### Hints and Shortcuts

# Hints for Improving Productivity

Making your desktop environment work for you.

Click image links for full view. | ### ### Improve Access to Files at an FTP or Web Site You can display the contents of an FTP or Web site in an Icon View window, which allows you advantages such as: easy search for files press `Ctrl` and drag to copy files type to find and select files preview file contents view "thumbnails" of image files Type the FTP site or the Web page address into the pathname field of an Icon View window. The files appear in the Icon View. Note: You can also drop a WebJumper icon into an Icon View drop pocket to display a Web page's files.
| ### ### Change Default Viewer and Editor Utilities To choose the default text editor, Web browser, image viewer, mail handler, book viewer, or PostScript viewer that you like to use by default, use the Default Viewer and Editor Utilities panel. For example, if you choose Vi instead of NEdit, any text document icons you double-click will open in Vi. To open this panel, choose Desktop > Customize > Utilities from the Toolchest.
| ### ### Use an Interactive Guide to Set Up Permanent Access to Your Macintosh or PC You can use a step-by-step Interactive Guide in the System Manager to NFS-mount file systems via AppleShare or NetWare (you can even access a printer this way). From the Toolchest, choose System > System Manager > Network and Connectivity > Mount an AppleShare or NetWare Filesystem.
| ### Use Someone Else's CD, Floppy, or DAT Drive--Without Leaving Your Desk If you don't have a CD, floppy, or DAT drive, but someone on your network does, choose Desktop > Shared Resources > On a Remote Workstation from the Toolchest. This brings up a window that lets you display another system's shared resources so that you can drag the CD, floppy drive, or DAT drive icon onto your desktop. Double-clicking the icon launches the appropriate program, which lets you control the device as if it existed on your own system.
| ### ### Take Advantage of the Icon View Shelf If you often create the same type of files (Showcase or jot files, for example) in a particular directory, choose View > Shelf from the Icon View of that directory, then drag and drop the frequently used applications on the blue "shelf" that appears. You can open files within an application by dragging the file icon onto the application icon (shown in picture). New files you create are automatically stored in that directory.
| ### ### Publish Files by Putting Them in public_html Any HTML files that you move or copy to the public_html directory (located in your home directory), are automatically published on your intranet. The location address for files in public_html is: http://systemname/~username/pathname. Using the public_html directory on the left as an example, say bob's system was named "mycomputer." In this case the intranet location address for projectX.html would be: `http://mycomputer/~bob/projectX.html` Also, any files you move or copy to public_html are automatically published on the OutBox intranet page that comes with your system.
| ### Make Icons Smaller If you find that icons on your desktop background occupy too much screen space, you can make them smaller. From the Toolchest, choose Desktop > Customize > Desktop. Use the Background Icon Size thumbwheel to adjust the size. You can also alter the size of icons that appear in Icon Views and the Icon Catalog. From the Toolchest, choose Desktop > Customize > Icon Views.
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