#FF00AA

Wow: Quicksilver, the one compulsory utility for any OS X user, gets radial menus [via] (that means putting every menu option around the mouse pointer rather than in a column, and is orders of magnitude more efficient, ergonomics-wise).

Of course, since Quicksilver isn’t exactly the most self-evident program in the world when it comes to using its advanced features, you have to work a bit to access them:

• have a Mac, but you already do if you know what’s good for you

• check “Enable access for assistive devices” in the “Universal Access” system preferences pane

• download and install the latest Quicksilver version (auto-update didn’t work for me, probably because it’d need administrative rights and doesn’t care to ask)

• activate the “Enable advanced features” and “Beta” options (you have to restart Quicksilver after each of these changes)

• activate the “Constellation Menus” and “User Interface Access” plugins (you may need to press Alt while selecting the “All Plug-ins” dropdown item for the latter to appear in the list [via] — they really don’t want you to find the useful stuff, do they?)

• activate the relevant triggers

• activate the relevant catalog options

• activate the radial menu handler

• press F6 or F7 (if you didn’t change the default shortcuts) to get something like this (on this screenshot Quicksilver has scrolled the screen up because the menu was beyond the borders; it’s pretty but a bit slower, and optional):

No, it’s not just pretty: it’s also useful and convenient. (Except, being beta functionality and all, I’m not sure it’s quite reliable. I had to relaunch Quicksilver a dozen times before it started working correctly, and even then it’s still a bit erratic. Actually, now I have to launch Quicksilver every hour or so because it has silently crashed.)

Incidentally, the “User Interface Access” plugin has other uses: it lets you access, with your keyboard, every menu item in the active appllication. Among many other things, you can create a trigger (the detailed lesson will be for another time) so that every menu item ends up in a big, flat list and you only have to press N, T, Enter to trigger “New Tab”, for instance. (And, yeah, I know it’s a lousy example because there already is a keyboard shortcut for “New Tab”.)

And don’t let this post discourage you from trying out Quicksilver if you’ve got a Mac and aren’t a geek: it also does much simpler things (universal application & bookmark launcher, clipboard history manager, etc.) right out of the box (provided you know it appears when you press Ctrl-Space, by default). Oh, and it’s free.