Six Mac Shortcuts I Love
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You know that cotton-headed feeling after you’ve updated your way-behind grade-book? That’s where I am right now.
Luckily, it was a good experience. I love the discussion on our AP Lit Ning about Laurence Olivier in King Lear. The forum was 12 pages long since being assigned on Thursday, and I hadn’t looked at it. Nice to see the seniors get into it. Nice to see they discovered Sir Laurence, too. (That Ning is open to the public, remember. If you like Lear, you’re welcome to pop in. “Where is God?” and “Was Shakespeare an atheist?” are two questions that are beautifully flogged.)
I also skimmed the 28 new student blogs. A handful were already compelling enough for me to add to the Young Writers 07 wiki I started with Chrissy in New Zealand last week.
Anyway, that semi-lobotomic post-gradebook daze prompted me to share with you Mac-owners this little gift:
My Six Favorite Mac Shortcuts
- Forward delete: FN + DEL
- Zoom desktop: CTRL + 2-finger scroll up and down on trackpad
- Zoom browser text, but browser and website container sizes don’t change: CTRL + APPLE + 2-finger scroll on trackpad (this one’s fantastic - you have to try it to really appreciate it)
- Spacebar: next section down on webpage
- Spacebar + Shift: next section up on webpage
- Apple + Shift + r : refresh cache (useful for plugin dinking)
Have any you’d like to share? Add ‘em.
For more language arts lessons, see:
If you like this post, please spread it: 
(But don't tag it "education." That will bury it.)
- Create 1:1 Envy and Open Network Envy in Your Admin: Show Them My School’s 1:1 Promo Movie
- Using Flock and Split Screen to Give Feedback
- Pimping it Out (one for the Feed Readers)
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As well as ctrl+cmd+2fingerscroll to zoom the text on a webpage, you can also do it but cmd++ (that’s command and the plus key) to enlarge and cmd+- (that’s command and the minus key) to reduce.
Hmm, never realised how awkward that keystroke is to write down until I came to actually, well, write it down.
Chris Betcher
23 Oct 07 at 12:12 am
ctrl+apple+2finger doesn’t seem to work on my macbook.
However: Control+2Finger scroll (up for bigger, down for smaller text) does. Really cool and a great help — thanks for the clue.
Now: Do you know a true Macbook keyboard equivalent to apple+plus (make text bigger)? Zooming is good, but enlarging is more natural for me. I can’t find a keyboard equivalent for the “plus” key.
Alexis
9 Jan 08 at 1:06 am
To set eg Apple-F12 as “make text bigger” and Apple-F11 as “make text smaller”, use the System Preferences, Keyboard & Mouse, Keyboard Shortcuts. I did this just for Safari, but you can do all applications.
+ to add a new shortcut
enter the text “Make Text Bigger”
Use the keyboard for the key you want, eg apple-F12
restart Safari. Works wonderfully! Now people over 45 can buy Macbooks!
Alexis
27 Feb 08 at 3:55 am