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Advanced SearchUser Name rubaiyat
Member Since 2000-09-20
Total number of Feedback Posts: 69
Total number of comments: 20
Last 10 Feedback Posts by rubaiyat [ Search for All ]
Nisus Writer Pro 1.1 (Mac OS X)
If you are casting around for alternatives…
… try iText Express 3.1 (free) or iText Pro '08 (US$15). Both are fast, lean and deceptively simple. I use them for just about everything from simple DTPing to managing DLs and weblinks. They take you back to the capable simplicity that used to be the hallmark of everything Mac. Nisus always had trouble with making a clear usable program for the rest of us and whilst it had its diehard fans they always were too geeky and forgiving of its flaws. I guess they were starry eyed thinking of what it could be instead of what it was. [alert admin]
Monday, September 01 2008 @ 05:32 PM PDT
Nisus Writer Express 3.1 (Mac OS X)
…it has always been that bit odd and hard to use. The few outstanding features it had like non-contiguous text selection are available in virtually every Cocoa app now. I have gone for clean, mean and fast simplicity in iText Express which is free, or the big brother upgrade iText Pro '08 [US$15]. Both are absolutely brilliant fast and easy to use, the way mac programs used to be. No wonder you'll find the users who have discovered them raving about them. I use them to store all sorts of media, hold website clippings, do DTP to pdf, manage my links and DLs etc and am still finding new uses for them. That is all cream on top of the best word processors money can buy (in the case of iText Express, none necessary). Do yourself a favor, shake off the old clutter and get true Mac word processing back on your desktop. [alert admin]
Monday, September 01 2008 @ 05:21 PM PDT
OpenOffice.org 3.0b2 (Mac OS X)
It's like switching methadone for the heroin. The point of dumping MsOffice is to say goodbye to bloat, dunderous user interface and slow performance. A copy of a poor model is just a poor copy. I switched to mean, fast and simple with iText Express (free) and iText Pro '08 (US$15) both brilliant examples of what programs should be on the Mac. I keep finding new uses for them from managing my DLs and links to simple DTP. They are permanently open on my Mac and absolutely indispensable. [alert admin]
Read Comments (5) | More Info | 1 of 9 users found this helpful
Monday, September 01 2008 @ 05:11 PM PDT
NeoOffice 2.2.4 patch 5 (Mac OS X)
A MsOffice clone is still a MsOffice clone 
The problem is it is still not quite what it is attempting to copy and you have to ask the question is what it is trying to copy actually a good thing? There is also the overall sluggishness and bloat to contend with. Personally I have gone lean and mean with iText Express (free) and iText Pro '08 (US$15) both by the same author and amazingly tight, fast, versatile and friendly. [alert admin]
Post a comment | More Info | 1 of 8 users found this helpful
Monday, September 01 2008 @ 05:00 PM PDT
Bean 1.3.3 (Mac OS X)
Well written and containing just enough functionality. Back to the less is more. If you are looking for a bit more, like multi-column support and more formatting abilities try iText Xpress (free) or iText Pro '08 (US$15) both by the same author and my absolute favorite text editors. [alert admin]
Post a comment | More Info | 1 of 1 users found this helpful
Monday, September 01 2008 @ 04:54 PM PDT
iText Express 2.1 (Mac OS X)
I have this permanently open, it is so useful. I drag in clippings and links from webpages and use it to manage my DLs, I do simple DTPing to pdfs. I use it to hold and view certain audio, movies, photos, pdfs, animated gifs. In fact I keep discovering new uses for it. And that is ignoring that it is the best, simple word processor period. It is now up to version 3.1, which is excellent, but it is worth your while to upgrade to the Leopard native iText Pro '08 by the same author which has even more features and is extremely fast. I was glad to pay for the minor upgrade cost, I have got so much out of iText Express I owe him big time. [alert admin]
Post a comment | More Info | 1 of 1 users found this helpful
Monday, September 01 2008 @ 04:48 PM PDT
DeepVacuum 1.66 (Mac OS X)
Good app, which I was hoping to update but the developer's site has vanished as have all the links. [alert admin]
Saturday, July 19 2008 @ 03:34 PM PDT
DVD2oneX 2.2.1 (Mac OS X)
What has DVD2oneX got that Handbrake doesn't? Or DVDRemaster or VisualHub? It still requires MacTheRipper doesn't it? Is it faster, better quality, more reliable? [alert admin]
Post a comment | More Info | 0 of 1 users found this helpful
Saturday, April 26 2008 @ 04:49 PM PDT
VisualHub 1.32 (Mac OS X)
Out of a tools set of MacTheRipper, Handbrake, DVDoneX2, DVDRemaster and VisualHub which do you recommend, for which task and why? Reading these reviews I still am in the dark as to what to do to turn my large DVD collection into good quality Mac Files I can play either on my iMac or on AppleTV. Clear comparisons would help. Speed, quality, flexibility etc. [alert admin]
Read Comments (4) | More Info
Saturday, April 26 2008 @ 04:41 PM PDT
Solace 1.045 (Mac OS 9, Mac OS X)
Never quite get the odds of winning with any combination of pieces but still get lost in an afternoon of ceaseless battles. Some bugs still. It can freeze up in mid move sometimes and quite frequently it will crash if you minimise it whilst it is making a move. To avoid this it would be nice if you could switch back to the Desktop normally. Wishlist: faster moves and more maps. I think I have pretty much exhausted this map. [alert admin]
Wednesday, March 26 2008 @ 03:38 PM PDT
Last 10 Comments by rubaiyat [ Search for All ]
What on Earth are you talking about, it doesn't work so well in Leopard? I use it incessantly and have been on Leopard for almost a year. The only thing I noticed on upgrading to iText Pro '08 is that it ran faster and had more features.
Original feedback item : Read More
Monday, September 01 2008 @ 05:37 PM PDT
Horrible looking program icons
I guess that is exactly the market Stone Design appeals to. The aesthetically challenged. The icons are a minor issue, compared with the User Interface which I find inconsistent, jarring, oddball and totally unreliable. Yes, you can get to learn anything, but that beggars the question as to why you need to negotiate your way through a design shambles JUST to do your work. Simple, clear and obvious is always best as is using established conventions so you…
Original feedback item : Read More(1 words)
Sunday, August 10 2008 @ 09:23 PM PDT
You could just capture the audio from the DVD using Audio HiJack Pro or similar.
Original feedback item : Read More
Wednesday, December 19 2007 @ 04:44 AM PST
Oh just two things, and I guess this is a comment to all developers, don't give your downloads silly and obtuse names. How hard could it have been to call it what it is which is File Matey 1.0.3 instead of fm.zip? Plus the standard distribution for modern Mac apps is drag and drop .dmg files. If you don't want a heavy support burden, make less problems for your users and keep them well informed. Remember, they…
Original feedback item : Read More(1 words)
Monday, December 10 2007 @ 05:39 PM PST
There may be hundreds of free fonts out there but nearly all are autotraced rubbish. This may be a bit Steep at 29GBP but it <b>is</b> good quality. Sometimes you just have to pay, unless crap doesn't bother you.
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Tuesday, June 19 2007 @ 10:33 AM PDT
Can anybody tell a humble non-computer savvy man...
Simply double click on the .dmg file. OSX will "Mount" the file as if it were a disk. It should appear in your sidebar AND open itself as a window to show the contents. If it doesn't open automatically just double click on the icon in the sidebar. You can then use the contents as you would any other files, except the .dmg file is usually locked and does not let you make changes to its…
Original feedback item : Read More(1 words)
Thursday, March 29 2007 @ 06:23 PM PDT
ToyViewer does less than you can do with Preview. Including the INABILITY to save the slideshow as anything portable or useful such as a QT .mov or .pdf. The only thing I'll give it credit for was speed. A quick drag and drop gets your slideshow going. But then what do you do with it?
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Sunday, February 18 2007 @ 06:24 AM PST
A truely fatuous reply. Not everyone has the hardware nor software to do a full backup. This has always been the Achilles heel of OSX and Macs. Backups in my experience can exacerbate the problem of disorganisation as they create yet another set of files to be resolved. A client of mine has a chain of harddrives full of junk he dare not touch as he really doesn't know what state of progress they represent. After all…
Original feedback item : Read More(1 words)
Thursday, February 15 2007 @ 04:51 PM PST
A truely fatuous reply. Not everyone has the hardware nor software to do a full backup. This has always been the Achilles heel of OSX and Macs. Backups in my experience can exacerbate the problem of disorganisation as they create yet another set of files to be resolved. A client of mine has a chain of harddrives full of junk he dare not touch as he really doesn't know what state of progresss they represent.
Original feedback item : Read More
Thursday, February 15 2007 @ 04:50 PM PST
OS X already has this built in.
Where exactly in the Color Picker do you get the Pantone list? I looked in Tiger and found the ability to open color swatch files but what format are they and where do I locate them? Also if Pages does spot colors, that is news to me. Again where and how? I can create my own colors and probably with patience could recreate the Pantone set in CMYK/RGB/HSB, but what would make them work as spot colors in…
Original feedback item : Read More(1 words)
Tuesday, November 07 2006 @ 09:41 AM PST
