Section 13.9. Date Time

13.9. Date & Time

Your Mac's conception of what time it is can be very important. Every file you create or save is stamped with this time, and every email you send or receive is marked with this time. As you might expect, setting your Mac's clock is what the Date & Time panel is all about.

13.9.1. Date & Time tab

Click the Date & Time tab. If your Mac is online, turn on "Set Date & Time automatically," and be done with it. Your Mac sets its own clock by consulting a highly accurate scientific clock on the Internet. (No need to worry about Daylight Saving Time, either, as your Mac takes that into account.)

You can also set the date and time manually. To change the month, day, or year, you can click the digit that needs changing and then either (a) type a new number or (b) click the little arrow buttons . Press the Tab key to highlight the next number. (You can also specify the day of the month by clicking a date on the minicalendar.)

To set the time of day, use the same techniqueor, for more geeky fun, try dragging the hour , minute, or second hands on the analog clock. Finally, click Save. (Click the Revert button to restore the panel settings.)


Tip: If you're frustrated that the Mac is showing you the 24-hour "military time" on your menu bar (that is, 17:30 instead of 5:30 p.m .)or it isn't showing military time when you'd like it toclick the Clock tab button and turn "Use a 24-hour clock" on or off.

13.9.2. Time Zone tab

If you don't set up this tab, the email and documents you send outand the Mac's conception of what documents are older and newercould be hopelessly skewed. Teach your Mac where it lives using the Time Zone map, as shown in Figure 13-6.

Figure 13-6. Setting the Time Zone is a two-step process. In the Time Zone pane, click on a section of the map to select where you live, and then use the pop-up menu to specify your country within that region. (Or, instead of using the pop-up menu with the mouse, highlight the text in the Closest City box. Then start typing your city name until the Mac gets it.)


13.9.3. Clock tab

In the Clock pane, you can specify whether or not you want the current time to appear, at all times, at the right end of your menu bar or in a small floating window, whose transparency you can control with the slider here. You can choose between two different clock styles: digital (3:53 p.m.) or analog (a round clock face).


Tip: At the bottom of the dialog box, you'll find a feature called "Announce the time." At the intervals you specify, the Mac will speak, out loud, the current time: "It's ten o'clock." If you tend to get so immersed in "working" that you lose track of time, Mac OS X just removed your last excuse .

And by the way, your menu-bar clock always shows the current time . When you need to know today's date , just click the clock. A menu drops down revealing the complete date.



Switching to the Mac[c] The Missing Manual
Switching to the Mac[c] The Missing Manual
ISBN: 1449398537
EAN: N/A
Year: 2006
Pages: 371

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