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Window management

Pt. 4 of 10 | 2:38 |

Making the Move to Mac

Thursday November 27, 2008

When making the switch from PC to Mac, you'll notice that things are a little different. Most of the basic functionality is the same, it's just that the interface functions are unique to each operating system. Program and application windows work in much the same way in Mac as in Windows but are controlled slightly differently. Permit us to demonstrate...

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Show Notes

In Windows, you're probably familiar with the three buttons in the top-right hand corner of an application that's running. These buttons are used to maximize (go full-screen), minimize (hide the application to the Taskbar) and close. These same functions are located in the top-left of an application window in Mac OSX. They're color-coded to make things easier. The green button maximizes or restores your window, the yellow button minimizes and the red button closes the window.

- In Windows, the task menu is built in to the application window. On the Mac though, the task menu for a given application always runs along the top of your desktop and changes in context to what application or window is currently selected.

A few handy keyboard shortcuts

Windows: Ctrl + N for a new tab, folder or window.
Mac: Cmnd + N for a new tab, folder or window.

Windows: Ctrl + W to close a tab or folder.
Mac: Cmnd + W to close a tab, folder, window or application.

Windows: Alt + F4 to quit an application or close a window.
Mac: Cmnd + Q to quit an application.

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