Reprinted from TidBITS#841/07-Aug-06 with permission.
Copyright (C) 2006, TidBITS. All rights reserved.
http://www.tidbits.com/

TypeIt4Me Returns Again, Again
------------------------------
  by Matt Neuburg <matt@tidbits.com>

  Riccardo Ettore's TypeIt4Me[20] has a long history; it's been around
  since 1987, which is longer than I've been using a Mac. In case you've
  forgotten, here's how it works. You supply TypeIt4Me with pairs of
  abbreviations and expansions (such as "ty" and "TypeIt4Me"). Then
  TypeIt4Me watches you type and substitutes expansions for abbreviations
  in just about any application.

[20]<http://homepage.mac.com/rettore/ty2/>

  As I explained back in January, 2003[21], you'd think that TypeIt4Me
  would be impossible to reimplement under Mac OS X, given the latter's
  deliberate resistance to system-level hackery. But not so. Earlier Mac
  OS X versions[22] of TypeIt4Me were ingeniously implemented as an input
  manager, a mechanism that evades this resistance. However, whether
  because this implementation was proving somewhat limited and unreliable
  or because input managers[23] have recently been tainted with ignominy
  thanks to their proven potential as a security hole, TypeIt4Me 3.0,
  which was released late last month, has been rewritten to use the
  Accessibility API[24] instead (like its rivals, Typinator[25] and
  CopyPaste + yType[26]).

[21]<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=07046>
[22]<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=07798>
[23]<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=08430>
[24]<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=07102>
[25]<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=08151>
[26]<http://www.scriptsoftware.com/copypaste/>

  So now, when you install TypeIt4Me, you see - or rather, you don't see -
  a background-only application, controlled by a System Preferences pane
  and optionally manifesting itself as a menu extra (an icon and menu at
  the right side of the menubar). When you type an abbreviation followed
  by whichever of three dozen delimiter characters you've specified (e.g.
  "ty@", where "@" is the delimiter), TypeIt4Me observes this fact through
  the Accessibility API and tells the application you're using to select
  those characters and paste in their place the expanded version,
  restoring the clipboard afterwards. A special expansion syntax enables
  you to perform many useful additional tricks, such as specifying where
  the insertion point should be after the paste, or inserting the original
  contents of the clipboard at some point in the pasted material (good for
  entering HTML opening and closing tags, for example).

  Abbreviation/expansion pairs are stored in files that can live anywhere
  you like, and an abbreviation file (or an individual abbreviation) can
  be associated with a specific application. TypeIt4Me can also be
  disabled for particular applications, and in a pinch you can even
  temporarily turn off TypeIt4Me's automatic behavior entirely, by
  choosing Pause from its menu. In that case, you can still enter an
  expansion by choosing its abbreviation from the menu.

  In my view, TypeIt4Me 3.0 represents a significant architectural
  revision; it is elegant and simple, appears reliable, and truly makes
  for a fine blend of flexibility and user confidence. TypeIt4Me 3.0
  requires Mac OS X 10.3 Panther or higher, and is a Universal Binary. It
  is a 4 MB download[27], and costs $27 ($9 to upgrade form any previous
  version); you can try it free for 30 days.

[27]<http://homepage.mac.com/rettore/ty2/download.htm>