14 DAY TRIAL // Computers are in essence tools that help us achieve certain tasks faster and easier than we would be able to accomplish them on our own. Even for those who use their computers for entertainment, the computer remains the means through which you can have some fun. Thus being the intrinsic nature of computers, it is not surprising that most of the computer programs out there are also tools, designed to help you do various tasks with increased ease and productivity. However, there is also a significant amount of programs that have nothing whatsoever to do with productivity or ease, whose sole purpose is to make the computer more personal by adding all sorts of visual niceties that are simply there to make it more pleasant to be at.
One great example of such an embellishment program is Slider.
What it does
According to the developers' own description, Slider is a Haxie that adds a sliding and fading effect when opening or closing any window of a cocoa application. While this description is 100% accurate, it is not exactly a very clear explanation of what the visual effect looks like. When Slider is in effect, any window that opens will be positioned above its actual position and will slide down, going from completely transparent to fully visible as it slides downward. Similarly, when the window is closed, it will slide down, going from fully visible to fully transparent.
The effect is quite nice and adds a very dynamic feel to the OS, fitting in perfectly.
Working with it
Slider is a Haxie, and as such is not a stand alone application. While the name is reminiscent of a hack, it is simply a modification of the way windows are rendered and is fully reversible, and has no impact on the functionality of the OS itself. In fact, it is an Application Enhancer module. However, it does require the Application Enhancer 1.2 framework installed in order to be used. In case you do not have APE already installed, you can acquire it from the location indicated in the Read Me file.
Once you have Slider installed, you can configure it from the APE preference pane. The animation itself has five parameters. Firstly, the sliding effect can either be horizontal or vertical and this determines whether windows will slide up>down or left> right. Then there are two variables for the slide in and slide out, namely the distance the window travels while sliding and the duration of the slide. Additionally, both the slide in and slide out can be toggled individually so you can opt to have both, or only one of them.
Compatibility
By default, Slider affects all Cocoa applications, and the settings will apply automatically to all such applications without you having to do a thing. If there are certain applications that behave incorrectly because of Slider, you can opt to add them to the exclude list, meaning that they will be exempt from the Slider effect and behave the way they always have. In theory there should be no issues with any kind of application but I have noticed that certain things such as drawers behave oddly, basically being treated as a second window that slides with a certain amount of delay after the main one. You have to decide whether or not this behavior is acceptable, for - if need be - you have the option to remove it from such programs.
The second issue of compatibility is affected programs. Only Cocoa applications will exhibit the Slider effect. Other applications such as Carbon or Classic ones cannot be affected. This is not really a big issue because most applications today are Cocoa, however, there are some notable exceptions, which will not work with Slider, such as Finder and iTunes. This would not be a very big issue, were it not for the fact that these programs see daily heavy use, and after an hour of seeing the slider effect on every window and then switching to the Finder and not seeing it, you get the distinct impression that something is wrong. It is really a shame that one of the most heavily used programs cannot benefit from the Slider effect as it really breaks the whole flow of the user interface.
The Good
A great visual effect that complements the look and feel of the OS X user interface.
The Bad
It is unfortunate that it does not affect Carbon applications such as the Finder, as it is a very used program and the difference in window behavior between the Finder and almost everything else is annoying.
The Truth
A great little embellishment for the OS: it fits right in and looks good. Whether or not the difference in behavior between the Finder and Cocoa applications is acceptable depends on the beholder.
Here are some screenshots, click to enlarge:
