Books for the Mac Enthusiast

Great ebooks for people getting started with Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)


Introduction to Leopard - Book 1
Introduction to Leopard - Book 2
Introduction to Leopard - Book 3

Author: Claire J Rottenberg


Are you a new Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) user? If you are, these three course books on Leopard are perfect for you. Each volume of this Leopard series consists of comprehensive lessons on five different topics. The first course book introduces you to the basic features of Leopard, the second ebook further extends your learning of some of the basic features of Leopard, such as using Spotlight for searching and the third course book in the series delves into some of the lesser known applications included in Mac OS X 10.5, such as Preview and Font Book.

Once you've set up your Internet connection and before connecting to the Internet, you should make sure you turn on the Mac OS X 10.5 built-in firewall protection. Open the Mac OS X 10.5 System Preferences, click the Security button and select the Firewall tab. You have three options for setting the firewall:

• Allow all incoming connections - This is the least secure option and it is selected by default when you install Mac OS X 10.5 (i.e., the firewall is turned off by default). It is not advisable to select this option unless you are certain that your Internet connection is protected by a hardware/router firewall.



• Allow only essential services - This is the most secure option. If you don't use your computer on a local network, you can probably use this setting without any problems.



• Set access for specific services and applications - This option provides you with the most flexibility in setting the firewall. If you sometimes use applications that need to access your Internet connection for incoming activities, you can allow those applications access by adding them to the section at the bottom of the Firewall Pane. Click the plus symbol at the bottom of the pane and locate and select the applications you want to add from the Finder pane that opens. Next, click the button on the far right side of an application's name and select to either Allow incoming connections or Block incoming connections from the drop-down menu.

For even greater security, click the Advanced... button in the lower right corner of the Firewall Pane. Another pane will open and you can select additional options for maximum security. Put a check in the box in front of Enable Stealth Mode for maximum protection. If you want a record of all firewall activity, put a check in the box in front of Enable Firewall Logging. To view the log, click the Open Log... button.



Copyright 2008, Claire J Rottenberg

Having a printed calendar can sometimes be useful. If you use iCal, it's easy to print a calendar. Select Print... from the File menu and a pane will open with several options.

• View - You can print the calendar in Day, Week, Month, or List view. The List view option will yield a list of events and To Dos and due dates for them.
  



• Paper - You can select the paper size you want.
  



• Time range - You can select the starting and ending dates for your calendar.
  



• Calendars - You can print the events from as few or as many calendars as
  you want on a single calendar.
  



• All-Day Events / To Dos with Due Dates - You can select which types of events you want printed on your calendar, including not having any events printed.
  



• Mini-Months - Your printed calendars can include mini-calendars for the selected month and its previous and following months.
  

Copyright 2008, Claire J Rottenberg

A special feature of Preview is the ability to add comments to sections of text in PDF documents or to mark sections of text for later use. To begin annotating text, select Annotate from the Tools menu. A drop-down menu will appear with four options:

• Add Oval - When you select this option, you will be able to mark any text with a red oval. Drag your mouse over text until the oval surrounds the text you want.
  



• Add Rectangle - When you select this option, you will be able to mark any text with a brown rectangle. Drag your mouse over text until the rectangle surrounds the text you want.
  
  



• Add Note - When you select this option, the document in the window will be reduced in size and the cursor will change to a plus symbol. Click on the section of the text that you want to annotate and a small square will appear on the document and a Post-it type note will appear in the margin to the left of the document. Type your annotation on the note and click the small circle in the upper right corner of the note when you are finished. To view a note, click on it and the document window will change to the note annotation window.
  



• Add Link - You can select any text in a PDF document and create a link to another page in the document or to a website on the Internet. When you select this option, the Annotation Inspector Pane will open and you can select the type of link you want.
  
  

Copyright 2008, Claire J Rottenberg

iPhoto makes it easy to search for particular photos. You can use iPhoto's search box to find photos by title, date, keyword, or rating. iPhoto's search function uses the Mac OS X superfast Spotlight technology so your search results appear immediately in the iPhoto window. To search for photos by words in the names of the photos (for example, all photos that include "beach" in their names), select Photos, Events or a folder or album in the Source List and then type a search term in the search box on the Status Bar at the bottom of the iPhoto window.

If you want to search for photos by date, click the magnifying glass next to the search box and select Date from the drop-down menu that appears. A pane will pop up and you can select the month and year you want. If you want a range of months, press the Command key while selecting the months and years. You can further refine your search to particular dates within a month and year by clicking the arrow in the upper left corner of the pane and selecting the exact date or range of dates that you want from the new pane that appears.

If you prefer to search by keyword, click the magnifying glass next to the search box and select Keyword. A pane will pop up, listing all of your keywords. Select the keyword you want from the pane and all photos in your library or in a selected folder or album that have that keyword will appear in the iPhoto window.

You can rate your photos and then search for all photos with a rating. Click the magnifying glass next to the search box and select Rating from the drop-down menu. Five stars will appear in the search box. Click the number of stars you want and all photos with that rating and higher will appear in the iPhoto window. Note that there doesn't seem to be any way to narrow the search to only one rating (for example, only photos with two stars), with the exception of five stars.


Copyright 2008, Claire J Rottenberg