Switcher needs help with OS X

[kerb]

Hi

I got my first Mac, a 12" PB on Friday and got to grips with most features straight away. There's just a few things I'm missing that are starting to niggle me.

First is previewing pictures.

Under XP I can see thumbnails of images within folders. I can then open them under Image Preview and I'm able to scroll through the folder.

Is there any way to configure OS X to do something similar? Using a Sony digitial camera I can't really tell DSC01123 from DSC004534 etc. so it's a tad annoying.

I also noticed someones desktop and it had in the dock a little graphic that when clicked open up a box that listed Applications contents, similar to a Start Bar. Looks easier than having Apps in the dock.

I don't want to be a hethen and trying to make OS X more like Windows, it's just I found these to be useful features.


Thanks to anyone who can help.

 

[Gee]

Not sure about your application menu question, but to view image previews, stick the folder with your images in into column view (View > As Columns). A preview then appears in the end column when you click on an image.....

 

[jsw]

You can also use ?-J when in the icon view (i.e, when your mouse is inside the window) to alter icon sizes (as in Windows). The setting can affect either the one window, or all windows. See attached image. Note: the options window is on top of the other one - the snapshot makes it look like it's a drop-down menu item or something.


For the Applications folder trick - and for any similar folder - drag your Applications folder onto your dock, to the side the Trash is on (the right side, right of the dividing bar there). Thence forth, clicking on the folder will open it, and right (or control) clicking on it will let you browse it.

 

[hulugu]

Hi


I also noticed someones desktop and it had in the dock a little graphic that when clicked open up a box that listed Applications contents, similar to a Start Bar. Looks easier than having Apps in the dock.

I like the Dock better, personally, because it lets me use the Apps I actually use and not even single one; however there is a way:

Take the Applications folder and drag it to the right hand section of the dock (next to the trash can). This will create an Aliased folder and works just like the Start menu. You can also do that with the Documents folder, or anything else.

Paul

 

[whooleytoo]

Try selecting all of the pictures in the folder, then opening them. I think when Preview closes, it should give each a thumbnail icon - and remember in OSX, icons can be set pretty large (128x128).

It's not quite as straightforward as the previous poster's suggestion, but it does allow you to preview all of them at once.

 

[Lincoln]

Kerb,

Welcome to the Mac! I am awaiting my new Powerbook 15" it's on its way. Anyway to your questions:

1) If you use column view to view, when you select each jpeg, a small preview will appear in the right-most column. You could also use iPhoto to view your pictures. However I'm sure that I've had thumbnails before in the Finder but as I'm between Macs at the moment I cannot remeber what I did.

2) As for the "Start Menu" expanding from the dock, this is simple. Open your finder and find the Applications folder, drag this to the right hand side of the dock and release. Hey presto an expanding "Start-Menu".

Hope thsi helps....

 

[Lincoln]

Aint that the way

In the time that it took me to write the reply, 4 other members answered you problems first

Just show that there are a lot of friendly people trying to help.

 

[jsw]

In the time that it took me to write the reply, 4 other members answered you problems first

Just show that there are a lot of friendly people trying to help.

Just remember that, at times, no one is browsing the forum you post to, so maybe no one sees your posts. Sometimes, people ask a question, get no answer, then think no one cares, whereas the reality is that no one who could answer their question happened to be online at the time, and, after a while, older posts sort of disappear if you tend to browse using the "New posts" option (tool bar, above), as I do.

 

[decksnap]

One method I use is to generate a few folders in my applications folder to seperate my apps into categories- but for updating reasons I don't want to actually split the apps into different folders. So I make an alias of every app, then put each alias into its appropriate folder ('Video', 'Design', 'adminsitrative', etc) and drag the folders into the right side of the dock. Now you have a menu in the dock for each category.

 

[jsw]

One method I use is to generate a few folders in my applications folder to seperate my apps into categories- but for updating reasons I don't want to actually split the apps into different folders. So I make an alias of every app, then put each alias into its appropriate folder ('Video', 'Design', 'adminsitrative', etc) and drag the folders into the right side of the dock. Now you have a menu in the dock for each category.

I do the same. Excellent idea. I find it particularly useful for games (why see all the folder contents?) and for the select group of apps I tend to use.

 

[spookykids]

I also noticed someones desktop and it had in the dock a little graphic that when clicked open up a box that listed Applications contents, similar to a Start Bar. Looks easier than having Apps in the dock.

Is this what youre talking about?

You can do this by making aliases (shortcuts) and placing then in a folder, or sub-folder if you want. Then you place the folder containing all the stuff on the dock.

Hope this helped.

 

[gekko513]

You could use iPhoto to organize your photos. This provides you with a photo library and the ability to create albums for different occasions and themes. You can do simple editing without destroying the original images and you can present you albums in many cool way. It's very good for personal and family use.

If you're a (semi)professional graphics artist you would probably not want to use iPhoto to organize your images. In this case I guess the best way is to get the image icons fixed. I know two ways to do that.

One is to open the image in Photoshop (Preview doesn't do it), then save it. Photoshop will create the icon for you.

Second way (just found out this). Open the image in Preview. Copy it. Switch back to the Finder. View Info for the image. Select the icon in the info window. Paste. Wait. Done. (You can also use this to change the icons on your other files and folders if you want, which is even cooler (woohoo ... I don't need the crappy Iconfactory anymore ... (waaaah it doesn't work properly for transparent images, though , so I guess I need Iconfactory after all)))

It's time consuming though. I think it's strange that OS X offers no easier way, but maybe they think iPhoto covers the need.

 

[decksnap]

Well if you've got Photoshop anyway, just use the Photoshop Image Browser to browse your images. You can view and edit all your meta data, and tag, flag, sort/search, etc.