List of hidden OS X features, tips and tricks • Hacker News Board

Re: List of hidden OS X features, tips and tricks

#61

Post by mwfunk » Mon, Jun 24, 2013, 4:52 PM UTC

josteink wrote: post #46

m-r-a-m wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What I object to is you calling Ubuntu a hobbled experience. I might be wrong, but I think he's talking about a future in which Canonical is forced to remove features from Ubuntu due to patents. Whereas Apple would just pay the licensing fees. I don't see this happening because software patents don't exist in most of the world. The worst thing that could happen is they wouldn't be able to sell phones in the U.S. an…

> Whereas Apple would just pay the licensing fees. More like Apple would be the one firing the lawsuits. I find it troublesome to see so many otherwise talented hackers chop off their own feet by supporting the top company fuelling the patent-war and undermining the software-industry as a whole.

You are truly a delight.

Re: List of hidden OS X features, tips and tricks

#62

Post by sgt » Mon, Jun 24, 2013, 6:15 PM UTC

visagi wrote: post #30

sgt wrote: post #11

Not a hidden feature - but what confuses some of my family members is that if they install an app in OS X, they click on a downloaded dmg (or it auto-opens), and they get this Finder window opening, without "Applications" visible. Initially they just ran the application like this, as if it was installed. However, I've explained that it needs to be moved to "Applications". This is difficult, seeing that if one clicks…

The applications folder is in the dock by default.

I tried - dragging something using only a trackpad (many people just use a laptop) seems to be quite challenging for the computer challenged people.

Re: List of hidden OS X features, tips and tricks

#63

Post by surapaneni » Mon, Jun 24, 2013, 6:19 PM UTC

joeschmoe wrote: post #58

brown9-2 wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Opt key in "Cmd+Opt-V to 'paste'" is unnecessary.

Without the option key, Cmd-C/Cmd-V just copies and pastes. Cmd-C/Cmd+Opt-V cuts and pastes.

Thank you. No more two finder windows.

Re: List of hidden OS X features, tips and tricks

#64

Post by brown9-2 » Mon, Jun 24, 2013, 7:02 PM UTC

joeschmoe wrote: post #58

brown9-2 wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Opt key in "Cmd+Opt-V to 'paste'" is unnecessary.

Without the option key, Cmd-C/Cmd-V just copies and pastes. Cmd-C/Cmd+Opt-V cuts and pastes.

Perfect, never knew about this!

Re: List of hidden OS X features, tips and tricks

#65

Post by cynwoody » Tue, Jun 25, 2013, 2:18 AM UTC

My favorite has to be ⌘+Space. It brings up Spotlight Search. I use it instead of the Dock to launch applications. It quickly adapts to your preferences. For instance, after a few tries, it will learn that you want Digital Color Meter when you type 'dig'. So, you just type "⌘+Space dig Return", and the app starts.

It's also useful to look up words quickly in Dictionary and to evaluate simple arithmetic expressions.

That's all in addition to its normal use: searching your machine

Re: List of hidden OS X features, tips and tricks

#66

Post by davvolun » Tue, Jun 25, 2013, 4:24 PM UTC

coob wrote: post #25

dylanpyle wrote: post #6

Didn't see this one on the list - while Command+Tabbing, if you hold down Option while letting go of Command at the end, you'll open a new window in the specified application if it currently doesn't have any open. It might sound confusing, but it's quite useful if you've closed all the windows of a given app but still have it running.

The option key is involved in most of these hidden tips. If something doesn't work quite like you want it to, try doing it with option held down. 6 times out of 10 it probably will.

"6 times out of 10" That's such a weird number to have chosen, I know I'm being pedantic here, but why not 3 out of 5?