One of the strengths of the Mac OS is that it has always featured certain menus that are very similar in all applications. The Mac OS X Apple MenuThe Apple menu has long been one of the staples of the Mac desktop. Its main purpose has always been to provide access to certain items while you are working on the desktop as well as from within any application. NOTE As hard as it is to believe now, the Apple menu was not part of early versions of Mac OS X. Rather than being a menu, the Apple icon appeared in the center of the menu bar and did not have a menu associated with it. Because many longtime Mac users were unhappy about this, Apple added the Apple menu back, although certainly not with the same form or substance as the Apple menu in previous versions. The Mac OS X Apple menu contains the commands listed in Table 4.1.
To learn more about working with locations, p. 989.
To learn more about Mac OS Xs Force Quit command, see "Controlling Open Applications," p. 225. TIP If you use an Apple Cinema Display, you can put your Mac to sleep by pressing the Power button on the display. Mac OS X Application MenusUnder Mac OS X, every application has its own Application menu. The Application menu provides the commands you use to control the application in which you are working. A certain set of commands is consistent among all Mac OS X applications. Specific applications can have more commands on their Application menu, but they must support certain basic commands on that menu. The name of the Application menu is the name of the application itself. For example, the Finder's Application menu is Finder. NOTE If you used Mac OS 9 or earlier versions, don't confuse the Application menu in those versions with Application menus under Mac OS X. In previous Mac OS versions, the Application menu was a single menu that showed you all the applications running on the computer; this menu was always located in the upper-right corner of the desktop. You used the Application menu to hide or show applications as well as switch between running applications. Under Mac OS X, this functionality is provided by the Dock and the Application menus. You still see the Mac OS 9 Application menu when you use the Classic environment. The following commands appear on all Application menus:
NOTE Hiding an application causes all its windows and its menu bar to disappear. The application continues to run and any processes that are being completed continue. You can also minimize application windows, which places the window on the Dock; the application's menu bar continues to appear while the application is active, even if its windows are minimized. All Application menus, except the Finder menu, also contain the following commands:
To learn more about using the Services command with Mac OS X applications, p. 152. TIP The keyboard shortcut for the Quit command hasn't changed. It is still -Q. When you are working on the desktop, -Q doesn't do anything because you can't quit the Finder. However, you can relaunch the Finder using the Force Quit command.
Mac OS X File MenusThe Mac has always had a File menu; under Mac OS X, this menu is purer than it was in previous versions of the OS. For example, in previous versions, the File menu contained commands for working with files as well as controlling the application. Under Mac OS X, the File menu contains only commands for working with files or folders. The specific commands you see on an application's File menu depend on the application. Most applications' File menus have the New, Open, Save, Save As, Print, and Page Setup commands. Many other commands might appear on the File menu as well. The Finder's File menu contains the commands listed in Table 4.2.
NOTE The Mac OS X version 10.3 Archive command is one of the most useful Finder commands. This command enables you to create compressed files from any folders and files on your Mac. Even better, Mac OS X now supports the ZIP compression format, which is the standard, native compression format on Windows computers. You no longer need a separate application to compress files. You can also expand any ZIP file from the desktop by opening it. Mac OS X Edit MenusUnder Mac OS X, the Edit menu is much as it has always been. The Edit menu contains commands for editing data. The commands that always appear on the Edit menu are Cut, Copy, and Paste. Applications can provide many more commands on this menu, such as Undo, Redo, Select All, and so on. In addition to the standard Edit commands, the Finder's Edit menu also has the Select All command, which selects everything in the active window; the Show Clipboard command, which shows what has been copied to the Clipboard; and the Special Characters command, which opens the Character palette. The Finder View MenuThe Finder's View menu contains the commands you use to view Finder windows.
To learn about using the Finders View commands, see Chapter 3, "Viewing and Navigating Mac OS X Finder Windows," p. 47. The Finder Go MenuThe Finder's Go menu, as you might guess from its name, contains commands you use to go places. The Go menu enables you to move to the following locations:
To learn how to use the Go menu to navigate directories, p. 65.
To learn how to connect to servers, p. 834. Mac OS X Window MenusAnother standard Mac OS X menu is the Window menu. This menu provides commands you use to work with windows that are currently open. Common choices on the Window menu include the following:
TIP A great way to manage all open windows (not just those open in the current application) is by using the Exposé feature. More on that later in this chapter. NOTE The Window menu is not really new; many Mac applications have always used a Window menu to enable you to switch between open documents. However, the menu was new to the Finder for Mac OS X, and because it is now a system function, it should appear in all applications. On the Window menu, the active window in the application you are currently using is marked with some sort of icon. The active Finder window is marked with a check mark; other applications might use a different indicator (for example, a diamond). Be aware that a window can be both active and minimized, in which case the active icon on the Window menu can help you identify the active window even if you can't see that window (because it is on the Dock). You might see more or fewer commands on the Window menu when you are working in specific applications. NOTE Note that the Window menu provided by Classic applications is not the same as the Window menu provided by Carbonized or Cocoa applications. For example, if you are running the Classic version of Word 2001, you see its Window menu rather than one provided by Mac OS X (so you won't see the Minimize or other commands you would expect to see on an OS X Window menu). Mac OS X Help MenusMost applications provide a Help menu that enables you to open their help system. The Finder's Help menu contains one command Mac Help. This command opens the Mac Help application, which provides extensive help for many areas of the OS (see Figure 4.2). Even better, many applications you install integrate their help systems into the OS help system. This enables you to access plenty of help using the same tool. Figure 4.2. You can get a lot of Mac OS help by using the Help application.The Help application is based on HTML, so it works the same way Web pages do. You can search for help and click links and buttons to access information and move around. Fortunately, the Help engine works much more quickly in Mac OS X version 10.3 than it did under previous versions. The Home button in the Help Center's toolbar takes you back to the current help's home page. Like other Mac OS X applications, you can customize the Help application's toolbar by using the View, Customize Toolbar command. TIP When you search for help, you frequently see the Tell Me More link. This link opens other pages that contain topics related to the one for which you searched. You can search the Help application using the Search tool located in the toolbar. This tool works just like the Search tool in other areas. Select the help area you want to search using the Magnifying Glass icon and then type the text for which you want to search. Press Return to perform the search; the results appear in the Search Results window (see Figure 4.3). This window lists each help topic that matches your search. By default, this window is sorted by the Relevance column, which is the Help system's judgment of how well a topic addresses your search criterion. The Location column shows you in which help system the topic is included. Figure 4.3. You can search the Help application to find specific topics.TIP You can also browse most help systems from their home pages. This is often an even better way to find a specific topic because you don't have to be concerned about using specific words as you do when you search for help. You can open a topic by double-clicking it. The topic appears in the window for viewing. If you select a topic by single-clicking it, a summary of the topic appears in the bottom pane of the Help window.
NOTE Need help with Help? Select Help, Help Viewer Help. (Try to use the word help more times in the same sentence than that!) Some help topics assist you in performing the action about which you are asking by providing hyperlinks that open the related application or resource. Mac OS X Contextual MenusAs with previous versions of the OS, Mac OS X supports contextual menus. Contextual menus are pop-up menus that appear in various locations and contain commands specifically related to the context in which you are working. You can access contextual menus by pointing to an object that provides a contextual menu, holding down the Control key, and clicking the mouse button. The contextual menu appears and you can select a command on it. TIP
The desktop and Finder provide contextual menus, as do many applications, including those not provided by Apple. For example, the Microsoft Office application provides excellent support for contextual menus. NOTE Most Mac OS 9 applications still provide their contextual menus when you run them under the Mac OS X Classic environment. In Finder windows or on the desktop, you can tell when a contextual menu is provided by pointing to something and pressing the Control key. If a contextual menu is available, you see the contextual menu pointer, which is a small rectangle containing horizontal lines. When you see this pointer, click the mouse button to see the menu. A summary of some of the more useful Finder contextual menu commands is provided in Table 4.3.
The Finder Action Pop-up Menu
Figure 4.4. The new Action pop-up menu provides contextual commands.The commands that appear on this menu are the same as those that appear on contextual menus (refer to Table 4.3). The one exception is that, when you are viewing the contents of a folder with no items selected, the Show View Options command appears on the Action pop-up menu. |