May 2009 Software Closet
Helpful Utilities
A Better Finder Rename 8.17
A Better Finder Rename ($20) is a powerful utility that’s useful for more than simply renaming files. The application can add, remove, insert, replace text, rename by creation or modification dates, number sequentially, change case, resolves file name conflicts, rename digital photos according to the time and date the photos were taken via contextual menus, and can save file renaming presets. It displays the new file names before you commit to a change, and can create droplet applications for drag-and-drop file renaming. It also can process subfolders separately, process only files or only folders, retain file comments, and much more.
Caliper
Caliper (free) is an Adobe AIR application that lets you measure the distance between, or the size of, objects on your display. It can measure width and height, can be rotated to measure objects at different angles, works with any application, and works on both Macs and Windows PCs.
Droffett 1.0.7
Droffett (donationware) is a utility that “flattens” a folder: it moves all files inside nested folders to the top level of the topmost folder. When you need this utility, you really NEED it — for example when you need to move all the font files out of a collection of nested folders up to the top level folder that contains them.
Shrink O’Matic 1.0
Resizing folders of raster-based images is a quick task with Shrink O’Matic. This Adobe AIR application can resize images to a preset width, height or ratio, rename files, and can convert images to JPEG. It supports JPEG, GIF and PNG images, which makes it great for Web designers that need to resize several images at once.
WindowShade X 4.3
Unsanity’s WindowShade X ($13.50 shareware) lets you double-click the title bar of any window to either collapse it into the title bar (like rolling up a window shade), reduce its opacity, or shrink the window to a miniature version of itself. To us, WindowShade is indispensable when working with multiple Finder windows, because with a double-click you can “roll up” a window to access what’s behind it, then double-click to roll it back down. Click here to read Dan Frakes’ review for far more details.
Adobe Photoshop Actions
B&Big Picture
This free action will turn a single photo (landscape orientation) into a collage of 25 photos of equal size -- each with a border that makes them appear as if they are slightly curled, and laid out on a table.
Adobe InDesign Scripts
Find/Change by Color/Overprint
If you need to find and replace a color based on color or its overprint attribute, this free script can be a timesaver. It works on Fill, Stroke, and Gap color and produces a report detailing the affected objects.
Adobe Illustrator Plug-Ins
White Overprint Detector
Worker72a’s White Overprint Detector (free) is a plug-in for Illustrator CS3 or CS4 that scans each file as you open it, and tells you whether there are any paths or text that have been filled or stroked with a white overprint. (White is defined a spot or global color defined as 0% CMYK or a 0% tint of a spot or global color.) An optional $25 version can reset all white text and path object overprints to knockout.
Helpful Documents
QuarkXPress 7 and 8 Cheatsheets from Noble Desktop
Respected New York City training company Noble Desktop created these one-page “cheatsheets” for some of the most useful keyboard shortcuts in QuarkXPress 7 and 8, for Mac and Windows. For more info, click here to visit Noble Desktop's website.
Free Fonts
Miami
Sansation
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