Mar 21
Every now and then I hope to offer a quick tip or two to make working on your mac a little easier.
It seems like the common theme that comes up when you are describing a Mac to a non-Mac user, is simplicity. Simplicity of use. Simplicity of design. Simplicity of functionality. “It’s just like when you expect it to do something, it just does it”, is probably what you’ve said before. I hear ya.
Have you ever wanted to capture a quick snapshot of something on your screen? Maybe you are having a video chat with someone and they make a funny face and you want to capture that to, perhaps blackmail them later???? 
Or say you are trying to describe to someone where to click on the screen? Or, maybe you just want to grab a photo from the web, but you can’t drag it over? Easy
Shift + Apple + 4 – is the command sequence that will bring up a cross hair that will then allow you click and drag to select and area of the screen that you would like to take a picture of. That’s it! That simple.
Mar 04
One of the major differences to new Mac owners is getting used to the trackpad. If you are PC/Windows user, you are accustomed to a two-button trackpad, or an embedded mouse cursor control usually in the form of an obnoxious red “pimple” in the middle of the keyboard. I personally found that very hard to navigate and pretty annoying to control. I’ll be honest, the trackpad on a Mac takes some getting used to, but once you do it is like you have been using it for a while.
For older laptops such as the Macbook or Macbook Pro, there is one big button located below the trackpad. This functions as the primary “click” or to former PC users, the “left-click”. When I first got my Mac, I was baffled as how to implement a “right-click” gesture. It turns out that I was actually making it harder than it has to be. Here is how you implement a “right-click”:
- Place two fingers on the trackpad.
- Click the button.
That’s all there is to it.
There are other basic movements that are very well described in the System Preferences panel. To go to this panel, navigate up to the apple in the top left corner, then go to “System Preferences”, then go to “Keyboard & Mouse” which is under the ‘Hardware’ header.
If you have one of the new Macbooks/Macbook Pro/Macbook Air, then you have a “buttonless” trackpad. However, in reality this trackpad really does have a button. Just use as normal. 
There are some other cool implemented features such as zooming, pinching, etc… which you can see visually demonstrated in the System Preferences panel. (More to come on this topic later)
If you are mouse lover and have a fear of the mouse pad or trackpad, then you very well could use an old “Windows” mouse (but why would you), or you can pick up an Apple Mouse or Mighty Mouse. I personally use a wireless Mighty Mouse and have been pretty happy with it other than it takes some good maintenance and upkeep in order to keep it functioning properly. (More to come on that as well).
