OS X Mountain Lion Bible

Summary

A key distinguishing feature of OS X is its graphical user interface (GUI), which sets the standard for ease of use even 28 years after Apple delivered the first Macintosh using it. OS X's Finder is your portal to the Mac and uses three main GUI components to interact with its applications and files: the desktop, the menu bar, and the Dock. The desktop is the canvas that holds the icons representing your files, folders, and disks. The menu bar provides access to both applications' and OS X's commands via the mouse or touchpad. The Dock provides quick access to applications, document windows, and files and folders.

You use a keyboard and either or both a mouse and touchpad to manipulate the items on the desktop, in the Dock, and in the menu bar. The extensive use of keyboard shortcuts and contextual menus makes it easy to initiate actions at times when navigating the menu bar can be inefficient. And the increased use of gestures provides new efficiencies in handling complex interactions with OS X and its items.

You also can use handwriting recognition instead of the keyboard if you have a compatible tablet.

Apple has integrated gesture controls into OS X, offering the gesture-driven Mission Control as a single view of everything running on your Mac so you can navigate to any active item. The App Exposé and Spaces navigation features, which you can use independently or within Mission Control, also provide ways to navigate through the active applications and windows in the ...