You have taken an important step in learning to communicate with your
Macintosh.
Icons
As you saw in the Macintosh Basics tour, objects are represented on the
Macintosh by icons (small pictures). For example, the System Startup icon
represents the System Startup disk.
Here are a few examples of icons.
Selecting
The first step in doing anything with the Macintosh is to tell the computer
what you want to work with. Often, this involves clicking an icon. Clicking
an item to work with is called selecting.
Opening
When you open an icon you tell the computer to display a window that shows
you what the icon holds.
Windows
Windows are boxes that show you the contents of an icon.
Menu bar and menus
The menu bar is the Macintosh warehouse for commands. Once you tell the
computer what you want to work with, your next step is always to tell the
computer what to do. Telling the computer what to do usually involves
choosing a command from a menu.
Commands
Commands are instructions to the computer to do something for you. After you
selected the System Startup icon, the computer was ready for you to tell it
what to do with that icon. Choosing the Open command told the computer to
open that icon into a window.
Now practice opening again. Only this time, instead of opening a disk, you'll
open a folder.
1. Select (click) the System Folder icon.
2. Choose Open from the File menu.
Remember, choosing a command from a menu involves pressing the mouse button
on the menu title (File), dragging the mouse with the button held down to the
desired command (Open), and releasing the mouse button.
A new window opens that shows you what's stored in your System Folder.
For now, don't worry about what all those icons are. The important thing is
that you see that opening an icon shows you what's inside it by displaying a
window.
Closing windows
To Next Page
Loading...