Flickr to display the message you input, which can then be emailed directly to a recipient of your choice or uploaded on the public gallery. Each image is linked to the respective Flickr page and you can view the photo’s credit by rolling over the image. It’s a fantastic combination of Flickr, Typography and communication.

4. What The Font: Website | iTunes Store

What The Font is the brainchild of MyFonts which helps you identify the fonts in a photo or web graphic. Ever seen a great font in a magazine ad, poster, or on the web and wondered what font it is? Whip out your iPhone and snap a photo, and WhatTheFont for iPhone will identify that font in seconds. The app connects directly to MyFonts’ font identification service which I’ve used personally on many occasions.

5. The Typography Manual: Website | iTunes Store

Do your eyes light up when conversations turn to ems, kerning, and baseline grids? If you answered yes, then The Typography Manual is for you! The Typography Manual is a superb resource for designers and includes a visual type anatomy glossary, a font size ruler, an em calculator, and enough content to fill a 60-page book. It has all the essentials of a desk reference in a regularly updated pocket resource. This is one Typography app every designer should have on their iPhone.

6. Type Drawing: Website | iTunes Store

TypeDrawing is a wonderful app that lets you draw with letters. You start by typing a sentence, word or letters you want to express, and then just draw. It allows you to make stunning typographic artworks and wallpapers. You can specify the font, size, color and opacity as well as the background and later save your artwork to a Photo Album or Email it. You can also join the Flickr group and upload your drawings.

7. Font Shuffle: Website | iTunes Store

FontShuffle was created by The Font Shop and offers a unique way of finding and comparing typefaces, and composing text samples. It’s a fantastic source of typographic inspiration, with hundreds of font families sorted by visual similarity into a visual family tree. The FontShop selects the best fonts from its huge assortment, from the world’s most respected type foundries, so the FontShuffle catalogue is constantly updated.

8. Type Photo: Website | iTunes Store

Type Photo combines your creative imagination with Typography and Photos. Make your friend’s photos into great typographic art with the words you want to say together. TypePhoto is really simple to use. Just type a sentence, words or letters and choose a font, then select an image (from either your photo album or with your iPhone camera) and that’s it, Type Photo creates beautiful typographic art. Type Photo also supports saving your arts as high definition images (1920*1920 pixels) and you can print them out or set them as wallpaper on your Mac and iPhone.

9. Font Browser: Website | iTunes Store

Want to know what the Malayalam letter Gha looks like? Do you need to know the key code for a left arrow? Or wonder what fonts are installed in your device? This app is for you. Font Browser is a unicode font browser, color browser, and keyboard keystroke browser. You can browse through more than 19,000 characters in the Unicode font, 9,600 named colors and 1,900 X11 keyboard codes.

Further Typography Resources

Have you tried any of the apps listed? If so I would love to hear your experience and your recommendations in the comments below.

Big App Giveaway Code: ProductivityRocks

A Look Back At 2009 & My Plans For 2010

Grace — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 16:54:42 +0000

I was inspired to write this by Sarah and Elliot’s posts on their look back at 2009 and their resolutions for 2010.

I started blogging back in March 2009, so was a little late to the New Year resolutions party, however I’ve decided to publish my thoughts on 2009 but more importantly my plans for 2010.

If nothing else it should make for some interesting reading next January!

Freelancing

It proved to be a breakthrough year for my business in 2009. I’ve worked on a wider variety of projects this year than ever before, ranging from microsites to large e-commerce redesigns and development. This was a conscious decision on my part at the start of the year to expand my expertise and knowledge and work with a wider range of people and businesses and it’s been extremely rewarding to see this pay dividends throughout the year.

I’ve also said No a lot more than I’ve said Yes when potential projects arise. I aim to continue being selective when accepting work as it’s not just good business sense, it also means freelancing continues (for me) to be extremely enjoyable and rewarding.

One of my main goals for this year is to gain more experience within iPhone & Mobile design and development. I’ve actually just begun a long-term project with an exciting government related startup to undertake both their web design and design and development of an innovative iPhone application which will offer citizens mobile access to city & county services and information.

I also aim to further push my Consulting service which in it’s first year has been a moderate success but I feel can be developed to provide even more value. It’s also an area that the redesign and development of Postscript5 will help with.

Work/Life Balance

Being self-employed it’s always difficult to switch off when you’re in the office, we constantly want to improve profitability and productivity, so making sure we take time away from work is a challenge. This year I decided to effectively cut-out any work over the weekends and limit time spent checking emails.

One of my main shifts this year was cutting down on the amount of office telephone calls I take and over the year it’s improved my productivity tremendously. Switching to Skype and email (much like Sarah) has been a major plus and helps me to keep both organised and interruption free.

I also took up Photography early last year and found my desire to constantly think about work lessened. Now when I’m not in the office I’m usually thinking about lenses, shutter speeds and planning the next photo walk!

Having a hobbie I’m so passionate about has provided me with endless inspiration and allows me to be creative in a completely different field.

Tools of the Trade

Overall I’m pretty happy with my office setup although there are some items I’d like to add including a second monitor, preferably a Cinema Display (as I’m rather envious of John’s setup). I also need a stand for my Macbook which sits on my desk and for me the only choice is the mStand, which looks amazing and stylishly fits with the iMac design.

Projects
The year has been mixed in terms of my own web projects. My major twitter related app still hasn’t got off the ground due to lack of time which has been hugely disappointing as I know this is a rather special (and unique) addition to the many sites and apps that make use of Twitter.

However I did manage to successfully launch The Freelance Feed in late November which is the premium aggregator of hand-picked freelance resources and articles. It now has nearly 400 subscribers and over 650 Twitter followers. It was covered on a wide variety of blogs and continues to grow and attract a loyal following.

I’m determined to make 2010 the year of the Side Project!

2010 Goal Summary

1. Work on at least 3 Mobile (iPhone App) related projects
2. Enter two photography competitions
3. Buy an L Lens and Tripod for my Canon 350D
4. Guest post on other blogs at least twice a month
5. Finish and launch 3 side projects
6. Go to more local and UK conferences
7. Redesign, rewrite and redevelop my portfolio
8. Grow this blog to 5000 subscribers
9. Land 6 consulting contracts

I would lastly like to thank all those who have supported both myself and this blog since it launched in early 2009. You’ve put up with a lot of spelling mistakes and also made my first year of blogging one to remember!

Now that I’ve laid out my experiences and goals for the next year, I would love to know your hopes and plans for 2010?

Image Credit

Big App Giveaway Code: ProductivityRocks

No related posts.

How To Say No To Spec Work Requests

Grace — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 12:22:57 +0000

Last week I was contacted by a startup who needed to work with a freelance designer on a regular basis. I will call him Mr X throughout this article as this is not meant to cause them any embarassment or offense, simply to educate.

Mr X explained the work involved initially helping to steer their overall brand aesthetic in a new direction and then continue to work on and improve their website.

He was complementary, professional and polite and the conversations back and forth went well. We discussed the project as a whole, my rates, schedule and their expectations for the new brand direction.

Then they dropped a bomb.

Mr X stated they were choosing from 3 designers and in order to choose the most suitable candidate he wanted me ‘do a couple of mock pages for their site so that he could see my ideas and vision’. This was so the candidate who best understood their brand direction, be chosen.

There it was staring me in the face – Spec Work.

For those of you who are not familiar with the term, ‘Spec’ is defined as work produced on a speculative basis, meaning the designer/developer invests time and resources into a project with no guarantee of payment.

My initial reaction was one of disappointment, having only experienced this type of request only twice before, It came as rather a shock to think professional businesses still thought this was acceptable.

I decided to do some quick research and read through both No Spec and AIGA for advice on how best to respond. I found a fantastic sample letter from AIGA intended as a response to any request from a firm to compete for an engagement on the basis of spec work. It is a succinct explanation of why speculative proposals compromise the profession and the resultant work.

I combined this with my own response and promptly emailed Mr X. His reply was (as usual) polite and professional and that although he didn’t mean any disrespect, he understood my position.

Moving On…

The best way to deal with Spec Work requests is as follows:

1. Take emotion out of the equation and stay both calm, polite and professional in all communications with any potential clients.

2. Aim to educate (respectfully) the client in exactly what Spec Work is, how it affects both your business and the industry as a whole.

Since discussing this particular issue on Twitter, I was asked by a wide variety of you to make available the actual email I sent to the client. I have now created a Shared Google Docs template which you can access below:

Say No To Spec Email Template (Google Docs)

If you would like me to make this available in another format please let me know.

Moral Of The Story

Figure out exactly where you stand, how you operate your business and what you’re comfortable with. That way when this type of request appears in your inbox, you’re ready with an appropriate response.

Further Resources

Instead of focusing on whether Spec Work is good or bad (everyone has their opinion), I would like to know if you’ve experienced a request like this and if so, how you dealt with it?

I look forward to hearing some of your experiences!

Image Credit

Big App Giveaway Code: ProductivityRocks

The LOL Cats Take On The World Of Freelancing

10 Blogs Every Freelancer Wish Existed

Grace — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 17:11:06 +0000

We all have our favorite Freelance blogs which consistently produce quality, insightful content. However in an alternate reality what if an entirely different set of freelancing blogs existed. The kind that broke all the rules….

With tongue firmly in cheek, I present a humorous look at the top 10 blogs every freelancer would like to exist:

1. Badclients.com

We all know and love Clients From Hell but what if there was a site that named and shamed clients that; don’t pay, treat us like slaves, endlessly micro-manage and generally behave very badly. Soon only the fabulous, deep pocketed, fantastic to work with clients would be left!

2. productiveinpyjamas.com

Do you actually wear real grown-up clothes when sitting in front of your computer? Well, Productive In Pyjamas will change that, with tips on how to use that ‘just got out of bed’ look to become a productive freelancing super machine.

3. taxfreefreelancing.com

Let’s face it seeing our hard earned money go into the Governments pockets each year…sucks. Wouldn’t it be awesome if we actually got to keep all of what we earned without going to jail? Hell yes! That’s where Tax Free Freelancing comes in.

4. freehealthcare.com

Fed up of paying for extortionate health insurance policies and high priced over the counter medication….I thought so. Well fret no more because Free Health Care will provide you with a lifetime supply of cash and insurance forms to pay for any medical bills that you may incur.

5. byebyeadmin.com

Say goodbye forever to every freelancers pet hates; accounting, invoicing, scheduling, filing and organising. Bye Bye Admin shows you how to forego all those painstaking tasks and instead enjoy seeing your office slowly being surrounded by paper, files and receipts!

6. paidvacations.com

Unlike most of the 9-5 population our vacations to {insert destination here} are unpaid. So when we leave the office we stop making money. Paid Vacations puts an end to this and shows you how to keep the {insert currency here} rolling in while you’re sunning yourself in Bali.

7. junkfooddiet.com

Junk Food Diet shows every freelancer how to cut back on those nasty things like fruit and vegetables and instead give our bodies much needed fatty energy boosts. By combining pot noodles with a mixture of crisps and chocolate to keep us both happy and contented in front of our computer for 12 hours a day.

8. pleasepay.me

So you’ve just finished this huge project, the client is overjoyed, you bill him feeling all warm inside waiting for the paycheck when said client does a runner and refuses to pay. What do you do? Well Please Pay Me has all the answers so never again will you be stiffed out of your cash. Suggested by @duncanmacgregor.

9. readingclientsminds.com

“Just do whatever you think”….”It needs more pop”….”I’ll know it when I see it”. Heard those before? Sure you have, you’re a freelancer! Reading Clients Minds shows you exactly how to take these vague phrases and workout exactly what your client means, plus you even get a free Crystal Ball! Suggested by @gariphic.

10. drinkcoffeemakemoney.com

To be a freelancer one of the criteria you must meet is a love of coffee. A true freelancer likes nothing more than sitting back in their Aero chair with a large cappuccino. Drink Coffee Make Money provides in-depth tutorials on how to keep both the coffee and cash flowing in. Suggested by @PixellicaDesign.

So that was my cheeky, highly sarcastic look at what type of freelancing blogs we could have in another reality. Most of these domains are available so in the unlikely event you actually buy one, please do let me know!

I would love to hear your domain ideas, so please feel free to share them in the comments below.

Image Credit

Big App Giveaway Code: ProductivityRocks

Show Me Your Dock Series! Part 30

Grace — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 15:31:06 +0000

Phill Horrocks is a web developer based in the north of England in a sunny little place called Lancashire. He is a web standards junkie, mountain biker, husband, father and profanity enthusiast – especially when dealing with Internet Explorer (aren’t we all).

I asked Phill if he would give us the lowdown on the applications he relies upon as a developer on a daily basis.

The Intro…

When at home I have a late ‘08 Macbook Pro and at the office I have a 24in iMac and a MacPro (The Beast – mainly used for video).

The Dock…

Finder – Erm, Finder still rocks for me. People knock it and use PathFinder but, for me, it works.
Dashbaord – I actually use Dashboard in my daily routine. I check the weather, my eBay watch list and use the calculator here when my brain fails.
VLC – I use Snow Leopard and it comes with QuicktimeX. For me it’s too limiting and besides, VLC plays pretty much everything you throw at it.
Expose – When I’m working on the MacBook Pro sans external monitor, Expose really comes into it’s own with Spaces.
Spaces – I actually use HyperSpaces and this got left in the dock becuase I got used to it being there!
Mail – Mail.app is the best mail app there is. Simple. It works. It finds mail incredibly quickly and it never crashes for me. I tried Entourage but never really got on with it.
Spamsieve – Thanks to SpamSieve I now get NO spam in my inbox at all. Right out of the box it gave me in excess of 98% accuracy. Excellent software.
Safari – Safari. What can I say. This is the best browser out there. Fast. Solid. And great support for emerging technologies. My primary ‘browsing’ browser.
Firefox – Firefox is my primary development broweser due to it’s excellent add-ons. Web Developer Toolbar and Firebug are both excellent time-savers and when it comes to debugging CSS they’re second to none.
Chrome – I’ve been using Chrome since it’s early wobbly pre-alpha days in the dev channels. It’s great. It’s fast and it can only get better in the future.
Preview – Still handy for looking (quickly) at PDF’s when you can’t be bothered waiting for Acrobat to load.
Fireworks – I do 99% of my web graphics work in Fireworks. It’s MUCH easier to use for web stuff than Photoshop is and gets the job done fast. Its a great tool for wireframing too when Balsamiq isn’t quite enough.
LittleSnapper – LittleSnapper is one of those apps that comes along and you wondered how to ever lived without it. I used to use Skitch a lot for simple snaps but LittleSnapper takes it to a whole new level, especially if you store your library in your Dropbox folder so you can share it. Awesome stuff.
Tweetie – My personal favourite Twitter app. Simple, quick and elegant.
SpeedDownload – Does what it says on the tin. And very well.
Omnifocus – Omnifocus keeps me sane. I use this along with the iPhone version.
On The Job – Where Omnifocus keeps me sane, OnTheJob keeps money in my pocket!
MindNode Pro – I never used to ‘get’ why people banged on about mind-mapping until I tried it. MindNode Pro is such a nice tool. It’s small and has just enough features to get the job done. I find it a great tool for mapping out sites too.
Espresso – Just today I got rid of Coda from my dock and replaced it with Espresso v1.1 which (for me) has just surpassed Coda in functionality and speed. Such a nice editor.
WaveBoard – I was lucky enough to recieve a Google Wave invite a short while ago and while it’s a browser-based tool, WaveBoard is, essentially, just a ‘wrapper’ or Fluid-like app for it. Keeps it neat and tidy should I not have a browser window open though.
VMWare Fusion – For all those times when I must use Windows, this makes is bearable. Unfortunately IE and Actinic mean I spend a bit of time here.
Stack – Desktop – Quick access to my Desktop is essential.
Stack – User folder – I often need to just peek into my root User folder and this is where I go
Stack – Applications – For the most part I’m a keyboard junkie and I use the excellent Quicksilver as a launcher to get me around but there are times when the Dock Stack for my Applications folder is useful.
Stack – Dropbox – Stack access to my Dropbox folder – essential.
Stack – Documents – Quick document folder browsing.
Stack – Downloads – I usually keep my Downloads folder quite trim so this stack is very handy.

———————————————————————————————————–
A huge thanks to Phill for taking time out to take part in the Dock Series.

If you would like to be featured in the Dock Series simply:

Download the Dock Series Template.
Email it along with the necessary images to: hi [at] gracesmith.co.uk.

Check out the other creatives in the series.

With more amazing creatives lined up, make sure to check back every Tuesday for the latest Dock Series installment.

Big App Giveaway Code: ProductivityRocks

Regular Schedule To Resume Next Week

Grace — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 18:03:49 +0000

I hope you had a great Christmas and New Year. I’ve been on holiday for the past two weeks, which includes a break from blogging. It’s been fab but I’m ready to jump back onto the blogging bandwagon next week.

Here’s what’s coming up over the next few weeks:

More Dock Series Goodness
An In-depth Exploration Into Mac Productivity
How Twitter Can Affect Your Business/Personal Brand
An Article On Freelance Blogs That Will Make You LOL….and much more.

See you Monday!

Big App Giveaway Code: ProductivityRocks

Happy Holidays To All My Readers

Grace — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 14:28:57 +0000

I wanted to send each one of you a huge thanks in visiting and being a regular reader of this blog and I hope you are all having a great Christmas.

I just hope Santa doesn’t get caught speeding again this year!

Photo Credit

Big App Giveaway Code: ProductivityRocks

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The Randomiser Interview on Kamikaze Music

Grace — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 18:14:16 +0000

Dave Sparks from Kamikaze Music asked me to be the second participant in his new ‘Randomiser’ Interview which covers a set of rather unique questions, even where I would hide an elephant!

Big App Giveaway Code: ProductivityRocks