What's new or different in OS X?
OS X 10.5
Macintosh
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| What's new or different in OS X? |
<< Return to Main OS X v.10.5 Documentation
The Desktop now has a semitransparent menu bar and a reflective 3D Dock. You'll observe that open applications no longer have a black triangle beneath their icons in the Dock; instead, a small blue light illuminates them underneath.
A stack is a Dock item that gives you quick access to a folder of files. When you click a stack on the right side of your Dock, the files spring up, giving you easy access to the contents. By default, Leopard gives you two stacks, one for downloads and the other for documents. The Downloads stack automatically captures files downloaded from applications like Safari, and the Documents stack is a convenient place for storing Word, Excel, or PowerPoint files. You can create as many stacks as you wish simply by dragging folders to the right side of your Dock.
How to create a new stack
How to add a file to a stack
To add a file to a stack, simply drag it from the Desktop or another folder onto the desired stack.
How to delete a file from a stack
To delete a file from a stack, click on the stack to display the contents and drag the file to the trash. Note this will delete the file from its stored location on your Mac. Alternatively, you can drag a file off a stack and a cloud of smoke will appear, indicating you are removing the alias from the stack - not deleting the file.
How to remove a stack from the Dock
If you wish to remove a stack from the Desktop, simply drag it to the trash. Note this will not delete the folder from its stored location on your Mac, you are simply deleting an alias to it.
Changing your stack preferences
You can change your view preferences for a stack by clicking and holding your mouse on it until a menu appears. You can view your stack as a fan or a grid, change the order of view, etc.
Finder has been updated in OS X v.10.5 to include a new feature called Cover Flow. Now you can literally see your files in Finder — not just as icons, but as they really look. Using Cover Flow, you can browse through documents and quickly see a preview of the first page of the document and click through multipage documents. Simply click on the Cover Flow view at the top of a Finder window to take advantage of Cover Flow.
If you want to see more than just a glimpse of your document, Quick Look allows you to open a preview of a document without launching its native application. For example, you can view a Word document with Quick Look without opening Word. Simply click on the eye in the top of the Finder window to take advantage of this powerful tool.
Apple introduces an automatic backup system in OS X v.10.5 called Time Machine. Wellesley College Information Services does not support Time Machine at this time. IS recommends at least two backup strategies to ensure the safety of your data. If you are interested in learning more about Time Machine, please see Apple's website for more information. Note it requires an external hard drive or additional Macintosh computer to store the incremental back ups.
Another new feature in OS X v.10.5 is Spaces, which allows you to group application windows and manage the space on your Desktop, effectively reducing clutter. For example, you can create a space to quickly switch to your email and Safari from another space containing a Word document. This is especially helpful if you tend to keep many applications open simultaneously. It's an advanced alternative to Expose, which is also still a feature in Leopard.
How to use Spaces
