Visual QuickStart Guide [Electronic resources] : Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger

Maria Langer

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Menus

The Finderand most other Mac OS programsoffers menus full of options. There are four types of menus in Mac OS X:

    A

    pull-down menu appears on the menu bar at the top of the screen (Figure 8 ).

    Figure 8. The menu bar offers pull-down menus.

    A

    submenu appears when a menu option with a right-pointing triangle is selected (Figure 9 ).

    Figure 9. A submenu appears when you select a menu option with a right-pointing triangle beside it.

    A

    pop-up menu , which displays a triangle (or arrow), appears within a window (Figures 10 and

    11 ).

    Figure 10. Pop-up menus can appear within dialogs.

    Figure 11. To display a pop-up menu, click it.

    A

    contextual menu appears when you hold down while clicking an item (Figure 12 ).

    Figure 12. A contextual menu appears when you hold down while clicking.

Chapter 7 .

A menu option that is dimmed or gray cannot be chosen. The commands that are available vary depending on what is selected on the desktop or in a window.

A menu option preceded by a check mark (Figure 8 ) is enabled, or "turned on."

A menu option followed by a series of keyboard characters (Figure 8 ) has a keyboard shortcut. Keyboard shortcuts are discussed later in this chapter.

Contextual menus only display options that apply to the item you are pointing to.

In Mac OS X, menus are slightly translucent. Although this makes them look cool on screen, it doesn't always look good when illustrated on paper.

To use a menu

1.

Point to the name of the menu (Figure 13 ).

Figure 13. Point to the menu name.

2.

Click. The menu opens, displaying its options (Figure 14 ).

Figure 14. Click (or press) to display the menu.

3.

Point to the menu option you want (Figure 15 ).

Figure 15. Click (or drag) to choose the menu option you want.

4.

Click to choose the option. The menu disappears.

Tips

    Mac OS X's menus are "sticky menus"each menu opens and stays open when you click its name.

    To close a menu without choosing an option, click outside the menu.

    This book uses the following notation to indicate menu commands:

    Menu Name >

    Submenu Name (if necessary) >

    Command Name . For example, the instructions for choosing the Documents command from the Recent Folders submenu under the Go menu (Figure 9 ) would be: "choose Go > Recent Folders > Documents."

To use a contextual menu

1.

Point to the item on which you want to act.

2.

Press and hold down (Figure 16 ).

Figure 16. Hold down while pointing to an item.

3.

Click. A contextual menu appears at the item (Figure 17 ).

Figure 17. A contextual menu appears when you click.

4.

Click the menu option you want (Figure 18 ).

Figure 18. Click (or drag) to choose the option you want.

Tip

    Contextual menus are similar to the Action pop-up menu. I tell you about this Mac OS X feature later in this chapter.