Application Switcher Advanced Options

Application Switcher Advanced Options
Mac Tip#26/24-Oct-2001

[Update 2009: In Mac OS X use the Dock, as explained in How to Move and Resize the Mac OS X Dock. ]

Mac OS 9

Once you have the Application Switcher as a separate floating palette or toolbar with buttons you can set some preferences for how it displays.

At the top right of the palette are two buttons. The right hand button “windowshades” the palette. Click it once to fold the palette into a tiny stripe. Click that button a second time to open the palette up again.

The “inside” button is the zoom box. You can do many things with the zoom box. Click it and instead of showing both an icon and a name for each application it will contract to show only an icon. Click it a second time and it will expand again to show both.

Hold down Option while you click and the icons will become larger (or smaller if you click again).

Hold down both Option and Shift and instead of being vertical it will change to horizontal.

Try hovering your mouse at the right hand edge. If you get your cursor in the correct place you’ll see a double-headed arrow. Drag to the right or left and you can show or hide the application names.

Flexible little beastie, isn’t it!