The Mac OS X Leopard Book - How to do the things you want to do on your Macintosh

By Harry {doc} Babad    (c) 2008

 

Author: Scott Kelby Publisher: Peachpit Press   www.kelbytraining.com   www.peachpit.com Also Available as an eBook version of the printed book. Released: June 2008, 1st Edition $19.99 (Street 16.50) USD, $26.99 CND, £9.59 UK, Û 16.86 Pages: 246 ISBN-10: 0-321-54395-5 ISBN-13: 978-0-321-54395-0   Audience: Beginner - Intermediate   Strengths: The ultimate Leopard Hints Book, focused, well written and Illustrated and written with just enough of a light touch to hasten my learning of OS 10.5Õs features. Not Killer Tips, just tips for the rest of us.   Weaknesses: Just a few discomfortsÉ picky, picky Doc. Scott, I really looked hard for glitches.

 

 

Testing of many of Scotts Hints, those I did not know already, was carried out on my iMac 2.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 2 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM running Mac OS X version 10.5.4.   Product and company names and logos in this review may be registered trademarks of their respective companies.

 

 

Introduction

For a new or intermediate Macintosh user, switching to Leopard, this book is a great place to start. Especially so, if you like to explore and are a self-starter and if you want to avoid lengthy tutorials. Yes I know some 400 to 500-page tutorials are (1) lucid, (2) clearly illustrated, (3) comprehensive (4) well organized, and (5) even fun to read. I enjoy such longer and more detailed books—after all, IÕm an information junky. Fine books are available on Leopard such as those recently written by Robin Williams, Kate Langer, Joe Kissell, or Maria Langer. IÕve recently reviewed them for macCompanion.

 

After all Apple claims 300+ new features in Leopard, compounding the new features I recently learned in Tiger.  http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/300.html

 

Stop – Tilt – Whoa: This is not to say that Scott KelbyÕs Books are not organized, nor lucid and even lacking of fun. Au contraire, they are all of these but with two differences. Scott has a knack for capturing information as hints, tidbits by any other name, that cuts to the quick in a few words. But from my perspective as a reader, Scott, who gave the world Macintosh – The Naked Truth is his quirky humor, irreverence to the towers of power, and those sneaky puns just grab me. < http://www.amazon.com/Macintosh-Naked-Truth-Scott-Kelby/dp/0735712840/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1217022687&sr=1-1>. What I donÕt like are Scott's allusions to song titles, which he fortunately left outÉ Hey Jazz and folk, blues and bluegrass music, even Bach, are my bag. But then, IÕm older then Scott with more eclectic tastes that come from a bohemian youth while pursing advanced chemistry degrees on the side.

 

 

Background on BookÕs Focus

I agree with the publisher that, Òwith so many books out there on Mac OS X Leopard, what makes this one better and different is its focus. While other Leopard books can regularly be 500-plus pages, this book cuts through all the technical jargon and gives you exactly what you want: the most important, most requested, and just plain coolest things about Leopard that will change the way you work on your Mac.

ÒWith Leopard's newest features, this book will show you how to customize your workspace with Spaces, search and view your files fast with Quick Look, restore any file on your system with Time Machine, and much more. Each page covers just one topic, complete with full-color photos and screenshots, making it easy to find what you're looking for fast.Ó No I will not list the chapters but the range from a beginners Ò20 things a new Mac User Needs To KnowÓ through sections in customizing and organizing your Macintosh Life to straightforward discussion of AppleÕs applications such as Mail, .Mac (now MobileMe), iTunes, iPhoto and doing the video thing on you Macintosh. There more including outreach via the Internet using Safari

 

For the most part each of the shortcuts (over 200 full and lots of fifth-page long snippets) in this 11-chapter book is a stand-alone entry. However, where deemed helpful, there are cross-references to other relevant content.

 

 

A Few Things I Learned – Nothing fancy, just new to me.

Photo Booth — To take pictures with the iMacÕs built in camera use Photo Booth, a tool I was not aware of on my 100+ applications rich computer. I found image capture, after installing Leopard, but of course the dialog box noted I had no image capture too attached to my computer. So I moved on to the next task, ignoring my built in camera.

 

Spaces — Using spaces for some of use can be helpful, but is not needed with my 24Ó screen. Spaces would have been useful when I had a 17Ó screen or when I buy a Macintosh portable.

 

Address Book Features — I donÕt use Apples applications such as Mail or iCal, but finally, Scott got through to me. IÕve started to use AppleÕs address book for my contacts exporting them from Eudora, my eMail client. Moving my FileMaker Pro address is doable, Scott gives a few hints, so that will be next, Ésoon. Now if mail had all the organizing features found in EudoraÕs, IÕd be temped.

 

Dashboard Features and Flexibility  — A fine explanation of the howÕs and wherefores of widgets and their handling. Scott, if I didnÕt hate widgets so much, preferring to convert them stand alone mini applications [e.g., WidgiApps. [Check out Amnesty Singles http://www.amnestywidgets.com/Singles.html/.]

 

IPhoto — I had not realized all of the simple image editing features that the application provides. IÕve used GraphicConverter and AdobeÕs Photoshop Elements to do image editing both of camera taken photographs and downloaded images from Google images. I must admit, Scott, that its time for a change to iPhoto.

 

Disappointments and Discomforts

Mini-Tips — White letters on dark blue donÕt do much for my willingness to strain my eyes reading a tip.

 

Missing Appendix — A listing of the titles and perhaps subtitle for all tips, including the mini-tips would have made the book more useful.

 

Index Shortcomings — I check out a number of key technical phases, (e.g., scroll bars) used in your narratives, against the index and was disappointed not to find them listed.

 

 

Conclusions

My overall all impression: good colored screen photos support the hints and tips, focusing the readerÕs attention. No long explanations, just nice short snippets. This is not the only Leopard book youÕll need if you are truly an ex-PC user or a manual-tutorial oriented person. It is a great book to add to your collection, even for an advanced Macintosh user, for quickly leaning more about the richness of Leopard to broaden your use of AppleÕs excellent OS and related tools. Its size and focus are on a level where you browse, or use the TOC or Index, find what you want and get back to what they were doing.

 

According to Scott Kelby (Chapter Zero, Items 1 and 7) This book truly has a brilliant premise, and here's how Scott describes it: "If you came over to my house with your new Mac, and you said, 'Hey Scott, how can I delete a file from my Mac and make darn sure nobody else can retrieve it?' I wouldn't give you a lecture about file encryption algorithms, or 128-bit decryption protocols. In real life, I'd just turn to you and say, 'Just drag the file down to your Mac's Trash, and then go under the Finder menu and choose Secure Empty Trash.' I'd tell you just like that—short and sweet, right to the point—so that's what I tried to do throughout the entire book."

 

Scott, I agree and award you 4.5 macCs plus my gratitude for a fine read and a few more smartness pills you created that I indulged in. Reading The Mac OS X Leopard Book beat the heck out of plowing though energy blogs trying to separate dogma and half-truths for inputs to the technical books and articles I write.

 

 

Recommendation

The price is right; each page covers just a single topic with little or no techno jargon or purple prose. You can turn to the page about the thing you need to do, and learn how to do just that one thing, quickly and easily. Whether a beginner or an intermediate user like me, this is a book every new Leopard user should add to their bookshelf – yes, the books right behind your workstation chair. I*s is the only book youÕll likely need as you want to become more expert, No! But then IÕm the kind of person who, before the Internet, would buy a cookbook if a bakerÕs dozen recipes of the contained appealed.

 

 

PS:

Scott, please check out my ÒAn Open Letter to Scott KelbyÓ article in this issue.