PC World Business

Apple recently updated the Mac­intosh operating system for the third time in as many years. In this colmun we investigate how to use some of the new features on offer in 10.3.

New Finder features

In addition to tweaks such as icons that zoom in when launched, Finder windows now sport a brushed metal appearance like that of Apple’s QuickTime and iTools. Also, each Finder window and most applications’ open/save dialogue boxes now feature a left sidebar (as shown in FIGURE 1). The side­bar’s top section lists all available volumes such as hard disks, CD/DVD drives, networks or your iDisk (a .Mac account storage service). The sidebar’s bottom section lists useful preset links, and you can also create your own links — just drag and drop as many folders or files as you require into this section. The order of sidebar listings can be shuffled by selecting an item and dragging it up or down, and the sidebar’s width itself is adjusted by clicking and dragging the vertical grey divider.

The familiar icon, list, column view and navigate back toolbar buttons are now joined by a move forward control and a right-side search field to find files or folders incredibly quickly. Also, the new action toolbar button (it looks like an asterisk) displays a list of options for a currently selected file or folder. This action button shows the same contextual menu that pops up when an item is right-clicked with a two-button mouse or -clicked with a single button mouse. Two new options include Archive (easily select files to compress to ZIP format) and Colour Labels, which allow files to be quickly sorted and accessed — you can even see labels in open and save dialogue boxes.

Customising the Finder

Add extra buttons to the Finder window toolbar by selecting the View menu and going to Customize Toolbar.

The Finder preferences (Finder-Pre­ferences or -,) include turn on/off spring-loaded folders, have folders open in the same Finder window, specify owner­ship names for label colours, show all file extensions, and be warned before emptying trash. Just use the appropriate tabs along the top to switch sections.

To change the look of Finder windows, click on the View menu then select View Options (or press -J). Options here include applying a background colour or image to Finder windows and adjusting the size, font and arrangement of icons. You can also opt to display extra information underneath icons or to have image files be shown as an icon preview (thumbnail). The latter two work particularly well together if your desktop or folders are full of photos — you can list image thumbnails and have extra information (such as resolution or file size) shown underneath. Best of all, you can choose to apply your changes to just the Finder window you’re accessing or to all Finder windows. Application switching

If you run several applications simul­taneously and often get lost in desktop clutter, a new feature called Exposé will appeal. Press the key and every open window is scaled and tiled to allow you to see its contents. Hover your mouse over each window to see the application it runs, and a click will return the program to the forefront at full size — and all other windows will slide away to original screen positions.

By pressing the key, Exposé will neatly arrange the current application’s windows (such as Photoshop’s floating toolbars) and make every other application’s windows grey. The key hides all open windows for easy desktop access.

These command keys are defaults and can be customised from within the Exposé area of System Preferences (FIGURE 2). If you use a two or more button mouse with your Mac, you will see extra Exposé preferences allowing functions to be assigned to mouse buttons (FIGURE 2).

The revamped application switcher (-Tab) now has a larger shaded presence. When an application is highlighted, pressing will hide that application and will quit it. Pressing will allow you to cycle backwards, or you can simply use your mouse.