New To The Mac - Part I
Tuesday, October 30th, 2007So You Just Bought A Mac
This is an introductory series for people new to the Mac. It is assumed that you did use computers before but maybe it works just fine for newbies. Feedback Welcome!
You couldn’t resist the hype and the peer-pressure anymore. Or you simply went on the spending-spree and a new Mac happened to be in it. Or maybe your new mac is a gift from a dear soul.
Note: I assume you have the current version of OS X, 10.5 aka. Leopard, installed on your new Mac.
It’s All So Different §
Assuming you are coming from another platform, like - umm - Windows ™, there are quite a few things that are different. It maybe a matter of opinion if they are different in a better or worse way compared to whatever you were used to before.
Used to is the key here. You’ve grown accustomed to the way to get things done - with or against your previous os - and will automatically map those habits to your new mac. Some irritation will be inevitable. There maybe a few things you think were better on your old platform and a few that are just better on the mac. As this is a matter of opinion i personally grew so fond of the way things get done on the mac that i can’t imagine going anywhere else - but i also had my moments in the beginning where i thought some user-interface aspects to be odd.
Most of these oddities though made a lot of sense later down the road.
The First Steps §
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The first impression when using a mac is that the very core of the user interaction is the same (windowing system, e.g.) but some elementary things are done differently.
First off there is no Taskbar and thusly also no “Start” Button. Secondly all menus of native mac applications are at the top of the screen. The menu always shows up for the currently focused application. And thirdly just closing the last windows of an app usually does not exit it. This is really different from most platforms. You have to really quit an application. To see if an application you see no open windows for is still running have a look in the dock. Every running desktop application is listed there plus the favorites you dragged there which are visible even if they are not running. A running app has a small triangle dot at the screen-edge-side.
You can quit an app by selecting Quit from the app’s menu point that has the name of the app. This is usually the first menu on the left right next to the apple menu which is always visible. There are other ways to quite an app which i will get into later on.
So, but how do you start an app in first place? Okay, the apps present in the dock are obvious, but how about an app that isn’t there. For this open a Finder windows. notice how i didn’t say “Start the Finder” - this is because the Finder is always running. In fact it powers your desktop and you can’t (normally) even quit it. If the Finder wouldn’t run you couldn’t see any icons on your desktop. Once you have a finder window open, locate the “Applications” folder in left half of the finder and select it. On Macs all your apps are in there although you can put apps anywhere you like theoretically. Macs come with a bunch of pre-installed apps of varying usefulness. Have a look around.
If you got a mac notebook you will probably use the touchpad a lot. I still recommend you get a usb or bluetooth mouse for the long run. One specialty i always get annoyed at other notebook when i notice it’s not there is the ability to scroll vertically and horizontally with two fingers on the pad.
While we’re at it: OS X does support right and middle mouse clicks even if it appears not to by looking at the touchpad. To right click without having a 2/3 button mouse attached you can either:
- Click and hold (about a second or two). (hmm, this doesn’t seem to work anymore? Used to in Tiger)
- Control-Click
- Put two fingers on the touch pad and click. (this has to be activated in the System Preferences)
There are quite a few context menus in the applications and you can only reach them by right-clicking. for former Windows users this should be familiar.
Adjust It §
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Like every os, OS X comes with a bunch of options to modify the system’s behavior. You can find the Settings Panels when selecting “System Preferences…” from the apple menu in the top left corner of the desktop.
I suggest you have a look around in there to adjust some settings. Although the default settings are quite sane i recommend you have a look in the following panels:
- Desktop & Screen Saver - Setup your Desktop Picture and your Screen Saver.
- Dock - Setup where the Dock appears and some visual gimmickry.
- Exposé and Spaces - Setup Exposé and Spaces for the screen corners you like. This is a HUGE time-saver.
- Energy Saver - This is especially useful when you have a notebook. Note that there are separate Settings for when running on Power Adapter and Battery.
- Keyboard & Mouse - Setup basic behavior of your input devices.
Tip: Activate “Zoom using scroll wheel while holding XXX” in the “Mouse” tab. I find this highly useful.
I also suggest you visit the “Keyboard Shortcuts” Tab for reference. There are a lot of useful shortcuts in OS X.
- CDs & DVDs - Setup which application if any to run if certain media types are inserted in the drive.
Learn §
Of course every new software comes with new ways of doing things. New Shortcuts, new behaviors and so on. Even after months you will find a feature in a software that is so useful that you cannot imagine how you overlooked it all the time. This holds true for OS X as well. There is quite a bit of not so obvious usefulness in there.
To get started i suggest you get used to some terminology. You will often hear references to the “Command Key” for example. Here’s a short list of the keys:
- Command Key -
- The most important key in OS X. This is basically the replacement for Control if you come from Windows (although the Control key still exists). On newer Apple keyboards command is written on the key itself and the apple logo is gone. - Option Key -
- Also nick-named “Badewannentaste” (bathtub-key) in german. It’s also called alt (it’s written on the key itself) but i never heard a real mac user or website call it that way. - Control Key -
- Escape Key -
- This is the top left key on your keyboard. I list it here because this symbol is not on the key itself but appears in some menus. The first time i saw this i had a hard time figuring out what this is. It is used for example to open Front Row with Command+Escape.
To look up the global keyboard shortcuts refer to the System Preferences’ “Keyboard & Mouse” Panel. For application specific shortcuts cycle through the menus of the respective app and you can see some menu entries with the shortcut combo listed to the right of it.
There are a few generally applicable shortcuts though that work in (nearly) every application. I’ve also thrown some global shortcuts in the list:
Command-Q- Will quit the currently active application. This is probably one of the shortcuts you will use every couple of minutes… i do.Command-,- Will an active application’s Preferences.Command-Tab- Will display a HUD with a list of running apps. With repeatedly pressing Tab without releasing the Command Key you can cycle through them. When you release all keys the last highlighted app will be focused and foregrounded.Command-M- Minimize the currently active window. It will shrink into the Dock where you can retrieve it later on.Command-H- Hide the currently active application. This will completely hide all windows of the respective app and render the icon for the app transparent in the Dock.Command-Space- Open the Spotlight input box at the top right. Highly useful.- Only in Finder:
Space- Open the currently selected file or folder (can also be on the desktop) with Quicklook. Very useful. Command-W- Close the current window. This is especially useful in apps where you end up with a bunch of windows frequently, like for example the Finder.- While any menu is open:
Option- This reveals enhanced menu entries. For example when you open the Context menu in the Dock on a running app and press option you will see “Quit” to change to “Force Quit“.
… continued in Part II (when it’s done)