Quicksilver
Quicksilver is the greatest keyboard or mouse extension for the Mac depending on how you look at it. It is now an open source project (as soon as they get the source code it seems) so expect more features in future releases. For now you can get it here. It really simplifies your life at the Mac as it reduces greatly mouse clicking and window pane aiming and displacing.
I find myself clicking more on a Mac than on a PC.
I know it does not make scientific sense. Look the Mac is windows driven (really no pun intended) and the PC is keyboard savvy, filled with keyboard shortcuts.
I use COMMAND+Tab to switch from an application to another (this is nice when you’re in a full screen presentation and you want to surf the web for your audience) and COMMAND+H to hide an application (and its obtrusive window pane). I also find myself searching the awkward Spotlight with COMMAND+Space bar. I find Spotlight slow and unpleasant to use when I’m frantically awaiting results that keep updating.
I took me years to structure my folders in a workable manner. Using the project’s title works best for me. All files within are then broken into subfolders (background, images, text, presentation). Most of my search requests are for recent files, a few clicks away. You can also use the Apple and Recent elements on the Finder. And that’s about it if you don’t install Quicksilver.
The fundamental difference, in terms of semantics between Spotlight and Quicksilver is that Spotlight indexes a given file’s content (except if it is crypted) and QS only indexes file names. So you can see why one does not replace the other. You need both. Quicksilver is so rich in features that you can turn into a power user in no time. Once you have mapped your favourite keys to evoke it (I use OPTION+Space bar) it allows you to quickly find an application or a file and launch it with a simple carriage return (Enter key). It does much more but you’re going to have to dig in for the rest.
