15-Minute Reviews :: WireKeys v3.6.1

Hello all and welcome to another 15-Minute Review! Today’s application is WireKeys version 3.6.1 by WiredPlane Labs – An application to help you gain some productivity through shortcuts and more.

Software Description

As Giveaway of the Day states:

“WireKeys is a hotkey-driven system utility that runs in the system tray and provides access to running tasks (with option to kill tasks), favorite programs and more. It also includes additional text clipboards, a BossKey, an automated screen capture tool and an option to quickly minimize all windows. Advanced users can also run selected text as from command string, write JavaScript macros and record mouse and keystrokes.

You can assign hotkeys or mouse gestures for any program, define parameters and actions to take after launch, as well as delay the startup time.”

Quick Pros

• Text-altering very handy; Inline text handling interesting
• Window controls right-click control (minimize to tray, dock, etc.)
• ‘Floaters’ a handy way to manage windows without System Tray or Task Tray
• Built-in screenshot functionality
• Ability to disable ‘accidental’Win’ and ‘Apps’ key presses
• Scripting language can let you control a lot with this application
• Expandable via plug-ins

Quick Cons

• Preferences a bit to go through
• Some small ‘glitches’ showed up here and there
• Some of the initial key combinations awkward
• Too many sub-menus for some of the macros

Expansion

It is hard to go through all the features of this application in a short time period. I’ve ended up spending over a half hour playing with this application in the first place, and keep finding myself flipping back to it. There is just so many features in this application, and the plug-in repository is getting rather large as well. I feel I haven’t started to touch on this application.

There are a lot of nice features included which work really well. There is a lot of text-based functionality, from using words as ‘triggers’ for launching (Typing ‘notepad’, highlighting it and hitting the hotkey,) to calculating complex mathematical equations, to actual manipulation of text as well. While the manipulation could be worked on more, it is very interesting to see what is already implemented.

One I found that I liked was the addition of extra controls on each window. Right click minimize, and the application goes to the System Tray. Right-click maximize, and the window rolls up. Right click on a specific edge of the window, and it will expand to the full window in that plane. Left click on a specific edge of the window, and it will proceed to dock that side to the side of the window without resizing.

I like the ability to turn a System Tray-minimized window into a ‘Floater’ – A small partially transparent icon that can be placed on your window where you would like it. It is a better way in some cases to manage icons than handling cluttered trays.

Built-in screenshot functionality is good to have. I dislike having tons of System Tray icons going, and this can help eliminate one. Granted it does not have some of the features a full-blown screenshot application may, it does have the common ones that would be most useful to many.

There are so many features that are good as well as easy to use, once you learn the key command. That is one of the downfalls I feel of this application: It is great, but you are in many cases playing a memorization game for the sheer number of shortcut key combinations that show up. With that said, some of the initial key combinations are a bit of a question for me: Control-Alt-R and Control-Alt-Num(-) is a bit of a stretch for anyone. It is a good thing you can change the key combinations.

The application is extendable through plug-ins (and there are a good number already available on the author’s site) as well as macros right inside the application. Lots of room to grow, for sure.

While the preference page is laid out in a logical form and in a small window, I wondered if it could be made to flow a little bit better. I found that I was wading through the settings, sometimes losing track of where I was, as I went along. The tree structure is easy enough to wield on the left; It is the actual window where you set the settings that get unnerving at points.

I did have a lot of little ‘small’ glitches show up. First time I tried to move a ‘Save As’ dialog box, it acted like it was constantly being moved for a few moments, making some odd sounds during and for a while after. There were a few other small issues too, but nothing serious. I also had cases where for some reason the pop-up menus wouldn’t show up until the second time I attempted to press the keyboard command. It wasn’t frequent, but it was irritating and if used daily, could reduce productivity.

When you do use the macros, the ‘tree’ structure to access them can sometimes be too much; Too many sub-folders in many cases which leads me to feel that it is a low point, especially for productivity. This was the case with a good portion of the pop-up windows – Too much. It isn’t so much a design flaw, but moreso linked to the fact that there is just so many features, it is hard to manage to keep them from getting cluttered in one way or another.

Final Verdict

While the keystrokes can get tedious to try to remember, there are little glitches that occasionally occur and the preferences window is awkward at times to handle, this application brings so much to the table in a usable means, that it would be hard for someone to not find something redeeming on this application. I didn’t even touch on the mouse gestures functionality even, nor any of the multitude of features built-in, let alone the plug-ins. Myself, I’d likely go through and pick and choose which parts I’d use and disable them from accidental keypresses, as well as improve the key combinations. While it is geared towards an advanced-user, I could see some of these features being handy to lighter users as well.

While free, I recommend snagging it and seeing if it has anything worthwhile to you. I know I found some redeeming qualities that will land this on my system until my next reinstall (And possibly a future purchase.) For the sheer content, functionality, and potential increase in productivity, I feel that so long as there is some functions you find useful (or are adventursome to write your own useful plug-ins,) this is definitely worth $29.95.

Posted by BladedThoth on Friday, May 18, 2007