[penthouse Letttrs Back Issues

Launchy and application shortcuts in Chrome

Since installing new software on the laptop using Ninite , one of the things I decided to try (in addition to Digsby ordeal) was Launchy.

Launchy is an application launcher, or so more or less what you put into your web . Launchy indexes the folders that you specify, including all files or only those that you specify. Then stays in the background until you throw it through the shortcut Alt + Space (default). At that time, appears a search box , to call it somehow, Launchy.

You write in the search box whatever you want (may be the name of a program, a document, a folder ...) and Launchy it searches its index. If multiple entries match, shows you a list so you can choose what you want. When there is a match, as in the case of the previous image icon appears in this case, the application. Bracelets enter, and application / document / folder opens. And all without having to take your fingers off the keyboard!.

not remember where I read that a couple of days after installation, it becomes a must ... And it's true! The gesture of reaching the mouse and look in the Start Menu application is something that simply no longer do.

As more and more live inside the browser, the web pages to launch independently, as if they were applications, has increasingly become a necessity. At first the option used was the pinned tabs. But I'm not convinced, as some web applications use them in a timely manner (and having to resort to mouse to launch them from a favorite seemed not ideal).

arrived This is where application shortcuts Chrome: basically, make a web application in a "desktop web application." That is, creating a shortcut on the desktop, in the Programs menu and / or Superbar (Win7) as a desktop application in question. The truth is that there is nothing "revolutionary", since the only thing that creates Chrome is a link to chrome.exe followed by the URL of the web that we want to open. The same can be done in both Firefox and Internet Explorer. Chrome, it is true, open the URL without displaying the address bar without showing buttons ( home, back, "wrench" ...). We also can not open new tabs (links open a full version of Chrome ...) But at the end of the day, no longer a new browser instance.

Perhaps what has made Chrome use these shortcuts application as usual is on the one hand, the facility to create ... And second, the synergy with Launchy .

To create an application shortcut in Chrome, you can follow the instructions for page support of Chrome:

1. Click the "wrench" (the spanner)
2. Tools> Create application shortcut ...
3. Select where you want to create the links.

see, is not complicated.

regard to synergy with Launchy , I've managed to create a folder called webapps where I have the links created by Chrome. I added this folder to Launchy catalog and so when I launch a web application, all I have to do is invoke Launchy , write the first letters of the websites and press enter .

In many cases, only use a particular Web application in a timely manner, so that will open in a separate window is all an added bonus: use the application / web service and close it. In other cases, such as mail or Toggle, open the application and leave it minimized unobtrusively, making his work in the background.

Then I leave a list of web applications that I have indexed by Launchy:

• GMail (I have also pinned a shortcut Superbar in Windows 7): Customer of mail. With including notifications, is like having Outlook, but Outlook problems. Box.net
• : an online store style Dropbox, but without the ability to sync with local files (available in the paid version.) Began offering 1Gb, if I remember correctly, but with the advent of Dropbox have increased the capacity of free accounts to 5GB. Normally, I open the application, upload a file through the web interface and then close it. You can take a look at the files I have in my public folder . Toggle
• : An application to bring track of time I spend on different tasks. Although I started using it for research topics, I have unearthed my digital memory lane to control the time devoted to studying the different subjects of the career.
• Scrumblr.ca : The latest acquisition in terms of web applications (still testing). Although targeted at keeping track of the progress of the project using the Scrum methodology , I'm trying as a form of post-it online accessible from any of the computers that work. I'm riding between this option and the purely web purely desktop with stickies synchronized via Dropbox ...

If not using Launchy , spend a moment to download and try it ... If you often work glued to the keyboard in a couple of days know not live without it!