Mac OS X Unleashed

By John Ray and William C. Ray

• Table of Contents
  • Copyright
  • About the Author
  • Acknowledgments
  • Tell Us What You Think!
  • Introduction
  • Part I: Introduction to Mac OS X
  • Chapter 1. Mac OS X Component Architecture
  • Chapter 2. Installing Mac OS X
  • Chapter 3. Mac OS X Basics
  • Chapter 4. The Finder: Working with Files and Applications
    • Using the Finder
    • Finder Status Bar
    • Finder Toolbar
    • Finder File Operations
    • Getting File Information
    • The Desktop and Finder Preferences
    • Burning CDs
    • Using the Dock
    • Customizing the Dock
    • Process Manager: Force Quitting Applications
    • Summary
  • Chapter 5. Running Classic Mac OS Applications
  • Part II: Inside Mac OS X
  • Chapter 6. Native Utilities and Applications
  • Chapter 7. Internet Communications
  • Chapter 8. Installing Third-Party Applications
  • Part III: User-Level OS X Configuration
  • Chapter 9. Network Setup
  • Chapter 10. Printer and Font Management
  • Chapter 11. Additional System Components
  • Part IV: Introduction to BSD Applications
  • Chapter 12. Introducing the BSD Subsystem
  • Chapter 13. Common Unix Shell Commands: File Operations
  • Part V: Advanced Command-Line Concepts
  • Chapter 14. Advanced Shell Concepts and Commands
  • Chapter 15. Command-Line Applications and Application Suites
  • Chapter 16. Command-Line Software Installation
  • Chapter 17. Troubleshooting Software Installs, and Compiling and Debugging Manually
  • Chapter 18. Advanced Unix Shell Use: Configuration and Programming (Shell Scripting)
  • Part VI: Server/Network Administration
  • Chapter 19. X Window System Applications
  • Chapter 20. Command-Line Configuration and Administration
  • Chapter 21. AppleScript
  • Chapter 22. Perl Scripting and SQL Connectivity
  • Chapter 23. File and Resource Sharing with NetInfo
  • Chapter 24. User Management and Machine Clustering
  • Chapter 25. FTP Serving
  • Chapter 26. Remote Access and Administration
  • Chapter 27. Web Serving
  • Part VII: Server Health
  • Chapter 28. Web Programming
  • Chapter 29. Creating a Mail Server
  • Chapter 30. Accessing and Serving a Windows Network
  • Chapter 31. Server Security and Advanced Network Configuration
  • Chapter 32. System Maintenance
  • Appendix A. Command-Line Reference
  • Appendix B. Administration Reference

Using the Dock

In Chapter 3, you learned how the basic features of the Dock work. In this chapter, we'll recap those features and provide additional information on how you can customize the Dock to suit your desktop.

Application Switcher and Launcher

Commonly used applications can be added to the Dock, much like a Finder toolbar, by dragging them to the position you want on the left side (or top in vertical mode) of the Dock divider bar. This half of the bar contains all docked and currently running applications. A running application is denoted by a small triangle under its icon.

To switch between the active programs, just click the icon of the application that you want to bring to the front. Holding down Option as you click on an application will bring the application to the front and hide the previously active process. Simultaneously holding down both Option+Command while clicking will bring the clicked application to the front and hide all other applications.

To switch between open programs from the keyboard, use Command+Tab—this should seem very familiar to Windows users.

Finally, if you have placed an application on the Dock, you can launch it by single- clicking the icon. The application icon will begin bouncing (unless configured not to), and will continue to do so until the software is ready for user interaction.

Interacting with Running Applications

Common functions, such as quitting an application or jumping to one of its open windows, can be accessed by clicking and holding a running application's Dock icon or by Control-clicking on the icon. Some applications, such as iTunes, even allow basic controls (playback controls, in the case of iTunes) to be accessed through the Dock pop-up menu. After the menu has appeared, you can press the Option key to reveal hidden menu options; this particular key/mouse combination will change a Dock icon's Quit select to Force Quit when used.

Application icons also serve as proxy drop points for documents. As with the traditional Mac operating system, you can drag documents on top of an application icon to open them in that application. In Mac OS X, you can use the application's Dock icon, rather than having to locate the real application file on your hard drive.

File and Folder Shortcuts

Shortcuts to files and folders that are used frequently can be stored to the right (or bottom in vertical mode) of the Dock separator bar. When a folder is added to the Dock, it can be single-clicked to open a Finder window containing the contents of that folder. Clicking and holding (or Control-clicking) a folder in the Dock will create a pop-up hierarchical menu displaying the contents of the folder. Any elements added to the folder will be immediately visible in the pop-up menu.

Docklings

Docklings are small, always-on applications that provide instant-access features from within the Dock. Unlike other applications, a Dockling lives its whole life within the Dock and does not have a user interface that extends beyond the Dock icon and a pop-up menu. Unlike other Dock elements, Docklings can be positioned anywhere on the Dock, except after the trash can. To activate a Dockling's configuration menu, either click-and-hold or Control-click the icon.

The Trash Can

The Mac OS trash can has been given a makeover and moved to the far-right side of the Dock. You can drag files and folders directly from the Finder into the Dock's trash can. If you want to remove an item from the trash, click the Trash Can icon and a window appears containing all the items waiting to be deleted. You can drag files from this window just as you can in any other Finder window.

To empty the trash, use the Finder's application menu and choose Empty Trash (Shift+Command+Enter); or click-and-hold or Control-click the Trash can icon, and choose Empty Trash from the pop-up menu. Holding down Option while emptying the trash will bypass any system warning messages. The Finder preferences can permanently disable the Empty Trash warning.

Ejecting Media

There are a number of ways to eject disks under Mac OS X. Control-clicking on a mounted volume will open a contextual menu with an Eject option. Alternatively, you can highlight the resource to remove and choose Eject (Command+E) from the Finder's File menu or press the Eject key on some models of the Apple USB keyboard.

The final method of ejecting a disk might seem a bit unusual to some users, but it has been a standard on the Macintosh for many years. Disks can be safely unmounted and ejected by dragging them to the trash can. To get around the obvious "Hey, isn't that going to erase my disk?" reaction that many have, Mac OS X now conveniently changes the Trash Can icon into an eject symbol during a drag operation that includes a storage volume.

Windows

Windows that are minimized are placed in a thumbnail view beside the trash can. Depending on the application, these iconified windows might continue to update as their respective applications attempt to display new information. The QuickTime player, for example, can continue to play miniaturized movies in the Dock.

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