Zooming, swooping, Exposé madness! Try this...

[nagromme]

This is actually useful, not just fun...

1. In System Preferences > Universal Access, enable Screen Zoom (uses a small amount of CPU) with the following options:

* Maximum Zoom 4x (it's not really the max, you can still zoom further)
* Minimum Zoom 1x
* No "show rectangle," no "smooth images" (more useful if sharp)
* Zoom follows keyboard focus (Cool! When did they add that?)
* Image moves "Continuously with pointer"

Screen zoom is now available any time you want a close pixel-eye view... but that doesn't mean you ARE zoomed in always: it's just there when you want it.

2. In System Preferences > Keyboard Shortcuts, change the Zoom In key to F8 and the Zoom Out key to F7. (Defaults if you change your mind: cmd-opt + and -)

3. In System Preferences > Exposé, check that the three keys are at the defaults, F9 (All), F10 (App), F11 (Desktop). (I like a hot corner for All Windows, too.) And if you are lucky enough to be testing Tiger, don't forget F12 for Dashboard

Now you're set to Amaze Your Friends... go crazy with the six keys keys F7-F12 in any random combination!

Feeling ill yet?

Actually, as I said, I find it very USEFUL to have all these functions lined up with one touch--and all nicely animated. A quick universal zoom comes in handy quite often, I find, and it's cool alongside Exposé.

(PS, don't forget, ONE hot corner is all you need for both Show All Windows and Show App... set the corner to Show All, but when you want apps, just hit Tab after triggering the corner.)

 

[edesignuk]

hehehe, that's cool. Something else to show off when I take my PB in to work next week

 

[nagromme]

I used to leave screen zoom off because of the CPU usage--but it's too slight to care about now that I've passed the GHz mark Zooming is useful enough to be worth it (vital, even, when I'm messing with iTunes or whatever on a blurry TV).

(Look for UniversalAccessApp in Activity Monitor: it stays at 0% CPU usage EVEN while zooming--good ol' Quartz Extreme leveraging the GPU! But it goes up to 2%-7% while I'm moving the mouse, zoomed or not. Back to 0% when the pointer stops. Not too bad. This is on a 1.25Gz G4 AlBook.)

I might turn it off to save that couple% when gaming--but you can toggle it on and off easily with cmd-option-* or cmd-option-8 (not numpad 8). When it's on, F7 and F8 (or whatever keys) will zoom. When it's off, they won't, and no harm done. (If I turn U. Access on and off enough, I might make F6 do that.)

I notice my zoom keys got reset to default... might have happened when I restarted. If that happens, cmd-opt-+ (or =) and cmd-opt-- (minus) do the same thing. On the keypad or regular keys.

But having the F keys lined up with Exposé is more fun

 

[aricher]

Very cool - thanks for the tip - one more thing to drive my PC IT guys nuts with.

 

[Lacero]

I forgot about zooming. That's one feature that's usually underrepresented on Apple's site.

 

[Lacero]

Hmm doesn't work too well with monitor spanning.

 

[jackieonasses]

Hey if you monitor span, and you want to show off iTunes visualizer... then do this. (from memory

1.) turn on the zoom feature

2.) have both screens running (preferably the same resolution or close)

3.) when you start the iTunes visualizer (in Full screen mode) zoom in a couple times and it will span to the other screen. It looks quite amazing actually.

kyle