Oh mcpatcher how do I love thee?
Let me count the ways...

One thing you never see people do when giving advice on installing mods is say "just throw it in mcpatcher."
Which always strikes me as odd because pretty much every player has mcpatcher already as generally texture packs are the first thing after skins that players start to mess with.

I suspect a lot of people think of mcpatcher as the texture fixy thingy and that's it.

No, instead people always post 8 paragraphs or so about going into the Minecraft bin and drag this file and that folder into the jar (jar of what?) and DELETE META-INF!!!!!11!!!1.

Me, I've never even seen the minecraft .jar, I'm vaguely aware it's in appdata inside the .minecraft folder, but only because that's where I go to pick up my screenshots after a session.

I'm currently using about 5 mods and all 5 were loaded simply via mcpatcher.

I think the big thing is modloader, I see a lot of people think it's going to be an application like mcpatcher (something you press "start" on) and when they see it's a zip full of files they kinda go "uh oh wtf?".

Then they ask on the forums and then somebody gives them the old "into the bin, into the jar DELETE META-INF! then twice around the tree and DON'T SCREW IT UP OR YOUR FILE WILL EXPLODE!"

Well to avoid all that BS I just threw modloader into mcpatcher (it's a mod innit?) and patched.
Then I threw modloaderMP in too... and patched.

Now I can easily install any mod via mcpatcher without ever even opening the minecraft folder.

Such a simple thing, yet you rarely ever see anybody recommend it, all you ever see is instructions to manually install... Which, judging by a lot of posts, many people are simply are not capable of and/or comfortable doing.

Just remember that modloader and modloader mp count as mods too, throw those 2 into mcpatcher before anything else and patch and you'll always be able to install mods without any effort or messing around inside the game's guts.

tbh, mcpatcher is the tool that should really be named "modloader" because that's what it does, those HD textures you used it for so you could play that 128x128 pack?

They're a MOD.

So if you don't have the 1.2.3 mcpatcher yet...

Get it now.

Then get these -> Modloader
Modloadermp

Now run mcpatcher, select Mods, click add... select Modloader, hit patch... repeat for modloadermp, hit patch.
Now with these two easily and cleanly installed you are ready to install pretty much any mod you want in exactly the same way, with just 3 clicks aaand you never even have to look at the minecraft folder, bin, jar, whateverthehellit'scalled.

This all might seem blindingly obvious to you,, but I can assure you that reading a few topics in the mods section of any MC forum shows a lot of people who might like to try mods (like me) never will because nobody has ever explained to them that there is an easier way than manually installing files and messing around with the .jar and meta-inf etc etc runonsentancesftwkthxbai. :)

Just for the record I have installed and successfully used the following mods using only mcpatcher: Modloader, modloadermp, ropes+, parachutes, elemental arrows, more paintings, zeppelins (yes indeedy, the big daddy).

Edit: you can now add the Player API and Smart Moving to that list. :)

So if a total novice like me can enjoy all these mods without ever even looking at the .minecraft folder... then so can you!

Happy (easy) modding.

Superbatprime is currently swinging, gliding, flying and climbing around his shiny new 1.2 jungle biome with the parachutes, zeppelins and ropes+ mods. Installed the easy way... Currently waiting patiently for ziplines and smart moving to be updated to 1.2.3 for the total freedom of movement experience.