Results tagged “Leopard” from Missing Manuals Blog

David Pogue, author of Mac OS X Leopard: The Missing Manual shares some more of his favorite Leopard Tips

Here's a nifty keyboard shortcut: You can cycle through windows in one program without using the mouse. Just press ~ (that is, the tilde key, to the left of the number 1 key). With each press, you bring a different window forward within the current program. It works both in the Finder and in your everyday programs, and it beats the pants off using the mouse to choose a name from the Window menu.

Consider this radical, timesaving proposal: Never quit the programs you use frequently. Instead, simply hit command-H whenever you're finished working in a program. That way, the next time you need it, the program launches with zero wait time. There's a limit to this principle; if you have only 512 megabytes of memory and you keep 10 programs open, for example, and one of them is Photoshop, you'll incur a speed penalty. In more moderate situations, though, Mac OS X's virtual-memory scheme is so good that there's almost no downside to leaving your programs open all the time.

In Leopard more than ever, Spotlight (keyboard shortcut: command-spacebar) makes a spectacular application launcher. That's because, as you'll notice, Job #1 for Spotlight is to display the names of matching programs in the results menu. Their names appear in the list nearly instantly--long before Spotlight has built the rest of the menu of search results. If some program on your hard drive doesn't have a Dock icon, for example--or even if it does--there's no faster way to open it than to use Spotlight.

You know what's really nice? The keystroke to open the Preferences dialog box in every Apple program is always the same: command-comma. Better yet, that standard is catching on with other software companies, too; Word, Excel, Entourage, and PowerPoint use the same keystroke, for example.

When you use drag and drop to move text within a document, the Mac moves the highlighted text, deleting the highlighted material from its original location. If you press Option as you drag, however, you make a copy of the highlighted text.

When you're writing, ever find yourself searching for that elusive copyright symbol, TM (trademark) sign, or Euro symbol? Summon the character palette. In most programs, to make it appear, choose Edit→Special Characters. If you want permanent access, add the Keyboard menulet to the top of your screen: Open System Preferences, click the International icon, click the Input Menu tab, and turn on the Character Palette checkbox.

The primary purpose of your Mac's Keychain program is, of course, to type in passwords for you automatically. However, it's also an excellent place to record all kinds of private information just for your own reference: credit card numbers, ATM numbers, and so on. Simply choose File→New Password Item (if it's a name and password) or File→New Secure Note (if you just want to type a blob of very, very private text).

Here's one for the technically inclined. Open your Web browser and enter this address: <ulink url="http://127.0.0.1:631"/>. You find yourself at a secret "front end" for CUPS (Common Unix Printing System), the underlying printing technology for Mac OS X 10.5. This trick lets your Mac communicate with a huge array of older printers that don't yet have Mac OS X drivers. Using this administration screen, you can print a test page, stop your printer in its tracks, manage your networked printers and print jobs, and more--a very slick trick.     

In the Displays pane of System Preferences, you'll find a Color tab. Its Calibrate button is designed to create a profile for your particular monitor in your particular office lighting--all you have to do is answer a few fun questions onscreen and drag a few sliders.    

Want to take an instant screenshot? Press Shift-command-3 to create a picture file on your desktop, in the almost-universally recognized PNG format, that depicts the entire screen image. A satisfying camera-shutter sound tells you that you were successful.

We've been busy at Missing Manuals, working on several upgrades. While we're still in the middle of that, we have begun using Twitter. You can follow us at http://twitter.com/missingmanuals, but you should know that we're also following many of you.

Every day, more and more people are posting feature requests for what they'd like to see their products and software contain and do. We've collected some of them and plan to periodically showcase them in this space. If you'd like to make us aware of features you'd like to see, feel free to post in our comments section or tweet @missingmanuals or #mmfeature and we'll be sure to add you to the list of candidates.

I love my iPhone, but ...

People love their iPhones, that much we already knew. But they would love them even more if they had a few enhancements.

Flash - @DogHouse is one of many who asked out loud for iPhone to support Flash, which it currently does not: "Shoot! The debate is starting and I'm not home. Glad I'm recording it. I wish iPhone supported Flash, then I could watch on myspace." Similar requests were made by @wuperruper, @adamengst, @twittem, @DrJohnnySpin and @jessejanderson.

Apps - There are a wide variety of Apps requests as well, including Google Analytics (@joshmishell), green apps (@mylifebynorules) and the ability of the iPhone to "detect how hard you tap, for a velocity-sensitive musical instrument app " (@mike3k).

@dmetzcher hopes the YouTube app can become just "Web video" in order to "support Viddler and others."

Apple's App Store has gained just as much attention as the apps themselves and @ericsuh hopes they loosen up the reigns a bit in the future, saying "I really wish the iPhone App Store had more shareware, especially since the user experience is such an important criterion."

@Javadog, meantime, is looking for a "'serious' iPhone app comparison site. Like, which one of the dozen ambient sound apps is better and why."

Etc. At least two Twitterers (@feliciaday and
@cupcakey88) are waiting to be able to play World of Warcraft in their iPhone, three requested keyboards for it (@lionchild, @kcnickerson, and @cherp) while @tdhurst had might night be available for a couple editions: "I very much wish my iPhone had a breathalyzer."

Roundup

Below are more iPhone requests, as well as hopes for Excel, Facebook, iPhoto, iPod, iTunes, Leopard, Outlook, Photoshop, Typepad, Windows Vista, and Visual Studio:

"i wish there was a google analytics app for iphone." - @joshmishell

"Wish the iPhone map app could sync my custom maps with google" - @marcusramberg

"I detest safari on iPhone/ipod touch's auto-refresh feature. With a passion. Wish I could turn it off." - @sarahintampa

"What is the first thing you say to a friend who just got an iPhone? for me "don't believe the battery meter" Wish it was something different" - @ianfinity

"@fteter iPhone is great just wish I could sync with my work calendar" - @timdexter

"Really wish iPhone would learn words that weren't in it's dictionary. It always thinks words I use are typos and auto corrects them. Rea ..." - @CompanyConvos

"I know this sounds backwards, but I wish there was someway to remotely control my iPhone's iPod via iTunes / my Mac." - @tollie

"I really wish I could easily listen to podcast on my iPhone without using iTunes or another feed reader. Come on Apple, loosen up! Sheesh." - @thepete

"I wish iTunes would show me what percent of my iPhone backup time was for each application. Someone adding an hour to my backup == DELETED!" - @joshlewis

"I wish the iPhone would save my iTunes store password. I hate continuously entering it in." - @kittygutz

"The Great iPhone wish list Having used the iPhone for about a month there&#8217;s a few things that I fin.. http://tinyurl.com/3w6637 @vkoser

"I wish I could get a lesser plan on my iPhone. 450 minutes? I used 33 this month, and my bill is coming up next week." - @kniob

"Kinda wish I could use iPhone remote to control the iPod in my glovebox" - @kitchen

"Just did a restore on an iPod shuffle. That took about 2 seconds. Wish an iPhone restore was that fast!" - @jphil301

"Wish there was an on-screen indicator that silent mode was on on my iPhone..missed some called 'cause I had forgotten to turn the ringer on." - @erlingmork

"I wish every app on the iPhone could do wide screen. Seems like safari is the only app" - @brendonvh

"i wish seesmic made a Qik style application on iPhone or something similar, cmon Loic!!!" - @alexiaco

"I wish there a mobile skype that runs on BB or iPhone that only uses your data connection" - @Shadowz

"@fraserspeirs also wish iPhone had programable text shortcuts, on my BlackBerry I coded things like "zzt" to add a "thanks" email signature" - @extraspecial

"I really wish the iPhone had a system-wide snippet insertion method. For example, typing my email address to log into every website sucks." - @fraserspeirs

"@jiparker I wish I could schedule recording stuff on TiVo via my iphone..:)" - @umaparker

"I wish I could delete tweets on the iPhone!" - @bhays81

"I wish I could type in landscape mode on the iPhone." - @freitag

"@indieradiochatt Damn I wish my iPhone had WMA streaming support for one more reason." - @ZicklePop

"Trying to decide if the iPhone is for me, already have an iPod, wish the iTouch had GPS." - @GaffR

Excel

"I wish Excel 2008 would spell check as I typed." - @TwisterMc

Facebook / Social Networking sites

"adding people's photos and additional details to my address book from facebook. i wish there was a contact export feature." - @naterkane

"One of the things I like about LinkedIn is that you can always see what "non-registered users" see. I wish all SM sites had that feature." - @gahlord

iPhoto

"iPhoto ’09 wish list • Perspective correction. &lt;/list&gt; @ahruman

"It's my daughter's turn with the sharing bucket, so I'm building a collage for her to share. Wish iPhoto did this or that I knew PS better." - @cozthegrov

"Moving older photos out of iPhoto library onto an external drive to free up laptop drive space. Wish there was a better way." - @RandomDude

iPod

"I wish my iPod touch had copy/paste capabilities :(" - @_Darryl

"I wish ipod had a longer charging cable. Hospital bed isn't close enough to a socket to use while plugged in :(" - @wowpoetry

"i wish the iPod had a delete option for songs and a reverse sync with the album - my collection would've been a lot cleaner that ways." - @prsn

"Since I bought my iPod Touch, I've found myself using my MacBook less. Portable internet is just so cool! Wish it could display Flash, tho." - @grace2design

"I wish iPod touch could use the location feature, or at least let me SET my location. Otherwise it's a nice iTunes remote." - @Yourbrokenoven

"dear apple, next ipod wish - bluetooth, with waterproof around ear headphones." - @samirb

"It sucks being in traffic by yourself. I wish my ipod could talk to me. :(" - @ohhayitssarah

"Two things I wish the iPod touch had. 1.) iChat. 2.) A microphone. Skype any one?" - @Xela501

"I wish Loopt worked on my iPod Touch ... :(" - @laughinglizard

"I wish my ipod was synced with my brain and i would play the songs i think of. Get on it steve jobs." - @shannnon

"Wish I could script my iPod to open Wi-Fi, update Mail, Twitter and one web page. All scheduled daily, before I depart for my morning train." - @aidenkenny

iTunes

"really wish iTunes had a folder watch feature" - @shuag

"is impressed with iTunes' new "Genius" feature. Wish it included tracks beyond my library, but helpful in remembering good music I have." - @sethjames

"Really diggin' iTunes' Genius feature, but I really wish I could designate start, ending, and unlimited through- points. THAT would be nice." - @greghuntoon

"I really wish iTunes would add a Pandora client as part of their Radio feature." - @BrentN

Leopard

"in leopard i wish there was a way to hide other app windows for a *space*" - @bryanl

"Man, I really wish Leopard's finder had Drop Stacks like Path Finder." - @epilnivek

"I wish leopard's Quick Look showed all file types correctly. Don't get em wrong, I LOVE quick look, but some files just don't show up right." - @Heartagram

Outlook

"I wish outlook had an obvious "delete calnedar entries earlier than..." feature" - @MrGuilt

Photoshop

"I wish there was a way to transfer Photoshop between OS's. Offer it for download and let owners transfer like they do their licence..." - @chrisgaunt

"Wish Adobe had a small bundle with just Photoshop and Illustrator. I don't need the other crap." - @dustinwilson

"Me "I wish there was a version of Photoshop without all the filters and wizards." Dan "Yeah, like a professional version."@thebigreason

"So the new Photoshop will have a Rotate Canvas feature. I wish the new Illustrator has it as well. If not, I'll to buy a Cintiq." - @BrianDenham

"The one feature I wish Photoshop Elements had is the ability to change the space between characters." - @nestep

Typepad

"@DowntownWoman I wish Typepad had "auto-save" feature. I've had that happen to me too. And I cursed in front of my kids too. ; )" - @ParentopiaDevra

Windows Vista

"Really wish WIndows Vista could REMEMBER my dual screen configuration." - @Finja

Visual Studio

"I wish there was a zoom feature in Visual Studio's designer view. The only way I know how to do it is to lower my resolution. Bad hack." - @wusher

David Pogue at Macworld Leopard secrets revealed Leopard's new help program Big, juicy Spotlight remake in Leopard Using Leopard's Spaces Icon view available in open and save boxes Getting started with Leopard's Time Machine Featured Books | Permalink David Pogue, founder of the Missing Manuals series, says his Missing Feature is Mac OS, version 10.5.2. Get the latest Flash Player Tags: Leopard Continue reading David Pogue waiting for Leopard 10.5.2. Merging data in an address book By Chad Capellman on January 22, 2008 6:04 AM | Permalink Lesa Snider King, production editor on several of David Pogue's Missing Manuals, is desperately seeking a sane solution to her current address book situation. Get the latest Flash Player Tags: apple, iphoto, Leopard Continue reading Merging data in an address book. Mac OS X Leopard Power Users' Clinic: Giant Icons December 6, 2007 1:56 PM | Permalink From Mac OS X Leopard: The Missing Manual In Mac OS X 10.5, Apple did something secret and artistic: It quadrupled the potential size of its icons. Instead of the measly 128 pixels square (which is all that most people ever see, maximum), you can blow them up to a colossal 512 pixels square. They're less like icons than art you can hang on your wall. To see the effect, you have to use Terminal. Type this command, exactly as you see it here, but all on one line: defaults write com.apple.finder DesktopViewOptions -dict IconSize -integer 256; killall Finder It's quite a shocking sight--and, in fact, rather too big to be useful. It also works only on desktop icons--not icons in folders. To turn the effect off, press c-J to open the View Options dialog box. Adjust the icon-size slider; the least touch of that slider turns the giganto-icon effect off again. Tags: apple, Leopard, tips Workaround Workshop: Feeding the Barren Pop-up Menus in Mac OS X Leopard December 6, 2007 1:41 PM | Permalink From Mac OS X Leopard: The Missing Manual The first little pop-up menu in the Spotlight window lists those handy search starting points: Kind, Last opened date, Name, and so on. But it's actually less fully stocked than it was in Mac OS Xes of days gone by. Apple streamlined the options a bit. For example, you used to be able to search by label. You could therefore easily round up all files pertaining to a certain project for backing up, deleting, or burning to a CD en masse. That's off the menu as you first see it. Gone, too, is the Size criterion, which could be helpful when you're trying to make space on your overstuffed hard drive by ferreting out the huge, multigigabyte files and folders. Fortunately, you can restore these options to the criterion pop-up menu easily enough. The trick is to use the Other option as described on these pages. In the dialog box shown in Figure 3-4, search for label or size. When you find that criterion, turn on the "In menu" checkbox and click OK. Presto: You've got your menu back. Figure 3-4: Here's the master list of search criteria (below). Turn on the "In menu" checkboxes of the ones you'll want to re-use often, as described in the box on the previous page. Once you've added some of these search criteria to the menu, you'll get an appropriate set of "find what?" controls ("Greater than"/"Less than" pop-up menus, for example). Tags: apple, howto, Leopard Mac OS X Leopard: The Missing Manual Sneak Preview: Five Tips and Tricks from David Pogue November 29, 2007 12:54 PM | Permalink With this new Missing Manual, you can count on learning how to use all of Leopard's new features including the Time Machine, Boot Camp, and File Stacks. And here, as a bonus, David gives you six of his favorite Leopard tips: 1. Spotlight has been given two quiet enhancements that turn it into a different beast altogether. First, it's a tiny pocket calculator, always at the ready. Click in the Search box, type or paste 38*48.2-7+55, and marvel at the first result in the Spotlight menu: 1879.6. There's your answer--and you didn't even have to fire up the Calculator. And it's not just a four-function calculator, either. It works with square roots: type sqrt(25), and you'll get the answer 5. It also works with powers; type pow(6,6)--that is, 6 to the power of 6--and you'll get 46656. You can even type pi to represent--you know, pi. 2. Spotlight is also now a full-blown English dictionary. Or, more specifically, it's wired directly into Mac OS X's own dictionary, which sits in your Applications folder. So if you type, for example, "schadenfreude" into the Spotlight box, you'll see, to your amazement, the beginning of the actual definition right there in the menu. Click it to open Dictionary and read the full-blown entry. (In this example, that would be: "noun: pleasure derived by someone from another person's misfortune.") 3. The Mosaic screensaver is a real stunner, and Apple doesn't even talk about it. It starts with one photo from your collection; your "camera" pulls back farther and farther, revealing that that photo is just one in a grid--a huge grid--that's composed of all your photos. As you pull even farther back, each photo becomes so small that it becomes only one dot of another photo--from the same collection! And then that one starts shrinking, and the cycle repeats, on and on into infinity. How could Apple not have mentioned Mosaic in its Leopard advertising? 4. You're floundering in some program. You're SURE there's a Page Numbering command in those menus somewhere. But there are 11 menus and 143 submenus hiding in those menus, and you haven't got time for the pain. That's when you should think of using the Help menu. When you type "page number" (or whatever) into its Search box, the results menu lists, at the top, the names of any menu commands in that program that contain the words you typed. Better still, it actually opens that menu for you, and displays a big, blue, animated, floating arrow pointing to the command you wanted. You'd have to have your eyes closed to miss it. Slide your cursor over, click the menu command, and get on with your life. 5. That menu-search feature is especially helpful in Web browsers like Safari and Firefox, because it even finds entries in your Bookmarks and History menus! In Safari, for example, you can pluck a recently visited site out of the hundreds in the daily History submenus, like the "Wednesday, January 9" submenu. You've just saved yourself a lot of poking around menus, trying to find the name of a site you know you've seen recently.) Ultratip: If you think about it, this feature also means that you have complete keyboard power over every menu in every program in the world. Hit Command-Shift-? to open the Help search box, type a bit of the command's name, and then use the arrow keys to walk down the results. Hit Enter to trigger the command you want. Tags: apple, Leopard, tips Google Search Results, Cover Flow-style By Peter Meyers on November 1, 2007 11:24 AM | Permalink Problem: Long lists of text-only search results don't give me enough information. I want an easy way to preview results before I pick the one(s) to click. Missing Feature: Inspired by Mac OS X Leopard's use of Cover Flow in the Finder: wouldn't it be cool to see Google search results displayed Cover Flow-style in the Safari web browser? That is, each result would get its own Cover Flow page and you'd see the actual page itself, not just the text summary blurb (extra credit: have the page appear with the search terms highlighted). Tags: digital life, Google Apps, Leopard The Waiting Is Not the Hardest Part By J.D. Biersdorfer on April 13, 2007 6:42 AM | Permalink So, the next version of Mac OS X, (10.5, or Leopard, for those following Apple's Big Cat Scorecard) won't be arriving in June after all, according to a statement Apple released on its Web site yesterday. Because the company had to pull programmers off the OS X team to help muscle the iPhone to its June release date, Leopard won't prowl until October. Oh, well. While part of me is bummed about not having a shiny new operating system to play around with this summer, that also means I won't have to spend those inevitable hours trying to get all my gadgets, hardware and software to work with it. Operating system upgrades can cause all sorts of upheaval, with hardware drivers and certain programs not working the same way in the new system as they did on the old. Windows Vista early adopters with iPods got to experience this first-hand when a problem between iTunes and Vista reared its ugly head right after Vista's January release. Luckily, most of the major problems were resolved with the release of iTunes 7.1.1, but there are still a few lingering issues; Apple describes them here, Vista adventurers. So Leopard is put off until fall. While I'm half disappointed and half relieved, I think there's one thing Mac users probably won't have to worry about when they upgrade: since Apple is calling the software shots, iTunes and Leopard (at least) will get along just fine. Tags: iphone, iTunes, Leopard, Mobile Gadgets, OS X, upgrade, Vista