Re: Add Icon to Menu Bar
Hi Ronni I used to enjoy cryptic crosswords! Did you find my explanation confusing? I am looking for a way to quickly switch desktop pictures (the default background Wave on Mavericks for example) on a single iMac, not switch applications on different monitors. My preference is to use a mouse nowadays (even on a MacBook Air). I don’t have the fine control needed for a trackpad - or to manage the more exotic finger exercises on an iPad or iPhone! Cheers Alan On 30 Mar 2015, at 12:56 pm, Ronni Brown ro...@mac.com wrote: Mission Control - different Desktops - 3 or 4 finger swipe left or right to each desktop? Cheers, Ronni 13-inch MacBook Air (April 2014) 1.7GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost to 3.3GHz 8GB 1600MHz LPDDR3 SDRAM 512GB PCIe-based Flash Storage OS X Yosemite 10.10.2 On 30 Mar 2015, at 11:32 am, Alan Smith sma...@iinet.net.au wrote: Thanks for your response Peter. I had reached the same understanding you gave, hence my request to wamug for the extra experience or a workaround solution. Perhaps a more detailed description of my desired outcome would help:- My start position is that changing the desktop picture via System Preferences is independent of any open app, which is critical. Further, selecting the menu bar or an menulet item does not affect the current “active” application. I share my desktop screen during webinars. Most of the desktop acreage is used by the working applications - but the top menu bar remains visible and accessible. Ideally I want 4 single-function Menulets on the menu bar. (A single Menulet with a drop down menu would be second best.)I can control the working application window sizes to leave a border of the base desktop. I want to signal time warnings of green, orange and red desktop colour changes for webinar participants to ensure they wrap up their point so I can (politely) resume control. The fourth menu bar icon would be to restore the standard desktop background. These desktop background colour changes must be done “within one second”. Navigating through Apple System Preferences Desktop Screen Saver etc etc takes too long, displays its windows over the working webinar windows, and is prone to error due to haste. Some extra words to clarify or confuse - - -. One solution would be use a third party app - but I haven’t found one. Another possibility (not researched) is to use large coloured images floating on the desktop. These would normally be hidden by the open webinar apps. Each card could be dragged to the unused border area as needed. Two immediate problems: such cards MUST remain in the background when “activated, and clicking on any one must not open an application. Cheers Alan On 30 Mar 2015, at 8:20 am, Peter Hinchliffe hinch...@multiline.com.au wrote: On 29 Mar 2015, at 4:30 pm, Alan Smith sma...@iinet.net.au wrote: I want to use shortcuts to the System Preference - Desktop options by adding one or more icons (Menu Extras or Menulets) to the Menu Bar. Is this possible with OS X Mavericks? Not really sure what you’re trying t do here, but typically “Menulets” are controlled by the various applications which support them, and the user has no direct control over which ones appear in the menu bar, other than to click a checkbox in the supporting software to opt whether to display them or not. Some Menulets allow you to remove or reposition them from the menubar using Command-Click, but not all. There is nothing that can be done from with System Preferences to control Menulets. I am looking to quickly switch the desktop picture from normal to one of three custom displays. Any ideas? System - Library - CoreServices has a Displays folder but this apparently will only give access to screen resolution for mirroring to a second monitor. 1. Go to /Library/Desktop Pictures (lthe Library folder at the top level of your Hard Drive, not the one in your home folder). Create a folder called “Custom Displays” or similar (you’ll need Administrator authentication for this), and copy the three custom background pictures into it. 2. Open System Preferences Desktop Screen Saver and click the Desktop Tab. You should see your new folder listed under the Apple heading. 3. Choose this folder and you should see your three desktop pictures displayed. Check the box next to “Change picture:” to change the frequency with which the desktop pictrue is changed. If you want more direct control over which desktop do display the the moment, either unclick the box and choose the picture manually each time you want to change it, or use the “Set the Desktop Picture” action in Automator. I’ll have to let you explore this option for yourself because I don’t have time to go into it right now, but it’s not that hard to follow. Peter HinchliffeApwin Computer Services FileMaker Pro
Re: Add Icon to Menu Bar
On 30 Mar 2015, at 11:32 am, Alan Smith sma...@iinet.net.au wrote: Thanks for your response Peter. I had reached the same understanding you gave, hence my request to wamug for the extra experience or a workaround solution. Perhaps a more detailed description of my desired outcome would help:- My start position is that changing the desktop picture via System Preferences is independent of any open app, which is critical. Further, selecting the menu bar or an menulet item does not affect the current “active” application. I share my desktop screen during webinars. Most of the desktop acreage is used by the working applications - but the top menu bar remains visible and accessible. Ideally I want 4 single-function Menulets on the menu bar. (A single Menulet with a drop down menu would be second best.)I can control the working application window sizes to leave a border of the base desktop. I want to signal time warnings of green, orange and red desktop colour changes for webinar participants to ensure they wrap up their point so I can (politely) resume control. The fourth menu bar icon would be to restore the standard desktop background. These desktop background colour changes must be done “within one second”. Navigating through Apple System Preferences Desktop Screen Saver etc etc takes too long, displays its windows over the working webinar windows, and is prone to error due to haste. Some extra words to clarify or confuse - - -. One solution would be use a third party app - but I haven’t found one. Another possibility (not researched) is to use large coloured images floating on the desktop. These would normally be hidden by the open webinar apps. Each card could be dragged to the unused border area as needed. Two immediate problems: such cards MUST remain in the background when “activated, and clicking on any one must not open an application. Cheers Alan I know of nothing in the Mac OS, as it comes out of the box, which can help you - other than Automator, where I now think your solution lies, in conjunction with a bit of Applescript thrown in. Failing that, I’m afraid you are going to have keep searching for your elusive 3rd party app or commission someone to write one. Peter HinchliffeApwin Computer Services FileMaker Pro Solutions Developer Perth, Western Australia Phone (618) 9332 6482Mob 0403 046 948 Mac because I prefer it -- Windows because I have to. -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- Archives - http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml Guidelines - http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml Settings Unsubscribe - http://lists.wamug.org.au/listinfo/wamug.org.au-wamug
Re: Add Icon to Menu Bar
Automator may be the way to go. I had a play with it and managed to get a script working. Basically. made it an Applications. Added in the first line from left hand side of Get Specified Finder Items. then clicked Add, then worked my way to the path of the fist picture to use as the Desktop background. Then added in from the left hand side Set the Desktop Picture. Then Saved it as an Application on the Desktop called Picture 1. Repeated it for another Application with a different Picture and called the application Picture 2. Repeat for Picture 3. Then as you click on each one, within a second, the background picture changed from 1 to 2 3 as I clicked on each little application. You could then add these into a folder and put the folder in the Dock if you wanted to. You may also be able to trigger it from something else,…but I didn't play much further then the above…. Hope that helps. Kind regards Daniel Sent from my iPhone 6 --- Daniel Kerr MacWizardry Phone: 0414 795 960 Email: daniel AT macwizardry.com.au Web: http://www.macwizardry.com.au **For everything Apple** NOTE: Any information provided in this email may be my personal opinion and as such should be taken accordingly, and may not be the views of MacWizardry. Any information provided does not offer or warrant any form of warranty or accept liability. It would be appreciated that if any information in this email is to be disseminated, distributed or copied, that permission by the author be requested. On 31/03/2015, at 8:10 AM, Peter Hinchliffe hinch...@multiline.com.au wrote: On 30 Mar 2015, at 11:32 am, Alan Smith sma...@iinet.net.au wrote: Thanks for your response Peter. I had reached the same understanding you gave, hence my request to wamug for the extra experience or a workaround solution. Perhaps a more detailed description of my desired outcome would help:- My start position is that changing the desktop picture via System Preferences is independent of any open app, which is critical. Further, selecting the menu bar or an menulet item does not affect the current “active” application. I share my desktop screen during webinars. Most of the desktop acreage is used by the working applications - but the top menu bar remains visible and accessible. Ideally I want 4 single-function Menulets on the menu bar. (A single Menulet with a drop down menu would be second best.)I can control the working application window sizes to leave a border of the base desktop. I want to signal time warnings of green, orange and red desktop colour changes for webinar participants to ensure they wrap up their point so I can (politely) resume control. The fourth menu bar icon would be to restore the standard desktop background. These desktop background colour changes must be done “within one second”. Navigating through Apple System Preferences Desktop Screen Saver etc etc takes too long, displays its windows over the working webinar windows, and is prone to error due to haste. Some extra words to clarify or confuse - - -. One solution would be use a third party app - but I haven’t found one. Another possibility (not researched) is to use large coloured images floating on the desktop. These would normally be hidden by the open webinar apps. Each card could be dragged to the unused border area as needed. Two immediate problems: such cards MUST remain in the background when “activated, and clicking on any one must not open an application. Cheers Alan I know of nothing in the Mac OS, as it comes out of the box, which can help you - other than Automator, where I now think your solution lies, in conjunction with a bit of Applescript thrown in. Failing that, I’m afraid you are going to have keep searching for your elusive 3rd party app or commission someone to write one. Peter HinchliffeApwin Computer Services FileMaker Pro Solutions Developer Perth, Western Australia Phone (618) 9332 6482Mob 0403 046 948 Mac because I prefer it -- Windows because I have to. -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- Archives - http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml Guidelines - http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml Settings Unsubscribe - http://lists.wamug.org.au/listinfo/wamug.org.au-wamug
Re: Add Icon to Menu Bar
Hi Alan On 31/03/2015, at 8:10 AM, Peter Hinchliffe wrote: On 30 Mar 2015, at 11:32 am, Alan Smith sma...@iinet.net.au wrote: Thanks for your response Peter. I had reached the same understanding you gave, hence my request to wamug for the extra experience or a workaround solution. Perhaps a more detailed description of my desired outcome would help:- My start position is that changing the desktop picture via System Preferences is independent of any open app, which is critical. Further, selecting the menu bar or an menulet item does not affect the current “active” application. I share my desktop screen during webinars. Most of the desktop acreage is used by the working applications - but the top menu bar remains visible and accessible. Ideally I want 4 single-function Menulets on the menu bar. (A single Menulet with a drop down menu would be second best.)I can control the working application window sizes to leave a border of the base desktop. I want to signal time warnings of green, orange and red desktop colour changes for webinar participants to ensure they wrap up their point so I can (politely) resume control. The fourth menu bar icon would be to restore the standard desktop background. These desktop background colour changes must be done “within one second”. Navigating through Apple System Preferences Desktop Screen Saver etc etc takes too long, displays its windows over the working webinar windows, and is prone to error due to haste. Some extra words to clarify or confuse - - -. One solution would be use a third party app - but I haven’t found one. Another possibility (not researched) is to use large coloured images floating on the desktop. These would normally be hidden by the open webinar apps. Each card could be dragged to the unused border area as needed. Two immediate problems: such cards MUST remain in the background when “activated, and clicking on any one must not open an application. Cheers Alan I know of nothing in the Mac OS, as it comes out of the box, which can help you - other than Automator, where I now think your solution lies, in conjunction with a bit of Applescript thrown in. Failing that, I’m afraid you are going to have keep searching for your elusive 3rd party app or commission someone to write one. Have a look for a program called wallpaper-wizard-lite (Google the phrase) - I am not familiar with it but it may allow you to change the background by pressing a key. Note that I did find a user comment that it is no longer being updated, and can cause problems with Yosemite, but comments about it with older versions of the OS were generally positive. Regards Geoff --- Kaye and Geoff k...@kgweb.org.au -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- Archives - http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml Guidelines - http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml Settings Unsubscribe - http://lists.wamug.org.au/listinfo/wamug.org.au-wamug
Re: Add Icon to Menu Bar
Hello Daniel, Peter and Geoff Many thanks for your extra efforts here. I will try Automator and (possibly) AppleScript. I played with some of David Pogue’s (the “Missing Manuals” man) examples a few years ago so gained some familiarity with the processes involved. I hadn’t looked at the app wallpaper-wizard-lite suggested by Geoff. A good start before the serious business! Again, thanks to all Cheers Alan On 31 Mar 2015, at 9:03 am, Daniel Kerr dan...@macwizardry.com.au wrote: Automator may be the way to go. I had a play with it and managed to get a script working. Basically. made it an Applications. Added in the first line from left hand side of Get Specified Finder Items. then clicked Add, then worked my way to the path of the fist picture to use as the Desktop background. Then added in from the left hand side Set the Desktop Picture. Then Saved it as an Application on the Desktop called Picture 1. Repeated it for another Application with a different Picture and called the application Picture 2. Repeat for Picture 3. Then as you click on each one, within a second, the background picture changed from 1 to 2 3 as I clicked on each little application. You could then add these into a folder and put the folder in the Dock if you wanted to. You may also be able to trigger it from something else,…but I didn't play much further then the above…. Hope that helps. Kind regards Daniel Sent from my iPhone 6 --- Daniel Kerr MacWizardry Phone: 0414 795 960 Email: daniel AT macwizardry.com.au Web: http://www.macwizardry.com.au **For everything Apple** NOTE: Any information provided in this email may be my personal opinion and as such should be taken accordingly, and may not be the views of MacWizardry. Any information provided does not offer or warrant any form of warranty or accept liability. It would be appreciated that if any information in this email is to be disseminated, distributed or copied, that permission by the author be requested. On 31/03/2015, at 8:10 AM, Peter Hinchliffe hinch...@multiline.com.au wrote: On 30 Mar 2015, at 11:32 am, Alan Smith sma...@iinet.net.au wrote: Thanks for your response Peter. I had reached the same understanding you gave, hence my request to wamug for the extra experience or a workaround solution. Perhaps a more detailed description of my desired outcome would help:- My start position is that changing the desktop picture via System Preferences is independent of any open app, which is critical. Further, selecting the menu bar or an menulet item does not affect the current “active” application. I share my desktop screen during webinars. Most of the desktop acreage is used by the working applications - but the top menu bar remains visible and accessible. Ideally I want 4 single-function Menulets on the menu bar. (A single Menulet with a drop down menu would be second best.)I can control the working application window sizes to leave a border of the base desktop. I want to signal time warnings of green, orange and red desktop colour changes for webinar participants to ensure they wrap up their point so I can (politely) resume control. The fourth menu bar icon would be to restore the standard desktop background. These desktop background colour changes must be done “within one second”. Navigating through Apple System Preferences Desktop Screen Saver etc etc takes too long, displays its windows over the working webinar windows, and is prone to error due to haste. Some extra words to clarify or confuse - - -. One solution would be use a third party app - but I haven’t found one. Another possibility (not researched) is to use large coloured images floating on the desktop. These would normally be hidden by the open webinar apps. Each card could be dragged to the unused border area as needed. Two immediate problems: such cards MUST remain in the background when “activated, and clicking on any one must not open an application. Cheers Alan I know of nothing in the Mac OS, as it comes out of the box, which can help you - other than Automator, where I now think your solution lies, in conjunction with a bit of Applescript thrown in. Failing that, I’m afraid you are going to have keep searching for your elusive 3rd party app or commission someone to write one. Peter HinchliffeApwin Computer Services FileMaker Pro Solutions Developer Perth, Western Australia Phone (618) 9332 6482Mob 0403 046 948 Mac because I prefer it -- Windows because I have to. -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- Archives - http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml Guidelines - http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml Settings Unsubscribe - http://lists.wamug.org.au/listinfo/wamug.org.au-wamug -- The WA
