Introduction

Most people don’t care how their computer works; they just want to use it. Tell the average person how to give commands to his computer’s “operating system” and his eyes will glaze over with boredom. But tell that same person how to have fun and do something useful with his computer and his eyes will light up immediately.

That’s why this is a different kind of computer book. Instead of babbling about every possible feature and command and then hoping that you’ll find an actual use for that information, this book teaches you how to do something fun and useful with your Macintosh right away.

With most computers, the biggest problem is just getting them to work. With a Macintosh, the biggest problem is figuring out all the different ways you can put your computer to work for you and have fun while doing it. People often use a Macintosh for years just to write letters or send email and then suddenly discover that they could have also been using that Macintosh to organize and edit photos and home videos, watch DVDs, or make their own audio CDs containing their favorite songs.

The whole purpose of this book is to teach you how to get the most out of your Macintosh without having to buy or download anything extra. If you already know how to use a different type of computer, you’ll find that the Macintosh works in similar ways. If you’re new to computers altogether, you’ll find that the Macintosh can be a friendly, forgiving, and fun tool that will make you wonder why anybody in their right mind would ever want to use a different type of computer. No matter what your experience with computers may be, you’ll soon learn that the Macintosh comes loaded with dozens of neat programs and tools for making your life easier.

This book won’t just teach you how to use your Macintosh; it will teach you how to use your Macintosh to make your life easier without having to become a computer expert. After all, you probably bought a Macintosh because you wanted a computer that works for you, not the other way around.

P3.1. Understanding Computer Terms

If you’re already familiar with computers, you can skip this section. If you aren’t comfortable using a computer, take the time to learn some common terms that you’ll see in this book. Basically, using a computer involves the computer displaying information on the screen and waiting for you to select from a limited number of choices. Depending on your selection, the computer then displays new information and waits for you to choose another option.

To use a computer, you need to know how to decipher the options the computer displays and how to tell the computer what your selection is.

P3.1.1. Telling the Computer What to Do

The two most common ways to give a command to a Macintosh are:

• Pointing

• Clicking

Pointing simply means moving the pointer on the screen. If you’re using a mouse, you can move the pointer by sliding the mouse on a flat surface. If you’re using a trackpad, you can move the pointer by sliding one finger on the trackpad surface.

The two main purposes for pointing include:

• Choosing a command

• Selecting something, such as text or a picture that you want to modify

Once you point to something on the screen, the computer won’t do anything until you click the mouse or trackpad.

Pointing and clicking are the main ways to tell the computer what to do. However, there are five ways you can click the mouse or trackpad:

• Clicking This means pressing the mouse button once and releasing it, or pressing the trackpad with one finger. Clicking often selects a command or moves the cursor to a new location.

• Double-clicking This means pressing the mouse button or trackpad twice in rapid succession. Double-clicking is most often used to select a file and open it.

• Dragging This means holding down the mouse button and moving the mouse, or pressing the trackpad down and sliding one finger across it. Dragging is often used to move items from one location to another or to select two or more items, such as several words in a paragraph.

• Clicking and holding This means holding down the mouse button or pressing down on the trackpad with one finger without moving it. Clicking and holding on an icon on the Dock displays a menu.

• Right-clicking This means either holding down the control key and clicking the left mouse button, clicking the right mouse button (on a mouse that has two buttons), or pressing on the trackpad with two fingers at the same time. Right-clicking typically displays a menu of additional commands from which you can choose.

Table P3-1 lists ways of clicking, double-clicking, dragging, clicking and holding, and right-clicking with a mouse or a trackpad.

Table P3-1. Using a Mouse or Trackpad

Device	Click	Double-Click	Drag	Click and Hold	Right-Click
Standard two-button mouse	Press and release the left mouse button	Press and release the left mouse button twice in rapid succession	Hold down the left mouse button while moving the mouse	Hold down the left mouse button	Press and release the right mouse button
Trackpad with a button	Press and release the trackpad button	Press and release the trackpad button twice in rapid succession	Hold down the trackpad button while sliding your finger across the trackpad	Hold down the trackpad button	Hold down the key then press and release the trackpad button
Trackpad without a button	Press and release anywhere on the trackpad with one finger	Press and release anywhere on the trackpad with one finger twice in rapid succession	Press and hold down the trackpad with one finger while sliding that finger across the trackpad	Press and hold down the trackpad with one finger	Press and release anywhere on the trackpad with two fingers

P3.1.2. Finding a Command

Your Macintosh displays lists of available commands in menus. The top of every Macintosh screen contains a menu bar, which organizes related commands into categories with names such as File, Edit, or View, as shown in Figure P3-1.

Figure P3-1. The menu bar at the top of the screen lists related commands in pull-down menus.

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Note:

The menu bar always displays the name of the currently active program, which is the program that will accept input from the keyboard. The menu bar changes every time you switch to a different program, such as from iPhoto to the Safari web browser.

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Before you use some pull-down menu commands, you may need to tell your Macintosh what you want to modify by pointing to and selecting an item (such as dragging the mouse to select several words). After you’ve selected what to modify, you can choose a menu command.

As an alternative to pull-down menus, you can also use pop-up menus, which appear when you point at an item and right-click the mouse. Pop-up menus simply display the most common commands you might use on the selected item, as shown in Figure P3-2.

When you choose some menu commands, such as Cut, your Macintosh immediately obeys. However, some menu commands may require more information. For example, if you choose the Print command, your Macintosh has no idea which printer you want to use or how many pages you want to print. When the Macintosh needs more information after you choose a command, it displays a list of additional options in a small window called a dialog, as shown in Figure P3-3.

Figure P3-2. Pop-up menus display a short list of commands to modify the item to which the mouse currently points.

Figure P3-3. A dialog provides additional options to define how your Macintosh should follow a menu command.

Dialogs often display one or more of the following options:

• Radio button Lets you choose one out of many available options

• Checkbox Lets you turn on (or off) certain options

• Text box Lets you type information, such as a number

• Pop-up menu Displays a list of valid options you can choose

• Button Displays a command you can choose by clicking it

Most dialogs also display at least two buttons. One button is labeled Cancel and appears white. The second is highlighted in blue and is the default button. It has a label specific to the dialog, such as Print, OK, or Save.

Clicking the Cancel button (or pressing the esc key) makes the dialog go away and tells your Macintosh, “Oops, I changed my mind and I don’t want you to do anything right now.”

Clicking the blue default button (or pressing the return key) tells your Macintosh, “See all the options I picked in the dialog? Use those options and obey my command.”

P3.1.3. Dragging and Dropping

One of the faster ways to perform different actions on your Macintosh is to use something called dragging and dropping. The idea is that you drag something on the screen and drop it somewhere else to perform some action. For example, you can drag a file and drop it over the Trash icon to delete it, drag a file over a program icon on the Dock to open that file using that program, or select and drag text and drop it in a new location within a word processor document.

Dragging and dropping won’t always work, but experiment with it in different programs because it can save you time. The basic steps to dragging and dropping are as follows:

P3.2. How This Book Is Organized

To help you get started doing something useful right away with your Macintosh, this book is divided into short projects that act like recipes in a cookbook. Each project states a common problem you may face when using a computer, explains how your Macintosh can help you solve that problem, and then lists all the steps you need to follow to solve that particular problem in a way that only a Macintosh can.

By teaching you how to do something fun and useful right away, using hands-on instructions, you’ll learn how to achieve concrete results with your Macintosh. Think of this book as a combination tutorial and reference guide. As a tutorial, this book can teach you how to use your Macintosh. As a reference guide, it can provide step-by-step instructions for helping you solve different problems using your Macintosh.

You don’t have to follow this book in any specific order, just as you don’t have to follow a cookbook in any specific order. Feel free to jump around—follow along with the projects that show you how to do something you find useful, and skip the projects that you don’t care about. Nobody really needs to know everything about their computer to use it; you only need to know enough to be productive. By following the projects in this book, you just may surprise yourself with how you can have fun while learning to use a computer all at the same time.