Macworld's best tips, tricks, and How-To's

Open Mail links in the background

Here’s a quick tip on how to make Mail open links in your browser while keeping the browser in the background.

  • Songwriting with GarageBandJim Dalrymple’s efforts to create his first record album on a Mac continue, with a glimpse into the songwriting process. When it comes to composing music, GarageBand takes on a leading role.
  • Liven up your tracks with artworkThe quickest way to find a CD in a pile of jewel cases is by looking for its cover. Similarly, you can use Cover Flow in iTunes to scroll through your songs and albums, and the iPod lets you do the same thing; the iPod touch and iPhone even let you flick through a Cover Flow view with your fingertip.

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  • Open Mail links in the background
    Here’s a quick tip on how to make Mail open links in your browser while keeping the browser in the background.
  • Songwriting with GarageBand
    Jim Dalrymple’s efforts to create his first record album on a Mac continue, with a glimpse into the songwriting process. When it comes to composing music, GarageBand takes on a leading role.
  • Liven up your tracks with artwork
    The quickest way to find a CD in a pile of jewel cases is by looking for its cover. Similarly, you can use Cover Flow in iTunes to scroll through your songs and albums, and the iPod lets you do the same thing; the iPod touch and iPhone even let you flick through a Cover Flow view with your fingertip.
  • Windows and AirPort's Equivalent Network Password
    Windows wants your AirPort base station's key code. Here's how to find it.
  • Sleep displays via the keyboard in 10.5
    Learn an undocumented keyboard shortcut to quickly sleep your display(s).
  • Working Mac: Corral group calendars
    The version of iCal included with OS X 10.5 (Leopard)—version 3—has some surprisingly powerful features for managing group schedules—whether you’re trying to organize a family or a large business.
  • Geek Factor: Leopard’s Unix tricks
    Mac OS X 10.5 includes a number of changes to its Unix core, perhaps more than in any prior OS X release. Here are my picks for the five most interesting and useful ones.
  • Working Mac: Set up your OS X calendar server
    OS X Server 10.5 includes iCal Server, a full-featured yet easy-to-configure CalDAV server. Beyond the ordinary requirements for OS X Server, though, iCal Server has some additional qualifications.
  • Working Mac: Set up a free CalDAV server
    Apple’s Darwin Calendar Server (DCS) is a free, open-source CalDAV server that works with iCal. It’s not the only one, but it’s a good choice—as long as you don’t mind a bit of command-line tinkering.
  • Working Mac: Preview’s hidden powers
    Now you can enhance your images, annotate and merge PDFs, print multiple images on one page, and more—all without opening a specialized (and often expensive) image editor or PDF tool. Read on to discover eight great things you can do with Preview.
  • Geek Factor: Automating Word 2008
    We didn’t have for all of Joe Kissell’s AppleScripts for Word 2008 in the magazine. Here are three more. These scripts are all in the enclosed download file.
  • Excerpt: Take Control of iWeb
    Even if you include fancy graphics or podcasts on your Web site, the text is the heart of your site and is worthy of your attention. In this excerpt from Take Control of iWeb: iLife ’08 Edition, Steve Sande covers a grab bag of techniques related to working with text on your Web project.
  • Connect: Configure Leopard’s firewall
    While OS X has long included basic firewall software, Leopard introduced some significant changes to it, leaving many Leopard users confused as to how to keep their Macs secure. But though the firewall interface in Mac OS X 10.5 is indeed quite different from that in earlier versions of the OS, it’s still relatively easy to use.
  • Back up Entourage with AppleScript
    John C. Welch uses AppleScript to help him back up Entourage, including compatibility with Time Machine.
All Topic Tips, Tricks, and How-To's
  • Working Mac: Corral group calendars
    The version of iCal included with OS X 10.5 (Leopard)—version 3—has some surprisingly powerful features for managing group schedules—whether you’re trying to organize a family or a large business.
  • Working Mac: Set up your OS X calendar server
    OS X Server 10.5 includes iCal Server, a full-featured yet easy-to-configure CalDAV server. Beyond the ordinary requirements for OS X Server, though, iCal Server has some additional qualifications.
  • Working Mac: Set up a free CalDAV server
    Apple’s Darwin Calendar Server (DCS) is a free, open-source CalDAV server that works with iCal. It’s not the only one, but it’s a good choice—as long as you don’t mind a bit of command-line tinkering.
  • Connect: Configure Leopard’s firewall
    While OS X has long included basic firewall software, Leopard introduced some significant changes to it, leaving many Leopard users confused as to how to keep their Macs secure. But though the firewall interface in Mac OS X 10.5 is indeed quite different from that in earlier versions of the OS, it’s still relatively easy to use.
  • Back up Entourage with AppleScript
    John C. Welch uses AppleScript to help him back up Entourage, including compatibility with Time Machine.
  • Excerpt: Avoid file-sharing risks
    File sharing helps coordinate group projects, create a central archive of files, and share media. But before you dig into the details of how to share files, consider the risks of file sharing. Glenn Fleishman does just that in this excerpt from his new ebook, Take Control of Sharing Files in Leopard; he also looks at what actions you can take to avoid such risks.
  • Improving AirPort's range
    While Wi-Fi signals are supposed to reach 150 feet in any direction from a gateway, that optimistic number is rarely reached indoors.
  • Easy online backups
    You know you should back up your data. But whether it’s the cost, the setup, or the hassle of swapping discs or shuttling around hard drives, most of us find a million excuses not to get the job done. So wouldn’t it be great if you could click on a few buttons and ensure that your data was backed up regularly?
  • Troubleshooting AirPort Interference
    Imagine a large room full of loud people. Voices bounce off the walls, making it impossible to follow any one conversation. That’s something like what happens to wireless networks: there are all sorts of other electronic devices out there using the same wireless spectrum, and your AirPort hardware can have a hard time distinguishing one transmitter from another.
  • Mac 911 - Dec. 2007
    In this month’s edition of Mac 911, Christopher Breen offers tips for hiding iWeb pages, copying Keychains, easy blind carbon copying option for Mail, and dealing with Safari’s regrettable memory.
  • How to: Discover malware before installing
    How can you tell if the program you're downloading is what it claims to be? In light of this week's Trojan Horse outbreak, Rob Griffiths outlines a few simple, non-technical things you can do to check on downloads before you install them.
  • Excerpt: Getting your Mac ready for Leopard
    Planning on taking the plunge when Leopard arrives on October 26? There are things you can do right now to make the upgrade process run smoother. In this excerpt from his Take Control of Upgrading to Leopard ebook, Joe Kissell runs through the things you can do to clean up your Mac in advance of OS X 10.5's arrival, such as updating third-party software, decluttering your hard disk, and running Disk Utility.
  • Tame type troubles
    Solving a font-related problem is a simple two-step process: figure out what’s causing the problem, and then fix it. OK, maybe it’s not that simple: symptoms can have many causes, and causes can have many possible fixes. But with this guide, you can both use symptoms to pinpoint a probable cause and find the cure most likely to work. Even better, you’ll learn how to avoid some problems altogether.
  • Mac 911 - Oct. 2007
    Christopher Breen answers reader questions about blurry iMovie stills, nonprinting printers, syncing select contacts, and iMovie chapters as iDVD clips.
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