Terminology

A

About This Mac

This is the first item under the Apple Menu when the Finder is active. It give you some important information about your computer and what it currently is doing. It lists the type of computer, the system version (and may indicate any system patches you have installed), and the amount of memory each of your currently running programs is using, along with how much free memory you have. You can use this information to do a bit of memory management (see Get Info below).

active

Current or front-most, when referring to Macintosh windows; the active window has horizontal lines in the title bar, and this window may be tiled (overlapped) in front of inactive windows.

alias

An alias is a pointer to another file. Aliases allow you to place many pointers to a file on your disk, even though there is actually only one copy of the file. Aliases are often useful when using the Apple Menu. In the Apple Menu Items Folder, you can place aliases to all your favorite applications, while keeping the applications themselves in separate folders on your disk. 

Apple Menu

The Apple Menu is the left most selectable item in the menu bar in the Mac OS. It has an Apple Icon that is colored with the colors of the rainbow. Items in the Apple Menu are selected to launch, such as programs or files.

AppleShare

A sharing system connecting Macintosh computers using the AppleTalk protocol; also, the extension that must be installed for a Macintosh to be able to access an AppleShare server.

AppleTalk

the networking protocol developed by Apple, allowing computers to talk with other computers and with printers; AppleTalk is the set of conventions by which files are communicated, with various gatekeeping functions and end-of-file signals. A different protocol, TCP/IP, operates on other networks (like the Internet), but translator boxes allow AppleTalk to operate over the same hook-ups.

AppleTalk Zone

A grouping technology in the AppleTalk protocol. It allows for servers on different networks to be grouped (zoned) together. This reduces network traffic over an entire network and limits the traffic to the subnet.

Application Menu

The menu item at the very right hand side of the menu bar. Used to switch between programs if more than one is open. Clicking on this menu will give a list of the currently running applications.

applications software

A program that you launch and use to accomplish work like word processing. Microsoft Word is a word-processing application; Telnet is a communications application; Netscape is a Web browser application.

B

backup

To make duplicates of files on a separate medium.

BinHex

A method of encoding files for easier transport across the Internet.

C

chooser

The Chooser, which is found in the Apple menu, is the Macintosh way of selecting resources such as printers or networked file servers. There are usually two or three windows to the Chooser. The top left-hand window lists the resource type, such as a printer type, or AppleShare, for networked file servers. The window below (if it is present) lists the possible AppleTalk Zones in which the resource may be located. The right-hand window lists the specific resources to choose from. After you choose the specific resource, you may be presented with a window asking you to give a user name and password, or you may be given some setup options (in the case of a printer). In any case, once you have made a selection, that resource will be available for use by the Macintosh.

click

A single pressing of the mouse button, used to select an item or, in conjunction with click and hold, to select an item from a pull-down menu or to highlight a chunk of text. Because the Mac mouse generally has one button and the IBM Microsoft Mouse system supports more, "click" can be ambiguous in translation.

click and hold

This is the method for selecting text or menu option, implemented by holding the mouse button down while moving the pointer.

clipboard

Temporary storage place for last item cut or copied.

close

To make a displayed window or file disappear without deleting it; closing a file does not quit the application that created it, and if modifications have been made, a dialog box appears, asking you whether you want to save the changes before closing the file.

close box

The square at the upper-left corner of an Macintosh window, that when clicked on, closes the window or file. Keyboard shortcut is usually -W.

collapse box

The square with two lines through it located at the top right hand corner of a window. Clicking on this box will collapse the window down to just the Title bar. Click on it again and the window will reappear.

command key

The command or Apple key is the special key, marked with and located just left of the space bar, that works in conjunction with other keys to form commands and keyboard shortcuts.

control panel

A program in the Macintosh that allows you to change environmental settings, such as mouse sensitivity, sound, color, and printer access, of your Macintosh. Located in the Control Panel folder in the System Folder.

control strip

The Control Strip offers a quick and easy way to monitor and change configurations of your operating system. This functionality was originally designed for use with Powerbooks (laptops) but was added to System 8 for all systems.

copy

(file): in the Macintosh world, to drag an image or icon of a file onto another location, depositing a copy of that file in the new location. Counter to the intuitive notion of dragging a physical item, the original item either stays where it was (if the file is being copied onto another device, like a floppy disk), or actually moves to the new location (in the case of movement from one folder into another folder on the same device).

(section): to highlight a section of text or graphics by clicking and holding the mouse button and moving the mouse pointer, then either using the "copy" command under the Edit menu, or the shortcut -C. Material "copied" in this way actually is stored in a temporary "buffer" or clipboard, and can be "pasted" into another file or window. The copy command is often used in word processing, but has many other uses: for example, a Web address (URL) can be copied from an e-mail message into a Netscape "open" box, saving keystrokes and reducing typos.

current

see active

cut

(section): to highlight a section of text or image by clicking and holding the mouse button down and moving the mouse pointer, then either using the "Cut" command under the Edit menu, or the shortcut -X. Material "cut" in this way actually is stored in a temporary "buffer" or clipboard, and can be "pasted" into another file or window, or into another location in the same file. Cut differs from copy by removing the selection from the current document.

D

default printer

The printer to which your documents are automatically sent on on your system.

desktop

The colored or patterned background area of the Mac screen is called the desktop. This is the place where the user works with icons, folders, and disks. If someone tells you to locate a file on your desktop, they assume you are looking somewhere in this background area. You can change the way the desktop looks. It can have different patterns or even an image as its background.

drag

To hold the mouse button down and move the pointer.

drag and drop

The ability to highlight a piece of text or picture and drop it elsewhere; also, the ability to drag an icon from one place on a screen and drop it onto another icon, thereby invoking an operation (in some versions of the Apple operating system, for example, dragging a file icon onto a printer icon prints the document on that printer).

duplicate

A copy of a file or folder; highlighting a file icon and choosing "Duplicate" from under the File menu results in a new file called "Copy of ..." the filename.

E

Edit Menu

A pull-down menu featuring text-manipulation options like Undo Typing, Cut, Paste, Find and Replace (the exact features vary depending on the word processing program being used).

Eject

Since the introduction of the Macintosh, Apple used higher quality floppy disk drives. These mechanisms have electronic ejection parts. This allowed for the computer to clean up volume information and then eject the disk from software. The MacOS has two ways to Eject a diskette from the finder. One method is to drag the diskette over the Trash and drop it the other is to select the diskette and select "Eject" from the Special menu. The shortcut for this is -E.

extenison

Extensions are much like Control Panels, except you can't interact with most. They are either on or off. Extensions add functionality to the Operating System. They are located inside the System Folder on all Apple computers.

F

file dialog box

A small window in which your computer asks you for information about saving or opening files.

File Menu

A pull-down menu usually controlling file manipulation options like Save and Save-As and Open in an application. In the Finder environment, the File menu is where to make a New Folder or see the Sharing set-up for folders.

Finder

The Finder is the desktop management and file management system. In addition to managing files and disks, the Finder is responsible for managing the Clipboard and Scrapbook and all desktop icons and windows. In order to copy files, move files, etc. the user must interact with the OS through the Finder.

Folder

A container that groups a set of files on a disk; in the IBM operating system, these groupings are called "directories." Directory or folder structures are hierarchical, i.e. a folder can contain subfolders, etc.

Folder Arrow

The triangle to the left of folder name in list view; clicking on it places the point downward, displaying the contents (as opposed to double-clicking to open folder).

Font

A typeface or style of a letter.

Fonts folder

This folder contains font files. The Fonts folder is limited to a total of 128 TrueType and bit-mapped font suitcase files. PostScript outline font files are not included in the 128-file limit. One font suitcase file can hold an unlimited number of fonts, as long as 16MB of disk space is not exceeded.

Freeze

The condition of computer deadlock or nervous-breakdown when a system error causes the mouse pointer to lock in place, so the Mac no longer responds normally. Usually the only solution is to restart the Mac by locating the Reset or Power-Off switch.

G

Get Info

The Get info item in the Finder will give some information about any selected files (selected files are those that are highlighted). Probably the most important tidbit of info that is given is the amount of memory the application is set to load with. In order to accommodate a very large text file, you may have to increase the amount of memory devoted to a particular application. Or, if you are running low on memory, you may need to decrease the amount of memory an application uses in order to get it to run. Changing the amount of memory away from the recommended values should not be casually done; it should only be done when necessary. You probably won't have to worry about this much anymore, since Macs come with more and more memory.

GUI

An image-based computer interface in which the user sends directions to the operating system by selecting icons from a menu or manipulating icons on the screen by using a pointing device such as a mouse. The Mac OS is a GUI.

H

Hang

See Freeze.

Highlight

To select, by moving the mouse pointer and single clicking, either an icon or a word or a section. Once an item is selected, it can be cut, copied, moved, etc.

I

I-Beam Cursor

The cursor that is displayed when rolling it over an active text area.

icon

A small picture that represents a file, disk, command or application.

init

Slang for an extension file or other file (such as a control panel, driver or network device) that loads program code during startup.

Initialize

The process of preparing a disk to accept data. If a disk is unreadable by the operating system, the computer will ask if you wish to Initialize it. Answering yes will erase all of the information on the disk and make it ready to accept files and folders.

Insertion Point

The blinking vertical line showing where text would start appearing if you started typing.

 

JK

Keyboard Shortcuts

Instead of always using the mouse and menu bar to select actions, some menu items have keyboard equivalents. Using the keyboard is sometimes faster than using the mouse, so using this technique may save time for commonly used menu items. You can find the keyboard equivalent of a menu item by looking to the right of an action. If a key-combination appears, it will be located there. Keyboard equivalents are usually of the form Command-Key, where Command is the key on either side of the space bar, and Key is a one letter alpha-numeric key. Many keyboard combinations are standardized, like Command-S for save, and Command-X for Cut.

L

Launch

To invoke an application (like a word processor), either explicitly by double-clicking on an icon , alias, or implicitly by double-clicking on a file created by that application. An application stays "launched" (though it may not be the current window) until you Quit the program.

M

Mac OS

The Macintosh Operating System. The control program that governs the way the Macintosh handles files and applications internally, interacts with other hardware and software, and allocates resources like memory.

memory

A computer's available resources for running applications and manipulating files, usually measured in kilobytes ("k's") or megabytes ("megs") of RAM. Though faster to access, memory resources are more limited than storage space (hard drive capacity), just as, in a conventional office, there is more space in filing cabinets than on a desk top.

menubar

The menu bar is a horizontal strip that appears at the top of the screen that typically contains icons and words. Each icon or word in the menu is typically associated with a pull-down menu. Click on the word or icon in the menu bar and a list of options will appear.

mouse pointer

In a graphical user interface like the Mac's, the arrow that appears on screen indicating where in a window an action will take place. Somtimes called a pointer.

NO

open

To see the contents of a file or window, either by double-clicking on the icon or by invoking the "Open" command under the File menu.

option close

To click on the close box while holding down the option key; quickly closes all windows without forcing you to click on each close box.

 

P

paste

An Edit Menu command that places the contents of the clipboard (whatever has most recently been Cut or Copied) into a document, at whatever place the insertion bar / cursor is located.

pointer

The arrow on the screen corresponding to mouse movement in a window; can indicate the insertion point in a file.

power key

The unobtrusive key, marked with a triangle and usually located in the upper-right corner of a Mac keyboard, that starts up a Mac that has been powered down. Used in combination with and Option, a Restart command for frozen Macs. Some older Macs do not use this key for powering up.

PRAM

Parameter RAM; nonvolatilve RAM used to store system-wide preferences and settings such as cursor blink rate, 32-bit addressing, date and time.

preferences folder

This folder contains configuration settings for a great many programs, including Apple's. It also contains a variety of other third-party files. Crashes and freezes can be often be traced to corrupted preferences files, and replacing them can solve the problem.

Q

quit

To exit a program and close all its windows; the opposite of "launch."

R

RAM

Short for Random Access Memory, measured in kilobytes (K's) or Megabytes (megs), the workspace where applications manipulate files and data, before saving it to a storage device like a hard drive or diskette; applications and operating systems demand chunks of RAM to do their work, and sometimes conflicts occur when one program wants a chunk that another has reserved. RAM is constructed of intergrated circuits therefore it is usually build on a little board with chips on it. (See memory.)

reset switch

The switch on the back of some Macs that restarts a frozen machine; holding down the combination +Option+Power-key has the same effect.

resize box

The nested square in the lower right-hand corner of a Macintosh window, that allows you to change the size and shape of the window with a mouse drag.

restart

The equivalent of turning the machine off and on again. For most Macs, the combination -option-power key restarts the machine, though on other Macs a "programmer's switch" lurks unobtrusively at the back. Restarting a Mac means that anything not saved to hard drive or floppy is erased--save early and often.

S

save-as

The File command that allows you to change the name and/or type of a file.

scroll bar

The strip along the right side of a Macintosh window that allows movement within the window, with an arrow at each end and a white square inside it; if the window shows all contents, the background is clear, but if there are unseen items the background is grayed out. Clicking on the up or down arrows moves the view up or down, and clicking on the gray moves the view a screenful at a time.

select

To designate an item (anything from a word to a sentence, file or icon) for some action, by highlighting it (pointing to it and single-clicking on it). Clicking on another item deselects the previous icon, unless you hold the Shift key down at the same time, in which case multiple items can be selected.

select all

The Edit menu command that highlights all items in a Finder window, or an entire file in an application window; the keyboard shortcut is usually -A.

sharing

1) The state of allowing one computer to share files on another computer; in the Macintosh environment; 2) The control panel that allows the designated owner of a folder to verify or change the AppleShare access privileges of a highlighted folder.

Shutdown

A menu selection from the Special Menu. Before turning off a Mac OS computer, the computer must first be told to shutdown to do final clean up work.

SimpleText

A simple text-editor / word processor that comes with most versions of the MacOS, and which allows files to be opened (though without formatting options) even if the application that created them is not present on the hard drive.

System Folder

The System Folder usually located at the top level of the Startup Disk, is a folder that contains the currently running Operating System. This software controls how the computer talks with its components such as the keyboard, disk drive, and printer; and it manages things such as memory and network control. The System Folder can have items added to it so that it can be extended personally by the operator. The System Folder will typically have an Icon with a small Mac on it.

T

title bar

The strip at the top of a window where the window's title appears; shows thin horizontal stripes if the window is active (in front of all the others), plain white if not. Double-clicking in the title bar can cause the window to "windowshade," or roll up into itself like an old-fashioned window blind.

Trash

The icon located on the desktop where files and folders are placed before deleting.

type ahead

When working with lists of items, many programs such as the Mac OS allow you to begin typing the first letters of the item to be found. As the letters are typed, the computer jumps ahead to find the specific item. This action is called type ahead.

UV

views

The way the files in a window are displayed are dependent upon the view options. Views can be set so that items are shown in a list, as buttons or as icons. The options also allow to change the size and how the items are to be arranged.

virtual memory

Is hard disk space your computer uses as if it were RAM. This disk space is not available for storing files. While virtual memory improves the performance of programs designed for a PowerPC-based computer, using it can make your computer run more slowly.

W

window

A rectangular box providing a view of Macintosh information. For a folder or disk, the window is a table of contents (or agglomeration of icons, depending on what View mode is selected); in an application, a window displays an open document.

XYZ

zoom box

The box in the title bar of a window to the left of the Collapse box. Use it to change the size of a window quickly. Clicking once usually sizes the window so that all of its contents are visible (if possible). Clicking it again returns the window to its original size.