The GUI consists of various symbolic elements that you, the user, can manipulate in order to get things done on your MacBook. For example, instead of typing a bunch of words and text symbols into your computer to get it to open the directory where your photos are, you can just click the icon that represents your hard drive, then click the icon that represents the area where your photos are stored. It's a lot easier that way and there's a lot less to remember.
Icons are those cute little pictures and symbols that represent locations or functions. For example, you click a picture of a file folder to open a location on your computer's hard drive and see what files are stored there. You click a picture of a printer when you want to print something, or you click a picture that represents the executable file of iTunes when you want to listen to some music.
Just like the menu at a restaurant, your computer's menus give you multiple options in an ordered list. Most of the time, when you select a menu option, the menu closes and the task you have selected is performed. Other times, you may find that selecting a menu item leads to another menu, and perhaps additional menus. You'll find generally that menus contain elements that all relate to each other. In your word processing program's File menu, you have the options to open, close, save, and print documents, while in the Edit menu, you typically have the options to cut, copy, and paste text.
A window is basically a bordered area that allows you to see what's stored inside your computer, like files, folders, and applications. It's possible to have multiple windows open at the same time, and if you do any multitasking, you most certainly will. You might have iTunes playing your favorite music in one window, be surfing the Web with Safari in another window, and replying to e-mail in yet a third window. You can have many windows open at once.
Files and folders are how your GUI represents individual items contained in your computer's hard drive and where they are stored. If you think of your computer as an actual file cabinet, the folders would be, well, the folders, and the files would be the paperwork, notes, photos, and such that you keep in those folders. When you open a folder, a window will appear with the files displayed for you to browse through.
Folders are the best way to keep your computer organized. Depending on how detailed you want to get, you can create folders inside folders inside folders. For example, you can create a folder called Photos to store your digital photos in. Inside Photos, you might have multiple folders called Family, Vacation, and Pets. Inside your Vacation folder, you might have even more folders, one for each of the vacations you've taken. Or you can just put all your photos in a single folder and call it good; it's all up to you!
The Dock is the bar at the bottom of your MacBook screen that contains icons representing programs, files, and folders on your computer. Since the Dock contains shortcuts for the most commonly used programs and folders, you'll probably be using it a lot.
The Dock's default position is along the bottom of your screen, but you can move it to the side if you prefer. Not everyone uses the same programs or folders with the same frequency, so you'll also learn how to change the contents of the Dock so that it contains only the items that you want it to.
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