MacTips Video: An Overview of Quicksilver Interfaces

I’d like to welcome you to the first in a (hopefully) long series of Mac video tips.

We decided to start making videos because some things are easier to explain this way. OS X has lots of sexy features, and sometimes an image just doesn’t cut it.

Quicksilver is the the launcher of choice for many Mac users. One reason is because it’s so easily customizable.

You can customize plugins, triggers and even the interface–as I’ll show you in the video.

Here’s a list of themes I go over in the video with links to download.

Bezel: Comes standard with Quicksilver
Primer: Also comes standard with Quicksilver
Window: A Primer like Interface, but slightly more compact
Mini: Another Primer replica, but much smaller. The smallest interface I know of
Menu: Replaces your menubar with a Quicksilver interface–very slick
Flashlight: Adds a Quicksilver interface directly below the menubar–looks like Spotlight dialog
Showcase: Interface with very interesting transition effects, but a little large for my taste
Cube: Allows you to rotate around a cube for different steps–I use this one regularly. You can also modify this interface quite a bit
Fumo: Clean interface, but also has the ability to smoke with Command+S
(Bonus) BezelHUD: Another gorgeous interface, but not shown in the video.

To install these, simply run the files (you may have to unzip them first). Quicksilver may require a restart.

Then go to your Quicksilver Apperance Preference and change “Command Interface” to whichever interface you want.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on the video. Too fast? Too slow? I made a few mistakes, but after recording it 2 or 3 times I gave up on perfection and settled on “good enough.”

Similar Posts:

I Like This Tip!

Written by Brad Jasper on February 20, 2008 at 10:04 pm - MacTips Video: An Overview of Quicksilver Interfaces has 10 comments - Categorized in Intermediate Tips, Quicksilver Tips, Video Tips - Tags: interfaces, mactips videos, quicksilver

10 Responses to “MacTips Video: An Overview of Quicksilver Interfaces”

Michael Zhao

Bravo, what screencap app did you use? February 20th, 2008 at 10:58 pm
Patrick

Screencast was ok, but I was a little disappointed that you didn't show BezelHUD, in my opionion it's the nicest looking interface for Quicksilver.

For screencasting I would recommend Screenflow http://www.varasoftware.com/products/screenflow/ It's an amazing piece of software! February 21st, 2008 at 1:38 am
Trackback

Guennersen.de | Quicksilver Interfaces
[...] übersicht verschiedener Quicksilver-Interfaces im Einsatz gibt es hier als Screencast zu [...]
February 21st, 2008 at 3:55 am
Bruno

The video is very nice. I just couldn't get the Menu interface to work. It just won't open. February 21st, 2008 at 6:41 am
Jeff Swain

Hey, this was a great tutorial. Thanks much! February 21st, 2008 at 7:58 am
Brad Jasper

Patrick,

When making the video it completely escaped my mind--when creating the post I found it again and wasn't willing to re-create the entire video (and re-encode) so I left it as a bonus.

I agree however, it is one of the best looking interfaces out there.

Michael, For the screencast I used Snapz Prox. I tried *every* available screencasting option--there just aren't any great options out there right now. Screenflow is fantastic, but too buggy to use right now. Once it gets some updates it will be the killer screencasting app.

If they get it to stop crashing I would easily pay $99 for it--until then it's just not worth it.

One app I was surprised with was Screenflick (http://www.araelium.com/screencast/). It doesn't get much attention--but I found it very straight forward and easy to use.

Bruno, I'll check into that for you. I had to re-download some of these packages and some of them are very hard to find--I'll let you know what I find. February 21st, 2008 at 8:11 am
azdawg

Keep them coming, the pace is excellent. February 22nd, 2008 at 6:42 am
hamsammich

Nice video, and it shows Quicksilver at work, which is what I had been looking for. It was this video that finally prompted me to download and install QS.

I'm just not certain if QS is even being developed actively, however (kept finding posts about the original author giving the project up, and somebody taking over, but couldn't find any info on that) and I had a problem every time I tried to get the plugins to install (the installer would hang after every plugin install...found the "fix", but even it did not work).

But, I'd like to give it another try if the installer gets an update and if I could find out how actively it's being developed. February 22nd, 2008 at 8:40 pm
Brad Jasper

Bruno,

I was able to get the Menu interface working--do you have the latest version of Quicksilver?

hamsammich,

You are correct, Quicksilver has been open sourced and dropped by it's original developer. The frustrating part is all the origional links were removed so we're left to piece together plugins on our own. February 22nd, 2008 at 9:24 pm
Trackback

Creating A Plan For Success - Brad Jasper’s Blog
[...] We’ve recently launched videos on MacTips. By posting these videos on YouTube and iTunes, I hope to draw in new viewers that may have never [...]
February 24th, 2008 at 11:04 pm