Unlike the previously mentioned software programs, TextExpander does not allow deferring the restart. It also recommends you define a keyboard shortcut and/or activate the software’s menu bar icon so that you can easily access the application after the relaunch. When you select the “Hide TextExpander icon in Dock” option, a warning dialog box will not only inform you that a relaunch is required. TextExpander is one such application that can hide from the user. Usually the only means to summon these applications is a keyboard shortcut. Other programs support being turned into background-only applications that are completely hidden from the user’s view. The application will always appear in at least one of these two locations. The icon options in Skitch and in Mouseposé have something important in common: You cannot hide both Dock and menu bar icons at the same time. The user does not have to do anything, except wait for the application to restart. ” alt=”Skitch preferences window with a note underneath the “show icon in” option, explaining that the application will automatically restart after a settings change if that is required” border=”0″ width=”400″ height=”302″ />Īs it says in the info text underneath the radio buttons, Skitch will simply relaunch if the settings change requires it. Instead of bringing up a dialog box and allowing the user to defer the relaunch, however, Skitch completely automates the process. Skitch‘s icon options are similar to Mouseposé’s. If you then relaunch the application, its changed behavior may come as a surprise and confuse you. Second, once you’ve deferred the relaunch and worked with the application for a while, you may forget about having changed any settings.
If you do click Later, the change you made to the Show Icon radio buttons is retained, even though the corresponding changes have not been applied to the application’s behavior.įor example, when you change the setting from “Dock and Menu Bar” to “Menu Bar”, and click “Later” in the dialog box, the icon is still shown in both locations.įirst, you cannot rely on the preferences displaying the application’s actual settings - i.e., how it behaves right now -, nor can you easily go back to the previous settings. A button labeled Later lets you defer the relaunch. The “Relaunch required” dialog box in Mouseposé does include a Restart button. Mouseposé: Would you like to restart now, or wait a while? I would find it helpful if the dialog box expressly prompted you to initiate that restart, e.g., by adding something like “Please quit and restart Growl when you’re done adjusting the settings”.īetter yet, provide a Restart button right inside the dialog box. It does not serve as a warning that the app would actually restart as soon as you click OK. It took me a while to understand that this dialog box is purely informational. I found that idea irritating, because I thought, “What if I don’t want to restart the app now? Where’s the Cancel button? Why can’t I back out of this?”Īnd then I did click OK - and wondered whether the program was buggy, because nothing happened. When I saw this dialog box for the first time, I expected the application to restart once I would click the OK button. Growl: Do what I say (if you know what that is)!Īfter changing the icon setting in Growl, a dialog box informs you that the application “must restart for this change to take effect”.
#Mousepose free mac os x#
To give you a few examples for how developers address this process, here is a look at five Mac OS X applications that require a restart when you show or hide their icon in the Dock or menu bar. Nowadays, applications are more helpful in reminding you of a required restart, or even take care of that for you. Such settings used to be accompanied by a line of text, stating that “Changes to this option won’t take effect until you relaunch the application”. Sometimes when you modify a preference setting in a software application, a restart is required for the change to take effect.
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