A BulletProof Idea*

Hidden Gems Inside Mac OSX Terminal

// February 22nd, 2008 // Apple, Applications, Mac, OSX, development, tutorials

Inside the Terminal app on your Mac, you can apply a number of great command functions that enable you to ‘pimp out’ your mac and reveal many hidden features. I’m going to list a few really useful and purely cosmetic ones that you can try out.

Web Inspector

This is a really useful feature that does not feature on Safari by default and enables you to inspect elements and source code inside a web page, not quite web development toolbar, but handy. The only downside to this app is that unlike Firebug you cannot edit code on the fly.

Heres the code: defaults write com.apple.Safari IncludeDebugMenu 1
Replace the code to defaults write com.apple.Safari IncludeDebugMenu 0 to reverse this function.
Once this is enabled in Safari, you can open it up in two ways – Via the menu option or you can Control/Right Click to open the application.
Heres a screenshot of what it looks like:

Make Hidden Icons In The Dock Translucent

Type: defaults write com.apple.Dock showhidden -bool YES
Type NO to reverse this funcion

Activate Mouse-Over Gradient In Leopard

This creates a gradient background shadow in stacks and the dock when mousing over using Leopard.
Type: defaults write com.apple.dock mouse-over-hilte-stack -boolean YES
killall Dock
Type NO to reverse this function

3 Dimensional Dock In Leopard

Does what it says on the tin.
Type: defaults write com.apple.dock no-glass -boolean NO
killall Dock
Type YES to reverse this function

Drag Widgets Out Of Dashboard Onto Desktop

Here you can drag widgets from your dashboard onto your desktop. You need to re-launch the dock for this to take effect by typing “killall Dock” and hitting enter. If you click and hold onto a widget in the dashboard and then press F12 to return to the desktop, the widget won’t disappear with the rest.
Heres the code: defaults write com.apple.dashboard devmode YES
Type NO to reverse.

Make A Screen-Saver Your Desktop Background

This enables you to set your screen-saver as your desktop background. When enabled you can stop this by pressing Control-C or Command.
Heres the code: /System/Library/Frameworks/ScreenSaver.framework/Resources/ ScreenSaverEngine.app/Contents/MacOS/ScreenSaverEngine -background

Show Hidden Files In Finder

You can use this to show any hidden files in finder
Type: defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE
Type FALSE to reverse this function.

If you have any handy terminal functions you would like to share, get in touch and I will list them here.