A few questions

Second day on the MAC. Mail finally working.

The first thing which strikes me is the screen covering only part of the full screen. I have pushed all the buttons but the Pages seems to want to end at the "desktop" and then go over to the right about 3/4. So how do we get full screens? /Then back?

On the address bar, is there no way to hit the down button and just click o where you were before?

Does mail not go automatically into the inbox on opening Mail?

Just a few things - most not critical - except screen size.

I'll probably find about the time this posts.

Forgot - What is Macintosh HD?

Full Screen - no such button on a Mac. The Green + sign opens up the relative screen so that it is just the right size to view everything. You will get use to how Mac's use your screen space more efficiently. If you want it full screen, then just drag from the bottom right hand corner out.

Address Bar - Not sure what you mean about this.

Mail - Mine opens up at start (right click the icon in the Dock and check 'Open an Login') and goes straight to whatever folder I was looking at last.

Macintosh HD - this is the shortcut to your Hard Drive (Kind of like the My Computer icon in Windows).

The screen thing bugged me at first. It just felt more "natural" or comfortable, I'm not sure, to have my window filling the entire screen, even if it didn't need to.

But I love it now. For example I have my Safari window, adium and its contact list all up at the same time with room for a finder window too. Maybe it looks a bit more untidy in a non-uniform sense, but it's a lot more useful!

With today's high resolution displays there is no reason to have an application window fill the whole screen. It just results in a lot of wasted blank space, and the desktop area behind it is not visible or useable when the application is covering everything.

The only exception to this I can think of is a photo editing application, where you might want to see the highest resolution of the image possible.

The first thing which strikes me is the screen covering only part of the full screen. I have pushed all the buttons but the Pages seems to want to end at the "desktop" and then go over to the right about 3/4. So how do we get full screens? /Then back?

The green button on the top left of the window only makes the window big enough to see its contents, but you can drag the corner to make it as big as you want. Then when you hit the green button, it will toggle back and forth between the default size and your custom size.

On the address bar, is there no way to hit the down button and just click o where you were before?

Do you mean that you want the address bar to show you sites you've already visited in a drop-down menu? This sounds like something you need to set up in Preferences under the Safari menu (if you're using Safari).

Does mail not go automatically into the inbox on opening Mail?

Like most Apple apps, it will open up to the exact state you left it in last time you used it. For instance, if you were looking at Sent mail then quit, it will open up to the Sent folder next time you launch it.

What is Macintosh HD?

This is your hard drive.

Macintosh HD - this is the shortcut to your Hard Drive (Kind of like the My Computer icon in Windows).

I would say that computer name in the Finder window is more like My Computer and Macintosh HD is more like the C drive in Windows.

Hey thanks to all for some very educational input. Well - now I have another issue. As any PC users knows, one fills up the screen with shortcuts to the .exe I downloaded Google Earth today - but where on "earth" is it?

By the way, I already like the cut down screens.

Another big difference - or else I am still in the dark - on my PC I has a ton of favorites organized into folders. Not sure I understand how to organized the bookmarks. I presume the history stays anyway I set it?

SOOOO where are my "shortcuts" or how do I find downloaded apps?

Thanks again.

rboseley said:

SOOOO where are my "shortcuts" or how do I find downloaded apps?

Click to expand...

I'm not exactly sure what shortcuts/bookmarks you're talking about. Are you talking about application shortcuts or web bookmarks?

As for the applications, they are stored wherever you put them or if there is an installer, check /Applications.

SOOOO where are my "shortcuts" or how do I find downloaded apps?

Click to expand...

Maybe your talking about the Dock? That woudl be similar to a desktop shortcut in Windows, but located on the bottom. If you have common applications that you open every day, drag them from the Applications folder into the Dock. Then you can configure the Dock however you want (big, small, auto-hide) in the System Preferences.

I think I have most of this figured out. The shortcuts (has it been that long since PC's? Those icons on the PC desktop with the white arrow. Simply opens program without going to a folder. So my "applications" are found by clicking MAX HD? When you say drag them to the dock - is the dock the entire length of the little table or one icon? I got no room for any more items on the table. Yet I see no icon called Dock. If I can get this, I should be pretty much home. Thanks

Open Finder (Square icon, two colors blue, face smiley) Then go to Applications and look for Google Earth icon. No icon for Dock. Dock is the area at the bottom of the screen with icons. To get Google Earth there, just click and drag the GE icon to the dock. To get rid of it from the Dock, click and drag the Dock icon for GE until a little cloud appears and drop it. Poof, it's gone. (The app is still in Applications)

rboseley said:

I think I have most of this figured out. The shortcuts (has it been that long since PC's? Those icons on the PC desktop with the white arrow. Simply opens program without going to a folder. So my "applications" are found by clicking MAX HD? When you say drag them to the dock - is the dock the entire length of the little table or one icon? I got no room for any more items on the table. Yet I see no icon called Dock. If I can get this, I should be pretty much home. Thanks

Click to expand...

The icons on the Dock will automatically scale to a slightly smaller size and move over as you drag the icon onto it.

Good Book Recommendation

To the original poster... you might really get a lot out of this book. I found it useful.

It is called "Switching To The Mac: The Missing Manual"

It will answer all of these types of questions and more...

Amazon.com: Switching to the Mac: The Missing Manual, Leopard Edition: David Pogue: Books

Terri

Rbosely, the Dock isn't an icon, it's the entire row of icons at the bottom of the screen. These are all your "shortcuts" to your most-used apps; they are NOT the apps themselves, so you can add or remove app icons to your liking.

Macintosh HD is like your PC's C drive. You can double click the icon on the desktop or you can open up the Finder (which is like Windows Explorer, allowing you access to the files and folders on your hard drive). It's the blue smiley face on the far left of the Dock.

In the folder called Applications, find the apps you want and just drag it into the Dock. Put it anywhere you like, the other app icons will make room for it. To remove an app icon from the Dock, just drag it up off the Dock and it will disappear. Or right-click on the icon and choose "Remove from Dock".

You should look at these video tutorials:

Apple - Find Out How - Mac Basics

Oh, and keep in mind that you don't have to keep your Dock at the bottom. You can have it on the left or right as well. You can also hide the Dock and have it appear only when your mouse pointer gets near the edge of the screen. To do this, go to the Apple menu on the top left of the screen and choose "Dock".

sprite said:

The screen thing bugged me at first. It just felt more "natural" or comfortable, I'm not sure, to have my window filling the entire screen, even if it didn't need to.

But I love it now. For example I have my Safari window, adium and its contact list all up at the same time with room for a finder window too. Maybe it looks a bit more untidy in a non-uniform sense, but it's a lot more useful!

Click to expand...

Well I do believe that defeats the purpose of Spaces.

Personally, I like to have all of my windows take up the entire size of the screen. It's distracting to see Finder in the background when I'm viewing a webpage. However, many do disagree, that's your choice, sprite!

KeithTeeple said:

Well I do believe that defeats the purpose of Spaces.

Click to expand...

Some people, such as myself, don't like and/or have no use for Spaces. I do have two monitors though .