Mac OS X: The Missing Manual, Second Edition

Juggling Programs with the Dock

Mac OS X includes an elegant solution to tracking the programs you’ve opened: the Dock.

Chapter 3 describes the navigational features of this multi-purpose icon row—but once you’ve actually opened a program or two, it takes on a whole new purpose in life.

Switching Programs

The primary purpose of the Dock is simple: to let you know which programs are running. Only one can be in front, or active, at a time. (It’s the program whose name appears at the upper-left corner of your screen, next to the

menu.)

To make a different program active, simply repeat the technique you used to launch the program initially. Click its Dock icon, double-click a document icon, or whatever.

Most people, however, switch to a different program by clicking its icon on the Dock. Doing so makes the program, along with any of its open windows and toolbars, pop to the front.

The New, Improved “Command-Tab”

Exactly as in older operating systems, you can also press

-Tab to switch between programs. But in Mac OS X 10.2, a single press of

-Tab takes you to the program you used most recently, and another press returns you to the program you started in.

In terms of productivity, this is an important ...