The Basics: Mouse, Windows, and Menus

Mouse

There are five basic mouse actoins you can perform on a Mac:

• Point: move the mouse arrow on some object.
• Click: point the mouse on some object and click the mouse button -once-. This "selects" an object (usually highlights it somehow). The Mac's attention is now focused on this object.
• Double-click: point the mouse on some object and click the mouse button -twice-. This "activates" an object (e.g., opens a document or runs an application).
• Drag: click on some object and continue to hold the mouse button--then move the mouse. This action has mutliple uses. You can drag to select multiple objects, move objects, and select menu items.
• Shift-click: the same as clicking except you hold down the shift key on the keyboard while you click the mouse button. Multiple shift-clicks can select disjoint objects in ways that a drag cannot.

Windows

The basic window components are:

• Title bar
• Close box
• Scroll bars
• Grow box
• Zoom box
• "Window Shade" box

A dialog is a special kind of window that asks a question. It is "modal" in the sense that you must answer somehow (if even just to cancel).

An alert is a special kind of dialog that is used to draw your attention to something important. There are three kinds of alerts:

• Note alert
• Caution alert
• Stop alert

Menus

Menus are used to give the Macintosh commands. There are four basic types:

• Menu bar menus
• Embedded menus
• Hierarchical menus
• Contextual menus

Command key equivalents can be used instead of menus (see below).

Special Keys

The option key is used like an extra shift key.

The command key (the "apple" or "clover" key) can be used in combination with other keys in place of select specific items in menus. Command key equivalents will always be shown in menus. Certain command key equivalents have become standard within every application.