Black background - no distractions?
 

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There are times when I am working and would truly like to minimise the distractions.

Is it possible in OSX to “black out” (literally black) all other windows than the active one, or the specific ones that I choose to have active? Well, it would be great if this was an option not just in OSX itself, but in every single app I choose to run on my Mac.

Possible?

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On second thought, should this thread have been posted under Tweaking OSX / wish list?

Moderator, please feel free to move it.

It might be possible via some sort of hack, considering Exposé and Dashboard use this effect (more or less).

Or maybe use a poor man's version and set a black background whilst using "Hide others" from the program menu :)

Edit: Yes it is possible, try:

Doodim: http://www.lachoseinteractive.net/en/products/doodim/
FocusLayer: http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/10347
Zazen: http://www.popcopy.net/Zazen/Zazen.html (Not free)
BackDrop: http://www.johnhaney.com/backdrop/

Note, there are a few bugs to each I think.

There's also MenuShade: http://www.nullriver.com/index/products that'll allow you to dim the menubar when you're not using it. Or Menufela: http://ninjakitten.us/#menufela which just lets you hide the menubar.

One of the things I used to love about DragThing is its "Hide all apps" feature. Go to FinalCut, all you see is FinalCut windows. Switch to Photoshop, then only Photoshop is visible. Today, I use the "Hide all others" keystroke, because many times I need to drag and drop from the Finder. I think this need will resolve itself with Leopard via Spaces--really looking forward to that.

Desktop Manager: http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/12682 does basically what Spaces will do, but not in such a 'pretty' fashion. I use it sometimes on Tiger.

My sister-in-law once asked me how to hide the desktop because it distracted her while she was writing.

I asked her if the stuff on her desk around the monitor distracted her also.

I never understood how you can be distracted by things you are not looking at. Sounds like more of an attention span problem than a computer problem.

;)

In praise of black
 

I beg to differ. I am, for instance, perfectly capable of listening to music against the cacaphony of traffic, conversation or what have you. But my enjoyment is increased if I can hear the music against a background of silence.

Look at Steve Jobs’ keynote presentation, even with the sound turned off. Everything that is irrelevant or even secondary is eliminated. Look how clean the product photos look against a nice, neutral backround. In this case black.

The same goes for my work as a copywriter and translator. I want to be able to specificially eliminate (visually) other apps, desktop folder etc. For me it is a question of cultivating the creative process.

Black desktop, hide all other apps, put the windows you are not using in the Dock, and hide the Dock?

http://www.mikey-san.net/Blackout.zip

Just kicking the idea around after reading this thread.

Mikey-San, thank you very much! That seems to work really well.

:cool:

I don't like the way the user determines which app to keep in the spotlight. I may come back to it and make it comfortable. And, you know, fix all the bugs. :/

Did all my suggestions just go out of the window?

Happens. Don't sweat it.

I wrote Blackout after reading the thread, just because I wanted to play with the idea, not to ignore your post. No other reason.

Not at all! :) I have noted your suggestions as well as Bramley’s, although I have not tried them yet. I’m gonna hit he sack now; been working 34 hours straight, except for being distracted by Steve’s awesome keynote, making posts here and shopping food for a sick friend.

As it happens I think the free versions of the programs I linked are fairly out of date and not being updated anymore. Would be good for you to release your little app and/or to fix it up a little.

Incorporate some of these ideas: http://mydreamapp.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=257 and the MenuShade dimming if you can be bothered :)

Simpler solution?
 

http://www.43folders.com/2006/06/30/writeroom/

Its a text editor that fullscreens on its own. I will be trying out that app though Melon : )

Only if you need a text editor specifically and don't need or want a specific set of tools. (For example, Write Room isn't the right tool for work on Web sites.)

Good Point
 

When I said simple, I meant possible too simple. Melon, that app is handy but I think it crashed my Safari. (When I used it with Adium...) Anyways, is there anyway it could just change when you command+tab between apps, and black out all but front? I feel like that is possible, but I don't know how much harder it is than binding the shade to one app.

This is just a basic black full screen Director Shockwave projector. Let me know if it doesn't run as a stand alone.

http://home.iprimus.com.au/fazstp/Black.dmg.hqx

I didn't write any of the apps, I just found and linked them.

If you're talking about http://www.mikey-san.net/Blackout.zip then look again at who posted it, Mikey-San wrote that ;)

It seems like a simple app, the trick that most of these programs have used is to create a layer (which you can set it's opacity) that covers the whole screen. It's why when you use Expose you can see it come apart with the rest of the windows.

The way Zazen have gone around the problem with Mikey-San's app is to list all the programs in the menubar where you can select which app to be at the front. It's still not perfect, but better. Though clicking on the background (in Zazen) removes it which is annoying especially if you accidently click on it.

I only worked on it for 30 minutes. Let's just say I'm still playing with ideas:

http://www.mikey-san.net/blackout.png

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Well, I’m definitely interested. :)

From my point of view, Mikey-San, a nice additional function would be a short-key combo to hide menu bars/etc. That way when I am just writing, for instance, my page would float elegantly on a background of black.

I wanted to implement this, but the system UI mode is set at the application level, not system-wide. If Blackout sets the mode to no menubar/etc, all of that stuff will hide, but once you switch to Safari it will all return. (I think this is good overall, because it prevents dumb developers from screwing up other applications' interfaces.)

The system UI mode setting is what determines whether the Dock is removed, as well. If the Dock were scriptable, I would auto-hide it and leave the menu bar in place.

Edit: Taking suggestions for hiding the Dock. Scripting the key combination is not an option, because the user can change that and there is no future-proof method of determinin the user's setting for this.

That mock-up (?) looks sexy.

One thing I'd like to add, would it be possible to make the settings box only appear when you move the cursor in that area? Though it may not be obvious then how to change it's settings to new users.

Another thing which you may already be aware of is that clicking on the black layer brings it in front/focus which hides the application you're using. Maybe that's why Zazen removes the background as there's no simple work around for this?

Also, I agree with ArcticStones that the menubar needs to go as well, the dock can be hidden manually anway. MenuShade that I linked to earlier said it was open source on t's site so I guess you can use it's code.

Other than that, for a 30 minute job, great work. Wish I knew how to code then I could help/make my own rather than just shoving suggestions your way :)

I am considering some kind of auto-hiding for the control panel. I've got ideas and am weighing them. The panel itself is definitely unfinished.

Clicking on the black layer should jump for a split-second and immediately return you to the illuminated application. Does it not?

See my above post re: menu bar. I'll look into MenuShade's source, if it's open. As for 30 minutes, the release I linked to was 30 minutes, and the mock-up . . . well, it's not a mock up. That is the current state of the application. Not sure how much time I've actually put into it. Less than a day, more than a breadbox.

Never assume that feedback is the opposite of helping.

It does work but only for the first 2 goes. If you click on the background again for the third it disappears for good. Also Alt+tabbing TextEdit back in and then clicking the background again brings the background into focus again.

I think Alt+tabbing sort of breaks it as you can bring several windows/applications above the black layer, click on the background and it shows the application that you opened through Blackout. At a guess you've set something to remember what application was opened so as it will bring it to the front?

Not sure if it makes a difference but I'm using an iMac G5 PPC on 10.4.8.

It should continue to re-focus the chosen application. The internals of that are mostly rewritten, so maybe I'm just not seeing it anymore because I've fixed it. Heh.

Clicking on an app in the Dock or command-tabbing will (probably) not be suppressed. I absolutely can't stand it when applications hijack command-tab. Here's the workflow scenario I found myself in while playing with the app at work yesterday:

1. I illuminate an application so I can concentrate on it. Let's say it's Xcode, since I stare at that a lot during the day.

2. I need to jump to BBEdit for a moment, to get a snippet of source or run something on my clipboard through one of my text macros. I don't want to change illumination or quit Blackout, just to go /back/ to the previous state, because that tells my brain, "HEY BRAIN I AM TOTALLY GOING TO MAKE YOU THINK ABOUT A LOT OF STUFF IN THE NEXT 20 SECONDS. SO MUCH FOR CONCENTRATION."

2b. I flip back and forth once or twice between Xcode and BBEdit, doing whatever I needed to do.

3. After I'm done with BBEdit, I click back into the blackness to re-illuminate Xcode. BBEdit returns to being out of mind. All of this happens in anywhere from ten seconds to five minutes. Just depends on what I'm doing.

Being able to bring something else into the blacked-out world for a short moment made me giddy, so I kept it that way.

Make sense? :)

Also, Blackout is a code name while I think of something better. I don't like the connotation, as blackouts are usually bad things; losses of functionality.

I've been calling the focused application the "illuminated" application internally, and the act of focusing "illumination". If anyone has ideas along these lines--or simply something that doesn't directly contradict it--throw 'em out there.

Ah command-tab that's what I meant, not Alt+tab, you can tell I come from a Windows environment no? :)

I did think that was a feature but wasn't sure because of the bug that I get.

What if you want another program to be the one in focus, i.e. as if you opened that app originally through Blackout?

In the version I posted a screenshot of, you can click the blank button in the control panel to display the Illumination Panel (the app switcher-lookin' thing). Click an icon and that app becomes the new illuminated app.

In other words: You can do it in 0.2, but not the version I linked to for download earlier.

Edit: The blank button won't be blank when I'm done. It looks like crap right now, because I'm working on other pieces.

Already one step ahead of me :)

As for names how about:

Illuminate - as you suggested or a variation like Illumine or Illuminati (though that's getting off course somewhat)
Limelight or Floodlight - though maybe too close to Spotlight
Bedazzle

Having a quick search on versiontracker there doesn't seem to be another app with those names which is good as it can't be confused :)

Personally, I don't mind the name Blackout.

Dock Hide
 

I don't know what you wrote your app in, but you can hide the dock by editing the com.apple.dock.plist file. You can determine its hidden status using (do shell script "defaults read com.apple.dock autohide"). If it returns 1, autohide is enabled. Not sure of the best way to edit it.

I'm not going to edit another application's properly list file. Sorry. Additionally, after changing the setting, you must relaunch the Dock for it to take effect. That's also a no-no.

I know how to determine if the Dock has auto-hide enabled, but I don't know of a way to determine the user's defined "Hide Dock" keystroke.

Edit: It's written in C/Objective-C.

standard key command
 

tell application "System Events"
keystroke "d" using command & option down
end tell

-- i know nothing about c. I will look for a way to read the keystroke from a system events plist file or something. i assume reading it is alright, just not editing?

I know how to trigger keystrokes. The problem is that the user can change the keystroke that triggers Dock auto-hiding, inside the Keyboard & Mouse preferences pane. I am unaware of a way to determine what the user's setting is. There might be one, but I haven't found it yet. Until I can determine the user's setting, I can't just assume command-option-d hides the Dock, because it may do something entirely different, or nothing at all.

I'm looking around in various plists, but honestly, I don't consider that very reliable, because Apple may change that without notice in future updates.

Edit: And if I can avoid it, I'd like to keep AppleScript out of the picture. ;)

Found Something...
 

hayne had a comment way back called watchfile or something, perl that monitored files for any change. when i changed the key command back and forth, the only file modified in the ~/Preferences folder was com.apple.systempreferences.plist, but I am having trouble making any sense of it.

Again, sniffing preference files is not future-proof and I probably won't do it, so I don't recommend that you spend much time investigating this path.

Hiding the Dock really is not at the top of my to-do list. In the end, someone who wants to hide the Dock will know how to do it manually, so if I dont come up with a solid way to hide the Dock, it will remain possible for the user to do so.

Blackout 0.2, enjoy. I'll probably do more work on it this weekend.

http://www.mikey-san.net/Blackout02.dmg

- 90% rewrite.
- Some bugs squished.
- Prettier.
- Emily said she wanted to change the blackout colour.
- Smarter control panel. Stays out of your way, relocatable.

Edit: This post is post #1,337 for me. Heh. \m/

Edit #2: I apologize for the ugly controls inside the control panel. They're on my list.

Hi Mikey,

Nice app,
I just tried it, when I quit an app, say textedit.app and then click the black
the textedit.app being the last app illuminated re-launches.

Can I suggest the app detects if the last illuminated app is running or not ,
and if not offers up your floating app dock.

Already on the list, yeah. Taken care of.

Mikey-San, this is just gorgeous! Right now I’m running a very deep midnight blue in a darkened office.

I'm pretty far into 0.3, which fixes a bunch of bugs in 0.2 and pretties up the entire app a little bit. (For example, I apologize for the colour well/colour panel bugs. They've been stepped on.)

I'll post something when there's a new version to download.

Perhaps some of the techniques from this Apple doc about making kiosks will be of help: http://developer.apple.com/technotes/tn2002/tn2062.html

The problem is that SetSystemUIMode() only affects the application that invokes it. Example:

If you invoke this and then switch to another application, that application's UI mode takes effect. If you switch to Mail, for example, the menu bar and Dock reappear.

To be honest, even if I could twiddle this in other applications, I don't think I would want to. If something goes wrong with Blackout, it could derelict another application's UI mode.

Looking forward to it.

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I really, really appreciate your app!
It’s my birthday today, you know? Didn’t know I would be getting something this cool! :cool:

Will do my very best to make a contribution to the baptism, Mikey-San.

Re: Baptism
 

Mikey-San, I actually like the name Blackout, and it’s very descriptive. But I do see your point about negative connotations. Did some more thinking about that this weekend...

How about CleanSpace, AppLighter or DarkFrame? Or WorkLight?

CleanStage, LitApp, AppLight, LuminousApp, BackgroundHider, CleanBackdrop, DarkStage, BlackWorld, StageLight, LuminousWorkspace.


That makes lots of sense! One of the things that really appreciate is the ease of switching back and forth between apps in Blackout. I’ve gratefully been using it since you posted the download.

Let's think about the anatomy of a name for a moment, before I reveal the new name.

What's in a name?

In general, there are four ways you can go with the name of a product, be it software, hardware, cars, or anything else:

The practical name, the conceptual name, the nonsensical name, and the connotative name.

The practical name describes what a product resembles or does; it's mostly a description of functionality, but usually incorporates the metaphor of the product. Microsoft Windows is an example of a practical name that describes part of the product (a window being a piece of the operating system), while at the same time being a reference to the product's associated metaphor (the "window" metaphor). It's really not a bad name, though I know Mac users like to dump on it with clever names like Windoze and Winblows. Another example of a good practical name would be Pages.

The practical name loves to show off puns, plays on words, and InterCaps. Not that there's anything wrong with that, right, QuickTime?

The conceptual name is similar to the practical name, in that it relates to the metaphor of the product. Where the conceptual name differs, however, is that it drops the practical resemblance aspect of the practical name. It describes the idea behind the product instead of the product itself. Dashboard falls into this category, because it doesn't describe any functional aspect of the product, but it communicates the concept on which it's based.

The nonsensical name is the blue jeans ad of product naming. It doesn't have anything to do with the product, you can't pull meaning out of it, and it's just as malleable as it is impervious to interpretation. Think Kazaa or Zune. This is probably the most volatile type of product name, because it's a complete toss-up as to whether or not you're going to gain any kind of mindshare with an otherwise meaningless name. Your marketing department both loves and hates the nonsensical name.

The last category is the connotative name. It wants to be nonsensical, but it knows that it needs to be somewhat descriptive. It doesn't directly describe the product, and it doesn't describe absolutely nothing, either. The connotative name is the sort of name that tells you something about the product after you've experienced it. Firefox, iPod--these are connotative names.

On paper, none of these categories is bad. Really, they all have their place in the vast, unending sea of products. The trick is choosing the right kind of name for your product.

With that, I've decided to go with a conceptual name for my app:

Think

I wonder if it crossed your mind to call it:

iThink :D

The i-prefix doesn't really accomplish anything for me, other than mimicking other people's product names. ;)

Bad joke I Think there for I...... :)

Try "VirtueDesktops" [check versiontracker]. It appears to offer what you need. It has the future Mac OS X "Spaces" features you're looking for today in a menu app.

You can show only the applications that you want and even change the desktop background to black. Be sure to go to "Current Desktop..." then "Set this desktop" {including desktop picture} for each working setup.

I have not been using it long (it's still beta), but so far it works great! Just a menu item away uncluters your workspace. check it out. Disclaimer: I don't have any affiliation with the developer.

ThoughtSpace ThinkRoom LobsterClouds
 

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That is a good conceptual name, Mikey-San -- the same as a Norwegian electric car. :cool: But that should hardly present a problem.

Let me add a few suggestions, in case you should wish to expand it beyond a 4+1 letter word. What Blackout does for me is to establish a creative space, a room in which I can tune out visual distractions.

ThoughtSpace, ThinkRoom, ThoughtRoom, CreativeCave or something along those lines might work as well. Perhaps even MyRoom or SmartSpace.

And then there is BreathingSpace. or LobsterClouds. but that’s taken

I don’t know how it is in the USA, but here you would have a hard time trademarking an ordinary, existing word. Of course that may not be a consideration...

Should I send you a copy? ;)

ThinkTank

Makes me think of sensory deprivation as well as a place for ideas.

Please do! I’ve been reading a bit of it on your website.
I’ll send you something in return.

-- ArcticStones

The name is decided, guys. Start talking about other stuff.

-- Thanks, Management

Very cool program. Out of random curiousity, why does clicking on the black background make the whole screen "refresh" (flash, etc)? Also, why did something called Speech Feedback open?

I think I'll go do some reorganization after reading about "The Glance."

Thanks for making us think and, um, Think.

The Flash
 

If I understand it, anytime the blackout app is 'brought to front,' it instantly calls its partnered app to the front. So it dips behind the black for a moment, then is brought back up.

The flicker is because the blocking window jumps when you click on it, and the application sees that, returning you to the illuminated application instead of letting you go anywhere else. I am investigating ways around this, but this is the best solution I have so far. (This is all the discussion I plan on doing with this issue here, so don't clutter up the thread with more. Sorry.) The flicker is reduced in the latest build (unreleased), as I have rewritten the code that handles the core of that function to be faster.

I cannot explain Speech Feedback opening. I don't use the speech system anywhere. Can you outline a specific series of steps to trigger it? (And I mean specific!) If so, e-mail me the steps to reproduce, along with the following:

- A system profiler report
- The output of the following terminal command at the time of the problem occurring:

ps -aux > ~/Desktop/ps_output.txt

(This will generate a text file on your desktop.)

Address: com dot freeverse at michael

Illuminated app. http://i.somethingawful.com/forumsys...ot-science.gif

Have a look at this PodCast:

PodCast

Hiding control panel
 

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In your coming release, do you have an easy way to hide Think’s control panel? So far I’ve been dragging it to an edge or corner.

I am playing with opacity settings when you don't have your mouse over it, but with the replaced HUD-style controls (most of which are not in 0.2), it's no longer loud and in your focus space at 20% opacity or less.

I do not intend to have it disappear completely in any form. It simply raises too many usability concerns with the "how do you remove it/bring it back" question.

Edit: In 0.2, it fades to 20% opacity. I'm experimenting with values from 10% to 20% in the current builds to see what feels best with the new controls.

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Good point; didn’t think of that.
I’m looking forward to the new version -- using the current one daily.

E-mail me at my Freeverse address. I'll give you the current build so you can hunt for bugs.

com dot freeverse at michael

Oops, that was my mistake. I opened several programs to see how Think was going to work, and one of the programs I opened was Chess, which also has some secondary window called Speech Feedback that I was unable to close independently. Sorry for putting the cart ahead of the horse and asking about it before I looked into it more.

Current build is up:

http://freeverse.cachefly.net/Mac/Think/Think051C14.dmg

Notes:

- Multiple screen support hasn't been landed yet. No need to report it.
- No hotkeys yet. It's on the table, scientists are looking into it, etc.
- Core Image is now used in certain places within Think. What does this mean for you? Think 0.5 requires Mac OS X 10.4 or later. I may add 10.3.9 support before 1.0, but for right now, we're shooting Tiger guns. You do not need a Quartz Extreme-enabled Mac to run Think.

So what's new in this build (besides using Core Image)?

So far working Sweet..:)

It's mostly under the hood, except for the redesigned floating control panel.

- Bug fixes involving everything from refocusing to window drawing
- Control panel no longer resembles a train wreck (as mentioned)
- Performance increases
- Gearing up to implement multiple screen support, which will probably break everything because the universe hates progress

Think 0.6! Multiple screen support has landed, though some bugs remain in the implementation. If something's broken here that wasn't broken previously, that's why.

http://freeverse.cachefly.net/Mac/Think/Think061D5.dmg

Before running, delete your Think preferences:

~/Library/Preferences/com.freeverse.think.plist

Report issues to the e-mail address in the disk image window.

I’m really enjoying this!
 

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Just downloaded and installed the new build.

For me, Think works beautifully -- it’s far more than I dreamt of when I started this thread. And I really appreaciate what you’ve done, Mikey-San!

One feature that I particularly like, is the possibility of setting the background opacity/translucency exactly as I please. And I also like the ability to subtly control the precise hue of my background colour. I usually opt for a really saturated dark with a touch of blue, or perhaps a bit of warmth.

I’m curious about something. Under List you have a whole arsenal of colours, hues and tints, and whatever -- with names like Apple, Developer and ProKitGrey. Can you explain these?


Today’s colour link: The glass art of William Morris. Click Artwork. Enjoy! :)
.

It's the standard Mac OS X colour panel, actually. (Check it out in TextEdit, for example.) That arsenal comes stock.

http://www.mikey-san.net/thinkbecause.png

One-point-zero, soon.

How soon......?
:-)
I would really like to try this. Nice one, Mikey-San.
Gavin

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Brilliant payoff! Nice icon. :)

Avast! 1.0!

http://freeverse.cachefly.net/Mac/Think/Think.dmg

Complete with manual, as seen on TV. Enjoy, guys.

Also: Think is freeware, as far as I'm aware. I won't turn this thread into a giant plug for our site, but if you dig Think, take a few minutes and check out the rest of freeverse.com. We'd certainly appreciate it! :)

If you guys find bugs, you can hit up our support page and let us know:

http://www.freeverse.com/support/

Cool. Very nice "Getting Started" pdf.

I like how the illuminated app's icon appears in Think's icon.

Thanks. Everyone in the office seems to like that little touch. :)

Awesome program. Thanks Mikey-San.

Keyboardless Use
 

I prefer to be able to use as much of my computer as possible with strictly the keyboard. Would it be possible to have the first icon highlighted when you hit command+control+return, and use the arrow keys to scroll back and forth, and finally another return to select the desired app?

This is something on the board for a future update.

What I find myself doing is actually a mix of OS X and Think: I command-tab to an application, then I hit command-option-tab to illuminate it immediately, rather than going back to Think at all!

Hi,

I really like the app but it's not compatible with virtuedesktops.
Is there any possibility that Think will work with virtuedesktops?

Thanks in advance

Yeah, these shortkey commands work really well. I don’t lose any time switching back and forth between apps if I wish to fetch or check something.

In other words, my train of thought is undisturbed. And to me that is the whole point of this. Fewer distractions, a far more fluid and well-directed creative process.

Thanx!

Probably not, both for technical reasons and user experience reasons. Using Think to block out multiple desktops breaks the concept of having multiple desktops in the first place.

sorry to say that, but does it do something different from BackDrop? as i see from screenshots, it doesn't even hide menubar, which certainly does distract you -- just look at that Gmail icon! :). so, Backdrop & MenuShade together with a little AppleScript (if you want, e.g., to automate launching) seems for me to be even a better solution.

but may be i'm missing something? and may be Think has some additional functionality? (i personally haven't tested it yet since there are no macs around now).

Few ideas...
-Pushing the curser against the left or right edge of the screen will switch the focused app.
-Notifications... perhaps tied into growl... It'd be nice if it would display notifications somewhere (selectable location), that you could click on to change the focus... also allow it to be set so that notifications stay until clicked - sometimes I might be working on something and get an email which growl will tell me about, however, because I am working on something I ignore it... unfortunately by the time I'm finished with what I'm doing I've forgotten about the email.

A friendly public service announcement for people coming into the thread now that Think is getting press:

There was a lot of discussion in this thread prior to 1.0. Remember to read all of it before posting.

indraunt: Make sure to check out the hot keys. They make switching around a little nicer. I'm still thinking about ways to improve the "switch illumination" process for future releases, though. :)

Congrats Mickey-San,

Think is now on MacUpdate!!! :D

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And well deserved!
It works beautifully and I can’t think of a single improvement.
Sharpens my focus when I need it, every day.

:) ArcticStones

in other words, nobody can summarize Think!'s advantages :) (hey, Mikey, of course i've looked through the thread before posting, just as you said in your first today's posting, which is deleted now :)).

however, from my side i can say that i've also tested the software already and didn't seem to find anything special. but it's ok, of cousre; some people just like the bright package :).

Pretty well summarised
 

Well, it seems to me that I focus on precisely that in posts 1, 7, 23 and 87. As do other posters. Appearantly the question that posed when I started this thread started the ball rolling. The obvious advantage is that it mutes distractions so that one can focus on the task at hand.

I am a professional copywriter, and I benefit from that every day. I suspect it will be the same for many other people. Mikey-San’s application is a big help.

Advantages? The app name and the fitting pay-off say it all.
I don’t understand what’s unclear...

MacUpdate has automatic bots and editors that pick these things up. Ditto Version Tracker. No biggie there.

However, today it's hit Ars Technica, Digg, Daring Fireball, Lifehacker, and at least a dozen Mac sites. Not too shabby.

As far as advantages, I suppose I'll chime in, seeing as how I designed it. I'm going to keep it short, though, so as not to junk up the thread.

Some people like to focus this way sometimes. I didn't like how similar apps felt, so when I saw this thread, I wrote my own. I believe that its workflow is designed well. (You should see my design goals sheet.) That's it.

This happens to me daily now:

Workworkwork while focused on an app. I need something from Mail or iChat or whatever. I bring it forward for a moment. Then I hit command-control-return to throw it (and anything else I brought forward) to the background again and return to isolation.

And then I say to myself, "This has changed my workflow."

Your mileage may vary. Everyone's different.

I've just tried your Think application, and I'm very fond of it. I like the effect that it has, almost like pulling a curtain around yourself in a photo-booth.

One thing that I would like to see tweaked is this: When clicking on the backdrop, the active window flickers. It would be nice to be able to delay the return of the window until mouse-up. That would be more in keeping with how the Dock icons and Finder icons work. They don't actually register a click until the mouse button is released.

I might also like to see the transparent control panel totally disappear after x number of seconds. That would also mirror the functionality in Apple's Slideshow and DVD Player.

Speaking of DVD Player, how about a vertical option for the controller for those of us with tiny 12" monitors? :)

I'm guessing that one or more of these issues has already been covered in this post, so please forgive me.

It would also be great to be able to store a small number of (maybe 4-6) swatches directly on the Think controller. That would eliminate the need to open Apple's hideous, but very functional color picker.

Two thumbs up for bringing this to us and the rest of the Mac community.

ArcticStones,

as i said in my posting #89, i'm not asking for a description of Think, but i was just curious what's so exciting and new about it, comparing to BackDrop & MenuShade, which were so nicely mentioned in the posting #3.

and if i can say my HO, then i personally see no preferences for Think. even more, i see the obvious disadvantage, since Think does not mute all the information coming from the menubar -- your Google Notifiers, Adium information, etc, etc.

so, that was the point of two my messages above. how do you say? "i don’t understand what’s unclear..." :).

Re: Advantages
 

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Ah, clearly I’ve misunderstood you, Dsjkvf. I was noting the advantages relative to my own workflow.

Mikey-San released the first version of Think within a few hours of my first post. I was most impressed! Already then it fulfilled what I had in mind -- and more so. And so I myself have not compared Think to other software out there.

I spoke of Think’s advantages on its own merits.