Keyboard & Mouse | Menus | Finding, Opening, Arranging Files | Views | Ejecting & Shutting Down | Outside Resources

View:
In the Mac OS you can select "Icons," "Buttons," and "List" to view the files in a directory. "Icons" will be what you may be used to seeing on other platforms. "Buttons" change the icons to larger square "buttons" that you press once to launch. "List" is a text-only listing of files (with the addition of columns that contain information about the file). When in list view, you can click the column heading to sort all files in that directory according to that column's title (name, date, etc.).

Windows Explorer has similar options (Large Icons, Small Icons, List, Details). "Large Icons" will be what a typical Mac icon will look like (small icons will be a small version of this). "List" will list the files in order by name, whereas "Details" will be the equivalent of "List" on the Mac, in which you see details such as date created, file size, etc. along with the text listing of files.

File Extensions:
You'll probably notice that while working on a Mac that many files (most) don't have file extensions. Word documents won't have "*.doc" in them. How does the computer know what they are? Macs have always operated this way. The Mac OS stores a hidden file type code inside each file, rather than having it as a part of the filename itself. You can have a file extension in the filename, if you wish; it will have no effect on how the file is handled.

Traditionally, a file created on a PC and later transferred to a Mac will retain the file extension (the filename may be truncated to a certain number of characters, but the extension will remain intact).

Windows requires a file extension for every file (technically, a file can be the same file without any extension, but Windows will not know how to open it, and with what program). These file extensions are generally three letters following a period (such as "*.doc" for a Word document). They may be four letters in the case of files such as "*.html".

Window sizes:
Macs and Windows machines handle the size of open documents in a similar way. Older Mac OS versions have two buttons in the top corner of all windows: Zoom, and Close. The "X" button closes the window entirely, while the "Zoom" button (indicated by the "square" icon) adjusts the window to different sizes, such as full screen or part of a screen.

Taking a hint from Windows, Mac OS X has also implemented a minimize/maximize feature, along with the traditional "close" and "zoom" buttons. In the upper left corner of a window, you will notice three buttons: a red "X," a yellow minus, and a green plus. The "X" is the standard "close window" button, while the new minus sign is the button to minimize the window. The green plus is the old "zoom" button.

In Windows, there are three buttons located at the top corner: Minimize, Restore/Maximize, and Close. "Minimize" (shaped like a dash) zooms the window to the Taskbar at the bottom of the screen. "Restore" (the button has an image of two windows) adjusts the size of the screen to make it take up a smaller portion of the screen. When in "Restore" mode, the button becomes "Maximize," which puts the window back at the full screen size. The "Close" button (shaped like a "X") closes the window completely.

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