Some new users to the Mac may not be aware of some command keys.

Apple have a good list here:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=75459

Some I found useful when being asked to save a document:



Cancel = Command + .
Don't Save = Command + d
Save = Return key

It doesn't work in ALL applications, but I often find hitting command+d very useful.

Command is also known as the Apple key.

Some users moving from using a full size keyboard to an iBook, PowerBook or MacBook Pro, miss the Forward Delete key.

If you're one of those. Holding down Function (fn key) + Backspace is the same as forward delete.

"Rock Star is a music trivia game that pits you against a clock and your very own music. Think "Name that Tune" adapted to suit your digital lifestyle. Britney may think that it's her against the music, but for only $9 you can put yourself against your music too!"


It's similar to Buzz on the PS2, but was out well before it. It's great fun!

I'm sure I made a post about Cage Fighter before, it must've got lost somewhere during my being without mac weeks.

To refresh:

I can't stand the new look to Mail.app introduced in Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger. Thankfully I wasn't alone, this is where Cage Fighter comes in.

It turns this:


Into either:


or my preferred:

Lady Bugs (that's a Lady Bird to those of us in the UK)

You have to try this colourful game. It's really for the kids, but why let them have all the fun?

"Bugs have never been so cute and cuddly...and colorful! This game for small children will keep your little ones racing against other ladybugs, wandering around garden mazes and helping ladybugs find their homes. These are challenging yet extremely fun activities to stimulate your child's thinking and color recognition skills, and at the same time, simply having a good time."

I thought I'd cover web browsers available for the Mac. This isn't a full review of each, more pointing you to their existence.

You're probably mostly familiar with Safari in OS X, and may have used Internet Explorer or netscape if you ever used OS 9. There are quite a few more options available than you might think.



If you're still using IE (Internet Explorer) on a Mac in OS X, it's really about time you stopped and switched to one of these below. That's not a personal statement, it's what's Microsoft themselves have said:

"...as of January 31st, 2006, Internet Explorer for the Mac is no longer available for download from Microsoft. It is recommended that Macintosh users migrate to more recent web browsing technologies such as Apple's Safari."





Safari is Apple's Mac OS X browser. It's still my browser of choice, tabbed browsing of course.

It has most of what you'll need, plus a few others you might want to try.


"With Safari, you know right away if you’ve landed on a website that offers an RSS feed, thanks to a handy RSS icon. Click it and Safari automatically displays the feed." Give it a try, it'll make more sense.

"You can view web pages long after they disappear from the Web, using the new archive feature. Keep them to read later or email to friends and colleagues. Archiving is ideal for saving short-lived web pages such as articles and personal receipts. " Select 'Save As' from the File menu to access this feature.

"Safari protects your personal information on shared or public Macs when surfing the Web. Go ahead and check your bank account at the library. Using Safari’s new Private Browsing feature" Find this feature under the Safari menu.

Safari integrates well with iLife and the Mac obviously being made by Apple. I would like Find (command+f) to be improved along the lines of FireFox, and perhaps some of the shortcut keys.

You may have compatibility problems with some sites. These are in the few, and are mainly due to lazy web designers. Safari is one of the few browsers to pass the Acid2 test. If you do have problems with a site, then you may want to try my second choice.




Camino. It's a Mac only browser from Mozilla. It's based on the same rendering engine as FireFox but unlike FireFox, it's has been designed specifically for the Mac.
"Designed exclusively for Mac OS X, Camino 1.0 is built on Mozilla’s Gecko rendering engine and offers one of the fastest browsing experiences available."
If you hate ads, then Camino is rather good at blocking most of them.

I'm not sure I like how it handles links in the bookmark bar, and it feels 'jumpy' when using two fingered scrolling on a track-pad. Otherwise it might be my browser of choice.




FireFox is the I can do anything browser of the browser world, if it can't do it out of the box, there tends to be a plug-in for it that will. If I were using a PC, I'd use FireFox.

Changing the way FireFox looks is very simple with themes, which is good, as the default one is revolting (to me). I found some nice ones here.
FireFox is a good solid browser, and feels like it's becoming the standard, taking over from IE.

There is of course the original Mozilla browser, simply the Mozilla Suite.
"Web-browser, advanced e-mail and newsgroup client, IRC chat client, and HTML editing made simple -- all your Internet needs in one application."




The Mozilla suite was recently cancelled, but may well live on with SeaMonkey.




"The SeaMonkey project is a community effort to deliver production-quality releases of code derived from the application formerly known as "Mozilla Application Suite". Whereas the main focus of the Mozilla Foundation is on Mozilla Firefox and Mozilla Thunderbird, our group of dedicated volunteers works to ensure that you can have "everything but the kitchen sink" — and have it stable enough for corporate use."



You can still get hold of that original of browsers Netscape 7.2, which is based on the Mozilla suite. Version 8 isn't yet available for Mac, but has a unique rendering engine allowing you to display pages using internet explorer's engine if you so wish

OmniWeb another Mac only browser, and one of the few that actually costs money (You can still download it and try it out).




OmiWeb has a unique way of handling tabbed browsing. Most browsers have tabs by name of the site across the top. A quick Command+t brings up another. In OmniWeb they appear in a drawer down the side, showing a small picture of the site. It can make finding that site you were just viewing a lot more easy, but it may take some getting used to.

It also has a featured called 'Workspaces'. You've a lot of web pages open, and you need to restart, or shut down but really don't want to have to open all those pages at the specific places you left them? Simple, you just save your session using the workspace function.

It also has many other unique features yet to make there way into other browsers. I've used it in the past to fool some websites to work on a Mac, as OmniWeb has the ability to identify itself as another browser. Want the website to think you're using IE 6 on a PC?

The problem with OmniWeb is firstly, it's not free and you have to ask yourself if it offers enough for you to pay up. The tabbed browsing is unique, but is in drawer, making it feel less integrated. Apple got rid of drawers in Mail.app, and it feels like OmniWeb should follow suit. They're also at the side, and if you've become used to tabs being across the top, then it'll feel strange.

I did come up with an idea for tabbed browsing with pictures in my 'iPhotoed Safari' post below. See what you think, you never know it might be the future.




Opera is a browser I know very little about. I've used it once or twice in the past, but never really liked it. I've not tried it for a long while and there are some out there who swear by it. It's also going beyond the desktop, appearing on mobile phones. They also claim it's the fastest browser.




If you're still running OS 9, or are on a slower old Mac, don't worry, I used to be as well. My favourite browser was iCab. It used little memory and was very snappy. It's also now available for Mac OS X.




KidsBrowser is the aptly named browser for, yes you guessed it, children. If you have those little blessings then it might be just the thing to keep them out of your hair

There are of course other more obscure browsers out there, a very good list can be found here

So if you've never tried tabbed browsing, then find out what you're missing...