Hook for macOS
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9,925
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To celebrate the release of Hook v1.0 in July 2019, we're making this members-only video free to view.
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Invariably, working on the Mac involves a multitude of different apps, different information sources, and different file formats. We often struggle to keep all these elements together in one form or another by grouping them into folders or assigning tags. But invariably, it's difficult to manage and it becomes a burden or, we might end up abandoning it altogether. This is where Hook (now known as Hookmark) comes in.
Hook is a unique application that solves the problem in an elegant and simple-to-use fashion. Use Hook to "link" documents, images, videos, web pages, and more, using simple keystrokes or drag and drop. Your files can reside anywhere on your system and Hook makes it very simple to switch between them, keep everything accessible.
It's a revelation!
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(7 comments posted)
It's a good start, but not quite the solution I've hoped to see for many years.
Why can't we expand the HTML linking system, so that just as "http://" references web pages and "ftp://" references FTP server and "mailto:" references an email client, we could likewise use prefixes like "bbedit://" or "pages://" or "things://," etc, to launch respective files (via browser or via OS)?
It was a pity to freeze the HTML linking metaphor at circa 1995. There's no reason a spreadsheet or photo editing app can't be called up via browser or OS in the same way as we now transparently trigger an action via FTP or email client or web browser.
With such a scheme we could insert a complete range of smart links in all sorts of contexts (nearly all apps these days are intelligent enough to handle http/ftp/mailto linking already, so it's not a heavy lift), including the ability to do the linking inline to bury the coding "under the hood", e.g.:
"See this spreadsheet for the actual numbers!"
This would empower everything Hook does more easily. It would be universal from the get-go (being a very simple expansion of universal OS capabilities already available on all platforms). It would be accessible within OS or browser - including within online docs. These links could be created as easily as we currently jigger http links in our text editors, word processors, notebook, spreadsheet, to-do apps, etc. And we wouldn't need to keep referencing a klunky, intermediary, proprietary service like Hook to make it all work.
This could eventually extend into the Internet of Things, calling up, say, RFID tags on car keys and other possessions or controlling smart house/car functions.
Woops, the commenting software munged my code. Trying again.
....including the ability to do the linking inline to bury the coding "under the hood", e.g.:
"See (a href="excel://august-accounting.xls")this spreadsheet(/a) for actual numbers!"
Woops, the commenting software munged my code. Trying again.
....including the ability to do the linking inline to bury the coding "under the hood", e.g.:
"See (a href="excel://august-accounting.xls")this spreadsheet(/a) for actual numbers!"
Woops, the commenting software munged my code. Trying again.
....including the ability to do the linking inline to bury the coding "under the hood", e.g.:
"See (a href="excel://august-accounting.xls")this spreadsheet(/a) for actual numbers!"
Why can't we expand the HTML linking system, so that just as "http://" references web pages and "ftp://" references FTP server and "mailto:" references an email client, we could likewise use prefixes like "bbedit://" or "pages://" or "things://," etc, to launch respective files (via browser or via OS)?
That's how things are working now. For instance, I can write (in Markdown):
See [Eickhoff, 2010](bookends://sonnysoftware.com/93578)
and when the link is clicked, it will open Bookends on my Mac to that reference. Pasting the link into my browser also opens Bookends.
Woops, the commenting software munged my code. Trying again.
....including the ability to do the linking inline to bury the coding "under the hood", e.g.:
"See (a href="excel://august-accounting.xls")this spreadsheet(/a) for actual numbers!"
John,
Yes, there's limited implementation. But the nearly universal compatibility of http, ftp, and mailto in the context of apps, OSes, and browsers is not anywhere near present for the full gamut. I.e. if I type http:// into most apps (to-do, word processing, notebooking, chatting, spreadsheet, etc) the link livens; it just works. Not true yet for bbedit:// et al.
That's why we require kludges like Hook filling in a functionality the OS could/should easily offer us.
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