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Easy Window Switching With Fantasktik

Microsoft Windows has always had a taskbar for switching windows. On the bottom of the screen you just click the window you want to quickly switch to it. So why doesn’t Mac OS X have something like this? Now, with Fantasktik, it does.

Fantasktik, from Dockland Software, is a thin, slightly transparent taskbar that resides under the menu bar or at the bottom of the screen. It displays the icon of each open application with a small number on each one; this is the number of open windows for that application. Next to the icon are small bubbles for each open window. You can hide or expand the windows by double clicking the icon of the application. If you hover over a window in Fantasktik, a quick preview appears. These quick previews are great for easily identifying the window you need to switch to. Also, you can click and drag to scroll through the open windows. Each side of the taskbar has a small circular icon. Clicking this hide the whole taskbar, and clicking it again reveals the taskbar.

Fantasktik is great for window switching. It has a simple interface and great features like quick preview. Still, it comes with a few problems: The taskbar covers up most applications if they are at the top of the screen. Also, if you use Spaces, Fantasktik only shows up in one space. But these issues should be fixed in coming updates, according to the developer.

Fantasktik is only available for Mac OS X 10.5. It currently costs $9.99, but the price will rise to $14.99 after September 30. You can download a 15-day trial and purchase the application from Dockland Software.

8 Comment(s)

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  • 1

    Hannes said on

    September 8th, 2008 at 6:34 am

    Tip: right-click at the dock icon of any open application, and look at the top of the dock meny… :)

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  • 2

    Girl Friday said on

    September 8th, 2008 at 10:56 am

    @Hannes

    Would you translate what you said into Ungeeked-English, please?

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  • 3

    Boy Monday said on

    September 8th, 2008 at 11:19 am

    @Girl Friday:

    This is what Hannes meant:
    http://img.skitch.com/20080908-tpe3tj49mjee92gp1tsehkn41n.png

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  • 4

    dex said on

    September 9th, 2008 at 5:14 am

    Another tip: use exposé.

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  • 5

    Alan Cook said on

    September 9th, 2008 at 4:35 pm

    I found Fantasktik to cover up too many things on my desktop and too time consuming to mouse up and close/summon the interface. Using Witch, you can use Option-Tab (http://www.manytricks.com/witch/ ) to quickly open up, scroll and select an open window.

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  • 6

    Mike said on

    September 10th, 2008 at 9:25 pm

    dock + expose + quicksilver…
    why do you need more…

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  • 7

    Ebrahim said on

    September 11th, 2008 at 12:02 pm

    I always missed the ‘taskbar’ in Leoaprd, this is great! :-)

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  • 8

    Kevin said on

    September 26th, 2008 at 10:49 am

    Ya’ll forget Cmnd-Tab?
    Holding the Cmnd key down, press Tab until ya get to the picture of the app ya want. Then let go of everything.
    Or just hold down Cmnd-Tab to get all the app pics up onscreen, then click the one ya want with yer mouse arrow.

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