Nonessential (but Useful) Mac OS X Features
Some features of Lion are really useful but not strictly required for day-to-day use. For example, some people never use Dashboard, while others can’t get by without it. Spotlight is fantastic for searching your Mac, but some folks never search their Macs because they have insanely good organizational skills. Spaces can make that 13-inch laptop screen seem much bigger. And Mission Control lets you see everything on your desktop (and more) at the same time—a lifesaver for those who work with multiple windows. If you’re interested in one or more of these features, this is the place to look.
The Dashboard
That speedometer-like icon in your Dock launches Dashboard, an environment where mini-applications (called widgets) run. Click the icon, use a gesture, or use the keyboard shortcut (it’s F4 on most Macs that can run Lion). If you don’t have the F4 shortcut on your keyboard, you can use the Keyboard preference pane to add a shortcut or see what the shortcut is. Once you invoke Dashboard, your Desktop will slide away. In Snow Leopard, Dashboard floated over your desktop with a translucent background, but in Lion, Dashboard gets a solid background to make the desktop less distracting.
Once Dashboard is up and running, the widgets on it will go about doing whatever they’re supposed to do (reporting on the weather, displaying a calendar, and so on). To get back to your desktop, click the arrow in the bottom right of the Dashboard or press the Dashboard ...