I wrote articles for my high school newspaper during my senior year. That was my first extensive exposure to Macs. At the time, I preferred PC’s because those Macs were Mac Classics, and they were SLOW. We wrote our articles in Word and laid the newspaper out in PageMaker. While writing my first article, I learned about the difference between the foot/minute mark, and the single quote/apostrophe. I also learned the difference between the inches/second mark and the double quote.

' - foot/minute mark
’ - single quote/apostrophe
" - inch/second mark
” - double quote

So how do you type those nice-looking single and double quotes?

’ - option-shift-]
” - option-shift-[
“ - option-[
‘ - option-]

And how did I find these typographical symbols and how to type them?

Click on the apple symbol in the top left-hand corner. Click on System Preferences.

Click International. Click on Input Menu.
Put a checkmark next to Keyboard Viewer.
A new menu item (a flag) shows up in the upper right-hand side of the menu bar. Click that flag and choose Keyboard Viewer.
A little keyboard shows up. Hold down the option key. Check that out! All kinds of cool symbols show up. You can press the corresponding key to type that symbol. Also try holding down option and the command key. A whole different batch of symbols show up! Have fun, and please use ’ instead of ' when writing an apostrophe, and you and I will remain friends.

“So how do I do this in Windows?” I have no idea, and I don’t have a Windows machine to figure it out.

Tags: typography, mac, computer, tutorial

A while ago MacUpdate put together a bundle of Mac software. Being a compulsive buyer, I bought it. I can't remember which program got me excited about the bundle, but I came away with a lot of software I'm really enjoying. The program I'm enjoying most, however, is called SRS iWOW for iTunes. It's a sound enhancement plugin for iTunes that makes the laptop speakers on my MacBook Pro sound roughly 6.73 times better than they did before. The plugin also includes presets for listening to headphones or for when your computer is hooked up to your stereo at home. It doesn't work over AirPort Express (damn!) but the effect it has to music playing out of your laptop speakers or headphones still makes it worth the purchase price of $19.99 SO worth it. I think they even have a PC version (like you care!).

You can get it here.

Tags: Itunes, product review, Audio, mac, computer, software