Some things are so simple we never really look into them fully. Kurt Vonnegut’s works are like that—fun and easy to read. Yet they have an incredible wealth of meaning and truth beneath the surface for those who are willing to take note. The Mac is a lot like that. It’s so deceptively easy to use many folks never investigate the full potential of some of its very basic operations. The General Control Panel is a good example of this. Yes, I’m serious—the General Control Panel of all things!
Take a look at Figure 1. Even better, open your Mac’s General Control Panel and experiment as you read this. You veteran Mac users should do this too. You might be surprised.
Let’s paint
You can use the desktop editing tools to customize the pattern and color (if you have a color monitor) of your desktop. (See Figure 2.) The Desktop Pattern Editor occupies the upper left corner of the General Control Panel. The pattern editing area represents an 8x8 pixel section of the desktop. A small “miniature” representation of the Mac’s desktop is just to its right. This lets you preview what a pattern shown in the editing area will look like if you apply it to the Mac’s desktop.
A number of patterns are already stored in the General Control Panel. To scroll through them simply click on the small right or left arrows at the top of the miniature desktop. As each pattern appears in the miniature desktop, its pixel map is displayed in the pattern editing area. The colors or grays that are available for that pattern are displayed in the color selection bar. Any given pattern can include up to eight colors or shades of gray.
As you scroll, if you come across a pattern you want to apply to your desktop, just click on it in the miniature desktop. Your Mac’s desktop immediately is switched to that pattern.
It is easy to customize the pattern and color to suit your personal desire. Select a color in the color selection bar by clicking on it. A small horizontal black bar appears on the color you have selected. Click the pointer on one or more pixels in the pattern editing area and they will change to the selected color. Pick another color in the color selection bar and click in the pattern editing area again. The pixels you click on change to the new color. Any changes you make there are displayed in the miniature desktop. Experiment with the colors and their positions in the pattern editing area until you get a pattern you think you might like. Apply it to the desktop by clicking on it in the miniature desktop. If you have created a pattern you want to save, double-click on it in the miniature desktop. The next time you open the General Control Panel it will still be there. By the way, if, like me, you dislike patterns and want your desktop all one color (or shade), just make all the pixels in the pattern editing area the color of your choice and save that “pattern” by double-clicking on it in the miniature desktop.
You can also change the colors in the color selection bar to suit your needs. Double-click on the color you want to change and the color wheel window appears. (See Figure 3.) Depress the mouse button and drag the cursor across the color wheel. As you do so the new color will be displayed above the old color in the color comparison block at the upper left corner of the color wheel window. When you get just the color you want, release the mouse button and click on the OK button in the window. The new color will now be available and selected in the color selection bar. All the pixels previously assigned to the old color will now have the new color. Using the color wheel to modify the available colors will let you “paint” your desktop in an almost infinite variety of ways. (Some of these possibilities will not be available if your Mac has less than 16 colors available.)
Flash dancing
The remainder of the settings in the General Control Panel are much less interesting. But you should experiment with them nonetheless. A fast rate of insertion point blinking can make it easier to locate the insertion point in a busy document when you look away and back to the screen during the course of your work. I was constantly losing my insertion point until I set the rate to fast. Folks with certain neurologic disorders might want to decrease the rate to avoid problems that can be caused by rapidly flashing motions. (Remember The Andromeda Strain?)
The number of times a menu blinks when you select it can also be set in the General Control Panel—from 0 to three blinks. More blinking helps you see which item you have selected from a menu. Sometimes I notice by the blinking of a selected item that I have accidentally chosen the wrong one—by a slip of the mouse button finger, perhaps. This makes me aware of the choice and prevents me from blazing ahead blindly, without thinking, until I correct the mistake.
Doing time
Finally we come to selection of the date and time, in the lower right quarter of the General Control Panel. Choose a 12- or 24-hour clock. Change the time or date by clicking on the part you want to alter. An up & down arrow selector appears to the right of the date or time. (See Figure 4.) Click on the up or down arrow as needed to set the proper date and time. Alternatively, highlight the part you want to change and type in the new setting on the keyboard. The changes do not take place until you press the return key, or click in another area, or close the control panel.
By the way, one of the significant deficiencies of the current System Software is the lack of a good onscreen clock. (This might change with System 7.5.) The Apple Alarm Clock DA is not a bad clock but it is very plain (boring), tends to disappear behind open windows and is not user-configurable. I think a menubar clock is much better. The best menubar clock available is the freeware program SuperClock! by Steve Christensen. It adds a small, fully customizable digital clock to your menubar. It never disappears from your screen, unless, of course, a screen saver kicks in. It also can be set to chime at selected intervals using any sound you wish. There are timer and alarm functions as well. I recommend all Mac users get SuperClock!
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