CatScan - July 25, 2004
Author: Mike Matas & Corwin Light-Williams
Cost: $10.00
Version: 1.0.7
Reviewed by: Dave Thomson
User Rating: 
65%
CatScan is a folder and application scanner that automatically finds any images, NIB files, and HTML documents and displays them in a unique way. It makes it simple to scan your image libraries for your favorites or to find new ones by scanning your applications and folders.
Features
CatScan can be used to scan any folder for images, NIB files, and HTML documents. The results are displayed as thumbnails in a big grid, making it easy to locate the files you're interested in.
A lot of OS X users may not be aware that applications in OS X are actually just folders masquerading as programs. Sure they work like programs, but a look inside one reveals a whole bunch of the underlying files we see whenever we open it. A scan of iDVD would reveal all of its icons, theme files, buttons and other controls. I used CatScan to find the icons Apple uses in Mail.app's toolbar so I could swap them with some others that I found online.
Just drag any folder onto CatScan's icon or into its window and it goes to work. Instead of slowly going through each directory with the Finder as I normally would, CatScan did it all for me. It goes deep into the directory structure, all the way in, basically ferreting out the cool stuff and presenting it in a unique way. It brings everything out and flattens it into one view. If you want an file for another use, just drag it onto your desktop and CatScan will copy it there. CatScan does things that the Finder does not. Not only does it render the HTML files into thumbs, CatScan also draws the icon files.
There's also a helpful search field at the top of the window to help filter the files CatScan displays. For example, if I decided that I wanted all the red badges from Mail.app, I just need to type "badge" in that field and CatScan would only display files with "badge" in their names.
While thumbnails are helpful, CatScanalso has a feature called "Lens" to magnify the thumbnails and make them easier to see. This built-in magnification enlarges the file as your mouse passes over it. It's almost as if a wave is passing under the thumbs, raising them off the screen. In use, Lens is much cooler than I can describe it here. It's a very slick feature. (I wonder how long before we such a feature in iPhoto?)
Click on a file and its name, size, format, creation date and path are displayed in an information window. That's handy, but there's more to it. The path isn't just a representation of where the file is. Each location shown in the path is a button that will open the folder. Click on it and you can see the contents in the Finder. My only complaint with it is that I'd like to see the developer make it more clear to users that they're buttons - Perhaps they could make the buttons translucent so they'd stand out more. Quick access to a specific folder is a great feature and I almost missed it.
Apple's WebCore is used to render html files as thumbnails, making it a snap for web developers to scan their work. I used it to scan into a folder that contained 4 websites worth of files and about 50 folders and subfolders. I didn't know the file name, but just what the HTML page looked like. Obviously, I could have used Safari for the same search, but it would have taken me far longer.
Ease of Use
After using the program for a short time, I was impressed with how slick and intuitive the interface is. Drag and drop easy to use, anyone from a newbie to an advanced user can get value from CatScan.
CatScan on my 3 year-old mac could be slow. When scanning larger directories, my machine slowed down some. Still, navigating that same directory structure by hand to find those files would have taken me much longer and been decidedly more complex. I'd have to open HTML files in my browser to view them, and the icons in Preview, taking even more time.
There was a small bug in the setting that allows a user to pick a background color for behind the thumbs, but the developer is aware of it and working to fix the problem. However, CatScan never crashed, and it's other features worked as advertised.
Price
CatScan may sort of a one-trick pony, but that trick is awfully impressive. I'm unaware of another utility that can do what it does. As I mentioned before, the Finder does not provide this functionality. I've seen other utilities and applications that do far less and cost much more. $10 is less than a movie and some popcorn, so I think it's a good value.
Conclusions
CatScan is great example of a well-made Cocoa application. It combines a quick timer-saving image/html/NIB scanner with a great interface to help users quickly find what they're looking for, to explore directories with ease.
CatScan is the first software program released by mikematas.com and it's an innovative and professional offering. Pros ought to love this app, because you just can't do this sort of thing with the Finder. New users will get a kick out of scanning for all the cool stuff that makes a mac feel like a mac.
Comments
Posted by Josha Chapman-Dodson at July 27, 2004 04:29 AM | Edit | Delete
A programmers best friend.
Posted by will at July 27, 2004 07:48 AM | Edit | Delete
i'd say the lens effect is pretty easy to describe- its the dock magnification effect in two dimensions
Posted by Steve Streza at July 27, 2004 09:56 AM | Edit | Delete
Quite slow and crashed 3 times on me. The magnify effect is very cool (I especially like how the images roll off of the window), but quite useless otherwise.
Posted by Dan Cortell at July 27, 2004 12:54 PM | Edit | Delete
This has been a great app for me. Very helpful. It was slow on some of the larger scans though. Good review.
Posted by Mark at July 27, 2004 03:36 PM | Edit | Delete
It kink of bothered me how similar this is to The Omni Group's OmniGraffle drag-and-drop a folder feature. Only because The Omni Group is where Mike comes from. I have not used OmniGraffle, but it looks like all OmniGraffle would need is the WebKit thing and they would be the same. That said, CatScan is a light and relatively (to OmniGraffle) inexpensive program and it's awesome when people build apps for simple specific tasks. Very Unix.
Posted by JC at July 27, 2004 05:33 PM | Edit | Delete
Programmers ought to love this thing. Too bad it's not a faster program.
I've experimented with it for a while now, and while it's solid sometimes it feels more like a toy. Other times it's been prett valuable to me, saving me time.
Posted by Heiesuke at July 27, 2004 08:51 PM | Edit | Delete
Yes after playing with it, and especially seeing this review it's well worth $10. Thanx also to Mike for giving me some insight on it.
Posted by danielgrenell at July 28, 2004 12:47 AM | Edit | Delete
personally, this is not nearly worth the money for me. it just simplifies something that i've been able to do all along. it's a very nice app, it's just not worth 10 bucks. sorry. that's not to say that i can't see how someone else might find it useful though.
Posted by Brien Edick at July 28, 2004 05:07 AM | Edit | Delete
I think that CatScan is a very well written application (kudos for the magnify, very nifty), but I have to agree with danielgrenell. I won't be buying it immediately, but may purchase it in the future.
Posted by Jesus Christ at July 28, 2004 06:54 AM | Edit | Delete
Ah, I am no longer your people's Messiah... I have seen the light and given my title to CatScan!
Oh yeah, the world will end in 2027, I think.
-- Jesus "Son of God" Christ
Posted by Mark Davis at July 28, 2004 11:48 AM | Edit | Delete
Catscan is a great application. It brings back memories of an application Caffeine Software used to create. For an application that is so specialized, it was definitely made the best it could be. Mike Matas did a great job on the user interface making it a friendly application to use.
As a developer, I sometimes need to search through a framework or application to find graphics or NIBs. Catscan makes this action painless and helps speed up the early stages of application development.
Posted by Lucifer at July 29, 2004 04:17 PM | Edit | Delete
For once Jesus and i agree. CatScan should have more importance than Jesus.
Oh and Jesus, your full of SH*T. The end of the world is 2037. Bwah ha haaaa.....
--Lucifer "Archangel cast from heavens"
Posted by G at July 30, 2004 04:19 PM | Edit | Delete
How is CatScan related to Themeing?
haha great post Lucifer..