Switching to the Mac: The Missing Manual, Tiger Edition

38 switching to the mac: the missing manual

Icon View

Chapter 1 provides a guided tour of the various gizmos around the edges of a window

(the Close button, Resize box, and so on)—but what about what’s inside a window?

As it turns out, you can view the files and folders in a desktop window in any of three

ways: as icons, as a single list, or in a series of neat columns (see Figure 2-3). To switch

a window from one view to another, just click one of the three corresponding icons in

Figure 2-3:

From top: The same window

in icon view, list view, and

column view. Very full folders

are best navigated in list or

column views, but you may

prefer to view emptier folders

in icon view, because larger

icons are easier to click.

Icon/List/Column view buttons

Icon View

chapter 2: windows and icons 39

the window’s toolbar, as shown in Figure 2-3, or choose ViewÆas Icons (or ViewÆas

Columns, or ViewÆas List). The keystrokes c-1, c-2, and c-3 achieve the same

results, but save you time since you don’t have to use the mouse.

In icon view, each file, folder, and disk is represented by a small picture—an icon. This

humble image, a visual representation of electronic bits and bytes, is the cornerstone

of the entire Macintosh religion. (Maybe that’s why it’s called an icon.)

If you then choose ViewÆShow