Funky Resize

One of the new features in Lion is the fact that you can now resize a window from any side or corner. That much is documented by Apple. But what is not immediately apparent is that if you hold down the "Option" key while resizing a window, you get a new behaviour. With the "Option" key down the window resizes from both the corner or side that you are dragging, as well as the opposite corner or side, simultaneously. Check out the screencast below to see this effect in action. 

Getting around the effects of Resume and Auto Save

Two of the latest changes introduced in OS X Lion are "Auto Save" and "Resume". Both do exactly what you think: "Auto Save" will automatically save what you're working on without you having to worry about it, and "Resume" ensures that when you quit an app, it will reopen precisely where you left off. While in general this can be a tremendous help in your daily workflow, there are occasions where you start an app and all you want is a blank document or a brand new screen rather than the last 4 PDFs you were looking at when you quit Preview the last time, or the multitude of Safari windows that were open when you quit the program last. 

One option you have is to click the close box of every open window in any app prior to quitting. This will ensure that the next time you open that app you will not have all that stuff popping up on your screen again. But as you will expect, there is a more elegant solution (especially if you have way too many open windows in any particular app open at the same time). You hold down the "Option" key before choosing "Quit..." and you will see that menu choice change to "Quit and Discard Windows" (you achieve the same thing by holding down the "Command" (⌘) "Option" and "Q" keys simultaneously). This will close all the windows at once, quit your app, and the next time you start that app you won't have any of the previously viewed windows appear automatically anymore.

Fancy Accents (OS X Lion tip)

Anyone who recently upgraded their Mac operating system to OS X Lion is aware of the big changes, the significant improvements or some of the controversial modifications to the way we use our favourite computer every day. But some of the changes are not immediately noticeable. We will try to describe some of these techniques, together with such equivalent tips on iOS devices, in this section of cafehafuch.com.

For those of you who write in more than one language, or get to type foreign language words every once in a while, here is a cool little tip. You get to that fancy French word with a "ç" or a "ê" but you're not sure how to achieve that effect from your keyboard without accessing the "Special Characters" from the "Edit" menu. Apple to the rescue. It used to be that whenever you held down the lettet "e" on your keaboard you would get eeeeeeee until you lifted your finger off the keyboard. I personally can't think of a good reason anyone would want to do this in any real life situation. It seems someone at Apple had the same thought. Now in Lion, if you get to a letter that happens to have alternate versions, and you hold the key of that letter down, you are presented with a little "buffet" of options. You can do one of three things: (1) underneath every option there is a number, if you type in that number, you will get the associated version of the letter in your text, (2) you move your mouse pointer to the option you need and click it or (3) you use the arrows to select the required option and click "Return".

A perfect example of Apple doing someting so simple, yet so elegant, to solve a problem in a most pragmatic way, all the while eliminating an unnecessary feature that we have had since the early days of personal computing. It's little things like that that make you appreciate using this platform to get your work done.