[Macworld]

Post your comments for Mac Gems: CustomMenu provides quick access to your favorite apps, files, and folders here

[jsegel]

Man, FruitMenu was the best. None of these others (classicmenu, custommenu) come close. You could put anything in the apple menu, including your current IP address.
Plus that company made windowshade. That function, to roll up windows into their frame, is still in linux systems. OS X just pisses me off every iteration since 10.6.8.
Now get off my lawn. Oh wait, I'm on yours.

[macmacmacmac]

Finderpop is still the best to me. Been using it for years. Will continue using it.

[Dan Frakes]

macmacmacmac, on 13 December 2012 - 02:24 PM, said:

Finderpop is still the best to me. Been using it for years. Will continue using it.

I like Finderpop a lot, although I started having issues with it under Lion.

[LaBissoniere]

Well Dan - Hope you get royalties as your article enticed me into picking this up.

[HandyMac]

Looks like this offers much the same functionality as Devon's free <a href="http://www.devontechnologies.com/products/freeware.html">XMenu</a> (whose Snippets menu I just used to enter the html string needed to make a live link), which I've been using happily since FruitMenu first went on hiatus (somewhere around 10.5?).

[HandyMac]

Apparently this comment software won't accept html code? Anyway, it's:
http://www.devontech...s/freeware.html

(Also, I couldn't comment in Safari; the "Add Your Comment" button did nothing; so I'm using Chrome.)

[Dan Frakes]

HandyMac, on 16 December 2012 - 08:50 AM, said:

Looks like this offers much the same functionality as Devon's free <a href="http://www.devontechnologies.com/products/freeware.html">XMenu</a> (whose Snippets menu I just used to enter the html string needed to make a live link), which I've been using happily since FruitMenu first went on hiatus (somewhere around 10.5?).

I personally like CustomMenu better because it can be activated with a keyboard shortcut—a must-have feature for many people—and the grouping feature, which I think makes the menu easier to use.

[jadco]

Sounds similar to Default Folder but it's accessed differently. Custom Menu seems to have more capacity for accessing favorites, while Default Folder has an always updated list of 50 or more recently used folders and shortcuts/hot keys, plus endless permanent favorites for pretty well every function.

Also anyone who uses Path Finder already has an advanced version of Custom Menus and similar apps. Keyboard Maestro also offers similar functionality via a completely different approach. Both of these are broader in scope, costlier and more complex, but enhance productivity considerably once you learn to use them.

Many specialized utilities like this can already be found in more "umbrella-like" utilities. Over time you can end up spending more on a collection of specialists than a couple of generalists. I'd say that to some extent you'll find more experienced users use the generalists while people with less experience or without the patience for learning "deeper" apps will go for the specialists.

So, Dan - one suggestion is that you should touch on this kind of choice in the Gems utility reviews so that people new to the Mac have an overview of the different approaches available to them.

[Dan Frakes]

jadco, on 16 December 2012 - 04:14 PM, said:

Sounds similar to Default Folder but it's accessed differently. Custom Menu seems to have more capacity for accessing favorites, while Default Folder has an always updated list of 50 or more recently used folders and shortcuts/hot keys, plus endless permanent favorites for pretty well every function.

Oh, I'm a huge fan of Default Folder. But it's $35 and overkill for many people.

Quote

So, Dan - one suggestion is that you should touch on this kind of choice in the Gems utility reviews so that people new to the Mac have an overview of the different approaches available to them.

We've reviewed Default Folder (multiple times), Keyboard Maestro, Path Finder... many of these in Mac Gems. Just not today

[NateS]

I have a black gear icon on the right in my menubar which appears to do the very same thing, but it doesn't say what its name is and I don't remember how to add entries to it.

Fortunately, I put most of my logical choices in its menu before forgetting how I did it. I only remember that there was a folder somewhere into which I dragged aliases of desired applications.

Was this a predecessor of CustomMenu? If not, does anybody know what it is called, so I can figure out how to make more additions to it?

TIA.

[romad]

Unfortunately, it is only available in the Mac App Store so I won't be getting it. I told the developer that a sale had been lost due to this restriction.

[Dan Frakes]

NateS, on 26 December 2012 - 07:58 AM, said:

I have a black gear icon on the right in my menubar which appears to do the very same thing, but it doesn't say what its name is and I don't remember how to add entries to it.

Fortunately, I put most of my logical choices in its menu before forgetting how I did it. I only remember that there was a folder somewhere into which I dragged aliases of desired applications.

Was this a predecessor of CustomMenu? If not, does anybody know what it is called, so I can figure out how to make more additions to it?

Is there an item near the top or bottom of the menu that reads "Settings" or "Preferences"? Or a pane in the System Preferences utility for configuring the menu?

[Henrique]

NateS - I think this could have been "ClassicMenu". I had it, too, but now it gaves up and doesn't work anymore with Mountain Lion.
It is discontinued, too.