Hi, this is Gary with MacMost.com.
On today's episode let me encourage you to get out of your comfort zone and try using
your Mac in a different way.
So as Mac users we get used to having our Macs the way we want them.
Having everything set just the way we like to use them with Preferences and Settings
and never trying anything else.
I find that sometimes it is useful to get out of this comfort zone and try some totally
radical different ways of using your Mac.
Even if you don't like them you just switch right back but sometimes you discover you
like them better.
So as an example we're used to seeing the Dock on the bottom of the screen.
Probably 99% of Mac users have the Dock there.
It's the default location.
But you can also go and put the Dock on the left or right side of the screen.
So, for instance, I'll switch to the right side of the screen.
Now when I move the cursor to the bottom nothing happens.
If I go to the right side there's the Dock vertically on the right side.
You can do the same thing on the left.
I don't have to use System Preferences to get there either.
I can Control click here on the little divider and I can go to Position on Screen and switch
it.
Now why would you want to have it on the right side of the screen?
Well it could just work better with your workflow or with the apps you use.
For instance I notice a lot of video editing apps have a timeline and such along the bottom
of the screen and having the Dock always appear when you go down there may get in the way.
But you may not have much on the right side of the screen going on so it may make sense
to have the Dock there.
Also, the Dock always appears if you have multiple screens at the bottom of any screen.
But if you set it to the right or left it will only appear on the right most screen
or the left most screen which could be useful depending upon how you use your Mac.
Now here's something that could be useful for a lot people who like to concentrate on
a single app at a time but still switch quickly between apps.
You may use your Mac like this where you've got one desktop and you have multiple windows.
Here's Mail, here's Pages, I've got my browser, I've even got the Calendar hidden back behind
there.
You can switch between these easily with the Dock and clicking on different windows.
But it may be more useful to put each app on its own screen.
So let's do that.
Let's take Safari full screen and I'm going to use Mission Control here to see where it
is at.
So I'm going to Control and Up Arrow and you can see Desktop 1 and then Safari.
I'll go back to Desktop 1 and take Calendar full screen, Control and Up Arrow.
Now I've got Calendar and Safari.
Let's go back here and take Pages full screen and then Control and Up Arrow again.
Then go back to the Desktop and take Mail full screen.
Now you can see I've got each of these apps in its own screen.
I can go between with Control, it's Control not Command by the way, and right and left
arrows.
So I can easily move between these four apps and the Desktop which is still left as the
first one on the left.
This is great for say if you want to concentrate on writing.
So you're writing something here but then you quickly want to switch and check your
email and then back and then your calendar and then the browser.
You can easily rearrange these.
Set them up like you want.
Bring them all back to the Desktop if you want.
But using it this way and trying to put every app you're using full screen is really handy.
Notice how nice these apps look and how much room I've got to do things with each app.
If you're on a MacBook especially where the screen's smaller than on an iMac this can
be really useful.
I can see this being a great way for writers to work.
So here's one way I've changed how I work with my Mac that actually stuck with me.
I decided that I was sick of actually clicking down on my trackpad to actually create a physical
click and I wanted it to work a little bit simpler.
So I went into Trackpad and I changed Point & Click to Tap to click.
So now I just tap the trackpad rather than actually pressing down.
I have this setup the same way on my older MacBook and now I'm really used to actually
just tapping rather clicking down really hard.
I do actually still click down really hard to drag things and you can get around that
as well here with the other options but I now am totally used to just tapping with my
finger rather than clicking down and can't imagine it any other way.
Every once in a while I'm using someone else's Mac and I find I really dislike having to
click all the way down physically on the trackpad.
So try this one out and see if this one works for you as well.
Here's one more.
This is one I'm considering giving a try.
If you go into the Accessibility settings and you go to Keyboard you've got something
called Sticky Keys.
These allow you to select the modifier keys without having to hold the key down.
So, for instance, instead of pressing Command and holding the Command key down and pressing
C at the same time, you can hit Command and then C separately.
Now I notice a lot of people that could find this useful because they're used to using
menu commands for things like Edit and Copy and when I tell them to do something, like
I'm standing over them and I say oh Command C, they actually have to look down at their
keyboard and go out of their comfort zone rather than using this.
But maybe if they did it as two separate taps on the keyboard then they would have an easier
time.
Then you've got some options here.
You can toggle them easily on and off.
With the shift key you can have a beep and display pressed keys on screen.
So now that I've turned it on let's give it a try.
Let's go into Pages here and let's say I want to copy something.
So, say I want to copy the word test.
You can see I got a little audio feedback.
I don't know if you heard that but on the right side of the screen over here it shows
I just tapped the Command key.
Now I can X, which is cut, and now I can Command and V which is paste.
In no time was I holding down more than one key.
So this is definitely a different way to work.
It's not that different that it's hard to learn but it may be easier to use especially
if you prefer typing just with your index fingers or you're just not really good at
holding down multiple keys at the same time.
I'd love to hear from you in the Comments section of this post at MacMost.com about
what other options you have tried on your Mac that may be different than what most people
use but have worked for you.