March Mac OS Shareware

Internet applications and utilities continue to arrive. This month we look at a Finder-like FTP client, a handy Web link notepad, a Web page text saver/printer, a PPP launcher, and what is shaping up as the premier Sherlock enhancement.

By Steve Cooper

Transit’s main window has two panes. One shows the content of a folder on your disk in Finder list style, while the other allows for entry of an FTP URL, by typing, copy/pasting or dragging. Any such URL can be designated as a Favourite for future use.

After the Connect button has been clicked, this second pane changes to show the target directory on the FTP server, again in Finder list form. Both file lists can be set to View By Date if preferred, and can be refreshed with a single click. Remote files can be moved, read, or encoded/decoded. Get Info is also implemented, and contextual menus operate wherever appropriate.

Transferring files is simply a matter of dragging from one pane to the other, and files on the server can be deleted or renamed as easily as in the Finder itself. A Synchronise menu command makes updating a Web site as easy as it can be.

Passive FTP is available via Internet Config or Internet control panel preferences.

Transit is an effective, attractive and inexpensive FTP client for the less-than-power user.

Practice reveals even more useful tricks. The small bookmark icon to the left of the location bar in Netscape can be dragged directly into LinkPad, where it is stored as the title of the page you're visiting. Drag a LinkPad entry into any text document, however, and you'll see the actual URL. Links can be dragged directly into Netscape's Bookmark list if they have proved really useful. Cutting and pasting of links to and from LinkPad also works. A LinkPad entry dragged to the desktop becomes a standard Mac clipping file, and vice versa.

One minor problem is that link names are sometimes rather cryptic, but this isn't LinkPad's fault.

With LinkPad in your Apple menu, you'll never have to make excuses when friends ask 'What did you think of that link I told you about?'

Net-Print is an extension that presents as a discreet icon on your browser's menu bar or as an addition to your Apple or File menu, from which various commands are accessible. A companion control panel permits configuration of a number of preferences.

Basically, Net-Print allows you to select a passage of text from a Web page, and to save or print that passage alone. The save can be to the clipboard, or to a file on disk. Further, you can append a selected passage to that already on the clipboard or in the disk file. This makes it possible to combine non-contiguous passages selected from a long document, or from a complex layout.

Optionally, Net-Print can record the source page's URL, title and date along with the saved text -- a boon to those who need to document their sources of information.

Preservation of formatting is not Net-Print's forte, and you would be better to use a simple ‘save as text’ for that purpose. In all other respects, it is a competent and valuable utility.

When PPPop connects, it plays a selected sound. In addition, it can be configured to run other applications or scripts automatically, or to open a URL. When you disconnect, PPPop can similarly close nominated applications and run scripts to perform housekeeping tasks for you.

A separate connection status window shows local and remote IP addresses, as well as data flow and speed information, both in and out.

This version of PPPop has added easy Internet account switching, with a server menu controlling PPP, TCP/IP, and modem configurations. PPPop Profiles, which are groups of settings including timer data, log file and Launcher items, are switched by a new Apple Location Manger module, further automating the process of moving between accounts.

Recent versions of Mac OS have markedly improved the PPP connection process, particularly via the Location Manager utility; but for those using earlier systems, needing scriptability, or even just the ability to track accumulated time, PPPop offers many useful features.

James Sentman’s Sigerson provides the answer, with a simple method of creating sets of search site plug-ins, just as the Extensions Manager creates sets of start-up items. Simply launch Sigerson from your Apple menu, choose which set you wish to use, enter the search criteria, and click the Sherlock button. Sherlock is launched if not already open, the search criteria passed to it, and the search conducted using only your chosen set of plug-ins.

Sigerson 2.0 improves on the original by permitting plug-ins to be classified into categories of your choice, and enabling set lists to be sorted by category as well as by name. Importantly, it allows the ‘unticked’ plug-ins in a set list to be hidden from Sherlock, which reduces the incidence of 'out of memory’ alerts. Corrupted plug-ins are automatically identified and can be moved to the desktop or to the trash. A Quickload window speeds operation if you don't need to access the set lists.

Sigerson has some other nifty features. Control-click the search criteria to see a list of the last 10 searches you requested. Control-click an item in the set list to see information such as the author's name and the identity of the site to be contacted. Install and delete plug-ins directly from Sigerson's window, without having to visit the System Folder. Edit plug-ins from this window if you think you know how.

Sigerson's assured popularity can only be enhanced by the fact that it's free.