OneClick Review
By Matt Clark

OneClick is the "mockingbird" of many extensions and can nearly eliminate the need for even the user, when implementing routine drags and clicks with your mouse. In other words, OneClick can free users from much of the burden of repetitive, otherwise time-wasting mouse interactions with the Mac. Any Mac user who can be using OneClick by WestCode Softare but isn't, is losing out.

Ok, let's get real and start with the bad news about OneClick. OneClick is a scripting environment that needs to be programmed (gasp) before it can automate anything for you. Unfortunately, after mentioning this single point regarding programming, I've run out of things to scare you with about OneClick, so let's take a look at the good stuff.

OneClick comes with click libraries for all major software packages, such as Filemaker and ClarisWorks (now AppleWorks). This effectively means that you really don't have to program OneClick for anything, I suppose, if you don't want to. However, if you get the hang of what OneClick does and want to teach it new tricks then OneClick comes with an extensive library of built-in functions to support your experiments.

The first feature I'll tell you about is OneClick's automatic scripting. Yes, even writing a script in OneClick can be automated by one click. OneClick's script editor, accessible at any time from the menu bar, has a Record button. When this Record feature is activated, OneClick monitors all the user's subsequent GUI interactions, simultaneously generating an equivalent script on the spot. The user stops this process by clicking the Stop button in the script editor.

Ok, I'll be honest. Sometimes the automatically generated script does not automate a process as the user would have liked. Some applications are stubborn and seemingly try to ignore OneClick's background signals. However, the user has the option to modify the script until best results are obtained. In fact, another button in the script editor (what else were you expecting?) gives the user access to an online function dictionary that explains in detail all scripting commands and also provides examples for many of them.

Finally, scripts are portable. That is, all the scripts that you perfect on your machine can be used in other Macintoshes that have OneClick. In fact, WestCode maintains a OneClick library on the web that contains many downloadable scripts. WestCode also sells this library on CD ROM for your convenience.

The bottom line is even though Mac users can brag about the productivity gap between using a Mac and Windows machine, OneClick creates yet another gap of productivity between those Macs with it and those without it. The current version of OneClick, (which is) 1.0.3, works with Mac OS's up to S8.1. Westcode has stated that the next release of OneClick, which is tentatively scheduled for February 1999, will accomodate OS8.5+. Given the distinct advantages of using OneClick, OS8.5 users will then be able to catch up to the productivity levels of those Mac users using older Mac OS versions with OneClick.

Try surfing WestCode Software's site at:

<http://www.westcodesoft.com>

- Matt Clark

OneClick has been rated 5 MacoroniMarks out of 5

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