Special Edition Using Mac OS X Tiger

The System Preferences application is an important tool you use to control how your Mac OS X system works and looks. If you have read through other chapters this book, you have already used some of the panes it contains to work with various parts of the system. Table 8.1 provides a summary of each pane and tells you where in this book you can learn more about it.

NOTE

You might see more or fewer panes in the System Preferences application than are listed in Table 8.1 depending on the hardware and software you have installed. For example, if your Mac doesn't support Bluetooth hardware, you won't see the Bluetooth pane.

Following are some tips to work with the System Preferences application:

• You can open a pane by selecting it on the View menu.

• To see all the panes again, select View, Show All Preferences; press -L; or click the Show All button on the System Preferences application's toolbar.

• You can search for a pane by typing text in the System Preferences application's Search tool. (You can move into the tool by clicking in it; selecting View, Search; or pressing -F.) As you type, the panes that meet your search will become "spotlighted" and the rest of the panes will be darkened.

• If you prefer that the panes be listed alphabetically rather than by category, select View, Organize Alphabetically. The System Preferences application will be reorganized and the panes will appear alphabetically from the upper left to the bottom right.

• Use the toolbar's Back and Forward buttons to move among panes you have opened.

Setting Appearance Preferences

Use the Appearance pane of the System Preferences application to control several basic settings for your system. This pane is organized in four sections. From top to bottom, they control basic appearance settings, scroll behavior, the number of recent items tracked, and font smoothing.

Use the Appearance pop-up menu to select Blue if you want color in the buttons, menus, and windows. Select Graphite if you want to mute the color so the color elements are gray instead. Use the Highlight Color pop-up menu to select the highlight color.

Use the "Place scroll arrows" radio buttons to set scrolling behavior. You can place the scroll arrows together (the Together radio button) or choose to have a scroll arrow placed at each end of the scrollbar (the "At top and bottom" radio button). You can select "Jump to here" to cause a window to jump to the relative position in the scrollbar on which you click or "Jump to the next page" to scroll a page at a time when you click above or below the scroll box. If you want scrolling to be smooth (instead of jumping when you scroll, your Mac kind of strolls to the new location), check the "Use smooth scrolling" check box. Uncheck the "Minimize when double-clicking a window title bar" check box if you don't want to be able to minimize a window by double-clicking its title bar for some reason.

Set the number of recent items tracked on the Apple menu for applications, documents, and servers using the Number of Recent Items pop-up menus. You can track as few as none or as many as 50 recent items.

The bottom section of the pane provides the controls you use to configure how font smoothing is enabled on your Mac. Font smoothing (known as antialiasing for graphics) reduces the jaggies that occur when you view certain fonts onscreen; this is most noticeable when you use larger sizes or thick fonts or when you apply bold or other formatting. Font smoothing is always turned on, but you can configure it specifically for your system:

Setting International Preferences

Mac OS X includes support for a large number of languages; language behaviors; and date, time, and number formats. You control these properties through the International pane of the System Preferences application (see Figure 8.1).

Use the Language tab to configure the languages you want to use. The Languages list shows the languages that are currently active. You can drag these languages up and down in the list to set the preferred order in which you want to use them on menus and in dialog boxes. If you click the Edit List button, a sheet will appear on which you can choose the languages that appear in the Languages list by unchecking the Show check boxes for the languages you don't want to use. After you click OK, the languages whose check boxes you unchecked will no longer appear on the language list. Use the "Order for sorted lists" pop-up menu to choose the language by which lists will be sorted. Use the Word Break pop-up menu to choose how you want word breaks to occur.

NOTE

Changes you make to languages will become active in the Finder the next time you log in.

Use the Formats tab to configure the format of the dates, times, and numbers used on your Mac. When you open this tab, you see a section for each of these areas along with the Region pop-up menu (see Figure 8.2).

Select the region setting for your Mac on the Region pop-up menu. By default, you see region choices that relate to the languages you have installed. If you want to see all possible region options, check the "Show all regions" check box. When you make a selection, default formats for the region you selected are applied to each setting area (dates, times, and numbers).

After you have set general format preferences via the Region pop-up menu, you can customize the format in each area.

NOTE

The options described in the following paragraphs are for the United States region. If you choose a different region, different options might be available to you, but they can be set using similar steps.

In the Dates section, click the Customize button. The Customize Dates sheet will appear. Use the controls on this sheet to set the date formats displayed in Finder windows and other locations. There are four general date formats: Short, Medium, Long, and Full. Use the pop-up menus, check boxes, and text fields to set the format for each type of date. Choose the date format you want to configure on the Show pop-up menu. The default format will be shown in the box below the pop-up menu. Click each element, such as the month, to customize it. For example, you can customize the month format by selecting the abbreviated form. Drag the elements around to change the order in which they appear. If you want to add more elements to the default format you selected, drag them from the Date Elements section of the sheet to the location in which you want the elements to appear. Repeat these steps to configure each of the date format options (such as for the Short format). Click OK to save your settings and close the sheet.

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To remove an element from the date or time customization, select it and press the Delete key.

In the Times section, click the Customize button. The Customize Times sheet will appear. Choose the time format you want to configure on the Show pop-up menu. The default format will be shown in the box below the pop-up menu. Click each element, such as the minute, to customize it. For example, you can customize the minute display by choosing to show the leading 0 or not. Drag the elements around to change the order in which they appear. If you want to add more elements to the default format you selected, drag them from the Time Elements section of the sheet to the location in which you want the elements to appear. Repeat these steps to configure each of the time format options (such as for the Short format). To determine the modifier that is displayed when the time is before or after noon, enter the modifier in the Before Noon and After Noon boxes. Click OK to save your settings and close the sheet.

NOTE

The settings you make in the Dates and Times sheets affect the format of these values in the Finder and other locations. They do not affect the clock display; you control the format of the clock using the Time & Date pane.

NOTE

Is time really important to you? With Mac OS X version 10.4, you can choose to display milliseconds by adding the Milliseconds element to one of the standard time formats.

You can see the format of numbers using the region you have selected in the Numbers section. You can't change the number format except with the following two controls.

Use the Currency pop-up menu to choose the currency format you want to use.

Use the Measurement Units pop-up menu to select the default measurement units used (U.S. [aka English] or Metric).

NOTE

When you make changes to a standard format, the selection on the Region pop-up menu becomes Custom to indicate that you have customized your settings.

Use the Input Menu tab to control and configure the Input menu that appears on the menu bar.

To learn how to configure the Character Palette, p. 194.

To learn how to configure a keyboard for different languages, p. 837.

Using the Mac OS X Screen Saver

Mac OS X was the first version of the Mac OS that included a built-in screen saver. Many Mac users enjoy having a screen saver, and Mac OS X's version provides the features you would expect. However, the quality and style with which the screen saver displays images are quite nice. It can be especially nice when you use your own images.

You use the Screen Saver tab of the Desktop & Screen Saver pane of the System Preferences application to configure a screen saver for your computer (see Figure 8.3).

You have four general choices: Use one of Mac OS X's default modules, use a module from images you have created or downloaded, use a module that someone else has created and published via his .Mac account, or use the Apple Hot News module (if it appears on your Mac).

Using a Built-in Screen Saver Module

Using one of Mac OS X's built-in modules is straightforward. The general steps are the following:

NOTE

If the display sleep time set on the Energy Saver pane is less than the time you set in step 6, you will never see the screen saver because the display will sleep before the screen saver is activated. If this is the case, a warning appears on the Energy Saver pane and a button enables you to jump to the Screen Saver tab. However, you don't see any warning on the Screen Saver tab. If you want to see a screen saver, check the display sleep setting on the Energy Saver pane to ensure that the display sleep time is greater than the screen saver activation time.

Creating a Custom Screen Saver Module

Some of the built-in modules are pretty cool (I especially like iTunes Artwork), but you can have even more fun by creating or using a custom module. There are several ways to do this:

• Gather the images you want to use for a screen saver in a folder and use the Choose Folder module to select that folder.

• Create a screen saver from a collection of your own images by creating a photo album for that purpose in iPhoto. You can access any images in your iPhoto Photo Library as well as any of its photo albums on the Screen Savers list.

• Use a screen saver that someone has made available through .Mac.

• Use a screen saver you download from the Internet.

To create a screen saver from your own images, use the following steps:

You can choose to use the images within your Pictures folder by selecting it on the list of Screen Savers. Only the images located in the root folder (not within folders that are inside the Pictures folder) are used. You configure the screen saver using the same steps you use for other options.

If you have installed and use iPhoto, you can choose any images in your iPhoto Photo Library as a screen saver by selecting Photo Library, which is located under the Choose Folder module. You can also select any photo album you have created in iPhoto as a screen saver by selecting it on the list that appears under the Photo Library on the screen saver list.

To learn how use iPhoto, p. 623.

Using .Mac Screen Saver Modules

Using the .Mac service, people can make their screen savers available to you and you can make your screen savers available to other people.

To learn how to use .Mac services, p. 493.

To use a module available via .Mac, perform the following steps:

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If you have people who are interested in you (such as relatives), you can create a .Mac public slideshow and inform those people who are interested that it is available. As you update your slideshow, people who subscribe to and use it see the images you add to the collection.

To learn how to publish a .Mac screen saver, p. 652.

Using Screen Savers Acquired from the Internet and Other Sources

You can also download and use other screen savers from the Internet or other sources. Screen saver modules have the .saver filename extension. To do this, follow these steps:

Using the Apple Hot News Screen Saver

Controlling Your System's Sound

You use the Sound pane of the System Preferences application to control the volume, sound effects, and input sources for your system (see Figure 8.4). The Sound pane has three tabs: Sound Effects, Output, and Input. You use the Sound Effects tab to configure your system alert sounds and various audio feedback. You use the Output tab to control the sound output of your Mac and use the Input tab to configure sound input devices attached to your Mac, such as USB microphones.

You can control your system's volume using the "Output volume" slider at the bottom of the pane. Use the Mute check box to mute all system sound. Check the "Show volume in menu bar" check box to show the Volume menu in the menu bar. You can control your main system volume by clicking this icon and using the pop-up slider to set the volume level.

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If you use an Apple Pro keyboard, an iBook, or a PowerBook, you can also control the volume level using the mute and volume keys located just above the numeric keypad or the designated function keys on a mobile Mac. When you press one of these keys, a sound level indicator appears onscreen so you can visually tell what the relative volume level is. (This also appears when you use another device to control the volume, such as a keyboard with a volume wheel.) You also hear the alert sound each time you press one of the volume keys. You can disable this audio feedback by unchecking the "Play feedback when volume is changed" check box.

To configure your system alert sound, carry out the following steps:

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If you have external USB speakers or speakers connected to a PCI audio card, it is usually a good idea to play the alert sound through the Mac's built-in speakers, especially if you like to listen to music or watch movies with high sound volume. This prevents the alert sound from knocking you out of your chair (if this has ever happened to you, you know exactly what I mean). If you set things this way, you probably need to set the alert volume high because the Mac's built-in speaker will be overwhelmed by your external speakers.

If you have analog speakers plugged in to the Mac's speaker jack, you won't be able to do this because the Mac's built-in audio controller controls the output to those speakers. You must be using USB speakers or those connected to another interface such as the digital audio port on a Power Mac G5 or a PCI audio card.

Mac OS X can play various sound effects when you perform specific actions or when something specific happens (such as when you send an item to the Trash). This feature is enabled by default. To disable it, uncheck the "Play user interface sound effects" check box.

To configure the sound output for your system, use the following steps:

Although these sound options satisfy most Mac users, there are more sound options you can choose to implement.

Installing Additional Alert Sounds

Under Mac OS X, system alert sounds are in the Audio Interchange File Format (AIFF). This is a good thing because you can use many sounds as your alert sound, and using iTunes, you can convert almost any sound into the AIFF format.

To learn how to convert audio files into the AIFF format, p. 581.

NOTE

Under Mac OS X, AIFF files have the .aiff filename extension. By default, iTunes appends the .aif filename extension to files when you convert them to the AIFF format. Be sure to add the second f to the filename extension for the sound you want to add as an alert sound. If you don't, the file will not be recognized as a valid alert sound.

There are two basic ways in which you can add alert sounds. You can add them to specific user accounts or to the system so they are accessible to everyone who uses your Mac.

To add an alert sound to a specific user account, perform the following steps:

NOTE

If the System Preferences application is open when you install a new alert sound, you must quit and restart it to see the new sound on the list.

When you install your own system alert sounds in the alert sound list, the type for the sounds you add is Custom instead of Built-in. Built-in sounds are stored in the Sound folder in the System Library folder instead of the user's Library folder.

You can also add alert sounds to the system so they are available to all the user accounts on your machine. However, to do this, you must log in under the root account.

CAUTION

You can't modify files or directories that are within the Mac OS X system directory without being logged in under the root account. Be careful when you are logged in under the root account because you can change anything on your system, including changing vital system files in such a way that your Mac fails to work. You can also delete any files on the machine while you are logged in as root.

To learn how to enable and log in under the root account, p. 253.

To add alert sounds to your system, do these steps:

NOTE

The kind of alert sounds you add to the system are Built-in, just as the alert sounds that are installed with Mac OS X.

Configuring Your Mac's Date and Time

The Date & Time pane of the System Preferences application enables you to set and maintain your system's time and date (see Figure 8.6). You can set the time and date manually, or you can use a network timeserver to set and maintain your system's time and date for you.

To set your system's date and time, do the following:

To learn how to use the Clock tab to configure the desktop clock, p. 135.

NOTE