Switching to the Mac: The Missing Manual, Mountain Lion Edition

Notification Center

A notification is an important status message. On an iPhone, you get one every time a text message comes in, an alarm goes off, a calendar appointment is imminent, or your battery is running low.

iPhone apps use this mechanism, too. Nowadays, you get a message when your friends post updates on Facebook or Twitter. When your flight is two hours from takeoff. When a new Groupon discount becomes available. When your online Scrabble or chess partner makes another move.

It’s no different on your Mac. Mail and Messages might want to let you know that a new message has arrived. Game Center might want you to realize that it’s your move. The Calendar app might want to flag you that an important meeting is about to start.

In Mountain Lion, you’ll know when some app is trying to get your attention: A subtle message bubble slides into view at the top right of your screen (Figure 16-17, left). Some of these alerts slide away again after 5 seconds; others require you to click a button, like Close, Snooze, or Show (which opens the program that’s waving its little hands in your face).

Note

Only apps you got from the Mac App Store can tap into the Notification Center. Other programs will still use whatever alert mechanisms they always have—pop-up dialog boxes, for example.

But what if you miss one? Or you decide to act on it later? Thought you’d never ask.

On the iPhone or iPad, all of those “Hey you!” messages collect on a single screen called the Notification Center. So it occurred ...