Trampoline: Think Application Launching, not Bouncing

Posted by Greg Healy on 04/29/07 in Organization, Podcasting, Utilities, Video, Web

Trampoline icon There are many options available for launching applications on Macs. You could get another application suited for the job such as Overflow or LaunchBar, or go the manual route of opening up your applications folder, and searching for it. I’ve tried several of these types of applications before, but the one I found the most Mac-like was Trampoline.

Trampoline is a bit of an unusual app. It puts a fresh spin on application launching. Instead of presenting the applications to you in a list or chart, it has them spread out around the edge of a circle. To launch an app, all you do is move your mouse into that application’s area and click. The window disappears and the application opens.

Trampoline Interface

The default array of applications around the disc are the ones populating your dock. You can change these by opening the Trampoline preferences and selecting the ones that you want added. You can also add URLs and Folders. The applications that are open are indicated by a blue backdrop behind the icon, which is customizable.

Some people might say â€œWhy don’t you just put the apps you need quickly in the dock?â€ My answer is productivity, and space. The way that I have Trampoline set-up, is that when I squeeze the side buttons on my Mighty Mouse, Trampoline opens. Then all I have to do is move my mouse a half-inch and click, to launch the app I need. This is much faster than having to drag the mouse down to the dock, especially for someone with a 30-inch display.

Launching and Application in Trampoline.

Trampoline also saves desktop space. If you need every inch of your desktop, Trampoline could be quite a useful tool for you. You can minimize the dock and still be able to access all of the documents and applications that are important to you.

In my time using Trampoline, I found there wasn’t a lot wrong with it. The only problem may be if you have many applications added, as it may take a few seconds to find the application you are looking for. Trampoline can be purchased for $19.95 from Old Jewel Software, and is also available for a limited time from Macheist.

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13 Comment(s)

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Jim said on

April 29th, 2007 at 11:28 am

Mehhh. I’ll stick with Quicksilver and the dock itself. This looks like a lot more work than just moving the mouse to the dock, or typing two letters into QS.

But it does look cool anyway.!

Majd Abdelahad said on

April 29th, 2007 at 12:18 pm

I tried this for a while…i hate how it handles being on the edges of the screen…also, I wish there was a way to make it populate it with open apps…it’d make a better switcher

Joseph A. Wardell said on

April 29th, 2007 at 12:29 pm

Hi Majd,

Have you tried version 2.0.3? It improved the problem with the edge of the screen. You can now just move the mouse directly to the icon that’s off the edge and it will move under the mouse.

Also, for switching between running applications, you can control-click on the close button to get a contextual menu of running applications. It sounds counterintuitive, but it ends up being a simple 2-click process if you’ve set up trampoline to appear with a mouse-click like Greg did.

Mike said on

April 29th, 2007 at 12:53 pm

Ive often found myself looking for a way to eliminate the strenuous task of moving my mouse to the dock. Finally, Im free from such contraints.

DeathtoToasters said on

April 29th, 2007 at 1:01 pm

I like it so far…. it does show the active programs by putting an active shade around that icon

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mdmunoz said on

April 29th, 2007 at 5:00 pm

Not only does Quicksilver already do this for free with the constellation menus plugin, it can use proxy items and use multiple launchers with different mouse triggers. There is no reason to buy this.

-1

DeathtoToasters said on

April 29th, 2007 at 5:36 pm

For the life of me I cannot figure out how to setup contellation….

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Greg H said on

April 29th, 2007 at 7:35 pm

@mdmunoz you you do have a point when you say you can do the same thing for free, but there is a free altenative to most things. You could use textedit or NeoOffice for Word Processing, but people still buy Microsoft Office and Pages. There are many paid and free alternatives to many things, so its nice to know what your options are. Plus if you complete Heist 6 of MacHeist, you get this app FREE plus 2 others. Not a bad deal eh?

John L said on

May 2nd, 2007 at 1:45 am

If you’re the mouse-a-holic type, this may be useful… no launcher that I’ve yet seen can hold a candle to QuickSilver, unfortunately.

Jonathan Simcoe said on

May 4th, 2007 at 4:12 pm

Agreed. Quicksilver trumps anything I have ever seen, hands down.

Bill Compton said on

June 4th, 2007 at 3:33 pm

Hi Jim. Photos i received. Thanks

Albert said on

July 16th, 2007 at 9:06 am

ok, Quicksilver is a cool app, but it’s not for everybody. I mean, I ended up buying Overflow because it’s more useful for me than Quicksilver. For Me Overflow is the best launcher for the Mac OS X … And I think it is too for Apple Inc. I was stunned when I see a demo of Leopard with the “Stacks” option in the dock and it’s look almost the same as Overflow!

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Kyle said on

August 10th, 2007 at 1:11 pm

This sounds just like the free app, “Todos,” except instead of Trampoline’s circular arrangement, Todos has a square one. I’m not sure $19.95 is worth the price of a circle.

As for Quicksilver, some of us old-school Mac folks still prefer using the mouse, despite its inefficiencies. It’s simpler than memorizing dozens of keyboard shortcuts.

395b2181c616 said on

May 10th, 2008 at 10:38 am

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