January 9th, 2008 Posted in Computer, WTF?

Mac tips from a n00b switcher

I’m loving the Mac, but have had a bit of a learning curve! These are the things that scuppered me this week:

• The keyboard is all different. The Hash (#) is now “alt+3”. The quotes are in a different place. So are slashes. This is taking some getting used to, especially when making websites…
• Running a twin screen for the first time ever. It’s great, but very confusing to start with.
• Apps don’t quit when I close the document, so I end up with loads of apps open in the background. I’m learning.
• There were black rectangles around things like input fields, buttons etc. It turned out to be Universal Access VoiceOver – an accessibility feature of OSX. Turned that off and now its gone away.
• I wanted to lock my machine while I was away from my desk, and there is no lock computer option. I had to password my screensaver then put it to sleep.

None of these things are the Mac’s fault, but it’s made me realise how entrenched I am in the PC world. PC stuff comes second nature, so I am having to think about things I do now 😛