Hi Les, You've already had a number of good replies on this topic, so I'll add my comments to Yuma's instructions. The basic tool for accessing files and applications on the Mac is Finder, and when you start up your computer, Finder will be running. It will be the only application running until you launch another application, and you will be at your Desktop. Under the default settings, your hard drive will show up on your Desktop as "Macintosh HD". While you can adjust what items will appear on your Desktop by opening your Finder preferences file, as James and Anne outlined, you probably don't want to do that yet. As Anne stated, it's a good idea to keep the Desktop uncluttered, since having really large numbers of files on your Desktop will eventually slow down your system performance, so it helps to at least organize them into a folder. The most commonly used applications will be in the Dock, and all applications can be launched from either the Applications folder or the Utilities folder under applications. In addition, any application you launch can be set to be kept in the Dock, as Yuma noted, so you don't really need to keep Applications on your Desktop.
In Finder, there are a number of useful shortcuts for navigating to key directories and folders: Command-Shift-H your Home directory (the top level of your user account) Command-Shift-D your Desktop Command-Shift-A your Applications folder Command-Shift-U your Utilities folder Command-Shift-C your Computer (lets you see attached drives and devices) To launch an application that isn't already in the Dock, from Finder, navigate to the Applications folder with Command-Shift-A and type the first few letters of the application's name (e.g. "t e x t" for TextEdit), or use your arrow keys to navigate to and highlight applications. Open applications with Command-O (or, I prefer to use Command-Down arrow, which keeps my fingers closer to the arrow navigation keys). Your method of finding and launching applications with Spotlight by typing in the name of the application (or enough of the first few letters to uniquely identify the app) is also fine, but you may find these other techniques easier to use as you get more familiar with your Mac. All active applications appear in the Dock, and one of the menu items for apps in the Dock is "Keep in Dock". So once you have launched TextEdit, or any other application that you want to keep in the dock, use VO-D, or Control-Option-D (where I'll use "VO" to indicate the VoiceOver Control and Option key combination) to navigate to the Dock, and move to the app using your arrow keys or by typing the first few letters of the application's name. Then, you can use either the general command for a contextual menu (VO-Shift-M), or the shortcut of simply pressing the down arrow, to bring up a menu and select "Keep in Dock". VO-Shift-M may be easier to learn, since you'll use it in many situations. Pressing the Down arrow works as a fast alternative for accessing menus from the Dock, but is less standard, since it assume the Dock is in its default position at the bottom of the screen. If someone decides to position their Dock on the right side of the screen, you'll have to press Right arrow to bring up a menu, and if the Dock is positioned at the left, you'll have to press Left arrow. (You're unlikely to encounter these differences, but if you use a Mac that a sighted person has set up with the Dock in another location, VO-Shift-M will always work, but Down arrow may need to be replaced with Right arrow or Left arrow.) The other thing to know about using Finder is that issuing shortcut commands like Command-Shift A brings up a Finder window. The basic structure of the Finder window is a Toolbar, Sidebar, and Scroll area. The Sidebar contains devices, such as your Macintosh HD, external connected drives, attached USB memory keys, CDs or DVDs that you insert, and specific folders such as your Desktop, Home, Applications, and Documents folder, Music folder, etc. The Scroll area lists individual files and folders. When you pressed Command-Shift-A in Finder, you brought up a window with the Applications folder highlighted in the sidebar, and with the Scroll area showing files in the Applications folder. The Scroll area can display files and folders in a number of "Views", and you can switch between these views at your convenience. Command-1 is "icon view", Command-2 is "list view", and Command-3 is "column view". List view is good to use if I want to check things like the file size or creation date, or if I want to reorder my list of files in the date they were created. Column view is useful to easily navigate up and down directory trees, since each column shows you the structure of folders above and below your selected file level. You can navigate through folders and disk by highlighting them in the Sidebar or by using shortcut sequences. You can also navigate through by selecting folders in a list view or column view in the scroll area. You can add any folder that you use frequently to the Sidebar after highlighting it in the scroll area by navigating to the File menu on the Finder menu bar (VO-M to move to the menu bar, press "F" to go to "File", arrow down and Find "Add to Sidebar"). When you're done, you can close the window with Command- W. Unlike in Windows, closing windows with Command-W does not close applications. You need to quit (Command-Q) to close an application. If you have multiple windows up for an application, try using window chooser menu (VO-F2 twice) to move to the one you want. This is particularly useful for finding alert windows that appear, that VoiceOver for some reason has not announced. Hope this helps. Cheers, Esther Once applications like TextEdit have been added to the Dock, you can launch them by navigating to the Dock with VO-D, then navigating to the app by typing the first letters of the name and/or with the arrow keys. From the Dock, most applications can be launched simply by pressing enter (as you're probably used to from Windows). I usually use Command-Down arrow to use the same command as in Finder, and because my fingers are usually near the arrow navigation keys (although, again if someone has located their Dock at the Right or Left, this could be Command-Right arrow or Left arrow). You should be familiar with Alt-Tab switching in Windows. On the Mac, Command-Tab switches between the active applications in the Dock. So if you want to shift from Mail to Finder you can press the Command key and tap the Tab key until you hear "Finder". Command-Shift-Tab switches between apps, but moves in the opposite directions. Here's a tip: once your press Command-Tab, continue to hold down the Command key, but use your right and left arrow keys to move through the active apps. That's easier than pressing the Shift key. Yuma Antoine Decaux wrote: > > Hi Les, > > To access your applications folder, press command shift A, then go > down to text edit, then open it. > > To place it in the dock, press VO D as in control option D, then find > the open text edit icon. once there, just press the down arrow and a > contextual menu will come up, from which you have the option to leave > the application on the dock. If you're using snow leopard, i think you > can bring up the contextual menu with VO shift M. > > For having applications on the desktop, you can chose a file or > application you want on the desktop, then control enter to make an > alias, then copy that alias to the desktp, which you can access > through command shift c which stands for computer. look for desktp, > then paste your alias which is shortcut for mac into the desktop > folder. > > As for the harddisk, i'm not sure as i had them on by default but > perhaps you can look in the system preferences, which you can access > with control F2 then arrowing down the apple menu to system > preferences. > > Hope that helps somewhat > > best > Yuma > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. 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