Chapter 8. Tools

Abraham Maslow said that when the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail. Even without the Adobe Creative Suite, Macromedia Dreamweaver, or QuarkXPress, Tiger includes a diverse toolbox ready to use, preventing us from pounding on every project as if it were a nail. A well-stocked toolbox, however, isn't worth much if all you can find is the hammer.

Just as Adobe Photoshop is the right tool for image editing, and Adobe In Design or QuarkXPress is the right page-layout tool, Tiger includes several applications designed to properly deal with many of the routine tasks you perform. But until you know where to look for those tools, they might as well not be there.

Let's go over the applications and utilities Apple bundled with your Mac, as well as a few that you have to track down on your own, so that you always have exactly what you need to get your job done. After all, there's no need to keep using the hammer unless it really is the right tool for the job.