I tried writing it in the intro to the manual, but I don't think it
works very well. Still, flipping through the manual might help.
http://mysite.verizon.net/hmelman/Quicksilver.pdf
Here is a list of tutorials, some text w/ screenshots, others are
video. Some are for older versions but the concepts still apply if
not the exact methods (the manual above is the most up-to-date
description).
http://docs.blacktree.com/quicksilver/tutorials?DokuWiki=970ffb5260de891bf765937511c1c056
This is my favorite demonstration of the power of QS:
http://theappleblog.com/2006/05/02/quicksilver-screencast-pictures/
Even going through these things, it took me about a week before I
really "got" Quicksilver, and I think that's pretty common. And then
it took months of writing the manual to understand all the nooks and
crannies. You can start off small and add to your knowledge slowly.
The really power (and difference with Spotlight) is that there are
multiple actions you can choose from, not just "open".
The part that's hard to describe is this. On a mac today you do a lot
of different things and go to different programs to do them (e.g.,
safari for browsing, Mail for email, iChat for IM, Address Book for
contacts, etc.) Even though the Mac is pretty consistent, these are
all different applications and depending on what you want to do, you
do different things, click in different places, use different hotkeys,
etc.
Now imagine using spotlight a lot. You'd activate spotlight, type the
name of the thing you wanted to work and hit return to open it in that
app. Maybe it's a bookmark that opens in safari or a contact that
opens in Address Book or a mail message that opens in mail or a song
that plays in iTunes. Once you do this, you use that app to do stuff.
With Quicksilver's you have a consistent interface like with spotlight
but with QS's actions you can get to the next step and often that's
enough for the whole task. I can send a file to someone from QS alone,
it will use mail and finder and address book to do the work in the
background but I just used QS. I can control iTunes with keystrokes to
go to the next song or pause or mute, from QS without leaving the task
I'm working on. I can move or copy files without having to manipulate
finder windows or dragging and dropping. I can do a google search (or
imdb or wikipedia) from within Quicksilver and have the results show
in the browser. All this (and more) makes Quicksilver a consistent
interface for my mac and that has some psychological effect that makes
things seem even easier than QS is making them. QS is my mac to me.
and that's hard to describe to someone who hasn't played with it.
Howard
On Aug 22, 2008, at 5:00 PM, john l wrote:
Ok, count me in as one of the slow ones in this group. But I need some
help to understand how to use this program that everyone is raving
about. so here goes:
1) what is this about?
2) how do I use it?
3) Do I really sound lost?
Any help would be greatly appreciated:)
