Macworld Forums: Growl 1.1.4 - Macworld Forums

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don't forget to download iPhonesque - by far the best looking style available for Growl. It really should be installed by default.
http://macthemes2.ne...php?id=16783761

Growl is one of those must have apps for any Mac user. It's so useful that it's almost a shame it's not built into OSX or supported by more apps.

I didn't really see the need to use it but it's better than those inane, bouncing icons in the Dock that tell you nothing and pull the CPU away from doing real work. It's amazing that Mozilla take advantage of it, but it really is a good notification system that doesn't get in the way.
Someone in the Linux/*BSD world is looking at doing something similar and people are asking "why?" but for those who use a GUI constantly, the question should be "why not sooner?"

Hi. I'm Growl's lead developer.

First off, “Growl-supported apps” is a misnomer: Growl supports any application that will talk to it. It's the applications that need to support Growl. (We wrote a plug-in for Mail, an input manager for Safari, and an adapter app for iTunes, because everybody has those apps and most people use them. We didn't write an adapter for iChat ourselves because… well, we're all Adium users. ☺)

Following from that is that Growl does not watch applications. When something happens, the application tells Growl, and then Growl tells you (unless you told it not to).

Regarding the problem with pop-up menus: We know about it and will fix it in 1.1.5.

Regarding our slow pace of development: Unfortunately, there's nothing we can do about it, as we're all volunteers. The best way to speed up our development is to pitch in, if you can. This also goes for documentation.

Regarding the user interface: Yeah, it's not exactly the best. We have some ideas; we just need somebody to implement them.

Regarding the reliability problems you experienced with forwarding: Please send us specific information about the problems you experienced. If it's a bug in Growl, we'd like to fix it.

bousozoku: There's actually already a Growl-like program called Mumbles, although I do know what you're talking about (Canonical's thing, right?). There's also Guifications 3 under development?that split off from the Pidgin project, IIRC.

Thanks for the review!

"I didn't really see the need to use it" A long while ago I used a backup program with no notification system, and it was several weeks before it dawned on me that the thing was failing to execute and not doing a damned thing., so that I had been doing my act whithout a net. This was a valuable lesson in the importance of notification. The minor nuisance of having to read and dismiss Growl notices is vastly outweighed by the peace of mind of knowing whether important background operations are functioning properly.

Growl is a perfect system extension. It really has infinite possibilities if you can work with scripting. My would-be favorite feature is the SMS feature, which can send a text message when something happens, such as a camera detecting motion or a temperature going a bit too high, however it's only integrated with one SMS service and really should be more flexible, such as using Skype SMS.
Otherwise, it's so essential that I don't even notice it anymore.

It still amazes me that Apple hasn't broken down the developers' doors and hauled them back to Cupertino to make this an official part of the OS. Definitely one of the must-have utilities.
Personally, my favorite thing about it is the fact that it does allow for so much user control. For instance, I have it rigged to notify me when I receive Mail. Now, that may not sound special, but because of the fine grain of control it gives the user, I've configured it so that if I'm away from the computer for awhile, it'll keep the notification on the screen for when I get back, which is great for those moments where I step away for a second and don't hear the chime of a new mail arriving in the background. On the other hand, if I'm at my computer typing away, it'll just pop up the message unobtrusively in the corner, and then will fade it out on its own after I have a handful of seconds to glance at it and see if it needs my attention.
Growl is great since it just does its job and gets out of your way. Absolutely wonderful.

boredzo said:

Yes, I believe it was Canonical, as it seemed to be an outgrowth of the Ubuntu phone interface development.

Right now, notifications (among other things) are rather haphazard on GNOME, so anything similar to Growl would be a step forward. Then again, Windows could use something also. I'm tired of Comodo Firewall Pro overlapping their dialog boxes with notifications. I mostly use my Mac but using Linux or Windows gets to be more of a pain, thanks to the work you've all done on Growl.

I too, find this app essential. And I can't reproduce at least one of the bugs the writer claims: the previews under Display Options work fine for me. I don't find the options overly complex, either. But I've been using it for years with hardly any need to go in and tweak the settings, so perhaps a new user might need some time to get used to it.

bousozoku,
I use something called "Snarl" on Windows but it's nowhere near as refined as Growl. The Growl options dialog is a work of art compared to the convoluted mess in Snarl.

bousozoku said:

Thanks.

There is a Windows version of Growl (separate code not by us, but using our name with our permission), plus Snarl. And, as I said, there's Mumbles for Ubuntu.

The amazing thing about Growl is that so many apps do make use of it. It's almost as if it's been given quasi-official status as a part of the OS by the developer community.

"First off, ?Growl-supported apps? is a misnomer: Growl supports any application that will talk to it. It's the applications that need to support Growl."

Sorry for any confusion, but that's what I meant to convey -- it's the app developers that need to support Growl.

"Regarding the problem with pop-up menus: We know about it and will fix it in 1.1.5."

That's good to know!

"Regarding our slow pace of development: Unfortunately, there's nothing we can do about it, as we're all volunteers. The best way to speed up our development is to pitch in, if you can. This also goes for documentation."

I fully understand that, but for a general user (the target of this piece) it's something to be aware of -- not that it's necessarily a bad thing, unless they happen to experience a bug that needs to be resolved.

"Regarding the reliability problems you experienced with forwarding: Please send us specific information about the problems you experienced. If it's a bug in Growl, we'd like to fix it."

Basically, I'm experiencing variations on the glitch discussed in this forum thread. All of my machines use a static IP, and both are running Growl 1.1.4. If I'm on the MBP and I go to the Network section of Growl, I can see my Mac Pro in the list of available machines. On my Mac Pro, however, the MBP doesn't show in the list -- and all settings in the two machines are identical.

I should say this happens sometimes -- occasionally, the MBP shows up. But I can't figure out how/when. I'd be glad to work with you offline on this if you wish; just drop me an e-mail by clicking my name in the story header area.

Despite these minor stumbles, Growl is an indispensable application on all of my Macs -- great work!

-rob.