Snow Leopard - Hints, Tips and little changes

[andi242]

EDIT: I did find this battery condition notification feature interesting, if painful to read. I've had this MBP a little less than a year.

try resetting the SMC as said here: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3782
hopefully your battery comes back to life

 

[danb77]

I haven't seen this one advertised anywhere:

Snow Leopard is able to instantly detect the language of typed text and then apply the appropriate spell check, repairing small errors on the fly. You can even switch back and forth between languages and it'll figure it all out automatically.

Wow!! :-D

 

[CTU Kyoto]

CMD+[___SPACE___] is Spotlight combo...

Ah, if you don't use multiple input methods then it will be, but since before Tiger and the introduction of Spotlight, Command-Space was the keyboard shortcut for switching between them. AFAIK, having that shortcut setup on a Mac before installing Tiger or a later Spotlight-enabled version of Mac OS X will keep Command-Space as the input switching keys and disable it for Spotlight.

 

[Shasterball]

there is no way to exit screen sharing without moving the mouse to the screen sharing menu and quitting that way... makes it difficult to screen share and exit without letting anybody know you're watching

Creepy?

 

[montuori]

Compiling Perl Modules

Here's something: when compiling up Perl modules (for example, no doubt there will be other cases where this is necessary) setting:

ARCHFLAGS="-arch 1386 -arch x86_64"

(if using gcc 4.2 anyway) will make everything happy. Failing to do so will result in "can't load bundle" type errors.

Also, typing a character on the keyboard will bring you to the Exposé window who's name starts with that letter. Huge props for that.

 

[robert.bulko]

New icon for new black looking QuickTime

 

[tongteh]

I am not sure if this is mention.. but just trying to help.. when activity monitor is being use. right click on it and you can change the dock icon...

 

[bindigok]

Another non-reported improvement. :-D

System Zoom is much much better.

Try a crtl-scrub zoom and then move the mouse around - now the screen does not move about until you reach the edge - a big improvement!!

The zoomed image looks cleaner too.

It does look better, but the way your screen moves with the mouse is the same in Leopard, but the default changed. You can set it to move with the pointer, keep the mouse in the center, or mouse on the edges.

 

[iZoom P5]

Dynamic Arranging on the Desktop

Now when using the Arrange By or Clean Up commands, the icons (very quickly) slide into their new positions on the desktop.

 

[zwaldowski]

I'm going to go ahead and say this so that it's maybe updated in the OP and people stop posting the same post ( ) with only slight differences (to the post ):

Finder (as in the entire window display app, the desktop, the menubar, and folder-viewing windows) and Dock were rewritten using Cocoa. Not only are they much faster and natively 64-bit, but nearly every action relating of and to files leverages CoreAnimation.

EDIT: Oh, and I just noticed that a MB/MBP works perfectly with an external monitor if you turn it on using an Apple Remote or press the power button and shut it really quickly.

 

[FSMBP]

I am not sure if this is mention.. but just trying to help.. when activity monitor is being use. right click on it and you can change the dock icon...

That was already in Leopard.

I did find something else too though, speed improvements are as advertised if not better. All my main use apps (Mail, iChat, Safari, iCal, Text Edit, Calculator) open less than a full bounce in the Dock after restarting my Mac.

Before, Safari took 3-5 bounces and took another 6 seconds to load my homepage. And Text Edit and iCal took 2-4 bounces and wouldn't be 100% ready to go until 2-3 seconds later. Although I'm comparing 1 second to Leopard's 6 seconds on some apps, it makes a big difference in workflows and just overall everyday computing!!!

 

[Shake 'n' Bake]

Now when using the Arrange By or Clean Up commands, the icons (very quickly) slide into their new positions on the desktop.

Same thing with Finder windows.

 

[ssumer]

HP all-in-one printers don't need any cumbersome software now. You can now print and SCAN natively!

I don't think "ALL HP all-in-one printers" could print/scan without additional driver on SL. Check the print compatibility list provided by Apple.

I am using HP All-in-One LaserJet 3055, I could print only with native driver, But scan/fax. I hope HP releases new driver for SL soon.

 

[bindigok]

Crap. Time to see if I can change that or find a new weather widget. The Yahoo weather forecast is horribly innacurate for my area. I can barely count on the iPhone to tell me if the day is going to be sunny or rainy, let alone anywhere near an accurate temp prediction.

I use the WeatherUnderground widget, far better than Apple's widget. More accurate for specific areas, not just general cities or zip codes. And has a radar in it. I switched a while ago and I love it.

 

[Shake 'n' Bake]

My HP Ink Widget doesn't work. I've got a PhotoSmart C6380 connected wirelessly to the network.

 

[bindigok]

I've read over all 10 pages, took me all morning, but I don't see this feature. It was eluded to, but never discussed. In the keyboard shortcuts preference panel, you have some pretty fine control over Services. Apple has been talking about how it was redone, but it's an easy to use checklist now. Awesome!

 

[Tex-Twil]

I'm not if this one has been mentioned: the Snow Leopard DVD has a snow leopard on it

 

[cuestakid]

Both of those features were in Leopard.

how do you combine both?

EDIT:found it

 

[drumber42]

I think what is happening here is the fact that SL is using a 2.2 gamma value instead of 1.8 of Leopard.
If you have two computers one with Leopard and one with Snow and you put them side by side the difference in colors is noticeable. But the graphics are the same, just displayed slightly different.

Oh, OK. That's kinda over my head but I understand (if that makes any sense). Thanks =D.

I'm checking this thread everyday; here's a tip for screen recording if you have a second monitor set up. Before you click Start Recording, drag the window to the other desktop. That way you don't see the window at the start of your video.

 

[brijazz]

Oh, OK. That's kinda over my head but I understand (if that makes any sense). Thanks =D.

I'm checking this thread everyday; here's a tip for screen recording if you have a second monitor set up. Before you click Start Recording, drag the window to the other desktop. That way you don't see the window at the start of your video.

I believe that the Screen Recording window is automatically omitted from the videos that it produces. No need to hide it away...

 

[Cougarcat]

When an app stops log out, it will now ask if you want to force quit the app.

 

[drumber42]

I believe that the Screen Recording window is automatically omitted from the videos that it produces. No need to hide it away...

Unfortunately no, this one I've personally tested.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfJSxTUtKv0

BTW, if you want to just record the computer sound (for which there's no option, for some reason), just plug in a stereo to stereo cable from the headphone jack to the Line In.

Someone mentioned that the screen grabs are named by date now (big props for that, who doesn't hate "Picture 1 already exists"). Photo Booth pictures are now named similarly.

 

[tkermit]

I believe this is new ?! :

When you drag selected text from anywhere into a Finder window and the text only consists of a written URL, Snow Leopard will create a weblink where Leopard would have created a text clip. Pretty intelligent.

EDIT: Apparently it already was like that in Leopard.

 

[maestrocasa]

Thanks everyone for all the helpful hints!

 

[drumber42]

Posting

I don't want to waste space with off topic stuff, so I'll just ask if someone could plz PM; I have a question about posting a new topic.