Think 1.0, a new utility created to do what WriteRoom did for all of the other residents of your Applications folder, was released today to the tune of free. Basically, it lets you make any of your apps full screen. Perhaps I’m missing a crucial piece of the puzzle when I ask, “Why?”
One of the biggest differences between OS X and Windows is the way the inherent window layout affects your everyday work flow. OS X provides an environment that facilitates multitasking much more effectively than Windows. Whenever I’m on a PC, I find myself constantly moving, resizing, minimizing, closing (unintentionally exiting) and the like. With OS X, it’s much easier to set up my windows in such a way that allows me to get work done.
From time to time, there comes a need to have one app dominate my display. For the most part, the developers of said app have foreseen this issue, and have built-in a full screen feature to the app (WriteRoom, QuickTime, etc.) However, most work requires the use of multiple windows, so a full screen solution is more of a burden than anything else.
Besides the free version of QuickTime, I’d like it if you, the reader, could chip in as to when you were using an app that you just wish would go full screen, but lacked the capability.
I recently found Think and have used it when watching TV shows on the internet (NBC, ABC streaming TV shows). I have used Think to get rid of any and all distractions when watching these shows online.
Since I switched to a Mac (about a year ago), I've found I prefer the OS X way and hardly ever put my Windows windows fullscreen now. And when I say hardly ever, I mean never.
It now annoys me when I have to sit at someone else's PC and they have a fullscreen IE window with text down one third of the screen. Alt-Tab makes it less annoying than it could be, but it bugs me to see so much screen wasted.
BTW - the OS X Alt-Tab behavior is something else that I prefer. I find I get to my apps quicker with Alt-Tab followed by Alt-`
Paul makes a good point. I provide support in an environment where many users have come from a Windows environment, and they're in the habit of using applications in full screen.
I bascially share your opinion on the practice, but since it's not harmful, I welcome any product that makes life easier for our users.
I like nearly all my apps (Indesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, Safari, Mail, etc.) to take up most of my screen--not quite "full screen" because, I also like to be able to see one to two inches of the desktop on the right hand side of the screen. I often save files there from one app to drag into another app. For instance, I save a PDF out of Indesign to the desktop (it goes to the right side of the screen). I then switch to Mail, and drag the PDF from the desktop into my message as an attachment. This is just one example of how I do things.
Think 1.0 looks like it hides the desktop as well as the other apps so that would not work for me.
I use LiteSwitch X. It lets me hide all apps except the one I am working in but still lets me see the desktop. It works the way I want it to. Plus I can switch apps using an app switcher (similar to apple's app switcher) which is re-sizable so it is not as huge and "clunky" as Apple's app switcher (did I just use the word "clunky" about an apple product?--oh my).
Robert.
FINAL DRAFT!
The "industry standard" screenwriting app lets you do all kinds of swell things easily -- except for write. There is no full screen mode, font rendering is abysmal, and it's not a cocoa app, so stuff like Think! isn't an option. Talk about your Time Machine -- FD is like spending 8 hours a day in 1992.
Worse, the correspondence I've had with the company suggests that none of this is in the offing. Their excuse: hey, we're only 30 people. You expect us to be good? Well, yes. Yes I do. WriteRoom, Scrivener, VoodooPad, Ulysses -- heck, name a great word processing app for Mac -- are all one man operations.
So meanwhile, I use Backdrop and Menu Shade to curtain off the rest of the world (thanks to Merlin Mann and 43 folders for that tip), and I await the release of either a more mature version of Montage or the latest iteration of Movie Magic Screenwriter.
Sorry to vent. They tick me off.
However, most work requires the use of multiple windows, so a full screen solution is more of a burden than anything else.
If you're using Think solely to lock yourself down to one app, yes, it can seem silly. Most work requires multiple apps. Most work requires a lot of windows.
The point of Think is not to merely blank out the background display; the point is to make it easy to bring the other apps forward and then quickly get rid of them.
Here's your use case:
So I'm working on a large-scale writing project right now - but I'm required to use Word. So I can't use any of the text editors that have the built-in full screen modes.
Next, my book requires lots of outside research - which means I can't stay in full screen mode forever, and having to fully disengage/reengage is a pain. Think allows for this. I can command tab out of the illuminated app and bring other apps forward as I see fit. I can have all my apps forward, should I desire it. But the benefit of Think is that when I'm done with my research - when I'm ready to refocus - I just click on the background and poof, everything goes away. (There's a hot key for this, too.)
If I realize part-way through that I need to focus on something else, a quick click on the illuminate button (or by hitting Command-Opt-Tab), I instantly switch the focused app. As Mr. Jobs likes to say, boom.
Yes, it's possible to do things *like* Think does using semi-secret hotkeys from the Finder and such. But that's not elegant - and if I didn't want elegance, I wouldn't use Quicksilver, I wouldn't use TextMate, and I sure as hell wouldn't be using a Mac.
Disclaimer: I used to work for Freeverse, and I contributed text and ideas to Think.
I think given that the app is free, they are offering this to folks who are writing/reading one thing at a time and are easily distracted.
As a recent Mac convert (2+ yrs), I still do miss some of the functions and abilities of Windows - like full-screen and tiling. I understand and appreciate the multi-view desktop that Mac OS offers, but at least 50% of my time is spent in one app... why can't I just have that guy go full screen with the click of a button? Is it because that would be too "windowzy"? Give me a break... if it works, utilize it.
I'm absolutely sure my wife would truly appreciate an app like Think - she writes emails, surfs the web, does image and print layout, and all sorts of other things... one-at-a-time.
While this is not a beta, it is a version 1.0. I bet Freeverse isn't going to stop there. I'd love to see tiling similar to Windows... not this crazy "resize, move, resize, change-app, resize, move, resize" that OSX forces on me.
The one comment I have for Freeverse at this time is, why not have the active app selected as a part of expose. I've gotten so used to squeezing my mighty mouse and app-switching that I'm not sure I can unlearn it.
I'm getting a really good initial reaction to this app. If I am getting distracted during class, I just start this thing up and keep my notes on top! A very novel mac app!
I downloaded Think and I gave it a try. I did not find it useful be it just basically colours out your desktop. If it could black out everything (dock when the dock is not auto-hidden, and the menu) and make the screen like full-screen iPhoto, then it would be really useful when I need to focus on one thing. It would be optimal if the menu could pop out from the top, but that is not plausable.
Circus Ponies NoteBook. When I write in my journal I like to pretend I'm in one giant digital diary.
Safari when I am reading stories or e-books from the web. Turn off address, button bar and status bar. Again more like a digital book without having to be in Acrobat.
You are right though my other apps have that ability in some shape.
Cheers
Ian