just an asterisk

I know that no one really needs yet another piece of software, but I figured that this might be something fun to share with friends and to get the word out about Just An Asterisk.  I’ve created a little launcher to automate some commands for PC users.  It’s nothing fancy, but it does do a few of the tasks that I find most universal among computer users these days.

What is it?

JAAL is a little program that you can run on your PC to provide a few keyboard shortcuts.  These are not meant to be life-altering… but perhaps we can eliminate a few unnecessary key strokes.  For those that are interested, it’s built in AutoHotKey and I’ll  be posting the code shortly.

To run it, you simply download the zip, double click on the file and then execute any one of the key commands below. 

What can it do?

JAAL can help you start applications without all of that silly pointing and clicking or using shortcuts on your desktop.

is the windows key.  I’ve used this in combination with keys that I know are not already mapped to anything.  Here is what I came up with:

+ s = Lookup the selected word in Google.

+ w = Lookup the selected word in Wikipedia.

+ i = opens up the Internet in your browser

+ g = opens up Gmail.com

+ j = opens Just an Asterisk

+ c = opens Google calendar

+ a = opens  up the Address in Google maps

How do I install it?

It’s not even an installation!  You just download the ZIP file.

Once you’ve finished downloading, just move the file from inside the ZIP file to your desktop (or to any other location).  If you can’t open the ZIP file, shoot me an email…

When you double click on the program, it will put a small Asterisk in your task bar.  This means it’s running!!!

Now just try executing any of the commands listed above and watch the magic start…

How do I delete it?

Right click on the Asterisk in your taskbar and click “exit”.  Then just delete the file.  It’s gone forever (unless you want to get it again…)

 

How do I create my own app?

Visit the AutoHotKey site for a tutorial and some examples.  It’s quite easy once you get over the initial shock of having to code.  I would say that this is an intermediate to advanced project.  Feel free to suggest other applications for the JAAL via email.

Let me know if you have any trouble.

~ab

This entry was posted on Monday, May 25th, 2009 at 9:04 am and is filed under Software. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

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