Mac OS makes extensive use of windows for displaying icons and other information in the Finder and documents in other applications.
Figures 36 and
37 show two different views of a Finder window.
Each window includes a variety of controls you can use to manipulate it:
The
close button closes the window.
The
minimize button collapses the window to an icon in the Dock.
The
zoom button toggles the window's size between full size and a custom size.
The
toolbar displays buttons and controls for working with Finder windows.
The
title bar displays the window's icon and name.
The
Search box enables you to search for files using Spotlight.
The
toolbar hide control toggles the display of the toolbar.
The
Sidebar , which is customizable, shows commonly accessed volumes and folders, including the default folders in your Home folder.
The
status bar provides information about items in a window and space available on disk.
The
size control enables you to set a custom size for the window.
Scroll bars scroll the contents of the window.
Column headings (in list view only) display the names of the columns and let you quickly sort by a column. (The selected column heading is the column by which the list is sorted.)
I cover the Finder's three window views in
Chapter 3 , the toolbar and Sidebar later in this chapter, the status bar in
Chapter 4 , and Spotlight in
Choose File > New Finder Window (Figure 38 ), or press
Hold down
Opening folders and disks is explained earlier in this chapter.
Click the window's close button (Figures 36 and
37 ).
Or
Choose File > Close Window (Figure 40 ), or press
Hold down
37 ).
Or
Hold down
The Close Window/Close All commands (Figures 40 and
41 ) are examples of
dynamic menu items pressing a modifier key (in this case,
Click anywhere in or on the window.
Or
Choose the name of the window you want to activate from the Window menu (Figure 42 ).
Make sure that the window you want to work with is open and active
before using commands that work on the active windowsuch as Close Window, Select All, and View menu options.
You can distinguish between active and inactive windows by the appearance of their title bars; the buttons on the left end of an active window's title bar are in color (Figure 39 ). In addition, a check mark appears beside the active window's name in the Window menu (Figure 43 ).
When two or more windows overlap, the active window will always be on top of the stack (Figure 39 ).
You can use the Cycle Through Windows command (Figure 43 ) or its handy shortcut,
Choose Window > Bring All to Front (Figure 43 ). All open Finder windows that are not minimized are moved in front of any windows opened by other applications.
Finder windows can be intermingled with other applications' windows. The Bring All to Front command gathers the windows together in the top layers. This command is useful when working with many windows from several different applications.
1. | Position the mouse pointer on the window's title bar (Figure 44 ) or border. Figure 44. Position the mouse pointer on the title bar. |
2. | Press the mouse button and drag the window to a new location. As you drag, the window moves along with your mouse pointer (Figure 45 ). Figure 45. As you drag, the window moves. |
3. | When the outline of the window is in the desired position, release the mouse button. |
As discussed later in this chapter, hiding the toolbar and Sidebar removes window borders. If window borders are not showing, the only way to move a window is to drag its title bar.
1. | Position the mouse pointer on the size control in the lower-right corner of the window (Figure 46 ). Figure 46. Position the mouse pointer on the size control. |
2. | Press the mouse button and drag. As you drag, the size control moves with the mouse pointer, changing the size and shape of the window (Figure 47 ). Figure 47. As you drag, the window's size and shape changes. |
3. | When the window is the desired size, release the mouse button. |
Click the window's minimize button (Figures 36 and
37 ).
Or
Choose Window > Minimize (Figure 48 ), or press
Or
Double-click the window's title bar.
The window shrinks into an icon and slips into the Dock at the bottom of the screen (Figure 49 ).
To minimize all windows, hold down
Click the window's icon in the Dock (Figure 49 ).
Or
Choose the window's name from the Window menu (Figure 50 ).
Click the window's zoom button (Figure 1 ).
User state size, which is the size you specify with the size control (Figure 47 ).
Click one of the scroll bar arrows (Figure 51 ) as follows:
To scroll the window's contents up, click the down arrow on the vertical scroll bar.
To scroll the window's contents down, click the up arrow on the vertical scroll bar.
To scroll the window's contents to the left, click the right arrow on the horizontal scroll bar.
To scroll the window's contents to the right, click the left arrow on the horizontal scroll bar.
If you have trouble remembering which scroll arrow to click, think of it this way:
Click down to see down.
Click up to see up.
Click right to see right.
Click left to see left.
You can also scroll a window's contents by either clicking in the scroll track on either side of the scroller or by dragging the scroller to a new position on the scroll bar. Both of these techniques enable you to scroll a window's contents more quickly.
Scroll bars only appear when necessarywhen part of a window's contents are hidden. In
Figure 36 , for example, it isn't necessary to scroll from side to side so the horizontal scroll bar does not appear. In
Figure 46 , all of the window's contents are displayed so no scroll bars appear.
The scrollers in Mac OS X are proportionalthis means that the more of a window's contents you see, the more space the scroller will take up in its scroll bar.