Lesson 9. Defining the User Experience

Time	This lesson takes about 3 hours to complete.
Goals	Understand the differences between parental controls, property lists (plist) files, and MCX settings
	Preconfigure a user's environment
	Restrict the capabilities of a user
	Understand the three types of manageable accounts
	Use presets to save time when adding several users

There are three main reasons to define the control, the look, and the feel of your computers for the users. The most obvious reason is to prevent users from doing things you don't want them to do, such as people using a kiosk station, students working in a computer lab, or children sitting at a home computer.

The second reason is to provide a preconfigured environment that is convenient for your users and lowers support costs in all its forms. You might choose to configure the basic look and feel of a new employee's workstation, but still allow the individual to make changes. Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server offer many different methods for controlling aspects of the user experience.

The third reason is to direct users to focus their activities and access where you want them. Parental controls are one good example of this. However, in this lesson you'll see that you have a wealth of other tools and options available to you for defining the user experience.