Just been trying out the free Think from Freeverse - it puts a black (or whatever) backdrop behind the current app, so you don't have the distraction of multiple windows/desktp etc. but without closing all of them - you can switch between current apps and have 'guest' apps appear as well. This is particularly great for doing Photoshop stuff, because it's hard to edit images when there's a lot of clutter going on behind the open image's window. Give it a go.

[quote]This is particularly great for doing Photoshop stuff, because it's hard to edit images when there's a lot of clutter going on behind the open image's window.[quote]

Just try hitting F a couple of times.

But your're right, it would be nice to have that capability in other apps. Downloading it now.

I'm not a big fan of running apps in full screen, so this works more for me than the F thing. Since you can set the transparency, you can always see what's where behind the scenes, but what's behind is way less distracting than normal.

I use a similar app called Isolator. Allows you to use any color you wish. Has some nifty features like background blurring, etc.

> 2Mb download....

wow, that's quite a lot of Mb to do a Hide Others....

Gotta' agree there. My first thought was Command-Option-H works, or F8 for Spaces. I don't like background app clutter, I use both in my daily routine.

Command Option H doesn't do the same thing - it just hides other windows. These apps hide everything, including the desktop icons, as well as changes the color of the desktop (or blurs it, etc.).

Isolator is 2.1MB, Think is nearly 2.7MB. The thing I like about Isolator is that it lives in the menu bar. There's no app to launch, no panel to configure and no icon in the dock. I just hit an F-key and it does its thing - hit the key again & it goes away. Simple.

"Isolator is 2.1MB, Think is nearly 2.7MB"

That's a lot of MB. Well at least in my opinion.

Now I've tried both, I prefer Isolator - the dockless/shortcut key factors win out.

As for app size, what to know something funny? The apps themselves with their support files are just a few hundred Kb.

Think.app=2.8MB, of which Getting Started.pdf=2.5Mb

Isolator.app=3.2Mb, of which Sparkle.framework=2.6Mb
(of which 1.9Mb is made up of 3 exact copies of the Sparkle exec in 3 different folders).

I've initiated a conversation with the Isolator dev about why the Sparkle.framework has 3 complete copies of itself in different folders, instead of just one with aliases. Curious to see what that's about. In any case, I have no problem with a 3Mb app, in these days of e.g. Acrobat Pro.app coming in at 920Mb!

Okay, interesting follow-up - I queried the folk over at Sparkle about Isolator, and they laughed at the folder listing and said No wonder, all those duplicate files are supposed to be symlinks!

So I've contacted the Isolator dev about this - we may see the app size drop down to about 1Mb and then all you size queens will be satisfied