How to use my new mac?

My wife just recieved our new macs (ibook/powerbook) and wouldn't you know I'm out of town. Her and I have zero experience in using Mac other than at the Mac store. I noticed that when I would be in safari and click on the "X" which I believe is red, to close the window. Well it wouldn't close it, it would just minimize it. So I learned that you have to hit the apple key and the Q key to quit it. So my question is, is there a good book out that will tell you evey command possible or is the manual that comes with the laptops a good guide to go by? Thanks for the help.
Jared

PS. let me know if I need to make myself clearer because after reading that I'm confused!

Most Mac applications need to be explicitly quit.

Under Windows, when you close the last open window of an application; that almost certainly quits the program too.

On the Mac, it just closes the window but does not quit the application. To quit, you need to use command + q or use the application's Application menu (the menu item that has the title of the current application e.g.: Finder, Safari etc. in the menu bar) and go down and click Quit Safari etc.

I am writing a book--Macs for Switchers, it is coming along well but not sure it will be ready in time as it needs a lot more work yet!!

Vicky

Thanks for the help. That book would be great to have and I think will be a great help for people like me who have grown up on windows. What do you mean by explicitly quit? Is command Q the same as apple Q? Basically is command the apple key? Also do you know how to make the font size larger on the 12" ibook? Thanks Vicky or anyone else that can help.
Jared

Command is the same as the apple cauliflower key.

First off, you'll need to change the way you think of apps, because in a mac, the app runs but you need to spawn windows to interface with it. Windows lets you believe that the window IS the app, and what's good about the mac way is that you can close all windows of a program like itunes but the music will still be running.

Minimizing a window on a mac is done by clicking the yellow button, the window is then tuhmbsized and sucked into the dock.

Font size in Safari can be in-/decreased by typing Command and + or - respectively., or just see the view menu for the right option. For the finder, you can hit Command-J or see View>Show View Options and then increse the text size there.

ok basically prssing the red X closes the window no the application. to close the application you press command (apple) -Q. or you can go up to the menu bar at the top...click the app name and go down and select quit. its really nice to have an app running but not have it taking up space. nice to have itunes playing with window closed and mail notifying me of new messages without the winodw in the way. feel free to ask any questions you may have. people here answer suprisingly fast and are suprisngly helpful.

Also of note is command+h which 'hides' an application. For instance, if I am using iChat to talk to people, I can hit command+h and all of the windows will disappear, as if I closed them, but if I click on the app icon in the dock, all my windows are back.

Command is indeed the 'Apple' key -- though in all documentation I have seen it referred to as the command key and was brought up on it being the command key.

Command + H does hide the foremost application, in most cases. You will need to check the application's application menu to check -- for example InDesign's hide shortcut it Ctrl + Command + H.

I think the Mac Help from the Help menu has a nice summary of shortcuts and the various symbols.

I plan to post an excerpt of my book in the near future.

Vicky

Another option, the one I use most frequently, for quitting applications is right-click their icon in the Dock, then clicking quit. Also, a lot of people find the OS X book in the Missing Manual series helpful, though personally I actually learned the Mac OS much, much better (and cheaper) by experience, and by way of asking questions at these forums. I was a lifetime (since age 8 or so) Windows user until December 2004, booted up, came here, and now I'm applying for a job as a Mac Specialist, and beginning to work with XCode (Apple's programmer developing environment/IDE).

Apple has an nice, free tutorial on the basics of operating a Mac at

http://www.apple.com/support/mac101/

When you open an application, closing the window doesn't necessarily quit the application (if you see a triangle below the application icon in the Dock, the application is still running). To quit an application, either choose Quit Application Name from the application menu, or press Command-Q.

Click to expand...

Somebody needs to put that link in a sticky somewhere, I think. :mac:

Thanks for all of your help. You've all been very helpful. After reading all of your replys I agree with Yogi and I need to change the way I think about apps because I'm still confused. (I'm a simple mind)! Take care.
Jared