Help! Old PC dog has to learn new Mac tricks

[DaveC426913]

TL;DR Summary

PC user needs to learn Mac features: custom icon for a desktop shortcut (You think you know how to do it, but you don't.)

Hey! 40 years on PCs and now I'm a Mac guy, YAY!

I'm onboarding at my new job, and there's a lot of content to cover on my own recognizance. I can't be asking my boss or coworker every time I need to remember whether print screen is Ctrl-Option-Staff-of-Ra-3 or Command-Function-Sarcophagus-3. Also, no Mac friends top ask.

And, to the point: if all I had to do is Google it or find some cheat sheet, I wouldn't be here now. Generic answers simply are often dead wrong.

Here's example one I need help with:

Custom icon for desktop shortcut to webpage

1. I am using my desktop for important bookmarks to apps I use all the time (for example: the dashboards for CMS portals like Drupal and Wordpress into the sites I'm responsible for curating.)
2. So, my Drupal dashboard. I want a shortcut on my desktop. I drag and drop it from my browser (Saf*cough*ari) on to my desktop. It has a hideous generic "http @" icons that means nothing to me, especially next to all the other identical ones. A meaningful icon for me would be the Drupal logo.
3. To change the shortcut icon, I am told to "right-click" ** on the shortcut, then choose Get Info, to pull up the shortcut menu. Thern I click on the tiny icon on the upper left to change it.

LIES!

Many sites offer this exact solution. They are all lying. This does not work. That icon is static.

I trusted the innertoobs and they let me down.



** "right-click" translation: I have a 20% chance of getting it right first time: Shift-click? No. Fn-click? No. Command-click? No. Option-click? No. Ctrl-click? YES! Only fifth try!

 

[DaveC426913]

Giant Lie #2:

The Ask:
Simply make an alias on my desktop that points to a doc elsewhere (in this case, in One Drive).

The solution:
Donning my Googles, I am told by 10 million users:

1. Got to the Menu > File > Make Alias

LIES!

Make Alias is inactive.

Mac is all about these kinds of "Modes". If you are in Mode 1, nothing works the same as when you are in Mode 2. Too bad no one wants to share which Mode Make Alias works in.

 

[jtbell]

I just tried it myself.

Warning #1: I have a single-button mouse, so things like "right-click" don't work for me.
Warning #2: I'm leaving on a weekend road trip in the morning, and won't have a MacOS device with me (just my iPhone and iPad).

Anyway, I dragged a shortcut from Safari to my desktop and got the ugly "@" icon. I also used the Screenshot app to get an image (PNG) of the icon that I actually use for that page in Safari. (It's part of my own site, on which I use HTML magic to create a custom icon for it.).

I clicked on the "@" icon and hit command-I to get the info window for the shortcut.

Then I did the following:

1. Click on the "Screenshot" icon to select it (without opening it).
2. Hit Command-C to copy it to the clipboard.
3. Click on the info window to select it.
4. Click on the little "@" icon at the top right of the window, to select it. It now has a thin blue border around it. You'll see it in the next image.
5. Hit Command-V to paste the copied image.

See the blue border?

When I click on the updated icon, it takes me to the appropriate page.

 

[JT Smith]

And, to the point: if all I had to do is Google it or find some cheat sheet, I wouldn't be here now. Generic answers simply are often dead wrong.

I had the same questions you have when switching from PC to Mac years ago. I googled the answers. If I were to do it right now I'd look to see if I saved the details in my folder where I keep such information. But I'd probably end up googling it again. Yes, just like with windows stuff the OS version and other factors mean that internet instructions sometimes don't apply to you. You have to search further.

I just replaced the icon for an app (not just the shortcut) a couple of days ago. But I went about that completely differently, opening the package contents and actually replacing the .icns file. How do you make an .icns file would be the next question. Google it!

 

[DaveC426913]

4. Click on the little "@" icon at the top right of the window, to select it. It now has a thin blue border around it. You'll see it in the next image.

Yes, I noticed this during my experimentation. I got this far.

5. Hit Command-V to paste the copied image.

How would any sane person think of this!!???

Does Mac know what the term affordance means? High affordance is a control that makes it obvious how to operate it. A doorknob has high affordance. A secret passage operated by the yanking of a nearby wall sconce has very low affordance. Like this Mac feature.


Thank you.

 

[Mark44]

How would any sane person think of this!!???

Aren't copy and paste nearly identical on Windows and Macs? I.e., CTRL-C vs Command C for copy and CTRL-V vs Command V for paste?

 

[DaveC426913]

Aren't copy and paste nearly identical on Windows and Macs? I.e., CTRL-C vs Command C for copy and CTRL-V vs Command V for paste?

Yes. That's not what's inscrutable.

The idea that you can select a teeny 12x12 icon next to a window title - and a paste function would work - is highly nonintuitive. There was nothing about it that suggested it was willing to be replaced by a paste.

Imagine any of the tiny icons in this screen snippet being changeable by selecting one and pasting. It's just too far outside the scope of normalcy.

In Windows, the ability to edit an icon would likely have had its own a small, simple popup where you could paste. This may have been an inefficient use of multiplt nesting windows, but least it had a degree of affordance.

 

[JT Smith]

The idea that you can select a teeny 12x12 icon next to a window title - and a paste function would work - is highly nonintuitive. There was nothing about it that suggested it was willing to be replaced by a paste.

You're absolutely right. Apple does a lot of stuff the "Apple Way" and if you don't like it you can complain about it. And people certainly do. But ultimately you're only real choice is to either live with it or switch to the other giant uncaring monolith. It's up to you.

 

[DaveC426913]

It's up to you.

Oh, sorry. Did I give the impression this was my choice? I suppose I could choose to quit my new job.

 

[JT Smith]

Oh, sorry. Did I give the impression this was my choice? I suppose I could choose to quit my new job.

My bad, I glossed over that.

So continue with the complaining then. :-)

It's not like Windows is a panacea. And I'm for sure not an Apple fanboy. Once upon a time I cheered for them. I bought a small amount of their stock long ago when it looked like their chance for success was slim at best. I just wanted an alternative to Microsoft. I hated their products and despised the company. Bill Gates was Satan.

That small stock purchase, coupled with a doubling down a decade or so later, turned out to be the best investments I ever made.

Now? Apple *is* Microsoft: huge, uncaring, a corporate bully. I have an iMac and an iPhone and they work okay but I hate many of their features. And I have been steadily shedding their stock. I wish there were a small company I could bet on to be an alternative.

 

[DaveC426913]

This "magic mouse" wheel user experience is just awful.

I spend a lot of my time gently stroking the mouse in the hopes that something on my screen will move. There's zero affordance, and more often than not, there's zero feedback, leading me to wonder if I'm stroking it hard enough. Assuming I am stroking it hard enough I then wonder if I am stroking it in the right direction - I am as likely to be at the bottom of a block of content and performing the action that makes it scroll down, rather than up. It all leads to a lot of wasted time and frustration.

Am I stuck with this "magic mouse"? Are there Mac-compatible mice that have actual wheels on them?

Update:
A little research suggests alternate Mac mice that have an actual wheel control.

I'm not yet sure if they connect directly via bluetooth or whether I still need a dongle.

 

[OmCheeto]

Update:
A little research suggests alternate Mac mice that have an actual wheel control.

I'm not yet sure if they connect directly via bluetooth or whether I still need a dongle.

I have a 2021 Macbook M1 Pro and use a dongle-free wheeled bluetooth Logitech 535 mouse. The mouse uses a single AA battery. I use Energizer rechargeable lithium ion batteries.

 

[JT Smith]

This "magic mouse" wheel user experience is just awful.

View attachment 344725

I spend a lot of my time gently stroking the mouse in the hopes that something on my screen will move. There's zero affordance, and more often than not, there's zero feedback, leading me to wonder if I'm stroking it hard enough. Assuming I am stroking it hard enough I then wonder if I am stroking it in the right direction - I am as likely to be at the bottom of a block of content and performing the action that makes it scroll down, rather than up. It all leads to a lot of wasted time and frustration.

Am I stuck with this "magic mouse"? Are there Mac-compatible mice that have actual wheels on them?

Update:
A little research suggests alternate Mac mice that have an actual wheel control.

I'm not yet sure if they connect directly via bluetooth or whether I still need a dongle.

I have a Magic Mouse. It's worked flawlessly for almost 11 years. Best mouse I've owned, no question. My wife has a couple as well, both the battery type and USB charge type, and they work great too. I wonder what the problem is with yours?

There's far more to complain about in the keyboard department. Or what about Finder? Surely that's fertile ground for a rant or three.

 

[jtbell]

I also have had no problem with scrolling my 4-year-old Magic Mouse. When scrolling a long forum page here, I simply flick my finger across the top of the mouse a few times. When I need to move something precisely, I click and hold it, and drag the mouse.

My one big complaint about my USB-charged Magic Mouse is that I can't use it while charging. the USB charging port is on the bottom of the mouse. How did they ever come up with that stupid, hare-brained, #%$^%&*@ design??!!??!!??

 

[JT Smith]

My one big complaint about my USB-charged Magic Mouse is that I can't use it while charging. the USB charging port is on the bottom of the mouse. How did they ever come up with that stupid, hare-brained, #%$^%&*@ design??!!??!!??

I feel the same way. It's why I keep my old battery version going (the contacts are getting a little finicky after nearly eleven years). I can always buy new rechargeable AA batteries but when the battery in your mouse gets old what are going to do? Open it up and replace it yourself? Or toss the whole thing in the trash and buy a new mouse?

It's another instance of Apple thinking like a seller of products instead of a user of their products.