Chapter 6: All About Mac OS X Windows

How to…

• Work with Finder windows

• Work with the sidebar

• Customize Finder window views

• Use the Finder window toolbar

The Mac OS was the first consumer operating system to provide what is sometimes called the WIMP (window, icon, mouse, pointer) interface. If you haven’t been using computers for more than a couple of decades, you may not realize just what a quantum leap in usability this was. Gone was the need to type arcane commands in a sterile terminal emulator. No longer did you need a computer guru to answer questions all the time. Apple may not have invented windows, but they tamed them and brought them to the masses.

Computer windows are simply metaphors—they are visual containers for files, folders and applications that spring open when you double-click folders or disk icons, or when you click certain other icons. This metaphor is so ingrained into the minds of most computer users that it’s hard to imagine any other way of navigating a computer. We move from folder to folder, from window to window, looking at, moving, copying, and deleting files. Understanding the way your computer’s windows work is the first step toward feeling at home with it.

I’m going to tell you everything about Mac OS X windows in this chapter—how they work, how to open and close them, how to minimize and resize them, and how to customize the display of Finder windows. I’ll also tell you all about Finder windows, since they have some unique features, such as the sidebar and the toolbar. Although I focus on Finder windows in this chapter, most of the information also applies to application windows since you close, resize, and minimize them in the same way.