Tips for Switchers

Default location: Your Desktop

Better location: Wherever you want them to

By default, most Mac applications will place your downloaded files on your desktop. I’ve found that this can lead to a very messy desktop, very quickly. (Plus, mine’s messy anyway. I don’t need an application contributing to that mess…)

I would recommend creating a folder just for your downloaded files and put where you can easily get to it. Mine is on my desktop.

Once you’ve created the folder, you can instruct your applications to store your downloaded files here.

Browsers

On the Mac there are a number of popular browsers available. They include:

• FireFox


• Safari


• Camino

There are some others but they’re either specialized or are modified versions of WebKit (the browser engine that powers Safari).

I recommend FireFox to new Switchers. Why? While I love Safari and think its a great browser, too many Switchers get frustrated by their decision to switch when they visit a site that doesn’t work in Safari. Not every site will work properly in FireFox, but there are far fewer site incompatibilities.

FireFox

Safari

Camino

Instant Messenger Clients

The most popular IM clients on the Mac are:

• iChat


• Adium

…and setting them up is much the same as your browser.

iChat

iChat is the default IM application that ships with OS X. It supports AIM, .Mac and Jabber networks. It’s a basic IM app that is in dire need of updating - rumors predict that it will be in Apple’s upcoming Mac OS X 10.5 “Leopard”.

Adium

For a detailed overview of Adium, see an earlier post, “Trillian Equivalent for OS X“.

Are you a Switcher with a question you want answered? Send us email to questions@tipsforswitchers.com or use our convenient contact form.

Technorati Tags: Mac OS X, Macintosh, OS X, Apple, Tips, Tutorial, Software, Mac, John Federico, Switchers, Web Browsers, Camino, FireFox, Safari, Adium, iChat

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written by jf

From reader Drew, a recent switcher:

A couple more tips you might want to add that took me about a week to figure out:

I have a couple Firefox shortcuts that I used ALL the time on my PC, but when I moved to Mac, I had a very hard time finding out how to do them.

The most useful keyboard shortcut, in my opinion, is the ctrl-enter in Windows within a browser. It adds http://www. and .com to the proper places if you enter the domain name only. So, if you want to go to Google, you just type ‘google’ in the address bar and hit ctrl-enter. The Mac equivalent is command-enter.

The second shortcut was more difficult to discover on Mac. It’s alt-D in windows, and it jumps the cursor to the address bar and highlights all text, so you can then use the shortcut above to go to the site of your choice - all without touching your mouse. The Mac equivalent is command-L, which is a little harder to do easily for me (so far) but it’s invaluable.

Try out these shortcuts and you will soon realize they are great tools.

Thanks, Drew!

Technorati Tags: FireFox, Apple, Mac OS X, Tips, Shortcuts, Tips for Switchers

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written by jf

Drew, a recent commenter, keeps his spare PC around so he can use DVD Decrypter and 3GP Converter for DVD ripping. Well Drew, that PC is about to become a door stop.

Handbrake and Instant Handbrake can handle all your DVD ripping and conversion for portable devices. Instant Handbrake is specifically designed to make it easy for you to convert video to be played on your iPod with Video.

You can find them both at http://handbrake.m0k.org/

Technorati Tags: DVD, DVD Decrypter, DVD Ripping, Movies, 3GP Converter, Mac OS X, Apple, iPod, Video

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written by jf

Here’s a video that shows some of the more intricate details of dealing with the Trash Can on the Mac. (Note: uninstall apps are not required, but can be helpful in keeping your system and file structure clean.)

[via TUAW]

Technorati Tags: Apple, Video, Macintosh, Mac, OS X, Howto, Gadgets, Technology, Computers, Software

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written by jf

For the Switcher who is reluctant to leave behind the power and control of Trillian, you may find iChat a bit limiting, both in its features and its inability to connect to multiple IM networks.

iChat is a solid application, but it only connects to the AOL Instant Messenger network and Apple’s .Mac network (which requires that you pay $99 a year for a .Mac account…)

If you want multi-network support on OS X, you have a couple of options: Fire and Adium.

What the Duck?!

Both are free and open source, so you have no risk in trying them out. And while both are solid instant messenger clients, if you’re a former Trillian user, you’ll quickly realize - as I did - that Adium is the only way to go.

UPDATE: Adium 1.0 was officially released the day after this was posted! The Apple Blog has an in-depth review.

Continue reading »

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written by jf

My brother, a recent Christmas day switcher, mentioned today that he “missed the image preview feature in Windows Explorer.” Of course, I shared this tip with him.

Assuming you have a folder full of images, say, downloaded from your digital camera:

1. Open a folder. Any folder.

2. Press the “apple-j” key command or select from the menu “View > Show View Options“. A dialogue box will open.


3. At the top, select the radio button for “This Window Only“.

4. Drag the “Icon Size” slider all the way to the right (128 x 128 pixels).

5. Select the checkbox that reads “Show Icon Preview“.
6. Select the checkbox that reads “Keep arranged by…“
7. From the drop down menu below that, select “Name“. (This is usually helpful, particularly since most digital cameras label files in some incremental alphanumeric naming convention.)

8. From the “Background” radio buttons at the bottom, be sure that “White” is selected.

9. Close the window and look at your open folder. You should see previews of all of your images.

Are you a Switcher with a question you want answered? Send us email to questions@tipsforswitchers.com or use our convenient contact form.

Technorati Tags: Finder, Desktop, Mac OS X, Macintosh, OS X, Apple, Tips, Tutorial, Software, Mac, John Federico, Switchers

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written by jf

Another typical Switcher question is “Where do I put my files? On Windows, I used to put everything in ‘My Documents’.”

Mac OS X is a bona fide unix operating system. This means that it adheres to many of the typical unix conventions, including the concept of the “Home Directory“.

It’s these unix underpinnings that also enable your Mac to be a true multi-user machine. Unless you’re the administrator, you don’t have access to anyone else’s Home Directory and they don’t have access to yours. But that’s another tip.

Finding Your Way Home

Double-click to open the “Macintosh HD” icon on your Desktop. Next, open the “Users” folder.

Within that should be a directory with your username on it. (Here’s mine.) This is your Home Directory.

In your Home Directory, you have a place for all your files. By default, it contains the following directories:

• Desktop


• Documents


• Library


• Movies


• Music


• Pictures


• Public


• Sites

Desktop

Your desktop, the place with the pretty picture and your hard drive on it, is actually a folder like any other in The Finder. This directory in your Home Directory is just another representation of it.

Documents

This is the primary directory for all your files. Consider this the equivalent of ‘My Documents” on Windows.

Library

This directory contains preferences, unix libraries and other supporting files. You really shouldn’t have any reason to muck around in here unless instructed by some Mac Geek.

Movies

By default, this is where iMovie stores your project files. If you use the Palm Desktop application, your Palm movies will also be stored in here. You can choose to store your random movie files here, or not. It’s up to you.

Music

This is a very important directory as its used by iTunes to store your music and your iTunes library. In general, you shouldn’t play around in here as you can manage everything from iTunes.

Pictures

This is the directory where your iPhoto Library is stored, but you can use it for all your photos. Once again, stay out of the iPhoto Library - you can manage everything in there through iPhoto.

Public

This is a very useful directory. Within this directory is another called “Drop Box.” It allows other people, either on the same machine or over a network to share files with you without having full access to your machine or Home Directory.

Sites

As a fully enabled Unix machine, you also have the ability to run a web server on your Mac. This directory is where you would store all your files and scripts.

Are you a Switcher with a question you want answered? Send us email to questions@tipsforswitchers.com or use our convenient contact form.

Technorati Tags: Macintosh, Mac OS X, Switchers, Apple, OS X, Software, John Federico, Unix, Mac, Desktop

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