Awesome Quake Like Console For Terminal.app

This is just awesome. I was stumbling around Google Code looking for something interesting to write about when I came across blacktree-visor–innocently tagged as a Quake-style terminal.

That line grabbed my intention and I decided to see what Visor was all about.

Visor is an application that attaches the Terminal to the top of your screen for easy access. If you’ve ever played a game with a console (Like Quake) this should be very familiar to you. You can perform any command as usual. The only difference is the way the terminal is presented.

This project is from blacktree, the same person who developed other amazing applications such as Quicksilver, Telekinesis and Secrets.

Installing Visor

To install Visor you must have SIMBL installed.

Once you’ve done this copy Visor.bundle into /Users/<username>/Application Support/SIMBL/Plugins/

Be sure to replace <username> with your username.

Start Terminal.app (Applications -> Terminal.app) or re-start if it’s already open.

In your menu, click Terminal -> Visor Preferences…

This brings up a simple configuration window for Visor.

Configuring Visor

First set the HotKey. Press Edit and enter the key combination you’d like to use. I’m using Control+` (Control+Tilde).

You can also adjust the Slide/Fade Window settings to change the transition effects.

That’s all you need to get started. Close the window and press your HotKey.

You should get a nice Quake-like Terminal window at the top of your screen.

I’ve edited my Terminal settings to be skinnier so it doesn’t take up as much room.

(Note: If you’re having problems making your changes stick, click Shell -> Use Settings as Default.)

If you use your terminal at all this is extremely handy as a quick way to access it from any application.

I’ve already used this a couple times while writing this tip!

What I found even cooler was that you could add Quartz Animations to your background.

Re-open the Visor Preferences–you’ll notice a Use Quartz Animation setting.

Head over to QuartzCompositions and download any of the listed animations (I like this one). Load this file as your background in Visor and you’ve got a cool animation running while you work in Terminal.app.

I found this a little distracting while using a transparent background. However, if you enable the “Fade Window” setting–the animation only shows up while showing/hiding the terminal window.

This adds an extremely cool effect that looks great during the transition of your console. Make sure your window is opaque (Terminal -> Preferences -> Settings -> Background).

Here is a quick video demonstrating Visor and the Quartz Animation transition.

(Note: E-mail subscribers will have to click through to see this video)

Visor is Awesome

I’m already in love with Visor. I don’t use my terminal a ton but I use it enough for this to increase my productivity.

Not only does it work well, but it looks amazing.

I’ve noticed we’ve used the word awesome quite a bit when describing blacktree software. This is because the ideas are somewhat simple, but executed beautifully.

If you use your terminal at least once a day, I highly recommend Visor.

There is a version for Tiger, however I haven’t tested it.