MultiClutch

Name: MultiClutch
Rating: 4.5 (1 reviews)

beta5

28 February 2008

Assign custom keyboard shortcuts in a given app to a given gesture.

Overview

Basically, Multiclutch allows you to assign custom keyboard shortcuts in a given app to a given gesture. Want swipes to change tabs in Safari? Done. The same in iChat? Done. Want zoom-in to open emails in Mail, zoom-out to close windows in every app, and a swipe down to bring up Quicksilver? Done done done.

MultiClutch works by installing a simple input manager that catches gesture events, looks to see what shortcut you've defined for it in the frontmost app (if you haven't defined anything, it behaves in the standard manner), and performs that shortcut. You use a System Preference Pane to customize gestures with an interface similar to the shortcut-customization table in the Keyboard & Mouse pane. You can 'bind' gestures in a given Cocoa app (due to the nature of input managers, Carbon apps are not supported) or globally.

In addition to the four swipe directions, zooming in and out and rotate in either direction, I've been experimenting with 'combo' gestures. Right now, I've added the 'Zoom in, Zoom out' gesture (ie in one fluid motion) and visa-versa, with more perhaps to come if I find them to be intuitive and useful enough.

What's new in MultiClutch

Version 0.5b: There was a rare issue where binding certain key combinations could cause the preference pane to hang. A new beta fixing this issue is up and it is a recommended upgrade. MultiClutch will prompt you to install the new input manager when you install the preference pane.