Chapter 2: Customizing Mac OS X

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Mac OS X has many features that can be customized. You can keep the default Mac OS X setup; or you can change the display, Dock, and sounds, rearrange the desktop, and enable accessibility options.

Change the Look of Mac OS X

A flexible and important area is how Mac OS X looks. Here you’ll see how to change the screen’s look, including the desktop background and the Dock.

Open System Preferences

Much of what you see on the Mac OS X screen is controlled by the settings in System Preferences. You’ll need to open System Preferences to make many of the changes in this chapter.

1. With Mac OS X running and displayed on your computer, click at the left end of the menu bar. Mac OS X will display the menu.

2. Click System Preferences. The System Preferences window will open, as shown in Figure 2-1.

   
   Figure 2-1: The System Preferences window contains most of the graphical configuration tools for Mac OS X, including those for configuring the display and appearance.

Note

The selection of icons available in the System Preferences window depends on the configuration of your Mac. The items shown in the Other category in Figure 2-1, M-Audio MobilePre USB and TinkerTool, are third-party software unlikely to be installed on your Mac.

Quicksteps: Using System Preferences

You’ll probably need to open System Preferences frequently to configure Mac OS X as you find out which settings work best for you. Mac OS X provides several ways to open System Preferences.

Use the Dock Icon

If you have a System Preferences icon on the Dock, you can open System Preferences by clicking it.

Use the Menu

Open and click System Preferences.

Use the Applications Folder

1. Open Go and click Applications to display the Applications folder.

2. Double-click the System Preferences icon.

Customize System Preferences

Regardless of which sheet of System Preferences you display, the toolbar remains available, giving you instant access to key preference sheets. You can customize the toolbar so that it shows the icons you need most.

1. Open and click System Preferences. The System Preferences window will be displayed. (If System Preferences is already open to a preference sheet, click Show All on the left of the toolbar to display all categories.)

2. To add an icon, drag it to the toolbar.

   

3. To move an icon, drag it along the toolbar to where you want it.

4. To remove an icon, drag it off the toolbar to the detail area. (You can’t move or remove the Show All button.)

Change the Desktop Background

Because the desktop background covers almost the entire desktop (until you cover it with windows), it contributes greatly to the look of your Mac. By changing the desktop background, you can make your Mac look substantially different from its default settings. Mac OS X lets you put either a single picture or a changing sequence of pictures on your desktop.

Change the Desktop from System Preferences

1. control+click (hold down control and click) or right-click the desktop. The context menu appears.

2. Choose Change Desktop Background. The Desktop & Screen Saver sheet of System Preferences is displayed.

3. If the Screen Saver tab is displayed, click the Desktop tab button (see Figure 2-2). The preview at the top displays your current background and its name.

   
   Figure 2-2: The Desktop tab of the Desktop & Screen Saver sheet in System Preferences lets you change your desktop background.

   Note

   When you open the Desktop & Screen Saver sheet of System Preferences, Mac OS X displays the tab you used last—the Desktop tab or the Screen Saver tab.

4. In the list box, select the category or folder. Its contents are displayed in the box on the right.

   • Mac OS X includes several folders of backgrounds, including Apple Backgrounds, Nature, Abstract, and Solid Colors.

   • You can access pictures stored in your Pictures folder by clicking Pictures Folder.

   • To access any folder, click Choose Folder and use the resulting sheet to specify the folder.

   • To use a picture from your iPhoto Photo Library, select Photo Library.

   • To use a photo album from iPhoto, select it from the list under the Photo Library item.

5. To use a single picture, select it in the box on the right. To use all the pictures in the folder or category, don’t make a selection in the box on the right.

6. If you’re using multiple pictures:

   • Select the Change Picture check box.

   • Specify the frequency in the drop-down list box: When Logging In, When Waking From Sleep, Every 5 Seconds, Every Minute, Every 5 Minutes, Every 15 Minutes, Every 30 Minutes, Every Hour, or Every Day.

   • You can also select the Random Order check box to display the pictures in random order.

7. If a picture doesn’t fit the screen, use the drop-down list box in the preview area to specify how to treat it: Fill Screen, Stretch To Fill Screen, Center, or Tile.

   

8. Click System Preferences | Quit System Preferences to close System Preferences.

Change the Desktop from iPhoto

You can also change the desktop background quickly from iPhoto, the photographic application that Apple includes with Mac OS X. (See “View Pictures with iPhoto” in Chapter 6 for more information on iPhoto.)

Note

These instructions are for iPhoto 4. iPhoto 2 and iPhoto 3 work a little differently. When you click Desktop with multiple pictures selected, iPhoto displays the Screen Effects dialog box. Make sure Current Selection is selected in the drop-down list box, and then click Screen Effects Preferences to display the Screen Effects sheet of System Preferences. System Preferences lists the pictures as “Screen Effects” rather as “iPhoto Selection.” Follow steps 4 and 5 in the list to complete the procedure, close System Preferences, and then click OK in the Screen Effects dialog box to close it.

To use a single picture as a desktop background:

1. Click the iPhoto icon in the Dock.

   

2. In iPhoto, crop the picture to the aspect ratio of the screen if necessary. (See the QuickSteps “Cropping Pictures to Fit Your Desktop” in Chapter 6.)

3. Select the picture.

4. Click Desktop in the toolbar at the bottom of the window to put the picture on the desktop immediately.

To put an album or a group of pictures on your desktop:

1. In iPhoto, crop the pictures to the aspect ratio of your screen if necessary. (See the QuickSteps “Cropping Pictures to Fit Your Desktop” in Chapter 6.)

2. Select the album or the pictures:

   • To use an entire album, select it in the Source list and make sure no pictures are selected in the viewing area.

   • To use just some pictures from an album, select the album in the Source list, then select the pictures in the viewing area. To select multiple contiguous pictures, click the first, and then shift+click the last. To select noncontiguous pictures, select the first, and then z+click the other pictures.

3. Click Desktop. iPhoto applies the first picture to your desktop. iPhoto then displays the Desktop tab of the Desktop & Screen Saver sheet in System Preferences, selecting iPhoto Selection in the left list box and selecting the Change Picture check box.

4. Choose the frequency in the Change Picture drop-down list box, and select or clear the Random Order check box as appropriate.

5. Click System Preferences | Quit System Preferences to close System Preferences. Mac OS X returns the focus to iPhoto.

Pick a New Screen Saver

Until a few years ago, if you left your computer on but didn’t use it, the unchanging image on the screen could become burned into the face of the cathode-ray tube (CRT) monitor, where it would remain displayed as a ghostly image superimposed on what the screen was supposed to be displaying. To avoid burn-in occurring, software engineers developed screen savers, applications that constantly change the image on screen when the computer is left unused.

Burn-in seldom occurs on graphical operating systems (such as Mac OS X) and modern CRT monitors, and liquid crystal display (LCD) monitors are largely immune to burn-in. Nevertheless, screen savers have become popular for both entertainment and security (hiding your work while you’re away from your computer). Mac OS X provides several alternative screen savers you can use.

1. control+click or right-click the desktop to display the context menu.

2. Click Change Desktop Background. The Desktop & Screen Saver sheet of System Preferences will appear.

   

3. If the Desktop tab button is selected, click the Screen Saver tab button to display the Screen Saver tab (see Figure 2-3).

   
   Figure 2-3: You can use your own pictures as a screen saver.

4. Select a screen saver in the Screen Savers list to see it previewed in the Preview box. Click Test to see it previewed full screen. Move the mouse to cancel the test.

5. Click Options to display the Display Options sheet, on which you can choose options for the screen saver. (Which options are available depends on the type of screen saver you chose. See the two examples here.) When you’ve made your choices, click OK to close the Display Options sheet.

   

   

6. Drag the Start Screen Saver slider to specify how long your Mac remains inactive before the screen saver starts.

   Tip

   You can also set another hot corner to prevent the screen saver from activating by selecting Disable Screen Saver in that corner’s drop-down list box. Being able to disable the screen saver is useful when you leave your Mac while performing a demanding operation, such as burning a DVD, that you don’t want the screen saver to interrupt.

7. Select the Random Screen Saver check box if you want Mac OS X to pick a screen saver for you at random.

   Caution

   You can find many screen savers on the Internet, some free and others for sale. While many free screen savers are fully functional and entertaining (or educational), others have been created or adapted deliberately to spread malicious code. Others yet are so poorly programmed as to cause Mac OS X problems. So, before installing a free screen saver on your Mac, it’s a good idea to check for feedback from other users.

8. If you want to be able to start your screen saver by moving your mouse to a particular corner of the screen, click Hot Corners. The Hot Corners sheet will appear. Select Start Screen Saver in the drop-down list box that corresponds to the corner you want to use, and then click OK to close the sheet.

   

9. Click System Preferences | Quit System Preferences to close System Preferences.

Alter the Appearance of Objects

You can alter some aspects of the appearance of windows and text by working on the Appearance sheet in System Preferences.

1. Open and click System Preferences. The System Preferences window will be displayed.

2. Click Appearance. The Appearance sheet will be displayed (see Figure 2-4).

   
   Figure 2-4: Use the controls on the Appearance sheet in System Preferences to subtly change the appearance of text and windows.

3. In the Appearance drop-down list box, select Blue (the default) or Graphite to change the overall look of windows, menus, and buttons. This change has a surprisingly large effect: applying Graphite makes your Mac look subdued and sober.

4. In the Highlight Color drop-down list box, select the color you want to use for selected text and lists. Again, the default is Blue.

5. In the Place Scroll Arrows area, specify how to place the scroll arrows on the scroll bars by selecting the At Top And Bottom option button or the Together option button. Together places the scroll arrows together at the bottom of a vertical scroll bar and the right end of a horizontal scroll bar.

6. In the Click In The Scroll Bar To area, select the Jump To The Next Page option button or the Scroll To Here option button to specify what you want to happen when you click in an empty space in the scroll bar: move to the previous or next page of information, or move to the location in the document that corresponds to the place you click in the scroll bar.

7. Select the Use Smooth Scrolling check box if you want Mac OS X to make scrolling as smooth as possible. This may slow down scrolling.

8. Clear the Minimize When Double Clicking A Window Title Bar check box if you don’t want to be able to minimize a window by double-clicking its title bar.

9. In the Number of Recent Items area, use the Applications drop-down list box and the Documents drop-down list box to specify how many applications Mac OS X displays on the | Recent Items submenu.

10. Check that the setting in the Font Smoothing Style drop-down list box is suitable for your monitor. Apple recommends the Medium setting for LCD monitors and the Standard setting for CRT monitors. If you don’t like the effect on your monitor, experiment with the other settings.

11. Use the Turn Off Text Smoothing For Font Sizes drop-down list box to specify the largest type size for which Mac OS X shouldn’t use smoothing. (Smoothing on minuscule type tends to make it look smeary.)

12. Click System Preferences | Quit System Preferences to close System Preferences.

Change the Resolution and Color Depth

Depending on your Mac and monitor, you can display Mac OS X with varying resolutions and color quality. You can select the resolution and color depth on the Display tab of the Displays sheet in System Preferences.

1. Openand click System Preferences. The System Preferences window will be displayed.

2. Click Displays. The Displays sheet will appear. Its title bar shows the type of display—for example, Color LCD.

3. If the Color tab is displayed, click the Display tab button (see Figure 2-5).

   
   Figure 2-5: Increasing the resolution lets you see more on the screen, but what you see is smaller.

4. Select the resolution in the Resolutions drop-down list box.

5. Select the number of colors—256 Colors, Thousands, or Millions—in the Colors drop-down list box.

6. For a CRT, choose a refresh rate in the Refresh Rate drop-down list box. Refresh rates of 75 hertz (Hz) or higher reduce visible flicker on CRTs. The Refresh Rate drop-down list box is not available for LCDs, which don’t suffer from flicker.

7. If you need to switch display resolution or color depth frequently, select the Show Displays In Menu Bar check box to add the displays menu to the menu bar. In the Number Of Recent Modes drop-down list box, specify how many modes (resolutions and color depths) the menu should include.

8. Drag the Brightness slider to change the brightness of the screen.

9. Click System Preferences | Quit System Preferences to close System Preferences.

Note

After changing your display, adding a display, or removing a display, you may need to click the Detect Displays button on the Display tab of the Displays sheet.

Add Icons to Your Desktop

Because your desktop is always displayed, it can be a convenient place to keep icons for applications, folders, and documents you use frequently. You can customize the icons on your desktop to suit your needs.

Note

Before performing an action with the Finder, you must activate the Finder so that its menus are displayed in the menu bar. If no other application is active, the Finder will already be active, and you won’t need to activate it. If another application is active (either with one or more windows displayed or all its windows minimized), that application’s menus will be displayed in the menu bar. When another application is active, you can activate the Finder by clicking open space or any object on the desktop. (This is because the desktop is technically part of the Finder.) You can also activate the Finder by clicking the Finder icon on the Dock. If no Finder window is open, Mac OS X will open a Finder window showing your default folder (typically, your Home folder) when you click the Finder icon on the Dock.

Control Icons for Disks and Drives

By default, Mac OS X displays an icon on the desktop for:

• Your Mac’s hard disk (which is always present)

• Any CD or DVD drive in which you have inserted a disc

• Any servers or network drives to which your Mac has established a connection

You can change these default settings:

1. Activate the Finder.

2. Open Finder and choose Preferences. The Preferences window for the Finder will be displayed.

3. If the General tab (see Figure 2-6) isn’t displayed, click the General tab button.

   
   Figure 2-6: On the General tab of the Finder Preferences window, choose which categories of items appear on the desktop.

4. Select or clear the Hard Disks check box, the CDs, DVDs and iPods check box, and the Connected Servers check box, as appropriate.

5. Click the Close button (the red button) to close the Preferences window.

Add or Remove Other Icons

As you’ll see in Chapter 3, you can store folders and files directly on the desktop if you choose. You can also place on the desktop aliases (shortcuts) to applications, documents, and folders:

1. Activate the Finder and click a file or folder that you want on the desktop.

2. Open File and click Make Alias. Mac OS X creates an alias and assigns it the name of the file or folder and the word “alias.” For example, an alias to the folder named My Songs receives the name “My Songs alias.”

3. Mac OS X places an edit box around the default name. If you want, type a new name and press return.

4. Drag the alias to your desktop.

Rearrange Desktop Icons

When you have the icons you want on the desktop, they may be a mess. You can drag the icons to where you want them or let Mac OS X arrange them for you.

Let Mac OS X Align or Arrange Icons

When you drag the icons where you want them, it may be hard to align them, so let Mac OS X do that:

1. Activate the Finder.

2. Open View and click Show View Options. The Desktop window will be displayed (see Figure 2-7).

   
   Figure 2-7: Use the options in the Desktop window to arrange and align icons on the desktop.

3. Select the Snap To Grid check box to make Mac OS X align the icons according to an underlying, invisible grid.

4. Select the Keep Arranged By check box to make Mac OS X arrange the icons automatically. In the drop-down list box, choose how to arrange them: Name, Date Modified, Date Created, Size, Kind, or Label.

Leave the Desktop window open for the moment in case you want to change the icon size, spacing, or labels.

Note

The Show Icon Preview check box controls whether the Finder displays previews for graphics files or just generic icons when in column view. Previews help you identify files but may make Finder windows display more slowly.

Choose Icon Size, Text Size, and Labels

1. Drag the Icon Size slider in the Desktop window to change icon size.

2. Select the text size (in points) in the Text Size drop-down list box.

3. To change the label position, select the Bottom option button or the Right option button.

4. Click the Close button (the red button) to close the Desktop window.

Change Label Color

To make your icons easier to sort, you can assign them different label colors. You can then sort the icons by label (as described a moment ago) to put icons with the same color next to each other.

To change label color:

1. control+click or right-click the icon. The context menu appears.

2. Select the color in the Color Label area. (To remove the color, click the X button.)

   

Rename Desktop Icons

To rename a desktop icon:

1. Click the label. Mac OS X displays an edit box around it.

   

2. Type the new name and press return.

Change the Dock

The Dock has several aspects you can customize, including its size, the number and selection of icons it contains, and its behavior.

You can perform major customization either from the Dock sheet of System Preferences (see Figure 2-8) or by using shortcuts. To display the Dock sheet, open , highlight Dock, and click Dock Preferences, or open System Preferences and click Dock.

Figure 2-8: The Dock sheet of System Preferences is the central location for configuring the Dock, but you can also use shortcuts.

Quicksteps: Positioning and Hiding the Dock

Change the Position of the Dock

You can change where the Dock is positioned, or hide the Dock when you don't need to see it.

• Press and hold shift while dragging (shift+drag) the Dock divider line to the desired side.

  –Or–

• Select the Left option button, the Bottom option button, or the Right option button opposite Position On Screen on the sheet.

  –Or–

• control+click or right-click the Dock divider line, highlight Position On Screen, and select the Left option button, the Bottom option button, or the Right option button on the Dock context menu.

  –Or–

• Open , highlight Dock, and click Position On Left, Position On Bottom, or Position On Right.

  Hide and Display the Dock

  By default, Mac OS X keeps the Dock displayed so that you can access it at any time. But you can configure the Dock to hide automatically so you have more space on screen.

• Select the Automatically Hide And Show The Dock check box on the Dock Preferences sheet.

  –Or–

• Open , highlight Dock, and choose Turn Hiding On.

  –Or–

• Press z+option+d.

  The Dock then hides itself automatically. To display the Dock, move the mouse pointer to the side of the screen on which you’ve positioned the Dock.

  To turn hiding off, clear the Automatically Hide And Show The Dock check box, choose Turn Hiding Off, or press z+option+d again.

Change the Size of the Dock and Its Icons

To change the size of the Dock:

• Drag the Dock divider line upward (to enlarge the Dock) or downward (to reduce it).

  

  –Or–

• Drag the Dock Size slider on the Dock sheet.

The Dock resizes proportionally. Its maximum length is controlled by the length of the side of the screen on which it’s positioned. As you add more icons to the Dock, Mac OS X automatically shrinks the Dock as necessary to fit it on the screen with all its icons displayed.

Turn Magnification On or Off

The Dock’s magnification feature lets you see the Dock icons easily even if you’ve reduced the Dock to a tiny size to accommodate many icons. When you pass the mouse pointer over a Dock icon, Mac OS X magnifies it, shown here:

To apply magnification, select the Magnification check box in the Dock Preferences dialog box, and drag the slider to specify the degree of magnification.

Choose an Effect for Minimizing and Restoring Windows

Mac OS X offers a choice of two animations for minimizing and restoring windows. Choose Genie Effect (the default) or Scale Effect in the Minimize Using drop-down list box on the Dock sheet in System Preferences. The effects are hard to describe, but you’ll see the difference easily when you try them.

Add an Application to the Dock

To add an application to the dock, drag its icon to the left portion of the Dock. For example:

1. Activate the Finder.

2. Open Go and click Applications. A Finder window opens showing your Applications folder.

3. Drag an icon from the Applications folder to the left portion of the Dock.

   Tip

   You can toggle magnification on and off by opening , highlighting Dock, and clicking Turn Magnification On or Turn Magnification Off.

Add a Document or Folder to the Dock

To add a document or folder to the Dock, drag its icon to the right portion of the Dock.

Tip

Press shift as you minimize or restore a window to slow down the animation. For example, shift+double-click the title bar to minimize a window, or shift+click the icon for a minimized window to restore it.

Rearrange the Icons on the Dock

To rearrange the icons on the Dock into your preferred order, drag an icon to its new position. Mac OS X makes space for the icon.

Remove an Icon from the Dock

To remove an icon from the Dock, quit the application if it’s running, and then drag the icon off the Dock. When you release the mouse button, the icon vanishes in a puff of logic.

Note

As explained in Chapter 1, the portion of the Dock to the left of the divider line is for applications, and the portion to the right is for folders, documents, and minimized windows. When adding an icon to the Dock, you must drag it to the appropriate portion of the Dock.

Quicksteps: Adding Items to the Menu Bar

The right end of the menu bar can display various icons for widely used features, such as the clock, modem status, or AirPort (wireless network) status. You can control the display of many of these icons from different System Preferences sheets.

Volume Icon

Select or clear the Show Volume In Menu Bar check box on any tab of the Sound sheet.

Bluetooth Icon

Select or clear the Show Bluetooth Status In The Menu Bar check box on the Settings tab of the Bluetooth sheet. Alternatively, select or clear the Show Bluetooth Status In Menu Bar check box on the Bluetooth tab of the Keyboard & Mouse sheet. (The Bluetooth sheet and the Bluetooth tab are available only if your Mac has Bluetooth, a wireless networking technology, installed.)

Displays Icon

Select or clear the Show Displays In Menu Bar check box on the Display tab of the Displays sheet.

Battery Status Icon

Select or clear the Show Battery Status In The Menu Bar check box on any tab in the Energy Saver sheet. This check box is available only for PowerBooks and iBooks.

Input Menu Icon

Select or clear the Show Input Menu In Menu Bar check box on the Input Menu tab of the International sheet.

AirPort Icon

Select or clear the Show AirPort Status In Menu Bar check box on the AirPort tab of the Network sheet, with AirPort selected in the Show drop-down list. (The AirPort tab is available only if your Mac has an AirPort card.)

Time Display

Select or clear the Show The Date And Time check box on the Clock tab of the Date & Time sheet. Select the Menu Bar option button.

PPPoE Icon

Select or clear the Show PPPoE Status In Menu Bar check box on the PPPoE tab of the Network sheet, with the appropriate network interface (for example, Built-in Ethernet) selected in the Show drop-down list box. (PPPoE stands for Point-to-Point Protocol Over Ethernet, a networking standard for fast Internet connections.)

Modem Icon

Select or clear the Show Modem Status In Menu Bar check box on the Modem tab of the Network sheet, with the appropriate modem entry selected in the Show drop-down list box.

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