Switching to the Mac: The Missing Manual, Lion Edition

The “Heads-Up” Program Switcher

Just as in Windows, there’s a handy keystroke for switching from one open program to another; it’s the -Tab keystroke (see Figure 4-7).

You can use this feature in three different ways, which are well worth learning:

• If you keep the key pressed, each press of the Tab key highlights the Dock icon of another program, in left-to-right Dock order. Release both keys when you reach the one you want. Mac OS X brings the corresponding program to the front. (To move backward through the open programs, press Shift--Tab.)

  

  Figure 4-7. Apple calls this row of open program icons a “heads-up display,” named after the projected data screen on a Navy jet windshield that lets pilots avoid having to look down at their instruments.

• If you leave the key pressed, you can choose a program by clicking its icon with your mouse, or by pressing the ← or → keys.

• A single press of -Tab takes ...