Keeping Programs Open and other Naive First Time Q's

[gfreaky]

Hey all -- just received my MBP a day or two ago, I'm already pimping this thing out with everything I need software wise. I do, however, have some questions coming from a Windows outlook on life that perhaps you all would be able to assist me with:

Should I leave programs open when I'm not immediately using them? Some that come to mind in particular: iTunes, Mail, Vienna, Firefox. Basically I find myself doing something in them, and then instead of just hiding them, I tend to CMD-Q out of them. Is this wise or would it be less taxing to simply let them run?

And a short corollary to the above: I assume in order for them to update me when I get new emails or RSS-es they'd need to be open in the background?

Is there any way to make iTunes take up less space (screen real-estate wise)? I seem to remember some sort of minimized view that I had seen anywhere but can't seem to find out how to access it...

How useful is Dashboard really? Perhaps I'm looking at it wrong, but it seems that it takes a while to load up and is distracting. Anything I seem to be missing?

Any other cool tips you all have for me? So far I'm very excited and digging Quicksilver very much, especially on a laptop


Thanks for all the feedback!
GF


Edit: Some more! Any way to toggle "stay on top" for iTunes videos/Quicktime? And any way to change the number of lines a page up or page down does?

 

[mkrishnan]

And a short corollary to the above: I assume in order for them to update me when I get new emails or RSS-es they'd need to be open in the background?

Generally, yes. In some cases there are widgets that you can let do these things with less of a memory footprint, though.

Is there any way to make iTunes take up less space (screen real-estate wise)? I seem to remember some sort of minimized view that I had seen anywhere but can't seem to find out how to access it...

See the three colored balls in the upper left corner of the window? You want the green one.

How useful is Dashboard really? Perhaps I'm looking at it wrong, but it seems that it takes a while to load up and is distracting. Anything I seem to be missing?

Mmm, eh, maybe, maybe not. If you don't like it, you don't have to use it. At some point, you might find a widget you like, and then you can use it.

 

[epochblue]

Should I leave programs open when I'm not immediately using them? Some that come to mind in particular: iTunes, Mail, Vienna, Firefox. Basically I find myself doing something in them, and then instead of just hiding them, I tend to CMD-Q out of them. Is this wise or would it be less taxing to simply let them run?

That's up to you. if you don't mind waiting for the apps to load, you can Cmd-Q all you want.

And a short corollary to the above: I assume in order for them to update me when I get new emails or RSS-es they'd need to be open in the background?

Correct. Vienna won't suck down new feed entries unless it's running.

Is there any way to make iTunes take up less space (screen real-estate wise)? I seem to remember some sort of minimized view that I had seen anywhere but can't seem to find out how to access it...

Cmd+Ctrl+Z should turn it into the mini-player. Hitting the green + in the upper-left corner should accomplish the same thing.

How useful is Dashboard really? Perhaps I'm looking at it wrong, but it seems that it takes a while to load up and is distracting. Anything I seem to be missing?

IMO, Dashboard isn't that useful aside from weather, but no doubt some people really like it.

Any other cool tips you all have for me? So far I'm very excited and digging Quicksilver very much, especially on a laptop

Sounds like you're doing better than most so far, so nothing new from me.


Thanks for all the feedback!
GF


Edit: Some more! Any way to toggle "stay on top" for iTunes videos/Quicktime? And any way to change the number of lines a page up or page down does?[/QUOTE]

 

[sfisher]

Should I leave programs open when I'm not immediately using them? Some that come to mind in particular: iTunes, Mail, Vienna, Firefox. Basically I find myself doing something in them, and then instead of just hiding them, I tend to CMD-Q out of them. Is this wise or would it be less taxing to simply let them run?

You can just leave them open as it will not slow down your system. You can close the main windows out and leave the program opening (where you still see the program's name in the menu bar at the top of the screen) or hide them (command+h command is the apple outline/weird box with circles on each corner key). To unhide, click on the icon you used to launch the application in the first place.

How useful is Dashboard really? Perhaps I'm looking at it wrong, but it seems that it takes a while to load up and is distracting. Anything I seem to be missing?

I find it somewhat useful. I have a dictionary/thesaurus widget from Apple and iStatPro to monitor the system's parameters - RAM, disk space, network status, temperatures, fan speed, etc.

Edit: Some more! Any way to toggle "stay on top" for iTunes videos/Quicktime?

I do not think Macs have the stay on top feature.

And any way to change the number of lines a page up or page down does?

In any application? Not that I know of. You can adjust the scroll bar to either scroll up/down a page or "jump to here" in the Appearance System Preferences.

 

[gfreaky]

Couple of more things in response: if I won't be using Dashboard, is there some way I can just disable it? And is there some way I can check to see how much of my RAM is being used at any one moment? Sort of a CTRL-ALT-DEL info view type thing?


Thanks again
GF

 

[sfisher]

And is there some way I can check to see how much of my RAM is being used at any one moment? Sort of a CTRL-ALT-DEL info view type thing?

Go into a Finder window then Applications and Utilities and open the Activity Monitor.

 

[rcarricato]

Couple of more things in response: if I won't be using Dashboard, is there some way I can just disable it? And is there some way I can check to see how much of my RAM is being used at any one moment? Sort of a CTRL-ALT-DEL info view type thing?


Thanks again
GF

I think this MacWorld article answers your questions
http://www.macworld.com/weblogs/macosxhints/2005/08/disabledashboard/index.php

and Activity monitor is in Utiliites it shows RAM usage

 

[skwij]

iStat Pro is a great widget to have, as it monitors system specs.

"Closing" programs via the red button closes the window/all tabs but the program still runs, making the next startup that much quicker. -H hides the focused program/window.

Page up/down is basically a scroll. /Pg^ or /PG V jumps to the top or bottom of the page.