Fidget Menu 1.5.9 (A re-review) — A menu bar item you can configure and personalize

reviewed by Harry {doc} Babad

Strength: Fidget Menu is an easy to use and very powerful launcher menu that runs on the right side of the menu bar. It can also be configured to run from the Dock

Weakness: The lack of a manual, the softwareís inability to display multiple embedded folders make this product less useful than it should be.

Introduction

Although the dock provided in Appleís OS X operating system is a powerful and flexible tool for organizing your work, if you are anything like my, your dock is saturated with both applications and folders and documents, often nested folders. Over the last two years, Iíve reviewed a variety of dock enhancement tools, some of them of very good quality. Those included dockDoubler X http://www.daniele.ch/downloads.html created by Daniele Kraehenbuehl, DockSwap http://www.pidog.com/OSX/ from piDog Software, and SwitchDock http://www.limit-point.com/darkcloud/switchdockabout.html from Limit Point Software. No, Iíve not abandoned Appleís dock, but have added other tools to work around its limitations.

For whatever reason, Iíve discovered that using a menu bar focused organizational tool is more my way of working on my Macintosh. Itís more comfortable for me, when dealing with the continuously changing bits and pieces with which I work (applications, documents, project stuff groupings.) It seems I prefer finding things by reaching up to a menu bar item rather than dropping down to the dock. Therefore, whenever I come across a menu bar oriented organizational tool, I like to check it out.

Just for the record, Iím presently actively using both Unsanity's FruitMenu 3.4.3 http://www.unsanity.com/haxies/fruitmenu/ and X-Menu, created by Christian Gruenberg and distributed by Devon Technologies. http://www.devon-technologies.com/products/freeware/index.html. This review serves to introduce you to another tool that you might find useful in getting you stuff together, at least for a while. Having reviewed Fidget Menu 1.3.4 for macC in the June 2005 Issue; I thought Iíd re-review the current version and search out its abilities and weaknesses and the softwareís compatibility with the Tiger OS.

Using the Product/Features

Installation was a simple drop and drag. A double click on the application, entering my password and I was good to go. The Icon for Fidget Menu appeared in my menu bar.

The developer described her product as:

ìFidget Menu is an all purpose launcher. Start Applications, open URLs, or open documents from this Status Menu item. Fidget Menu runs on the right side of your menu bar, giving you quick access to anything you need. Fidget Menu comes with a number of preconfigured items like System preferences and a Sleep command. Uniquely, Fidget Menu offers POP email monitoring with several options for what to do when new mail arrives.



Read more at http://www.maccompanion.com/macc/archives/june2005/Shareware/FidgetMenu1.htm.

In addition to featured mention in my June review, the softwareís configurable menubar item features Finder controls such as restart, shutdown, logout, start classic and sleep and can contain access to your system preferences.

In order to use the Fidget Menu software one needs to configure the application using the configure item in the pull down menu installed by the application. So I opened the configure window and started to drop and drag items of interest into it. All went well with respect to my adding applications to the window.

Rather than reiterate the information Iíd provided in my earlier review, I chose to try to configure Fidget Menu in a manner comparable to that in my easy access list folder in X-Menu. The pull down menu contains an eclectic assortment of application aliasí, and aliases to a set of hieratical folders that I access almost daily.

Then it was time to start adding at first, the alias of the folder I wanted to be able to quickly access. However, that didnít work. I could figure out how to get the alias into the configure window; drop and drag did not work. None of my attempts to use aliases rather then the actual application, document or folder was successful.

Then I dragged the icon of the folder I wanted into the window from the finder. Nothing. Okay, I then created a new group, and named it Reference Books Online [RBOL]. I found the original folder for Reference Books Online and dragged its contents in the item in the Fidget Menu Window. [Note this folder only contains one another nested folder.] Nothing, nix, niechevo! Pulling down the Fidget menu-menu and there was no RBOL item list under the menu bar.

Let's, Harry I sez, try an alternate approach! Remember there is no manual or help file or menu for this software! I then used the pull down menu Configure > Special Item > Group from Folder and found the folder RBOL by chasing it in the new item finder window, did indeed introduce the desired folder into the Fidget menu configure window. Just for good luck, I also added via the special Item menu my mmmRecipes folder, Data Bases & Files folder, and my Computer Related folders. I was on a run. Okay, That step done. So letís see how this all worked (as illustrated above.) Much to my amazement and chagrin, thee Computer Related items folder did not appear in the Fidget Menu-pull down menu. The other folders I planted did,

However, I soon discovered one additional limitation of the product. The product is limited to only one level deep for nested folders. Iíve set up, in the Finder, my Data Bases & Files folder as a nested set of folders For example:  Harryís Documents > Data Bases & Files > Tax Papers > Taxes 2005 > Consulting Files. All I could get to open in the finder was my Tax papers folder. Digging deeper required a standard finder borrowing down process. I could not do this from Fidget Menu

Overall, working with the program by trial and error was time consuming, for the most part, because intuitive finder-like drop and drag actions did not accomplish what I thought they should. Also, in many cases my dragging a folder to the configure window, converted it to a ëstaticí document which of course was not what I needed.

Problems Summary

I do not know whether the results I obtained when testing the product in June of í05 were due to a change in my OS from Panther to tiger, but my notes from that time donít indicate the problems I found in this more in-depth review. In addition, my file organizational and launch activated access needs were simpler a year ago.

No Manual or Formal Help — The lack of documentations makes using the softwareís features a trial and error process. Despite reviews posted on the MacUpdate and Version Tracker sites, access to the productís features is limited without such documentation.

Drag and Drop for Deep Hieratically Organized Folders — nested folders, often 2-4 levels deep, organize much of what I do. In addition to difficulties adding such folders to the Fidget Menu-Menu Bar pull down menu, there was no way to get to the lowest tier document from Fidget Menu.

Documents and Folder whoís Titles Contain a Period – In order to get a more orderly listing of folder in a window, I use either a space in front of the folder name (to bring that item to the top of my list). Alternately, I place a z. with a few spaces afterward before the folderís name, which pushes that item to the bottom of the window in name view. Alas when adding folders Fidget Menu, I ended up with along list of folder named z. [Removing the period would solve the problem of getting a correct file or folder name butÖ].

As far as recognizing the items (document or folders) I drove to the top of the list by using a space in front of their names, I could not get the software to recognize the change. The files/folders listed in the Fidget Menu window did not reflect the change I made in the Finder, no not even rebooting the finder or restarting my computer made a difference. 

Conclusions

To reiterate, Fidget Menu is a small and easy to use menu bar addition that allows you to quickly choose and launch applications, open individual documents or one stored in a simple nested folder. By adding your favorite URLs, you can go to web sites, even from within an application. All of this works wonderfully as long as your hierarchy is only one level deep

Having worked with a wide variety of products that serve as launch applications since June of 2005, I was amazed on how my perspective of launchers has changed. In addition, I have gotten involved in a greater variety of projects, almost all of which need to be organized by ìsub-foldersî making my hard disk multi-layered with respect to folder structure and more complex. There any menu bar launcher I use must be easily reconfigured, at times to lead me, for example, only to a lower level nested folder in which Iím actively working. From week to week, I reconfigure my present  ëlauncherí to reflect my work priorities — it must be simple and fast.

On reconsideration and more detailed testing, I now rate this product 3.0 macCs