7 replies to this topic

[Conrad Gempf]

Greetings. In 10.0.1, I used to be able to keep the SpellCatcher icon out of the dock. I forget whether this was a SpellCatcher preference or whether I did it through a third party thing (I have a copy of Echidna 1.0b1, which doesn't seem to be around anymore). But with 10.1 I can't find a way to do it. Big old red book sitting there looking at me ... and, even worse, showing a flag!!

With a 12" PowerBook, I'm always looking for things to cut out of the dock and menubar. I love SpellCatcher to be there but invisible. I'm ok with the menubar thing -- 10.1 is an improvement there, I think. But I'd love to clean it out of the dock. Could that be a preference option in 10.2 please?

Conrad

[Evan Gross]

Conrad Gempf, on Feb 10 2004, 04:23 PM, said:

Greetings. In 10.0.1, I used to be able to keep the SpellCatcher icon out of the dock. I forget whether this was a SpellCatcher preference or whether I did it through a third party thing (I have a copy of Echidna 1.0b1, which doesn't seem to be around anymore). But with 10.1 I can't find a way to do it. Big old red book sitting there looking at me ... and, even worse, showing a flag!!

With a 12" PowerBook, I'm always looking for things to cut out of the dock and menubar. I love SpellCatcher to be there but invisible. I'm ok with the menubar thing -- 10.1 is an improvement there, I think. But I'd love to clean it out of the dock. Could that be a preference option in 10.2 please?

Conrad

This is not really a good idea. Spell Catcher's Dock menu has commands in it, and it is the ONLY way to get at commands from Carbon applications that don't support services.

It's also against all of Apple's rules, so doing it would be a big hack, and introduce the possibility of the program breaking from one OS release to another. We have enough trouble keeping the input method current with all the OS changes...

[saronian]

I'm not so sure Apple made the right decision to disallow the hidding of any dock item. I see a difference between applications I use often and a utility which is running 100% of the time. Spell Catcher, LaunchBar, SpamSieve, WeatherMenu, and other utilities are always running on my computer. But I have no need for seeing them in the dock, because I don't interact with them via the dock.

For my pattern of use, an option to hide a dock item makes sense, and Spell Catcher is the only utility I always run which can't be hidden. The others have a switch, something like "NSUIElement" in their Info.plist which can be changed to prevent showing in the dock.

Spell Catcher is so valuable to my daily work that I use it in spite of having to stare at the icon every day. The compatibility has been amazing, by the way.

Scott

[Evan Gross]

saronian, on Feb 14 2004, 01:46 AM, said:

I'm not so sure Apple made the right decision to disallow the hidding of any dock item. I see a difference between applications I use often and a utility which is running 100% of the time. Spell Catcher, LaunchBar, SpamSieve, WeatherMenu, and other utilities are always running on my computer. But I have no need for seeing them in the dock, because I don't interact with them via the dock.

For my pattern of use, an option to hide a dock item makes sense, and Spell Catcher is the only utility I always run which can't be hidden. The others have a switch, something like "NSUIElement" in their Info.plist which can be changed to prevent showing in the dock.

Spell Catcher is so valuable to my daily work that I use it in spite of having to stare at the icon every day. The compatibility has been amazing, by the way.

Scott

I certainly know I could add LSUIElement to the app's Info.plist, but that's not abiding by the rules. LSUIElement apps aren't supposed to have a menu bar, and Spell Catcher certainly does.

If Apple ever decides to enforce (all) the rules for LSUIElement and LSBackgroundOnly, there's no telling what might happen.

I know of a couple of apps that actually change this on the fly to implement such a preference, writing to their own Info.plist, but this is truly one of those "bad ideas".

There is a Panther-only Process Manager call to transform a background-only app to a foreground app, but not vice-versa.

You can always change it yourself and tell me how it goes...

LATER:

Ok, just for kicks I tried making Spell Catcher a LSUIElement app. VERY, VERY bad idea. Doing this with an app that has a menu bar leads to some very confusing behavior for the user. One example: You're in TextEdit. You do a Look Up. The SCX Look Up window opens. SCX is active, but you see no menu bar because it's a UIElement app. BUT when you type any menu command key shortcut (even command-n to create a new document) for an item that exists in both TextEdit's and Spell Catcher's menu bar, Spell Catcher's command executes. So even though the user percieves they are in TextEdit, and that command-n should create a new TextEdit document, it creates a Spell Catcher Learned Words document. Not good.

My advice: don't do this.

And if you're considering using Dockless, it does exactly this - writes LSUIElement to the Info.plist. The removal of the menu bar is noted in their Read Me.

Until OS X officially supports this, it simply can't be done safely.

Use Bug Reporter to file a feature request against OS X.

[saronian]

Evan - Thank you for the detailed explanation and for taking the time to experiment with the idea. Your description is very clear and helps show the careful way Spell Catcher has been integrated into OS X.

I now see that universal compatibility is paramount.

Scott

[dan55304]

Okay, I'm going to push back a little on hiding the dock icon. A utility app like Spell Catcher is a service and can and should be absent from the Dock. Look through Apple's own apps, you won't see Time Machine, Mobile Me, Spaces, Airport, etc. show up in the Dock. Similar apps to Spell Catcher like Evernote, Appigo's apps, 1Password, etc. do not consume a dock icon.

Mac folks are very jealous of how their workspace looks and behaves. An unnecessary icon on the dock is heresy. My main method of moving to the next app is Command-tab. I have to tab through a background task (Spell Catcher) every time I switch apps. It's like getting poked with a stick dozens of times a day. It gets really annoying. Spell Catcher has lots to offer above the built in OS spelling. Why annoy people trying to use your app? I don't get it. I want to use it, I paid for it.

I'm convinced removing Spell Catcher from the Dock is no violation of Apple's UI guidelines. Give us a menu and Prefspane and we're good to go. I look forward to a future release that eliminates the dock icon so I can start using Spell Catcher again.

[NoDockIcon]

dan55304, on 23 March 2010 - 07:42 AM, said:

Okay, I'm going to push back a little on hiding the dock icon. A utility app like Spell Catcher is a service and can and should be absent from the Dock. Look through Apple's own apps, you won't see Time Machine, Mobile Me, Spaces, Airport, etc. show up in the Dock. Similar apps to Spell Catcher like Evernote, Appigo's apps, 1Password, etc. do not consume a dock icon.

Mac folks are very jealous of how their workspace looks and behaves. An unnecessary icon on the dock is heresy. My main method of moving to the next app is Command-tab. I have to tab through a background task (Spell Catcher) every time I switch apps. It's like getting poked with a stick dozens of times a day. It gets really annoying. Spell Catcher has lots to offer above the built in OS spelling. Why annoy people trying to use your app? I don't get it. I want to use it, I paid for it.

I'm convinced removing Spell Catcher from the Dock is no violation of Apple's UI guidelines. Give us a menu and Prefspane and we're good to go. I look forward to a future release that eliminates the dock icon so I can start using Spell Catcher again.

Since before Dan there was no post in around six years, I think it's about time to bring this issue to the front. I give a hearty Amen to what he said and hope that a future update will enable you to exclude Spell Catcher from the Dock.

Though I'm pleased Spell Catcher came with the MacUpdate Bundle and think it has a lot to offer, the Dock icon has to go. It's not a Dock icon kind of application: especially since so much interface can be done through shortcuts and/or the menu bar.

I'm also frustrated when a certain random typing launches the Spell Catcher icon whether I select the input or not.

That said, I'm excited about Spell Catcher and really hope that it can be made more accessible.

Thanks

[Evan Gross]

NoDockIcon, on 11 April 2010 - 08:55 AM, said:

Since before Dan there was no post in around six years, I think it's about time to bring this issue to the front. I give a hearty Amen to what he said and hope that a future update will enable you to exclude Spell Catcher from the Dock.

Though I'm pleased Spell Catcher came with the MacUpdate Bundle and think it has a lot to offer, the Dock icon has to go. It's not a Dock icon kind of application: especially since so much interface can be done through shortcuts and/or the menu bar.

What about those folks that do not use Spell Catcher’s input method at all?
What if Spell Catcher is not the active input source?
What is the experience going to be like when you have multiple Spell Catcher document windows open? There will be no File menu, no Edit menu, its windows won't appear in the Window menu, etc. All the items in these menus will contain commands for the active application, not for Spell Catcher. The potential for complete user confusion is huge. That's why applications with a menubar must also have a Dock icon.

Think about it - I'm open to ideas that won't lead to the sorts of problems I just mentioned.

Quote

I'm also frustrated when a certain random typing launches the Spell Catcher icon whether I select the input or not.

That's because the app you're using has "Check Spelling While Typing" turned on, and your Language & Text System Preferences (Text tab) are set to use a Spell Catcher language in the Spelling popup menu. You can always choose the Setup… command and deselect all of Spell Catcher’s languages.