Optimizing OS X
Posted on March 17, 2003
Revised on February 10, 2005
Whether we like it or not, OS X is here to stay. So, this page is for those of us who have made the switch and want to fine-tune the system, so that it does what we want it to do. As always, if you have any suggestions you'd like to share with everyone, please feel free to let me know.
Hardware
Without a doubt, using the fastest Mac you can afford will make a big difference. A dual-processor G4 (1.2 GHz or faster) is strongly recommended for production work, with LOTS of RAM (one Gig or more).
Software
Naturally, you should upgrade all your software to their OS X versions. Currently, we have no choice but to use Classic for the following important pre-press applications: QuarkXpress, Acrobat Distiller (Update (Feb. 10, 05): Distiller now works fine in OS X), Adobe Streamline, and Fontographer.
Fonts
Font management is actually not that bad in OS X. I experimented with Font Reserve, Suitcase, and FontAgent, and I settled on Suitcase because it's simple and easy to use, and comes bundled with Font Doctor to analyze and fix your font library. The biggest problem with Font Reserve is its font database which frequently gets corrupted. Adobe Type Manager Deluxe will be sadly missed (this excellent product is no longer being supported by Adobe).
The thing to keep in mind here is that you shouldn't store your fonts in OS X's font folders. This may be OK for normal users, but pre-press users often have hundreds or thousands of fonts which can eat up RAM if they're all kept in the system's font folders. Instead, organize your fonts into a separate folder and place it in your hard drive's main directory or anywhere you like except in OS X's font folders. (Although FontAgent is a horrible font manager, its real strength lies in fixing and organizing fonts into a clean library. Font Doctor also has this feature.)
OS X comes bundled with several fonts that may cause problems in a pre-press workflow. In particular, Times and Futura. If you have PostScript versions of these fonts, the system's dfont versions may conflict. Since PostScript fonts are preferred, you should remove the dfont versions. Remember to look both in your main "library" folder (in your hard drive's main directory) as well as the system's library (inside the "system" folder in your main directory). You will need to log in as root in order to make changes to the system.
General performance
- Adjust the keyboard's "key repeat rate" and "delay until repeat" sliders to the highest value.
- Adjust the mouse's tracking and scrolling speed to the fastest setting.
- If you're fond of keyboard shortcuts and using the mouse a little as possible, then this option is for you: Turn on full keyboard access. You can access the dock and all menu items directly from the keyboard.
- You can cut down the amount of time it takes for a disk image to mount on your desktop by almost half by turning off verification in Disk Copy's preferences.
- Keep your frequently used OS X apps open even when you're not using them. As long as you have lots of RAM, this will cut down on the chance of getting the dreaded bouncing icon of death in the dock.
- Set your dock to auto-hide. If your dock is always visible, some applications will shrink their windows to accommodate the dock, thereby taking away valuable screen real estate. Also, having the dock visible in some Classic applications, such as QuarkXpress, may sometimes cause problems as OS X draws the dock on top of Classic's layer (the most common results are: The dock slows down, and Classic has trouble re-drawing any areas under the dock) (Update (Feb. 10, 05): The Dock redraw problem has been fixed in newer versions of OS X).
Finder performance
- Turn off all the columns in view options for all Finder windows. Not only does this allow you to work with smaller windows, but it means the system has to do less work (for example, calculating sizes). After that, you can turn back on whatever columns you want selectively for only the windows you need – the Finder will remember your settings for those windows.
- Keep aliases to frequently used servers in one place (perhaps in your favourites, or in a folder in your dock) and add all passwords to mounted servers to your keychain. The next time you mount a server, you don't need to go through the "connect to server" dialog, and the server will mount on your desktop without asking for a password.
Finder enhancements
- Use Onyx (freeware) to pin your dock to the bottom left, and place all your frequently used applications in the dock. This fixes one problem with the dock: Moving icons. If your dock is in the middle, every time a new app is launched, the dock will expand in both directions, so when you reach for an icon in the dock, it won't be where it used to be. Pinning the dock to the left means that your permanent icons will always appear in the same place. You have to pin the dock to the left side because OS X puts all new icons to the right of your permanent icons.
- If you hate the dock, use FruitMenu (shareware) to bring back OS 9's fully customizable Apple Menu, or use an alternate dock such as DragThing (shareware).
- Use a hot key utility such as
Youpi Key (freeware)Butler to launch your frequently used applications from your keyboard rather than the dock. You can also use the same keys to switch to the app if it's already open. This is much faster than using the mouse to access the dock. - Use Labels X (shareware) to bring back the ability to label and colour folders. (Update (Feb. 10, 05): Labels are back in newer versions of OS X.)
- Use Print Window (freeware) to bring back the ability to print Finder windows.
- Open the AppleScript folder in your Applications folder, and drag the folder called "Script Menu.menu" into your menu (next to the date and time and sound icons). You now have access to some useful, time-saving applescripts directly from this menu, such as batch file naming. If you already have many pre-press scripts in your workflow, you can easilly add them to this menu.
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