When I upgraded to OS X SnowLeopard on my Mac’s one important, frequently used piece of software died a tragic death, Growl.
For the uninitiated Growl is a notification service. Say you’re humming along in photoshop and illustrator working on a design for a client then the little Adium (another great app for the Mac) duck starts bouncing furiously. No need to interrupt your work flow. Just look in the upper corner of your screen. There Growl has caught the incoming message and is showing it in a unobtrusive window. After about a few seconds the notification window fades and your workflow hasn’t been interrupted.
Growl does more than just chat though, it’s hooked into MANY, MANY programs and can show you everything from when a file has finished uploading on your FTP client to a new tweet from your coworker who’s supposed to be working.
Growl is back with version 1.2 and it works in SnowLeopard. To use Growl go to Growl.info and download the DMG. Once downloaded open the DMG and double click the file to install the preference pane. Growl works through your preferences so there’s no application in your applications folder. When you want to change a setting simply go to your system preferences and select Growl in the bottom of the menu. The best way to run Growl is to have it start automatically at login. Then it’s completely thoughtless and becomes part of your workflow like Quicksilver.