Getting
to
Know
a
Mac
Near
You:



Just
the
Basics
and
an
Invitation
to
Play.




Are
you
thinking
of
switching
or
do
you
just
want
to
be
fluent?



It
used
to
be
a
clear
choice.
Either
you
were
a
Windows
user
or
a
Mac
user
and
never
the
twain
met.

Maybe
you
even
read
the
famous
1994
Mac‐Dos
analogy
by
the
writer
Umberto
Eco
that
described

the
Mac
as
Catholic
and
Dos
as
Protestant
and
took
a
side.1



I
wonder
what
Eco
would
say
since
the
rise
of
the
iPhone
and
iPods
which
have
become
ubiquitous

among
traditional
Windows
users.
All
of
a
sudden
people
find
themselves
having
to
become
familiar

with
some
Apple
technologies
that
they
could
ignore
in
the
past.
You
may
have
downloaded
Apple's

iTunes
and
Quicktime
on
your
PC
already
,
and
you
are
certainly
familiar
with
Microsoft
Office—but

did
you
know
that
Microsoft
has
been
making
a
version
of
Office
for
Macs
since
the
1984
days.
To

paraphrase
Eco,
the
world
is
not
divided
anymore
between
users
of
one
or
another
computer

operating
system.



Today,
we
don't
need
to
switch
alliances
to
be
fluent
in
more
than
one
operating
system—we
can

know
how
to
work
in
both
and
take
advantage
of
what
works
best
in
each.
In
these
pages,
we
will

share
some
resources
on
how
to
work
on
a
Mac
and
why
you
might
want
to,
so
that
you
can
walk
up

to
one
wherever
you
are
and
be
productive,
or
address
your
Mac
students'
questions.










You
can
find
complete
resources
on
the
differences
in

navigation
on
the
Apple
site:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2512



You
can
find
a
list
of
corresponding
tasks
on
the
different

systems
here:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2514?viewlocale=en_US




Figure
1.
iMac
and
Digital
Video
Editing

Equipment



























































1

See
the
excerpt
from
Umberto
Eco's
Mac/Dos
Analogy
from
his
back‐page
column,
La
bustina
di

Minerva,
in
the
Italian
news
weekly
Espresso,
September
30,
1994.

http://www.themodernword.com/eco/eco_mac_vs_pc.html

The
Mac
Desktop
and
Finder
Window






Figure
2.
Mac
Desktop
&
Finder
Window




The
Mac
desktop
has
a
Dock
at
the
bottom,
similar
to
the
Windows
taskbar,
and
a
Menu
Bar
at
the

top
that
is
like
the
menu
bar
of
any
application
in
Windows.
When
you
are
not
working
in
an

application,
it
is
a
Finder
Menu
Bar
(Fig.
3)
with
options
for
a
few
desktop
operations.
When
you
are

working
in
an
application,
your
application
menu
(Fig.
4)
appears
in
that
bar.





Figure
3.
Finder
Menu
Bar




Figure
4.
Application
Menu
Bar


The
Dock
is
at
the
bottom
of
the
screen
by
default,
but
you
can
change
it
to
a
vertical
sidebar,
if
you

choose.
You
can
even
hide
it
to
secure
more
screen
space—it
will
pop
up
in
response
to
your
cursor

coming
near
the
bottom
of
the
screen.
You
can
place
any
of
your
most‐used
applications
there
to

open
with
one
click,
as
well
as
folders
and
documents
that
you
use
often.
When
one
of
your

applications
is
open,
there
will
be
a
glowing
blue
dot
under
the
icon.




FAQ:
I
closed
all
my
applications,
but
there
are
still
blue
dots
under
the
icons.
I
thought
you
said
that

meant
they
were
open.
Is
there
another
way
to
close
them?



The
most
common
mistake
Windows
users
make
on
a
Mac
is
thinking
that
closing
an
application

window
with
the
red
ball
in
the
upper
left
corner
closes
or
quits
the
application.
On
a
Mac,
it
only

closes
the
window.
To
quit
the
application,
you
go
to
the
application
File
menu
and
choose
quit
or

type
command‐q.
Note:
The
Finder
icon
at
the
far
left
on
the
Dock
is
always
running
and
always
has
its

blue
dot
on.



The
Finder
Window
(and
you
can
open
multiples
of
them)
compares
to
a
combination
of
the
Start

Menu
and
Explorer
windows
on
PCs.
Except
for
System
configurations
and
preferences,
pretty
much

everything
on
a
Mac
can
be
found
in
a
Finder
window,
which
you
can
open
by
clicking
on
the
Finder

icon
at
the
far
left
of
the
Dock
or
by
clicking
on
File
>
New
finder
Window
from
the
Finder
Menu
Bar.

Popular
Mac
Uses



Macs
are
popular
for
audio,
video,
music,
and

image
editing,
because
of
both
the
ease
of
use

and
stunning
clarity
of
its
interface,
as
well
as

native
software,
like
iMovie,
iPhoto,
and

GarageBand.




We
have
our
new
iMacs
connected
to
our
digital

video
editing
equipment
for
converting
videos

to
digital
forms,
and
we
also
have
one
other

Apple
application,
Final
Cut
Express,
for
more

professional
editing
options.



Figure
5.
iMovie
and
GarageBand
 



We
have
some
software
available
on
both

our
iMacs
and
a
few
PCs,
like
the
Adobe

Creative
Suite
CS4
and
Camtasia
for
Mac,

and
you
could
try
them
out
on
a
Mac
to
see

the
differences,
if
you
are
interested
in

photo
editing,
graphics
creation,
or
screen

capturing.









Figure
6.
Adobe
Photoshop
Application









This
brief
introduction
to
working
on
a
Mac
will
not
answer
all
your
questions.
Call
your
nearest

campus
AEC
for
an
appointment
to
practice
on
one
of
our
Macs,
or
drop
in
when
you
are
in
the

neighborhood.
Our
skill
levels
in
graphic
design
and
knowledge
about
the
Mac
environment
vary

from
campus
to
campus,
but
we
will
work
together
to
find
solutions
for
your
projects
or
training

interests.




AEC
East
 Barbara
Pittman
 ESS
3300
 216‐987‐2154


 
 Steve
Ahern

AEC
Metro
 Cindy
Potteiger

 MSS
313
 216‐987‐3674


 
 Jennie
Devaney

AEC
West
 Bill
Fogarty
 
 WSS
203
 216‐987‐5404


 
 Jeff
Ballinger





For
more
complete
information
from
Apple
on
how
to
switch
to
a
Mac
environment,
see
the

following:
http://www.apple.com/support/mac101/