While my desktop doesn’t exactly scream “minimal”, I’m a developer and as such it’s very difficult to keep my dock clean. I’ve tried emptying my dock and only loading applications as I need them (via LauchBar), but I find that not having everything in the same order and same place just ends up clashing with my muscle memory and slowing me down. Sometimes too much minimalism can be counter-productive.

What I’d really love is for someone to come up with a utility that allows me to empty my dock and have applications appear in the same order regardless of what order I start them in.

That said, I make an effort to use a few applications as possible, and think long and hard before deciding to start using a new tool. I find that many “setup” articles tend to emphasize using a lot of system add-ons and tools that, while interesting, I find don’t provide enough extra functionality to justify the clutter, resources, extra complexity and price. One of the best things about OS X is the great built-in applications and features.

I do almost all of my coding in TextMate, which has to have the highest power to clutter ratio of any application ever made. A beginner can start using it as a simple text editor and gradually come to know all of the powerful features it offers without hitting a brick wall. I’ve tried other editors such as BBEdit, Coda and Espresso, but keep coming back.

I also do a good deal of my writing in TextMate. I find the idea of using word processors such as Pages and Word for writing really troublesome. At their heart, most word processors are better suited as layout programs, and should really only be used to structure a document before printing it.

There are cases, such as resumes and brochures, where it might make more sense to use a word processor from end-to-end, but if I’m writing an essay I’ll generally keep it in plain text format until the very last second. This allows me to avoid formatting, page breaks, fonts and all of the complexity that comes with a word processor and just focus on getting my ideas down.

(Submitted by Grant Heaslip)

Thanks Grant. I think this one line bears repeating:

Sometimes too much minimalism can be counter-productive.