InDesign Course:
Basic Macintosh Skills

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

appendices

Hypertext

Basic Macintosh Skills

Assignment

Index

• The differences between DOS, Windows and Apple Macintosh
• The Mac's office metaphor: desktop and filing cabinets
• The operating system: the Finder in the Application Menu
• Mouse and/or keyboard shortcuts
• How to find and start an application
• Where to save your work

• You benefit most from this section by performing the instructions that you come across while you are reading this text.
• To perform a Macintosh instruction you need to switch from your browser (Netscape) to the Macintosh's operating system, called the Finder.The easiest way to activate the Finder is by clicking with the mouse on an empty space of your work screen. Do not click on a window, the menu bar or any of the icons, but only on the desk top. You have activated the Finder successfully if the icon of the Application/Programma Menu top right in the menu bar has changed from the Netscape logo into a double-face (the Happy Mac) icon:

  

  Note that the title bar of the Netscape window containing this course text has become pale grey without any black lettering in it. In fact, while you are working with the Finder and issuing Macintosh commands, the Netscape window remains visible, but it is not active. When, after performing the instructions, you want to scroll further down in this text to read on, first activate Netscape by clicking once anywhere in the window. (Note, then, that the Netscape icon has returned in the Application/Programma Menu.)

• During the InDesign Self-instruction course, you will often be working with two windows on your computer screen at the same time. You probably have the most convenient screen arrangement if you let each window cover one half of your screen. To resize a window, use the scaling box at the bottom right of the window; then click, keep the mouse button depressed and drag it. To move a window, click and drag it by the title bar, at the top of the window. Only one window on your screen can be the active window, i.e. reacts to mouse and/or to shortcut instructions. If you are not yet skilled at moving and resizing windows, this is the time to practise. While resizing the Netscape window, the text you were reading may shift along with it, so you may have to scroll up and down a bit to retrace your steps. Consider it good practice!

The differences between DOS and Apple Macintosh

For many years the main difference between the DOS and Apple Macintosh operating systems used to be that Apple used a graphical user interface, using WIMPs (windows, icons, mouse, pull-down menus). The DOS world has since also come up with various graphical interfaces to make working with DOS more user-friendly, for example Windows and OS/2. The DOS and Apple graphical interfaces now resemble each other very much. Mind you, in spite of the similarities, many differences remain.

The Mac's office metaphor: desktop and filing cabinets

Macintosh likes to compare the computer to an office, which contains a desk, filing cabinets and a wastepaper basket (Trash/Prullenmand). After the startup process has been completed, and before you open a program (or application; these words are often used as synonyms), the screen represents the desktop, which is empty apart from a line of words at the top (representing the menus), some icons representing the filing cabinet(s) and the wastepaper basket. The basic division is that between the menu bar, which stretches along the top of the screen, and the desktop with the filing cabinets.

• The menu bar
  The menu bar at the top op your screen has a number of pull-down menus. Each menu holds a number of commands (or options; these are used as synonyms), which you make visible by clicking the menu with the mouse. You select a command by clicking it. You will practice this a bit further on.
  The menu bar comprises from left to right:
  • The Apple symbol, covering a menu of Apple Mac functions that are available at all times (so regardless of the application you are in). Pull down the menu to see the functions and options, but before you do this, realise that the menu will partly cover your screen and this text: it will take up a column of about 7cm on the left side. So first use the scaling box bottom right to reduce the width of your Netscape window by 7cm (you may have to scroll a bit to get back to this text), then move the Netscape window to the right of the screen by dragging it by the title bar. Make sure that the scroll bars to the bottom and to the right of the window are still visible; you need them to read this text!
    So pull down the menu to see the functions and options. Apart from the Note Pad/Notitieblok, the item of most interest to you in wordprocessing and page layout (Indesign) is Key Caps/Toetsen. It shows the mapping of keys when pressed in combination with the Control (Ctrl), Alt (which may have the symbol of a shopping trolley) and Shift keys. Release the mouse at this Key Caps/Toetsen option and try to find out how to produce a copyright symbol, a c-cedilla, a Dutch guilder sign and an m-dash. Click the closing box to remove the keyboard from your screen.
  • There is the program menu bar, in between the Apple and the Happy Mac icon, which changes with every application. Switch from Netscape to the Finder and back (by clicking Netscape window and desktop respectively) to notice the different names of the menus. Most applications have a File/Archief Menu and an Edit/Wijzig Menu. Pull these two down with the mouse and compare them for the Finder and for Netscape.
    In the program menu bar you see the Help Menu. If you click the word with the mouse, you will find that it has the option/command Help balloons/Ballonhelp. See what happens when you activate the option and continue working: the balloons are self-explanatory as well as explanatory. If you are (relatively) new to Apple Macintosh you might like to keep them switched on while you are working.
  • The Application/Programma Menu you find far right in the menu bar. It shows you which program is active. When you pull the menu down, the lower section allows you to check which programs you have already opened. When you release the mouse on one of the icons in the pull-down menu, you activate the application. This, then, provides you with an alternative way to switch from Netscape to the Finder and back--which up till now you have done by clicking on a desktop item of one of the applications. A piece of jargon: switching from one application to another is called toggling.

• The filing cabinets
  The remainder of the screen (below the menu bar) is your workbench. The items displayed as well as their position may vary from one computer to another, because this is a customized arrangement. The exceptions are the hard disk and/or server, which are always in the top right-hand corner, and the Trash/Prullenmand, which is always in the bottom right-hand corner.
  The icons lined along the right-hand side of the screen represent various forms of filing cabinets:
  • The machine's hard disk is represented by the upper icon. This is where you find InDesign 1.5.2. When you open the hard disk (by doubleclicking on it) the window may cover this text, so prepare to move and resize windows. When you have opened the hard disk, search the hard disk window for the InDesign program folder, but leave it closed until the next part of the course.
    The hard disk is also the location to store items while you are working. The most organized way to do this is by keeping them in a temporary folder. To create a temporary folder on the hard disk, select File > New Folder. A new folder will automatically be placed on the desktop. When you are working in InDesign and want to save your document in a separate folder, first choose File > Save as. In the new window that pops up, you can choose the location of the new folder in the drop menu. The desktop is the most convenient location. Next, click on the New Folder icon which is also included here. It will bring up a new window in which you can give a name to your folder. You can label it, for instance, "temporary" or enter your first name. If you click on Create, the document can be saved in the new folder that you have just created.
    As yet, no personalised comuter accounts have been developed for the Apple Macintosh computers in 1175-127. This will change, however, in the near future. For the time being, save all your work on the hard disk of the computer.
  • If you doubleclick on the icon labeled "Macintosh HD" on the workbench, you can see all the items that are installed on this computer's hard disc.
  • If you insert a CD an additional icon will appear to represent it. You can check its contents by doubleclicking the icon. A window appears, which you may close by means of the closing box top left. To eject your CD, drag the CD icon onto the Trash/Prullenmand icon.
  • The Trash/Prullenmand is where you throw things you do not want anymore. To delete a file on the desktop, for instance, you can click on the icon of that file and drag it onto the Trashcan. However, they are not really deleted until you empty it from the Special/Speciaal Menu. This means that you can take things out of the Trash/Prullenmand which you threw away by accident; it also means that everything which is in the Trash/Prullenmand taxes the computer's memory until you emptied it.

The operating system: the Finder in the Application Menu

The software that is active when startup has been completed is the computer's operating system; it is called the Finder. Next time you start a computer, you can check the Application Menu, which will show only the Finder's icon: a double face (the Happy Mac) icon. The Finder is the central organizing tool that helps you find, but also file away and sort, everything you need to work with. It is also the program that starts (and controls the functioning of) the application you want to work with. When you open an application, the menu and the icon change from that of the Finder into that of the application. Since you are now working with Netscape, the functions in the menu bar are those of Netscape, and the icon displayed in the Application Menu is Netscape's also. By clicking on the icon in the top right-hand corner you can see that both Netscape and the Finder are available, and perhaps Teach/SimpleText as well. With every application you start, the menu grows and the choice widens. By dragging down and releasing the cursor, you activate one of the available applications. A reminder: switching from one program to the other with the Application Menu is called toggling. You can also switch to a different application by clicking on any of its items on the desktop, such as a window or a folder.
The Apple Macintosh's System 9 operating system is a multitasking environment, which is jargon for a system that allows you to work at multiple documents at the same time, and in various programs at the same time. You may, for example, open a document in a wordprocessing application, and then, without having to save the file and close the application, open a page makeup program and start working on a document there. Depending on the amount of working memory, you may have any number of applications open at the same time, and any number of documents within one application. In the next course part, you will be using this multitasking feature when you are working with InDesign and reading this Netscape text at the same time.

Mouse and/or keyboard shortcuts

The mouse is a very versatile aid in operating the computer and its applications. It is central to most Macintosh applications, and it is indispensable for some functions. Think especially of the way you give Macintosh commands: by pulling down menus with the mouse and releasing the mouse on the option of your choice. However, there are cases when the keyboard works faster. Many commands in the menu therefore show a so-called keyboard shortcut: a combination of keys to be pressed at the same time to perform that function.
For demonstration: pull down the Edit/Wijzig Menu and notice the shortcuts to the right. An example of a keyboard shortcut common to all Macintosh applications in this menu is Apple+A for the Select All/Selecteer alles command. When you press the key with the Apple symbol next to the space bar and the key for the letter A at the same time, you select this entire document, so that for example you can continue to copy (Apple + C) and paste it (Apple + V) into an another document. In contrast, selecting all with the mouse would involve scrolling through the text from top to bottom while keeping the mouse depressed!
Try the Apple + A shortcut now on this course text: all text will light up/change colour. To deselect, simply click once with the mouse.

How to find and start an application

Macintosh applications may be started in one of two ways: by doubleclicking on the application icon (as you have just done to open Netscape), or by doubleclicking on a document already created by the application. When you doubleclick a document, the Finder itself opens the application before it opens the document.
To find the document or the application you want to open, you can browse through the contents of the various disks/filing cabinets by doubleclicking them. If you know the document's/application's name you may also use the Finder to search for it. In a moment, you will select the Search/Zoek option in the Finder's File/Archief Menu or use the shortcut: Apple + F. But first realise that upon this command a so-called dialog box will pop up on your screen, which may cover this text. If it does, close the box by clicking the closing box top left and resize and move this Netscape window so that the text remains visible. Once you have selected the Search/Zoek option in the Finder's (not in Netscape's) File/Archief Menu, see what happens when you type "InDesign" in the dialogue box, and press the Enter/Hard return key. Don't start the application yet; just close the boxes for now.
To close or to quit an application, go to the File menu and select Quit. You can switch off the computer by selecting Special > Shut Down. Make sure that you have closed all the applications before you shut down the computer.

Where to save your work

It is very important to save your work at frequent intervals. But where to save it is equally important. The first time use the Save as option, as opposed to the Save option, in the File Menu. By using Save as, you make sure that you save the document under an identifiable name and in the correct folder so you can easily find it back and Open it next time you want to work with it. Once you have used the Save As option, the Save function will regularly and automatically save to the folder you have selected, which is now the active folder. You can give your documents longer, more descriptive names than the 8+3 characters of DOS.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

appendices

Hypertext

Basic Macintosh Skills

Assignment

Index

e-mail