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Mac 101: Changing the size of your icons
Finder's View Options allow you to control the way your icons look on your desktop and in your folders. You can zoom your icons all the way up to a hefty 128x128 (shown here) or shrink them down to a modest 16x16. There are tradeoffs of course. Smaller icons let you see more files at once while large icons better allow you to preview your files, especially pictures. You can easily experiment with changing your icon sizes as follows.
Mac 101: Applications in the Finder toolbar
Last year (pre Mac 101) we told you about the ability to customize your Finder toolbar with folders for quick access, but you can also put applications there to use with drag and drop operations. For instance, in my Finder tool bar I have AppZapper, ImageWell, and Path Finder. This way I can easily uninstall applications, do simple image edits (especially resizing), or reveal the file in Path Finder just by dragging things onto the appropriate icon. This can be a real time saver for any applications you use regularly, particularly by drag and drop.To customize your Finder toolbar, just right-click on an empty area of the toolbar and choose "Customize Toolbar..." You'll want to have another Finder window open to your Applications folder and then you can just drag and drop application icons from the other Finder window onto the toolbar of the window with the customize sheet open.Update: As several folks have rightly pointed out you don't need to use the "Customize Toolbar..." command, though I was under the (perhaps mistaken) impression that Apple officially recommended doing it this way.
Mac 101: Quickly resize the Dock
Here's a Mac 101 tip for you: want to quickly resize your Dock? Just move your mouse to the vertical bar on the right (or bottom) side of the Dock, where it splits between application icons and minimized windows/the Trash, and drag... up/right to biggify, down/left for enhanced shrinkitude. Fun for all ages! Click the image or here for a movie demo.If you want to move the dock to a different side of the screen, try shift-dragging instead of just plain dragging.
New TUAW feature: Mac 101
Mac users of all levels enjoy our scribblings here at TUAW. When you have such a diverse audience, and are so familiar with Macs yourself, you sometimes forget that not everyone is a Mac pro (ha! Get it? Mac pro? Ahh, I'm so funny). That's why we have decided to launch a new series of posts here at TUAW called 'Mac 101.' These posts are aimed squarely at those folks who are new to the Mac. We'll be sharing some tips and tricks that people familiar with Macs have been using forever, but neophytes might find handy.If you have any suggestions for features, or series, that you would like to see here at TUAW leave us a note in the comments. We're here for you, man.
