TypeIt4Me 4.8.1

"TypeIt4Me, where have you been all my life?" -- it took about five minutes of using this program for me to start asking that question.

I had of course heard of TypeIt4Me before. David Pogue, who suffers from chronic typing injury, has been singing its praises for years. As a typing pain sufferer myself, I am now kicking myself that I did not take David's advice and try this cool little application long ago.

I guess that I had a vague impression that setting up a bunch of keystroke abbreviations for frequently-typed words or phrases would be cumbersome and awkward. I was so wrong!

TypeIt4Me is quick, easy, and intuitive to configure, and rather than getting in the way, it streamlines operations remarkably, especially when your hands and arms are hurting and every keystroke is an adventure in pain.

TypeIt4Me 4.8.1 is a Control Panel that allows you to define a set of abbreviations for specified words or phrases that they represent by copying them to the Clipboard and then choosing "Add An Entry" from the TypeIt4Me menu on the Finder's menu bar (you can also create entries directly in the "Edit Entry" dialog box). When you type the abbreviation (or select it from TypeIt4Me's pop up menu) and hit the assigned trigger key, the Mac expands the entry as you continue typing.

For example, I frequently type my name, so with TypeIt4Me I have assigned it the abbreviation "ch." Now when I type "ch" and stroke the spacebar, the two letters change to "Charles W. Moore.

When I want to sign off an email message, I can just type "ce" and the Mac will type:

Charles W. Moore
Contributing Editor
Applelinks.com

And so on. TypeIt4Me entries can be as short as a single character (they can be even be shorter than the abbreviation) or as long as a boilerplate paragraph. Once you define an abbreviation, it is available anywhere text can be typed -- in word processors, Web browsers, paint programs, the Finder, address books, email clients, or any application.

The font and style of the text will be those that would appear in text you would have typed manually, and not the font and style that the entry text was in when you defined the entry.

There is no problem when I type words like change or cede because TypeIt4Me looks for the abbreviation letters as a separate word, preceded and followed by spaces or by the punctuation marks of your choice. You make up your own abbreviations with TypeIt4Me rather than using someone elses,' which I find makes them a lot easier to remember.

When you install TypeIt4Me, a tiny menu icon appears in the Finder menubar which you use to access the program's functions. The icon can be positioned anywhere along the menu bar by holding down the Control key and dragging. I found that it fits nicely to the extreme right of the Applications Menu. If you wish, you can disable the menu icon entirely.

There are also pop up submenus (you can also use pre-assigned abbreviations or assign your own) for inserting the current date and time (several formats), and to type the keyboard contents.

I haven't tried this yet, but TypeIt4Me's author Riccardo Ettore says that by defining a set of mnemonic abbreviations for the most frequently used words, you can type faster and more accurately with less effort. For example, "u r rh ab teh cgs" could type out "you are right about the changes."

TypeIt4Me's Edit entries feature can also be used as a kind of text-only scrapbook which will pop up at any time (even when another application is displaying a modal dialog and won't let you access desk accessories), and can be very useful for entering repetitive data in a database file or spreadsheet.

TypeIt4Me is also capable of more advanced functions, such as text attributes such as bold and italics. You can embed style activation keystrokes in your TypeIt4Me entry text by typing two consecutive "@" characters plus the letter that corresponds to the menu command. For example, if you wanted the word "great" to come out in bold in the sentence: "this is great!", you could define an abbreviation whose entry would look like this:

this is @@bgreat@@b. The first "@@b" will issue a command-b, causing the word great to appear in bold, the second "@@b" issues another command-b to turn bold off. Typing @^ instead of @@ will cause the shift key to be "pressed" as well.

You can also get TypeIt4Me to type special characters such as left, right, up and down cursor commands, backspace, etc., by using @$ plus the Hex code for the character to be typed. For example, @$08 would "type" a backspace while @$1E would move the cursor up.

TypeIt4Me Text entries are stored in data files documents, which are limited in number only by your disk capacity. Each data file can hold up to roughly 2,700 in the Pro version, 20 in the Lite version. However, a large number of entries will slow things down a little and bringing up the Edit entries… dialog will be sluggish.

A detailed and thorough online user manual is included in DocMaker format, and an abridged version can be conveniently accessed at any time from the TypeIt4Me menu.

I really can't think of anything to negatively criticize about TypeIt4Me. Mr. Ettore seems to have struck an ideal balance between simplicity and feature-itis. I've been using it for a couple of weeks, and thus far, TypeIt4Me has worked flawlessly for me, and already saved me many keystrokes. This is one review product that is going to stay on my hard drive. I hope Mr. Ettore is working on an OS X version.

The latest TypeIt4Me version 4.8.1 supports MacOS versions 7.0 through 9.0.4.

TypeIt4Me is shareware/demoware and sells for US$27, Û25 or £16 for a single user licence.

For more information or to download, visit:
http://www.r-ettore.dircon.co.uk/

Znippetizer 1.1.5

Totte Alm's Znippetizer 1.1.5 is a drag and drop tool that stores all your code or text snippets, in an organized way in a database. The database is searchable, and you will always have your "must have" code/text/FAQ just a mouseclick away.

Znippetizer has a small global floating window (with a Z in it), which can be positioned in any of the four corners of the Finder window, where you can drag any text. Any items dragged and dropped on the Z-window here are stored in a database, and grouped. All new items are stored in the currently selected Snippetgroup, and can then later on be moved to any other group.

By clicking on the "Z," the Znippetizer windows zooms open, and you get full access to the groups and lists of items, from which you can drag any item from the list to any other application that can receive a text drag. You can zoom any snippet and select parts from it, copy from it. You can drag text files to the Znippetizer window, and also paste new snippets into it. You can also edit the znippet right inside the closeup window.

The Z window has two rows of icons across the bottom and up the right hand side that you can use to operate searching, organizing, and deleting znippet entries. I didn't find the icons, save for the trash can, especially intuitive, but each icon's function appears in text as you mouse over them, so this is not a problem.

A popup menu above the entry field allows you to select the group of znippets you want to appear in the entry field.

Znippetizer is a pure text tool and doesn't honor styles. All text is treated as text, not styled text. It also doesn't handle graphics or any other kind of dragged items.

One thing I do find annoying with Znippetizer is that there is no close box on the zoomed Z window. You can set the interval before it closes automatically in the Preferences dialog, but I would prefer to have a manual close option.

Update: Totte says to "Just click in the 'expanded graphics' saying Znippetizer / Powered by Valentina... that expanded from the lonley "Z" in the small window." He also says he is thinking about writing a manual soon. :-)

Other than that, the program seems to work well. Totte has been churning out version upgrades at a rapid pace for the past few weeks, and Znippetizer will continue to improve.

Znippetizer is $15 shareware.

A partly disabled demo of Znippetizer is available for free download with the following limitations:
• The number of snippets are limited to 50
• You can only create 5 new groups
• Importing is disabled, so is searching

For more information or to download, visit:
http://www.code66.se/dl/znip.html

iWrite 1.2

As regular readers of this column know, I am a word processor and text editor junkie, and I guess I've never met a word-crunching program that I didn't like, but I do like some better than others. I use two of these programs on a daily basis -- Tom Bender's sleek and powerful little Tex-Edit Plus as my general purpose text editing application and html markup program, customized to fit my particular needs with AppleScripts; and Marc Zeedar's Z-Write word processor for composing columns and articles. I like both of these programs very much, and it would take something pretty cool to supplant them as my regular work tools.

However, I'm always interested in checking out new text applications. One of the newest in this category is Split Software 's iWrite, a shareware text editor and word processor that is claimed to not just focus on formatting your text, but also on the text itself, such as which text you use the most (like your name, email address, address, etc.), and how you use text (like how the text can vary, what applications you use the text with. etc.)

iWrite 1.2 has also added AppleScript support, and a new AppleScript palette let s you control all kinds of functions of iWrite using scripts.

Unfortunately, iWrite is not recordable -- that is, you can't just open the Mac OS AppleScript editor, perform a function in iWrite, and record it as an AppleScript. You have to write a custom scripts from scratch. I asked Mark Adler, iWrite's developer, about this, and he replied that "I assumed that anyone who knew how to write AppleScripts could find an applications commands. Simply drop iWrite onto the Script Editor and it will provide you with a list of commands and what they do."

And so it does, but that wasn't really my point. One of the things that makes AppleScript support in Tex-Edit so great is its recordability. I am no AppleScript expert, in fact I am a rank AppleScript amateur, however, by using a combination of Tex-Edit's recordability, and examination and imitation of existing AppleScripts that I opened in the Script Editor, I was able to create a package of about a dozen custom AppleScripts that streamlined and automate frequently repeated tasks with a quick selection from Tex-Edit's handy AppleScript menu. Recordability helps make AppleScript support usable for programming dummies like me.

I digress. Having any level of AppleScript support is welcome in a Mac program, and I hope that Mark will continue to enhance it in iWrite.

iWrite's other features include:
• Infinite Shortcuts which store the text fragments you use most like websites, your address, etc.
• QuikForms which are very similar to shortcuts, and is a system to create infinite forms and templates which can add varying text fragments where certain information needs to be filled in such as HTML tags. Quik Forms are also transferable between versions of iWrite, which means that you can distribute things like webpage template QuikForms to other iWrite users.
• Infinite Custom Styles which allow you to set every attribute of text (size, font, style, align, color) and easily switch between styles.
• Infinite Custom Exports which allow you to export documents to other application formats.
• iWrite provides you with the ability to send email from within the application.
• SMTP Email Sending which features infinite accounts, requires minimal information to set up, and signatures with each account.

• Project Manager which helps you organize writing projects by storing contact information about people and places, notes, and document locations for easy access to your files.
• iWrite provides you with a system that easily lets you launch documents without going to the Finder or selecting File Open. To do this, simply drop any text document into the Frequently Used Documents folder
• The project manager in iWrite will let you store a list of notes, contact information, and drafts. The drafts are not actually included inside the project files. Instead, the project manager will store the location of each draft and allow you to launch the document when you double click on it.
• iNotes are a simple, easy to use, Stickies-like system for iWrite. iNotes can contain any text you want them to.

iWrite has a clean, simple interface, which, if you wish, you can customize with one of the five iMac fruit colors or Graphite.

With iWrite's Scheduling Preferences you can have all of your Automatic Documents launch when iWrite launches, and also select a refresh period for your Frequently Used Documents. Every time this period is reached when the Frequently Used Documents window is open, list of Frequently Used Documents is updated. Frequently Used Documents are documents you can launch at any time you want to. Automatic Documents are all launched at once when iWrite starts up.

iWrite includes most standard text editor features except control over line spacing and columns. There is also a basic Find Replace system that can:
• Find - Locates and highlights the first occurrence of the provided word.
• Find Next - Locates and highlights the next occurrence of the provided word.
• Replace - Replaces the first occurrence of the provided word with the word to replace it with.
• Replace All - Replaces every occurrence of the provided word with the replace word.

The Text Statistics menu item under the Edit menu will provide you with word count and other document information.

iWrite's Custom Styles system allows you to switch between colors, styles, fonts, aligns, and size all in a single click, and its Shortcuts system lets you store snippets of text you use frequently like your name, address, email address, webpage URL, etc.,into Shortcuts to insert into documents.

iWrite's QuikForms are essentially a more extendible shortcuts system. QuikForms are more flexible. Any text that you reuse, but need to change parts of is better supported by Quick forms. For example, if you want to have a QuikForm that will add the text "Hello, my name is " and then the person's name, to a document, you would save the following text into a file: Hello, my name is "{"Your Name"}". When this is used, the only field that the user would have to fill in is their name, which would be labeled "Your Name" in the first column of the Add QuikForm window.

iWrite can custom export iWrite documents to any application you choose, provided you enter the Mac Type and Mac Creator codes for the file type.

The program's Frequently Used Documents feature lets you launch documents without going to the Finder or selecting File Open.

Also incorporated in iWrite is a built-in image viewer/movie player called iView. To open an image or movie, simply select Open from the File menu. Select an image or movie and it will automatically open the iViewer console and display the picture or movie.

iWrite also allows you to use PICT files in your documents. If you have an image in the clipboard, you can simply select Paste from the Edit menu and it will add the image to the document. To add an image stored in a file, select Insert from the File menu, then select Picture. Select an image and it will be added to the document.

To send an iWrite document as an email, select Send as Email from the File menu, or to send the selected text as email, select Send as Email from the selection menu.

iWrite's Project Manager feature lets you store notes, contact information, and drafts. These files are not actually included inside the project files. Instead, the project manager stores the location of each draft and allows you to launch the document when you double click on it.

iWrite Notes are text fragments stored inside project files. You can use notes to store names, addresses, email addresses, reminders, or anything. To add a note, select Add Note from the Project Manager menu. Contacts store information about people involved in a project like their address, email address, website, phone number, etc. Project documents can be saved as html files.

iWrite's iNotes are Stickies-like documentlets that can contain text. To create an iNote, select New iNote from the iNote menu. When you close an iNote, its contents will be deleted.

In summary, while most of iWrite's features are available in other text editing and word-processing programs, it offers a somewhat unique combination of capabilities. While I personally found nothing that would seduce me away from Tex-Edit and Z-Write, that is not to say that iWrite might not have the perfect must-have feature or features to suit your needs.

This program is fairly early in its development, and I suspect that feature enhancements will continue to be added in the future. A couple of things that I would miss at this stage of the game are a DOS line feed and carriage return stripper, and the aforementioned recordable AppleScript support, both of which are included in Tex-Edit.

However, the cool thing about shareware is that you can download it and try it out with no up-front cash commitment. iWrite is an appealing little program, and if you're looking for a basic text editor with some interesting advanced capabilities, I encourage you to check it out.

System Requirements:
• MacOS 8.6 or greater preferred
• PowerPC Processor
• 2.6 MB of RAM
• 1.5 MB of Hard Disk Space

iWrite is $14.99 shareware. Version 1.2 is a free update to registered users of previous versions.

For more information or to download, visit:
http://www.splitsw.com/products.htm

Charles W. Moore

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Saturday, 26-May-2012 16:32:37 EDT