Our Verdict
Update : Also see out our review of Isolator .
allow me open today ’s Gems pillar with a fitting quotation from a column published four years ago :
Today ’s information processing system are wonder of technology that can do more tasks — and more dissimilar form of undertaking — than ever before . Not only that , but your Mac can be doing more and more of those labor simultaneously — you may have 15 or 20 applications open without the computer even breaking a metaphorical travail . Ironically , all this activeness is enough to force back you to beguilement , potentiallyreducingyour productivity .
HazeOver’s settings window, with other windows automatically faded
I wrote that paragraph when reviewing Think , a service program ( no longer useable ) that aim to help you center by expose only a unmarried curriculum at a clock time , hiding everything else behind a smutty backdrop . Since then , we ’ve covered a few other program for helping you focus , such asShoo Apps , which automatically veil software that have n’t been used recently , and WriteRoom , a school text editor in chief that draw a blank everything else on your screen so you’re able to concentrate on writing .
While I ’ve appreciated the appeal of utilities such as Think , Shoo Apps , and WriteRoom , I ’ve never been able to work them into my personal work flow . I wish the fashion they let me focus on the foremost task , but my workplace often need me to cite a background window while writing or to keep an eye on one app while work in another .
If you ’re in the same boat , you ’ll want to take a look atHazeOver(Mac App Store link ) , a nifty usefulness that ’s similar to Think , except that instead of whole hiding everything but the participating windowpane , HazeOver gracefully dim it all .
HazeOver ’s setting window , with other windows automatically faded
With HazeOver running and active , switching to a fussy window fades everything else on your Mac ’s projection screen — except the Dock and the carte bar — to the brightness level you prefer . ( I use 45 - percent dimming , but you may have setting item dim by as much as 80 percent or as little as 10 percent . ) Switch to another window , and that window is immediately displayed at full brightness , while the former window fades back . ( The developer has a niceYouTube videothat demonstrates the event . )
HazeOver ’s approach give you many of the benefits of “ focus ” utility without completely blocking other apps and window . And HazeOver ’s gradual ( just about two - second ) fade is easier on the eye ( and the genius ) than an instant flip , although I do wish you could customize the distance of the modulation — I’d prefer to make it a minute longer , whereas I ’m sure some masses would opt a quicker variety .
HazeOver ’s initial version was released just a couple week ago , so it ’s still a brand - fresh app , and the developer is already working on enhancements . What ’s on my want list ? Besides the adjustable dimming time I already observe , I ’d like to see an choice for HazeOver to not dim other windows within the same software — for instance , sometimes I require to consider multiple Safari window while obscuring other programs . ( An even with child issue is that , for example , when I bring up BBEdit ’s Find windowpane , the Find windowpane becomes the “ focussed ” one , which entail the factual document in which I ’m puzzle out is dim . ) I ’d also like to be able to turn out finical programs so they ’re never dim ; an choice to blind everything but the old , say , twowindows or coating ( so I can focus on just the windows need for a picky chore ) ; and a elbow room to activate and deactivate HazeOver flat from its bill of fare - bar menu or by using a keyboard cutoff .
HazeOver also does n’t work in good order with every program . For example , when using Microsoft Excel 2008 , HazeOver handle the document windowpane , initialise palette , and data - ingress barroom as standard windows , and it considers the formatting pallet to always be active — which means that if the formatting pallet is visible , the independent document window is always dimmed .
Still , HazeOver is a clever utility with a lot of promise . With a few tweak , it just may recover its path into my workflow .
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