Developing Rails Application on Mac OS X Leopard

Posted by Wendy

With Ruby on Rails you can build powerful and dynamic web sites. Read this article to learn how to develop your application using Xcode 3.0 and the tools that come pre-installed in Leopard.

Ruby on Rails is a popular and powerful open source web framework for rapidly creating high-quality web applications. Rails is thriving on Mac OS X, and Leopard comes pre-installed with Ruby, Rails, Mongrel, Capistrano, Subversion, and other tools that help to streamline the development and deployment of Rails applications. We will use the Organizer feature of XCode 3.0 to demo the step of the development.

This article gives you a full tour of Ruby on Rails 2.0 on Mac OS X Leopard and building a web application using the latest Rails features with Xcode 3.0.

Leopard Finder - Smart Sidebar Items

Posted by Wendy

Initially, Leopard Finder has 6 pre-defined smart folders on it sidebar. Actually, there are 11 of them provided. How to activate all 11 of them?

They are called CannedSearches

First of all, you should spot them first. If you follow these simple steps, spotting them won't be hard :

1. Open Finder
2. Go to Macintosh HD ▸ System ▸ Library ▸ CoreServices ▸ Finder
3. Right-click on Finder icon and choose Show Package Contents
4. Dig inside Contents ▸ Resources ▸ CannedSearches

Preview Tutorial - Resize at Ease

Posted by Wendy

Why do you need to look for others when you've already had free, capable application shipped along with your Leopard?

As Usual, Find Image First

Some of the readers might have known that I like to find an image before starting my tutorial. Here is the chosen one :

Leopard Spotlight - Calculator Functions

Posted by Wendy

Besides doing logical expression, Leopard Spotlight can also do some mathematical calculations. Are you curious what are those functions?

I know a little bit about Java Programming Language, so I try to use the Math library, which contains some functions to do scientific calculations, on Spotlight. To my surprise, some of these functions work.

Here are some examples :

Mac and Windows - Similarities

Posted by Wendy

Apple Worldwide Developers Conference 2006.

Skin

Leopard - Activate 26 Menu Extras

Posted by Wendy

There are 26 items come along with your Mac OS X that can be attached onto your menu bar. Here is the shortcut to show them all on your menu bar.

Perhaps you have read the new book by David Pogue, The Missing Manual : Mac OS X - Leopard Edition. There is inside written the complete list of all Leopard menu bar items and how to attach them onto your menu bar.

Leopard Mod Tools

Posted by Wendy

Probably some of you guys like to use leopard default features, but some of you may want to do some modification to the current look and feel, theme, the way it works, so that we can increase our productivity, fun and also mood. There is one software that can do most of the stuffs as what I have posted earlier here by using some terminal command line. LeopardMod is the name of this software. It has functionality to tweak finder, dock, dashboard, safari, menu bar, and also expose.

Leopard - Change Default Icon

Posted by Wendy

I've found several interesting icons, but how can I change all icons in just one shot?

Preview Tutorial - Embed Icon into Stack Drawer

Posted by Wendy

It's Something Like This..

You Only Need Preview..

The drawer above can be easily made with only your Mac OS X Leopard little humble Preview.

Leopard - Fast User Switching

Posted by Wendy

You will probably share your Mac with other people. Sometimes, it happens that the person with whom you share your Mac wants to use his/her account for a while. So, what should you do?

Stop All Your Activities and Log Off Your Account?

I thought we're talking about Leopard now. This old-fashioned, troublesome way to switch user is no longer of our interest, I believe.

Fast User Switching

Fast User Switching will be the right choice. Using this, whenever you want to switch to another user, you can just click on one of the accounts, enter the correct password and after a nice switching animation, your view have been changed to another account. Is it cool?

Fluid - Convert Web into Applications

Posted by Wendy

Everyday in your working days, you probably need to check all the same e-mail, news, website or maybe favorite blog site. You should try using Fluid.

Distinguishable Icons

With Fluid, you can convert all of them into each separate applications, which are easily distinguishable. And you will find that you won't need to cycle all your opened web browser tabs in order to find particular site. The icon is customizable and you can put it on your Dock.

Some Nice Leopard Wallpapers

Posted by Wendy

2560x1600

Killer Leopard Trick - Finder Screen Sharing

Posted by Wendy

Talking about Screen Sharing, the reflection of iChat shouldn't be far away from your mind. Actually, the Screen Sharing itself is provided in your Finder.

Screen Sharing Whereabouts

Just now I told you that Screen Sharing is separated from iChat. To prove that, you could go to Mac HD ▸ System ▸ Library ▸ CoreServices which Mac HD is your hard drive name. Inside there, you will definitely find Screen Sharing.

Leopard Preview Trick : Grab Icon

Posted by Wendy

Responding my recent article Easiest Way to Grab Icon, Luke provides very nice trick that I believe putting it here will be helpful.

With a simple highlight and import, Preview can display exactly the displayed icon. Let's see how to do it.

Leopard : Essential Applications for Blogger

Posted by Wendy

I've become a blogger for quite a long time. During the process of compiling my article, these applications are essentials for me.

Editing Images

Adobe Photoshop CS2

This is my basic image editor. For blogging purpose, CS2 is more than enough but if you've quite a money on hand, you can purchase CS3. I love it especially when I can give effects on images with Photoshop.