Raskin For Mac Will Change The Way You Use The Desktop [Review]

Will Moore (5:00 am PDT, Sep 15 2010)

Raskin for Mac is an intuitive Finder replacement for Mac OS, and is the single best reason to go out and buy Apple’s new Magic Trackpad: it totally transforms the desktop experience.

Raskin for Mac uses a visual interface to present all your files on a single page, allowing you to view, arrange and open documents, applications, files and images without opening the Finder. It’s like a giant zoomable photo contact sheet, and makes navigating files and applications very easy and fast. It is inspired by the work of Jef Raskin — the legendary computer interface designer and father of the Mac computing experience.

What’s Good?: Paired with Apple’s new $69 Magic Trackpad, the application is really beautiful to use, easily navigating you to your desired area.

Once setup, everything is right there in front of you. You can browse to the artwork you are working on, skip to the last application you had open, or delve into a recent spreadsheet. A simple double tap will enlarge the file or open it depending on your preference. It really is a fun way to get around your Mac, and shows a refreshing user interface that Apple would do well to take note of. It also uses the pinch-to-zoom gesture more common to iOS devices.

What’s Bad?: Using the app with a Magic Trackpad is a joy — but the opposite could be said of using it with a mouse. Gone is the instinctive zooming, replaced by a combination of keystrokes and mouse gestures to achieve your desired action.

To be fair, from a user experience perspective, it’s not horrible with a mouse, but after using the trackpad it feels like going back to a piece of software from 2003. Even the Magic Mouse, with all its touchy goodness, struggles to make the experience a joy.

Conclusion: From a UX point of view, using iOS on my iPhone and iPad is a joy, but I have felt for a long time that the Mac OS interface is being left behind. Unless Apple starts bringing in features like those that Raskin add, OS X will be left for dust.

If you have a Magic Trackpad (or a recent Macbook with a gesture-enabled trackpad), then this choice is a no brainer – go and buy this app. It will change the way you use your Mac. In fact, if you don’t have a trackpad, go buy one and then get this app!

Raskin for Mac is available now direct from the developer website for $50 for a single user licence.

Rating:

DON'T MISS
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11 comments »

Helius
$50? Put the crack pipe down, you’ve had too much.
jasper
Yep– price alone kept me from even clicking on the link……
http://www.flavors.me/clevercode Will Moore
@jasper, @Helius Thanks for the comments guys – maybe there is a message in there for the developers? drop the price and you have a great app?
Chris
I tried it out.
Nice idea, but unmanageable on my system, where I have an ENORMOUS number of files, and very deep hierarchies.
I found the hierarchies kept getting in the way.
Things are hierarchical for a reason.
I’m also a bit miffed at the name, but that’s just me. I don;t see it as a tribute, as much as a “I’m on the same level as Jeff” statement, and there aren’t a whole lot of folks on his level, including his ol’ nemesis, The Big Steve-O.
alex
It seams like they’re running a couple of discounts… It’s $20 off now at Tidbits… http://db.tidbits.com/article/11597
Dan
If the price is what’s holding you guys back from purchasing the zooming joy you should check the site every now and then. The developers promote special days(unannounced) with a very good price. I’ve got Raskin in one of those, but after using it for a while I totally recommend it even for the regular price.
Rick C
I gave it a good chance in my workflow, but it didn’t fit my thinking. Perhaps I’ve been conditioned into this type of thinking, but my mind organizes hierarchically. With as many documents as I have to manage, the constant zooming in and out to find anything became tedious in a matter of minutes (although I stuck with it for 5 working days to give it a fair chance).
I like the concept, and it is pretty slick with the Magic Trackpad, but it just wasn’t a good fit for me.
(I also didn’t care for the name, and the high price put me off).
Chris
“I totally recommend it even for the regular price.”
Hmm…totally objective, there, I see.
HINT: Make astroturf comments a little less over-the-top. We’re not idiots.
Kay Isho
I am using Raskin since its launch and like the basic concept. It gives me a nice visual overview of the content of a folder and also supports QuickVIew since the last version update.
However, and this is the reason I decided to not let it run permanently it is a definite CPU killer !!!
Hope, they’ll manage to fix this issue….
Beirne
I’m really baffled as to why Raskin is considered an improvement. I don’t know why I would want to pan over a huge surface to find things. I can get there more logically with the existing finder, and can use Quicksilver to get to files real quickly if I want. The written material from Raskin is useless in this regard. It says how to do things but not why.
nr
the Tidbits coupon to get Raskin for $29 ($20 off) has long expired (Sept 30). This sucks! (really like the software). I’ll keep checking back @ their website for a special/coupon……

About the author

Will Moore is a freelance writer based in the UK - He specializes in consumer technology and is a long time Apple fan. As well as cultofmac.com, Will also writes for a number of popular european tech sites such as techradar.com, electricpig.co.uk, The Gadget Show and more. He is married and lives in Maidstone UK, with his wife, Lydia. A keen amateur photographer and videographer, Will can often be found around the UK coastline documenting one of his loves - the sea and UK surf scene.

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Posted in Mac, OS X, Reviews | Tagged: Interface, Mac, os, Raskin, UXIA, Visual |