How Do I...

We get a lot of e-mail asking “How do I do this...” This chapter answers a few of the most common questions.

         Hide tiles that I don’t want to see?

         Make a tile for the Trash?

         Change a tile’s text?

         Put tiles where I want them?

         Keep The Tilery out of the way?

         Change the size, shape, and color of the tiles?

         Get rid of the little yellow window?

         Make my system stop “freezing” and speed up?

         Purchase The Tilery and enable all features?

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I don’t want to see a tile for my screen saver (or for the Finder, The Tilery, whatever). How can I make The Tilery not show these tiles?

Hold down the ⌘-key and click the tile you’d like to hide. Then select Hide Tile from the Tiles menu in the menu bar; the tile will vanish.

There will now be a new menu item in the Tiles menu, labeled “Show Tile for whatever-the-tile-was-called.” To un-hide the tile, select that menu item. You can also select Show All Tiles to show every hidden tile.


How do I make a tile for the Trash?

Make an alias for the Trash. Then drag the alias onto The Tilery’s icon in a Finder window, or onto The Tilery’s own tile. After the Trash tile has been created, the alias is no longer necessary and you can get rid of it.

If your system does not support Drag and Drop, or does not have the Scriptable Finder, you may not be able to make a tile for the Trash. System 7.5 and later have the necessary features, and some but not all earlier systems do too.


How do I change the text on a tile without changing the name of the original item?

You can do this for remembered tiles, but not for non-remembered tiles. Here’s how: Select Edit Tile Text from the tile’s menu. You will now be able to edit the tile’s text just as if you were using a word processor. When you’re done editing, press the RETURN key to stop editing.

To restore the tile’s default text (which is the name of the tile’s original item), completely delete all text and press RETURN.


How can I make the tiles appear in a different place?

Remembered tiles can be simply dragged to wherever you want them, and they’ll stay there until you drag them somewhere else.

Automatic tiles (the ones that appear and disappear automatically when applications launch and quit) are laid out in rows according to the “Anchor and Chain.” Select Tile Placement from the Preferences menu; all your tiles will temporarily vanish and will be replaced by two tiles displaying pictures of an anchor and a chain, and a small window containing instructions and a couple of buttons. Drag the anchor tile to the corner of the screen where you’d like your row of tiles to begin. (The chain tile will follow along.) Now drag the chain tile in the direction you’d like the row to go, either horizontally or vertically. The space you leave between the anchor and chain controls the spacing between all the tiles.

Your remembered tiles will also follow the anchor and chain, if you select the “Adjust Remembered Tiles to Grid” checkbox in the window. They’ll stay put if you leave that box unchecked.

When you’re ready, click the OK button. If you decide to leave things unchanged, click Cancel instead. The anchor and chain will vanish and your regular tiles will reappear, either in their new locations or (if you clicked Cancel) in their old ones.


Whenever I quit from an application, The Tilery always winds up in front. How can I prevent that?

Select Defer to Finder from the Preferences menu if you would like to have the Finder automatically brought to the front after you quit an application.

If you would prefer to have the next application in line brought to the front instead, select Defer to Next App.

If you want the regular behavior back again, select Don’t Defer.

Please be aware that this feature isn’t magical. The Tilery will do its best, but that may not be perfect. For example, if you like to hide applications you may be happier with Defer to Finder than with Defer to Next App. The Tilery can’t always tell when an app is hidden, and may mistakenly bring a hidden app forward, which will un-hide it.


I don’t like the shape, size, or colors of the tiles. How can I change them?

Select Tile Styles from the Preferences menu. You can choose from eight different styles which give you choices for icon size, text, and window kind; and you can select colors for open tiles, remembered tiles, the “frontmost” bars, and tile text.


I don't like the little yellow "Screen Tips" window that appears whenever I hold the mouse over a tile. How can I get rid of it?

Select Tile Styles from the Preferences menu, and uncheck the box labeled Show Label Under Mouse.


My system seems to slow down or freeze up for a couple of seconds at a time, especially when I launch, quit, or switch applications. How can I make my system fast again?

Select Tile Styles from the Preferences menu, and uncheck the box labeled Dim Icon for Hidden Applications. (This is a nice feature, and we have included it for the benefit of users who really want it. But it can noticeably slow down your system, and most users probably won’t want to use it.)