In Windows you’re used to the Start menu, anything you need to do you go to the start menu. In Mac OSX there is no start menu there is however a Dock. I don’t want to confuse by saying the Dock is the same as Windows’ Start Menu but if you get used to the Dock you’ll forget all about your old reliability on the Start Menu.

Pictured above is the current Dock on my system. I still haven’t fully customized it but I have removed programs I haven’t used and added programs I frequently use. The Dock is used as a launch pad for your programs. Any icon you click in the dock will open that program up, if you see a black triangle under the icon it means that program is currently running. For example, the icon for Firefox has a triangle under it as Firefox is currently running. If you open another program which isn’t in the Dock by default its icon will appear in the dock with a triangle underneath it.

Hovering over an icon and holding down the mouse button will open up an options window. The options window will vary depending on the icon selected (seen in the picture is the menu for the Firefox program icon). From here you have different options which are self explanatory. The top option “Remove From Dock” would say “Keep In Dock” if the program doesn’t currently have its icon in the dock by default.

The Dock has its own main menu which is accessible by clicking the Apple icon in the top left of the screen. From this menu you are able to position your Dock as well as set if you want your Dock visible at all times or only when you hover over the area where your Dock is positioned. Feel free to experiment with the options available in this menu to find a customization that works best for you. My Dock is very minimal in customization with the only feature I have turned on being hiding.

Spending a few minutes getting acquainted with the Dock will help you start to master your Mac.

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 30th, 2006 at 8:03 pm and is filed under Basics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.