OS X Tutor

Trying a few new things...

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 18:07:10 -0400

I have come to realise that it is a lot easier to explain things to people in a visual way. So I am working on getting things setup so that I can do a video podcast type broadcast. I am hoping to make little 5-10min instructional videos released weekly. That’s the goal anyway!

I thought while things are getting sorted, I would just let anyone visiting know what is going on. I aim to have everything up & running in the next 2 weeks.

Maybe an item on how to subscribe to podcasts will be the first episode??

Part 3 : Making The Most of The Finder

Sat, 12 Apr 2008 10:54:33 -0400

Hopefully you have followed along with parts one and two of this three part introduction to the OS X Finder. If you haven’t and you are new to the Mac, OS X or computers in general, then you may want to take a few minutes to have a look at those earlier articles.

This time round we are going to have a look at what you can do with some more advanced Finder tips & tricks…

Let’s start with the dock. We think of it as a placeholder, somewhere to put links to your files, programs and folders. That is important to remember, when you move something into the dock you are not taking the original item from it’s place on your computer and moving it to a new home on the dock. What you are actually doing is creating a link from the original item to a new item in the dock. It’s helpful to get your head around that.

Now that we understand that concept, let’s have a little play with the dock. How do we add an application?

Step 1 : Open the applications folder and choose which app to add to the dock

In this instance, I want to add the application ‘Automator’ to my dock because it is an application I use regularly and would like to be able to access it quickly. Here’s a short video to show how easy this is to do…

Adding Apps to The Dock from Pixel Kid on Vimeo.

You will notice in the video that as you move the icon over the dock a space will be made for it to be dropped in. Also once you drop the icon onto the dock

What else can we do with the dock? Well wouldn’t it be cool to have access to your favourite documents, pictures, movie files etc just a click away? Dock to the rescue! Just a couple of things to remember first.

Documents & folders go on the right hand side of the dock, applications on the left.

Anything you add can be removed by just dragging it’s icon away from the dock.

Let’s give it a try in this video…

Using The Dock to Access Files in OS X from Pixel Kid on Vimeo.

Here we can see how it is just as easy to add documents and folders to the dock as it is applications. This is very handy if you have a document you are working on all the time just to have it one click away. What if you have a folder, as I have here, with various items to do with this blog. Again we can have one click access to all the files contained in that folder, and by holding down the mouse button on the icon in the dock we have various options that control how the information is presented to us.

Thats it for today. Hope you are finding it useful! As always to make sure you don’t miss the next article, subscribe to the RSS feed. And please don’t forget to email me any thoughts, questions, or ideas for future articles!

Happy computing :)

Part 2 : Find your Way Around The Finder

Sat, 05 Apr 2008 10:12:00 -0400

If you have read part one of this three part series of articles, you will hopefully have got a basic understanding of what the Finder does. In part 2 we will take a look at the Finder in a little more detail. Let’s start by examining the basic elements of the Finder…

You will discover as you use your Mac that each of the four elements described above has various elements to it. For example the Dock can hold application, document and folder icons. For the time being we won’t discuss those details just yet, we’ll take a look at each element in greater depth at a later time. For now let’s look at each item and briefly discuss what they do.

The Menu Bar - The menu bar is always present in every application, but will change depending on the application you are using. For instance, here in the Finder we see the basic menu bar items. Starting on the left with the Apple logo and over on the right with the spotlight icon and any other icons (usually date & time, volume control etc).

Also you will notice next to the Apple logo, the menu bar items : Finder, File, Edit, View, Go, Window and Help. Take a moment to click through these menu’s and explore them for yourself!

Spotlight - Spotlight is a great bonus for Mac user’s! It enables you to quickly access anything on your computer. Just click on the spotlight icon in the menu bar and start typing the name of the file you are looking for and watch the magic happen! Try it now.

A Finder Window - This is the traditional way to access your files. Open up a new finder window and you will notice sidebar on the left, this is like a place holder for common locations on your hard drive.

The Dock - The Dock can be a little confusing for new users but have no fear! All you need to know is that the dock is a placeholder. On the left hand side you can put links to your most used applications, on the right side you have the trash, folders and (new in OS X 10.5) your stacks. To add things to the dock just click and drag the thing you want to add and move in onto the dock. It can be a great way to have shortcuts to things you use often.

That’s all for this week, take a few minutes to have a look at the things mentioned above and please leave comments and suggestions for future articles here. don’t forget that you can subscribe to the RSS feed to make sure that you don’t miss the next (and last) article in this series which will be all about advanced features of the Finder.

The OS X Finder - A Beginners Guide

Sun, 30 Mar 2008 16:36:00 -0400

So you have made the big switch from a PC running Windows, to a Mac with the oh-so shiny and sleek OS X (pronounced Oh-s Ten). Congratulations I hope you’re enjoying it! If you are having a little trouble trying to figure out how it all works though then have no fear for this little guide is here to help you out.

We will start by taking a look at some common features you may be used to on Windows and their OS X counterparts…

Part 1 : Basics of The Finder

The Finder is nothing to fear, it is simply an application that allows you to access all of the stuff on your Mac and is comprised of the icons & windows that you see on your screen. When you switch your Mac on the Finder is automatically loaded. We will cover in more detail at a later date some of the various ways you can use the Finder to get to your files, but for now just think of it as the way to get to what’s on your computer.

Windows control panel is where you change the settings for your computer. Things like setting up printers, internet options and the like. Your Mac has something similar and it is referred to as the ‘System Preferences’. To access System Preferences, click the Apple logo at the top left of your screen and navigate down to System Preferences…

This will open up the main System Preferences pane. Take a few minutes to have a look around at each of the preference panes. We don’t have space here to go into each pane in detail but some of the more noteworthy ones for new users are :

‘Desktop & Screensaver’

‘CDs & DVDs’

’Network’

’Print & Fax’

Just remember that most of the time if you need to change the way something works on your Mac, or setup something that you have connected to your Mac (i.e. a printer) then System Preferences is where you want to look.

Check back in a few days for the next part of this discussion of the Finder. To make sure you don’t miss it, subscribe to the RSS feed. And don’t forget to email me any thoughts or questions.

Welcome to OS X Tutor!

Sun, 30 Mar 2008 14:55:00 -0400

I am setting this up to help people who are new to OS X & Macs in general. This blog is not intended for people who have used Macs for years and know every little keyboard shortcut and use Quicksilver and the like :p But if you have just bought your first Mac and want someone to guide you through the very basic first steps and would like help finding your feet, then hopefully this site can be your friend!

Be sure to check back regularly for new posts, or subscribe to the RSS feed to ensure you don’t miss anything! Remember you can always email me if you have queries or thoughts on anything you read here.