14 DAY TRIAL // Apple has long had the practice of bundling the most commonly used shareware programs around with the system in the case of core functionality for which it did not have its own software solution. In the past, StuffIt was the de facto Mac archiving tool and it came bundled with the OS for a good number of years. However, since the widespread adoption of disk images, traditional archiving tools have begun seeing less use, and proof is the fact that Apple decided to drop StuffIt in the latest version of the system, instead building in tools that can handle Zip files, the most common type of archive on the Internet today. Creating an archive has become a simple manner of right clicking a selection and choosing Create Archive from the contextual menus, while opening archives is simply a manner of opening them like any other file to have them extracted.
While this works fine for Tiger users, those that are still on an older version of the OS will have to use third party tools. While opening up zip archives is easily done with StuffIt Expander, creating them cannot be done without some third party program, such as YemuZip.
What it does
YemuZip is simple application that creates zip archives. It is not meant to be a power tool, but rather to be the simplest tool possible that you can just use and get on with whatever you were doing. It is ideal for the user for whom archiving is a needed step, but one that is pretty much inconsequential.
Working with it
YemuZip has a very simple approach to archiving. The first step is to let it know which files you want archived. This can be done in one of two ways, either by dragging the files in the well in its main window, or by dragging them onto its dock icon. Both accomplish the same thing, but of the two, the dock icon is the better choice simply because the window can be hidden underneath many other windows, while the dock icon is always visible.
Once you specify which files you want archived, you are almost done. All that remains is to choose a name for the resulting archive. If you only drag one item, the program will automatically give the archive the same name as the file, however, when using multiple items, the name will revert to 'Untitled'. Once you have typed in the desired name, all that remains is to click OK to confirm.
The location where the resulting archive will be created can be chosen in the application's window and will remain in effect until another one is chosen.
Simple tool
YemuZip is not a program for those who need options, simply because it gives none. The only two options the user has are what the archive will be named and where it will be saved. Much like the default OS X tool, it does not give you any possibility to choose the compression level or any of the other options that other complex archiving program have. It is simply designed to work as simply as possible and create an archive with the minimum amount of input.
Half-baked
While this program is incredibly easy to use, it is also lacking in many ways. The destination option should be present after you add the files you need to archive, so that it may be changed at any time. Also, it should have a checkbox that would allow you to tell it to save the archive in the same location as the original file. This would go a long way to making the program more usable, as the current method of creating an archive from files in one location and then locating the archive which is in another location so that you can use it takes far too much moving around.
Another feature that is blatantly missing is a contextual menu plugin that would add a Create Archive option, just like in Tiger, because the window is quite easy to misplace, while the extra dock icon can be a burden especially in dock that are already over populated.
The Good
As simple to use at the built in zip creation in Tiger. No options other than name and location make it ideal for those who don't like to bother with any of the details and just want the job done quickly.
The Bad
With the most minor of changes this could be a great application. Currently it is just good because the inability to just save archives in the same location as the original files cause too much moving around.
The Truth
Of the simple solutions, this is the simplest I have ever seen? Easy to use, no hassle archive creation.
Here are some screenshots, click to enlarge:
