MacTricksAndTips.com

Imagine the scene. You have two folders you want to keep synced, each contain hundreds, if not thousands of files and folders, all with subtle changes that you can’t keep control of. Having both folders matching can be a real problem, although you may not have such an extreme problem it is still a pain. Today’s app review is called GoodSync, its a syncing application which you can use to sync folders and use it as a backup tool. Very useful if you have a server, network storage or two Mac’s (or PC’s) and want to keep the files in sync.

This is a quick simple trick that people using Wordpress or any program which uses subversion or SVN may find useful. Subversion is a version control system which lets people publish versions of software, such as Wordpress, to a simple repository. When they update the repository other people, such as Wordpress bloggers, can view the source files and then download and install them yourself. This tip shows you the difference in files between versions, and allows you just to change or download the files you need. This is useful in saving both time and effort as you don’t have to download the entire package just the files that have changed between the version you have installed and the new version.

I use Mail a lot, as a result I like to customise it to work the way I want to. Today’s tip will show you how to customise the fields in the new message window. Although the images shown are the Snow Leopard version of Mail, I assume there is a similar method available in Lion. The tip will allow you to change the BCC and CC fields as well as a couple of other fields when you compose a new message.

With numerous digital cameras attached to most electronic devices and the ability to share those images over the world wide web, making those images unique and different can be a difficult experience. Applying that vintage, distressed or Polaroid look can be a little difficult. However, today’s app, Photostyler takes the problem out of adjusting images and makes it fun in the process. The outputted result aren’t to bad either.

I want to extend your Terminal knowledge today by introducing a simple loop command. This is useful if you want to repeat or loop a Terminal command indefinitely. This is a simple bash script that has a variety of uses. The script is a simple one line command that needs very little adjusting on your part.

When you have a new or old Mac, every so often you will want to stress test your Mac to see if it has any problems or it can handle the heat. There are a variety of different ways in which you can do this, however one of the simplest ways is to use Terminal. This guide will show you how to set your CPU running at max speed, which you can tailor to the number of CPU’s cores you have. Then its just a matter of watching the results in Activity Monitor, watch for stability issues and see the temperature of your Mac rise.

Today I am going to review an application which will be of interest to any one who has anything to do with web development, particularly CSS and HTML. One of the best ways to speed up the loading of a website is to put every image used in the CSS file into one large image. This means when your website loads, it doesn’t have to ask for many small images. It only asks for one large image (called a sprite) this improves loading times. For the new users generating a CSS sprite, where there is one large image that contains all of the images you are going to use can be difficult, if not confusing. Today’s app, Sprite Master Web, is a tool which you can use to generate your own CSS sprite on your Mac.