Ease of Use Mac OS 8 includes a new version of the Finder and new ways to make you more productive. New ways of working with Mac OS windows You can move a window by dragging any of the window's borders. You can collapse a window so that only the title bar appears by clicking the collapse box at the upper-right corner of a window. Clicking the box again returns the window to normal. Holding down the Option key as you click the collapse box collapses all windows in the active application. New ways of viewing files The View menu now lets you view files as icons, as buttons, or as a list. It also lets you arrange icons and buttons or sort lists by any criteria you choose, such as name or date. Button views By choosing "as Buttons" from the View menu, you can display files as buttons that you open with a single click. You move a button by dragging its name. You select a button by dragging across it. Pop-up windows By choosing "as Popup Window" from the View menu, you can turn a regular window into a pop-up window anchored to the bottom of the desktop. When you click the tab on a pop-up window, the window collapses to display only the title. Clicking the title again returns the window to full size. You can move a pop-up window by dragging its title. You can resize the window by dragging the diagonal lines at the upper-left and upper-right corners of the window. You can change a pop-up window back to a regular window by dragging it upward or by choosing "as Window" from the View menu. View options You can specify how items in each folder are displayed by choosing View Options from the View menu. For icon views and button views, you can specify the size of the icons or buttons whether the icons or buttons snap to a grid whether to keep the icons or buttons arranged by name, date, or some other criteria When the "Always snap to grid" or "Keep arranged" options are applied to a window, a small icon appears in the upper-left corner of the window. For list views, you can specify whether to display relative dates (such as "today") whether to display folder sizes the size of icons which columns to display (such as size, kind, and label) Note that two new options, Date Created and Date Modified, are now available. Finder Preferences The Finder Preferences command (in the Edit menu) lets you set options previously found in the Labels and Views control panels, along with some new options: whether you want to display normal menus or short menus in the Finder (Short menus make the Finder simpler for new users.) whether you want to use the spring-loaded folders option (described below) whether you want tight or wide spacing in icon grids Spring-loaded folders You can open a folder by holding an icon over it. This makes it easy to quickly "dig" through several levels of folders. You can also cause a folder to spring open by clicking the folder one-and-a-half times (that is, clicking it once, then clicking it again without releasing the mouse button). You turn on the spring-loaded folders option in the Finder Preferences dialog box. Contextual menus (Control-click) If you hold down the Control key as you click an item on the screen (such as an icon, a window, or some text), a menu appears displaying commands you can apply to the icon, window, or text. If more than one item is selected, the menu displays commands that apply to everything in the selection. If nothing is selected, the menu displays commands that apply to the window. Menus that stay open You can make menus stay open by clicking the menu name. New items in the File menu The Move to Trash command places selected icons in the Trash. (The keyboard shortcut is Command-Delete.) The Show Original command locates the orginal file for an alias. The Label menu is now a submenu within the File menu. The Sharing dialog box has been improved, making it easier to specify access privileges for shared folders. The Help menu The menu previously identified by a question mark icon has been renamed "Help" to make it more obvious to new users. Also, Mac OS Guide has been renamed simply "Help." Main Menu | Go Back | Previous | Next © 1997 Apple Computer, Inc. All rights reserved.