The Dock provides users with a convenient place to quickly access commonly used applications and documents. Without the Dock, you’d need to delve into folders and subfolders to access applications and files that you want to work with.
By default, the Dock appears at the bottom of your screen; however, it can be moved to different areas of your screen and it can be highly customized to meet your needs. Basic Dock features can be accessed directly from the Apple menu.
1. From the Apple menu, choose Dock > Position on Left. The Dock switches to a vertical orientation and is docked to the left side of your screen.
2. From the Apple menu, choose Dock > Position on Right. The Dock remains in its vertical orientation but is moved to the other side of your screen.
3. Choose Apple menu > Dock > Position on Bottom to return the Dock to the bottom of your screen, its default location. Only you can decide which positioning of the Dock will best benefit you, and you may not know until you try the different options.
As helpful as the Dock is, it does occupy valuable screen real estate that could be utilized when viewing web pages or reading long documents. Fortunately, Snow Leopard operating system provides some options that allow you to make better use of the space that the Dock occupies.
1. Choose Apple menu > Dock > Turn Hiding On. The Dock disappears.
2. Move your cursor all the way to the bottom of your screen. The Dock appears, making itself visible while your cursor is in the Dock area.
3. Move your cursor up and out of the area that the Dock occupies. The Dock disappears, hiding once again.
Hiding the Dock is incredibly efficient because the Dock only appears when you need it. At any other time, the Dock is hidden and out of the way so that you have extra space in which to work.
4. Choose Apple menu > Dock > Turn Hiding Off . This will keep the Dock visible while working throughout this book.
In the following steps, you’ll learn how to change the appearance of the Dock and its behavior. Earlier, you adjusted the Dock by using the commands in the Apple menu. Additional options are available by accessing the preference pane for the Dock.
1. Choose Apple menu > System Preferences and click the Dock icon in the Personal category of the System Preferences pane.
2. Click and drag the Size slider to the left and right to see the size of the Dock change on your screen. As you’ll see later in this article, you can add additional items to the Dock for easy access. As you do, the Dock will fi ll more of your screen. Adjusting the Size slider allows you to compensate for these additional items when you add them.
3. Click the Magnification checkbox.
4. Move your cursor into the Dock area and move it to the left and right in the Dock. As you move your cursor, the icons magnify, displaying at a larger size. This is helpful when you have several items in your Dock and you’ve made the Dock fairly small. The icons magnify, giving you a better view of each.
5. Drag the Magnification slider to the left and move your cursor back into the Dock area. The icons magnify less now because of that adjustment.
6. Drag the Magnification slider all the way to the right to magnify the icons to the maximum amount.
7. Uncheck the Magnification checkbox to turn off Magnification of the icons. The Minimize windows using drop-down menu controls how Finder windows are minimized to the Dock. The Genie effect is the default behavior.
8. Press the yellow Minimize button to minimize the Dock preference pane to the Dock. The animated behavior that you see is called the Genie effect.
9. Click the Dock preference pane icon at the right side of the Dock to maximize the window.
10. From the Minimize windows using drop-down menu, choose Scale effect and press the yellow Minimize button to minimize the Dock preference pane again. The effect that you see now is a simpler animation effect.
11. Click the Dock preference pane icon at the right side of the Dock to maximize the window.
12. Choose Genie effect from the Minimize windows using drop-down menu to reset the behavior to the default setting. The Animate opening applications checkbox determines how an application’s icon appears in the Dock when you launch the application.
13. With the Animate opening applications checkbox selected, click the Safari icon in the Dock and watch the icon as the application launches. Depending on the speed of your computer, the icon bounces once or twice to indicate that the application is launching. Quit Safari.
14. Uncheck the Animate opening application checkbox and click the Safari icon once again to launch the application. Notice that the icon no longer bounces, but instead retains its normal display. Quit Safari.
15. Check the Animate opening applications checkbox to return to the default setting.
16. Click the Minimize windows into application icon then minimize the Dock preference pane. Instead of the window minimizing to the right side of the Dock, it minimizes to the System Preferences icon in the Dock.
17. Click the System Preferences icon to maximize the Dock preference pane.
18. Uncheck the Minimize windows into application checkbox for now to return the setting to its default.
19. Close the Dock preference pane.
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1. Accessorize Your Apple and Other Things Too
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