
Alfred V2 Sneak Peek: Workflows - neilmiddleton
http://blog.alfredapp.com/2012/12/14/v2-sneak-peek-workflows/
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danneu
I'll share a tip for Alfred that makes me faster on the computer:

Think of all those times you google something just to click the first link.
"twitter gem github", "ebay tickle me elmo", whatever.

Reassign Alfred's I'm Feeling Lucky (Google) hotkey to "L".

Now you can Opn+Space (whatever brings Alfred up), "l twitter gem github" or
"l ebay tickle me elmo" and it brings you directly to the webpage.

It's also nice because it lets you type where you want to go instead of
wasting brain cpu cycles remembering the URL. "l hacker news". "l rails
guides". Or even "l ebay". "l github".

And you don't even need to have your browser open. Just do it from any other
app. It's huge.

~~~
adamnemecek
Out of curiosity, what's your miss rate, i.e. how many times is the first site
not what you wanted?

~~~
danneu
Close to 0%.

You'd be surprised how accurate your google intuition is. But the main reason
you don't miss is because you're using this Alfred shortcut to go somewhere
specific. In other words, it's helpful for navigating (when you know you'd
want the first result), not when you don't actually know where you want to end
up.

Consider these:

    
    
        l wiki amphetamine
        l gwern nootropics
        l github turbolinks
        l soundcloud radiohead
    

They'd go where you'd expect and are good examples of when I elect to use this
shortcut.

However, here are some bad usage examples because you're trying to navigate
when you really want to search:

    
    
        l amazon piracetam 
        l buy piracetam 
    

Buying the first Google result isn't how you shop. Instead, you'd `l amazon`
to navigate and then search for "piracetam" on Amazon. Or you'd just `buy
piracetam` and let it bring up the Google results. The first google result for
`amazon piracetam` also happens to go to an Amazon 404.

edit: Not the best example considering Alfred ships with an Amazon shortcut
(`amazon piracetam` actually launches an Amazon search), but I hope the point
is still clear.

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empire29
As a long time Alfred user, the workflow feature looks really astounding.
Custom google searches were a huge boon to my productivity when developing (i
can search APIs in a flash now).

If im reading this correctly, with intelligent workflows I can populate my
Alfred results list with carefully curated search results.

This looks like the push I need to pony up and support andrew like i shouldve
been doing all along.

~~~
nXqd
Please share your tips to search through API

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nicholassmith
I love Alfred, so this looks like a really solid update. It doesn't seem to be
too in your face so it's just a nice treat for power users.

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tambourine_man
I use Alfred every day, but maybe this is getting a little beyond the
program's scope. Hope it doesn't increase memory usage much.

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moe
I love Alfred, so my main hope is for it to retain its simplicity and speed
during this update (I don't see myself using this feature as I don't use any
of the current advanced features either - other than the calculator).

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mtrn
I love Quicksilver. How is Alfred better?

Workflows also remind me of Apple's own Automator.

~~~
empire29
Quicksilver is probably more powerful, but Alfred (to me) seems much simpler
and there's a lower barrier to entry.

Where with QS I had to "think" whenever I used it, Alfred's interface, in the
parlance of apple, "just works".

~~~
jamesjporter
Really? Quicksilver has always felt like a natural extension of my brain. Then
again I've never tried Alfred, so maybe I just don't know what I'm missing.

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lewisflude
I bought Alfred last week, it's incredible!

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tuananh
workflow opens a lot of possibilities!

