Another lazy Sunday afternoon. After eating a far too heavy lunch, I was getting ready to write yet another article. I pressed <Ctrl+Spacebar> and a grey window popped up. I started typing into it and had got only as far as ‘lib’ when the familiar icon of LibreOffice Writer came. I hit the enter key and leaned back in my chair, the scene harmonizing with my already indolent mood. ‘Installing Synapse was a smart move,’ I thought to myself.
Synapse is a ‘semantic launcher’. I’ve always felt that is an incredibly dry description for an extremely useful program. Synapse is part of a category of software known as application launchers. Such software not only allow you to quickly access your favourite apps but often also include powerful search functionality. Call it an overactive imagination but I always think of app launchers as obsequious digital ferrets, running around uncovering files, locating apps, and placing them all at your fingertips.
Though there is no shortage of application launchers, I chose to review three of the most popular ones - GNOME Do, GNOME Pie and Synapse.
History
GNOME Do was originally created by David Siegel. It was inspired by Quicksilver for Mac OS X and GNOME Launch Box.
GNOME Pie was created by Simon Schneegans, a student of computer media science at the Bauhaus University in Weimar. He explained his reasons for creating another application launcher: “I realized a trend in application launchers to be keyboard based. All of them (Gnome-Do, Synapse, Kupfer, Unity's Dash, Gnome-Shell, etc.) are mainly focused on keyboard input - I wanted to create something which could be used with your mouse only.” And so GNOME Pie was born and released to the public in September, 2011.
User Interface
GNOME Do is summoned using <Super+Spacebar> where ‘Super’ is the Windows (or if you’re lucky Ubuntu) icon key. GNOME Do has a simple two-pane user interface (UI). Your typed text and match show up in one pane, while the other pane shows the actions possible. There is a tiny cross icon in the top left-hand corner for closing Do, and an equally tiny icon in the top right-hand corner which opens a menu that includes ‘About Do’, ‘Preferences’, ‘Donate’ and ‘Quit’ options. The UI is fully customizable: you can choose a theme and the background colour as well. The screenshot below shows Do using the ‘Nouveau’ theme with a green background colour (a bit self-evident).
GNOME Pie has a unique and intuitive interface. It is a circular application launcher and can be navigated by using both the mouse and the keyboard, though using the mouse is preferable. The UI consists of a central display circle surrounded by the items. The user can choose from several themes such as ‘Funky’, ‘Glossy’ and even some OS-specific themes such as ‘Elementary’ and ‘Unity’. I found the ‘pie’ UI concept cute and refreshing – the only drawback being the lack of icons sometimes (as can be seen below). GNOME Pie also has a notification tray icon which, on being clicked, shows ‘Preferences’, ‘About’ and ‘Quit’.
Synapse is best thought of as a floating search bar that can be activated using <Ctrl+Spacebar>. You type in the text and the icon of a matching application will be shown. You can use the side keys to access filters such as ‘Documents’, ‘Images’, ‘Videos’… which help narrow the search. Synapse’s UI can also be themed; there are 6 themes to choose from including ‘Do-ish’ which turns Synapse into a perfect GNOME Do clone! Synapse also has a notification tray icon which, when clicked, shows ‘Activate’, ‘Preferences’ and ‘Quit’ options.
Functionality and Ease of Use
Launching applications from GNOME Do is fairly straightforward. Just type in the name and hit ‘Enter’. Searching is equally simple and surprisingly powerful. The plugins allow Do to search your Tomboy notes, Firefox bookmarks, Banshee, and, of course, your files and folders. Your search can also include your Google Calendar events and Google Docs if you provide your user details to the program. GNOME Do also allows you to set simple reminders and find word definitions using GNOME dictionary. These features work well however, but, as I experienced with the reminder option, users need to learn how to phrase the command for using these features. The syntax, though simple, is not necessarily obvious and often leads to a Google search or two. Oh, and did I mention all the features stated above are simply a small part of the ‘Official Plugins’? And that Official Plugins are roughly half of ‘Community Plugins’? With such powerful add-ons, you can do literally anything from the comfort of Do’s two-pane UI.
GNOME Pie in an innovative twist consists of several ‘pies’. For instance, there is an ‘Applications’ pie, a ‘Multimedia’ pie, and so on. Each pie has a different keyboard shortcut. Users can, of course, create their own pies. Each item in the pie is called a ‘slice’, and users can add their own slices with some basic command-line knowledge. Unlike Do, GNOME Pie does not have a search functionality. Though it has some additional features like being able to control multimedia playback with a pie, it primarily is an application launcher. This is not a bad thing or a negative, simplicity has its own benefits. Many users will find GNOME Pie intuitive and useful; however, power users who want a host of additional features should probably choose GNOME Do or Synapse.
If you’ve ever done a Google search, you can probably use Synapse. Launching applications and finding files using Synapse is extremely simple. If you’re unhappy with the primary result, use the down-arrow key to show a list of alternatives. The side-arrow keys allow you to use the filters to narrow your search. Integration with Zeitgeist makes Synapse very effective; it managed to find most of my search queries within seconds. Synapse also has a decent list of plugins though they are less in number compared to Do. Plugins include the ability to control Banshee and Rhythmbox, search the web, and even perform some basic calculations. These plugins are not always easy to use. For instance, figuring out how to use ‘OpenSearch’ took some time. However, once you learn how to use them, the plugins are simply awesome and a good return on the initial time investment.
All the 3 programs had the option to automatically start up at login – circumventing the need for any other application launcher to start them.
Conclusion
Which application launcher you wish to use ultimately comes down to personal preference. For users who don’t want too many features and just want to access their favourite applications, GNOME Pie is hard to beat. It is easy to configure, looks good, and its circular UI is a breath of fresh air. For users who would like the ability to search for files and folders along with launching applications ,Synapse is a good choice. It has a simple UI and a powerful search – along with a decent number of plugins. For power users who want to do everything from their application launcher, GNOME Do with its huge plugin library is perfect.
If I had to recommend an application launcher to someone without knowing much about them, I would suggest Synapse. It provides sufficient features for most users and its themable UI is extremely intuitive.
Epilogue: The End of Application Launchers?
While researching Synapse for the article, I chanced upon an interesting post at a site called ‘Tech Drive-in’. It claimed that the launcher was not being maintained anymore. Looking at the project’s Launchpad page, I realized the latest version was about a year old. I asked a question on the same page but got no answer. I can only hope the project is being maintained.
Even GNOME Do hasn’t been updated in a long time; seeing this, a user asked about the project status. Here’s how Christopher Halse Rogers, the current project lead of Do, responded,“It's not dead, but it is reasonably mature, and I don't have a lot of time to work on it at the moment.”
With the introduction of Unity, many Ubuntu users have questioned the need of application launchers. What do you think? Are app launchers doomed? Would love to hear your response at the poll on my blog.
On a more positive note, Simon Schneegans, the creator of GNOME Pie, is busy working on its successor - OpenPie. According to Mr. Schneegans, OpenPie will work on touch devices. Maybe that will be the future form of application launchers, just so long as it’s Open Source.
Summary
GNOME Do
The Good • Simple two-pane UI • Largest plugin library • Powerful search including content from even Tomboy notes
The Bad • Some plugins are complex to use and require a particular syntax • Lack of notification tray icon
Website: http://cooperteam.net/
GNOME Pie
The Good • Innovative great-looking UI • Ability to use both mouse and keyboard for navigation • Many theme options
The Bad • Lack of search capabilities • No plugin library
Website: http://www.simonschneegans.de/?page_id=12
Synapse
The Good • Simple intuitive UI • Powerful search with full Zeitgeist integration • Decent plugin library
The Bad • Some plugins complex to use • Only 6 theme options
Website: https://launchpad.net/synapse-project
The Winner of this Software Showdown is
Synapse !
Note: This article was first published in Open Source For You magazine, and is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License