Q: how do I move an app from my desktop or system preference or finder onto the background?

whats crazy is though that if I begin to learn the osx lions manuals when it comes time to upgrade to mavericks i then have to spend days learning that. I wonder why they just cant leave well enough alone but develop new softwares that then take more time to learn?

The basics of OS X are the same w/each upgrade.  With each new upgrade are the newer bells & whistles and their locations that were not in the previous OS.  Most of these apps, I never use after trying them out for awhile.  The ones I don't like or cannot figure out how to use them I just remove them into a folder I made up called Miscellanious & place the folder inside the Finder until I find the time to read how to use them and/or their purpose.  This is where the Missing Manuals come in handy.

My folders are custom made & easily recognizable.  Below is an example.

If you note, most here use the List or Column views.  It's easier for me find what I am looking for by using the Icon view.  Very self explanitory.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hi,

The Finder is running all the time.

You can click anywhere on the Desktop pic you have showing to make it the App that is then listed in the menu bar.

Baby Boomer may be dragging items from the Applications Folder to the Desktop.

Open a Finder window and navigate to the Application folder.

Use the bottom right hand corner to resize if required.

Click and hold an item and then drag it to it's new place.

The Desktop is really a full screen window in this case and you can just let go to place things there.

I feel Baby Boomer is not actually doing this but is creating (or has created) those Folders within the Applications and is using them to "sort" things.

Although you can change the size of the icons  what you find works may be bigger than will display all your apps

In same cases "sorting folders" can help.

There are exceptions such as Messages, which will not update if it is placed in a "Messaging" folder.

Older versions of the OS were less fussy about this  and you could keep applications almost anywhere.

Apple are getting stricter about this but I also talking about htis happening over 20 years.

The best thing is to just try things.

Another resource are Mac User Groups

9:18 pm      Thursday; December 19, 2013

  iMac 2.5Ghz 5i 2011 (Mavericks 10.9)
 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),
 Couple of iPhones and an iPad

Ralph pretty much summed up everything.

I feel Baby Boomer is not actually doing this but is creating (or has created) those Folders within the Applications and is using them to "sort" things.

My "misc" folder is inside the Documents folder.

My "games" folder is inside Home (the little house in the left column of the Finder).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Diablo7 wrote:

 

However, I will keep at it and work on it so that it becomes second nature. Just for kicks I was using my windows 7 partition today and it still tickles me how easy windows 7 is for me. Maybe i.e. because windows in all its forms has been organic and second nature to me.

The Mac Finder is the direct equivalent of the Windows Explorer, they do the same things in an almost identical manner. Most of the menu commands are identical (esp: the basic one, like copy/paste etc)

I will keep at it and work on it so that it becomes second nature.

Practice makes perfect!  Until the next OS upgrade.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hi,

You are welcome and thank you for the comments.

For me it's a bit like swapping to drive a left hand car.

You know all the bits you need are there - they just are not in their familar places.

Things such as items on the Desktop ( I have the hard drives showing up there) are on the right.

It make no ergonomic sense to me to have to drag the mouse all the way to the left.

My phone would not be on the left of a real desk  as I am right handed.

There probably is a way to stack them on the left but I have not needed it and have not looked.

On the other hand it is probably one of the things that is more closely linked to the "Look and Feel" element of the Mac OS.

Enjoy your Learning Curve.

9:59 pm      Saturday; December 21, 2013

  iMac 2.5Ghz 5i 2011 (Mavericks 10.9)
 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),
 Couple of iPhones and an iPad

Hi Diablo7,

If you clcick and hold one of the items on the right hand of the Dock (other thatn the Trash) you are given options on how they are displayed.

I prefer the icon view that I posted earlier.

The basic is Stacks or Folder and this is the way the Dock part looks.

The other is the way the pop up bit works, Grid, Fan, List

The Utilities as Stacks

and Expanded as a Fan

Hope that helps.

The Christmas Sleigh pic is an animated GIF as you are probably aware.

I use the HTML option to place the HTML needed to align the pic to the right.

Although when I do this it is above the Sig block I use it tends to drop down "beside" that block.

Once a Pic is place here at Apple Support Communities it gets it's own reference.

I used the normal camera icon to place it the frist time.

Then I went to HTML and copied the entry.

Then I added the align="right" part.

The HTML look like this:-

<p><img align="right" alt="christmas.gif" class="jive-image" src="https://discussions.apple.com/servlet/JiveServlet/downloadImage/347814/christmas .gif" /></p>

This includes the paragraph tags to space it from other (HTML)  items.

Baby Boomer obviously has a Christmas/Holiday one as well as a regular sig spray can.

8:07 pm      Sunday; December 22, 2013

  iMac 2.5Ghz 5i 2011 (Mavericks 10.9)
 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),
 Couple of iPhones and an iPad

Hi,

You can drag any folder to the DOCK.

They will only fix themselves to the right hand end (much like an active item you minimise as that is an open "document")

You can then make those choices about how it displays.

The Fan option does not show you as many items and the Grid option does.

Both tend to show only the items near the top of the Folder, although in Mountain Lion and Mavericks the Grid options in scrollable.

EDIT

As for the .gif you can find many all over the net.

A search for Christmas Free gifs

9:47 pm      Monday; December 23, 2013

  iMac 2.5Ghz 5i 2011 (Mavericks 10.9)
 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),
 Couple of iPhones and an iPad

Message was edited by: Ralph Johns (UK)