

Shortcat: Spotlight for OS X's UI - Xyzodiac
http://shortcatapp.com/

======
micheljansen
This works surprisingly well! I especially like it in apps like Messages and
Finder (try holding shift to see the hierarchy of the UI). It's also a good
measure of site accessibility when used in the browser. Cool!

~~~
_chendo_
The Messages app doesn't work too well at the moment due to a weird way they
expose the attributes of the conversation list, but I'll be adding a
workaround soon.

I'm hoping this app will cause developers to try to make their apps/sites more
accessible now that more people benefit from more accessible UIs.

------
DeepDuh
I always thought that one of the main UI advantages of Windows vs. OSX is the
keyboard control (at least until Microsoft made it a lot worse with the
introduction of the Ribbons). This might be a very cool addition to OSX! Keep
at it, this has IMO a potential market similar to better touch tools.

~~~
_chendo_
Yeah, I never figured out how to navigate around the UI with the keyboard on
OSX as well as I did on Windows... I'll be adding faster menu access as well!

~~~
DeepDuh
Well, because you can't. Mac OS in its essence has traditionally been
developed for a Mouse/Keyboard combination - Keyboard only is not regarded as
the "Mac way". I'd say that this is actually a pretty good match for Laptops,
since the touchpad is very close - as long as the touchpad is good you can
work pretty efficiently with this combination. However, on Desktops I've
always felt limited by OSX compared to Windows and I think this is because
your app is missing ;).

Let's just hope Apple will never shut the doors for Apps like yours. Given
their current direction it's not unthinkable unfortunately.

~~~
_chendo_
There are ways to do it, like focusing the menu bar and what not, but I never
remember shortcuts for that, which is one of the reasons I wrote Shortcat.
Shortcuts themselves are another thing to have to remember, and I have a
terrible memory. Until a shortcut becomes muscle memory, I find them annoying.

I don't think Apple will shut the door for Shortcat unless they're willing to
remove the Accessibility API completely. That said, the Mac App Store doesn't
allow apps that use the Accessibility API which is rather annoying...

------
dangson
This is awesome! I use Vimium, an extension for Chrome that does something
similar, but have always wanted to be able to use my keyboard for the entire
OS. <http://vimium.github.com/>

------
_chendo_
Hey, I'm the developer behind Shortcat. Feel free to ask me about the app!

~~~
rafifyalda
Nice work Jack! Going to see if I can work this into my Alfred flow.

Only a small request from me - a smaller menu bar icon and/or an option to
hide it altogether (though I'm using Bartender to hide it for now).

~~~
_chendo_
Thanks!

Right now, I'm working on making it faster and more stable before I move to
cosmetics, but if you request it at <http://shortcat.userecho.com/> and enough
people vote it up, I'll make it a priority :)

Also, is Bartender more stable now? I had issues with it not working well when
I first heard about it a few months back.

~~~
rafifyalda
It's been pretty stable for me, the latest feature of momentarily unhiding
icons if they change is great. Allows me to see when Dropbox is syncing or
Time Machine backing up. Only issue I have is with apps that have transparent
modals that won't trigger via keyboard shortcuts (Translate Tab). Definitely
recommend it though if you like things tidy.

------
twe4ked
“Movement saved: 242,553 pixels”.

