Mac experts: a couple browsing questions

My PC died a few weeks back so I jumped ship and bought a Macbook. I actually had an original Mac back in 1984, and after that a Mac IIsi, but any experience I had with those doesn't really apply to today's machines.

Anyway, I have a couple questions about basic internet browsing:

1. On a PC, if you have multiple browser windows open you can toggle through them by typing Alt-Tab. Is there an equivalent Mac keyboard shortcut? Command-Tab on the Mac will cycle me from Safari to Mail and back, but it won't page through the multiple open windows

2. On a PC, if someone here on the board posts a link I can hover my mouse over the link and the actual URL will be displayed at the bottom of the screen. Any way to accomplish this with a Mac?

question 2.

using firefox or safari?

need to turn on status bar.

On Safari, just hold your mouse button on a link for a sec., then drag.

GrTechGuy's right. On safari, you have to turn on the status bar. It's in the preferences somewhere.

There is an equivalent to alt-tab... I think it's ctrl-tab. I don't use it, so I don't really know. Ctrl-tab definitely cycles through tabs in FF (just tried it)

Better: use Expose..
- F8 to see your different "spaces" (different desktop environments)
- F9 to show all open windows (usually scary for me)
- f10 to show open windows in the current application
- f11 to hide all windows
- f12 to jump to the dashboard

Tim Baxter wrote: GrTechGuy's right. On safari, you have to turn on the status bar. It's in the preferences somewhere. There is an equivalent to alt-tab... I think it's ctrl-tab. I don't use it, so I don't really know. Ctrl-tab definitely cycles through tabs in FF (just tried it) Better: use Expose.. - F8 to see your different "spaces" (different desktop environments) - F9 to show all open windows (usually scary for me) - f10 to show open windows in the current application - f11 to hide all windows - f12 to jump to the dashboard

Okay, I found the status bar so that's working. Ctrl-tab doesn't seem to do anything in Safari (I assume FF meant Firefox. I don't know what Expose is.... is it a Mac function?

Expose is bad-ass. A whole new way of switching between windows and stuff. Try those function keys.

In Safari it's apple+shift+left or right arrow.

It SHOULD be the same in both browsers. Somebody's breaking the Apple interface guidelines.

I found Expose', but it doesn't seem to do what I want..it appears to be for when you have a lot of different applications open at the same time, not multiple windows of the same application (in this case Safari.)

Edit: command-shift-arrow doesn't seem to do a thing on my Macbook.

command-shift-[ or ]

Arrow goes belly-up if something else (like a text field) has focus

THat's tabs. If it's multiple windows, I still think expose's F10 is the way to go.

Okay, I'm an idiot...what does [ or ] mean?

The left bracket [ or right bracket ]

(to the right of P)

You can also map Expose functions to mouse buttons (if using a mouse) or screen corners (more useful on a MacBook).

I have F11 (show desktop) mapped to my lower right corner and F10 (show all windows) mapped to the lower left.

Expose works for multiple windows, whether of the same application or different applications If you mean tabs in a browser, that's a different animal.

command-shift-[ and command-shift-] don't seem to do anything on this Macbook, either. I figured out how to map F10 to the third button (pushing down on the scroller) on my mouse (I'm using a wireless mouse) but that's not entirely satisfying either...it just makes multiple windows into microscopic squares and then I have to click on the one i want to bring to the top. With the alt-tab function on a PC, you can flip through the full size windows instantaneously.

Another thing that's a little frustrating is the laptop keyboard itself, because it's so small. The function keys each have two uses, so to do a F10/show all windows I have to press fn-F10. Just pressing F10 without the fn button adjusts the speaker volume. Plus, I miss the extra keys on a regular computer, like the numeric pad, page up and page down, etc. I may have to get myself an auxiliary keyboard to use when I'm sitting at my desk, and just use the laptop keyboard when I'm elsewhere.

Thanks for all the help, guys. I guess I'll have to do some more research on this thing.

is this the new aluminum Macbook or the white one?

I think I have one of the last ones with proper function keys.

It's the new aluminum one.

In FF, you should see the tabs at the top of your browser window for each window that's active, just click on the one you want, or hit the "x" if you wanna close it.

An extra keyboard is quite useful. I use the Apple wireless keyboard and MightyMouse when I'm sitting at my desk.

That said, I have the previous MacBook, and most of the time use the built in keyboard and trackpad. The annoying double duty of the function keys is why I mapped the useful Expose functions to the screen corners.

I have a new aluminum macbook too and I love it. I use the touch pad for Expose, for example: four fingers down for spaces, three fingers left or right to go forward or back a page, etc.

Bringing this thread back from the dead...I finally figured out how to use the keyboard to flip between multiple Safari screens on a Mac. Instead of alt-tab like on a PC, you use alt-` (the key with the tilde on it in the upper left corner of the keyboard.)

Huh? Command tab is for app switching. Command tilde switches open windows within an app. Expose is WAY better though, take a few minutes and set it up in system preferences. You can use it to switch between all windows, windows in the current app, or to brush all windows aside to get back to the desktop. I am also a big fan of spaces when I am doing a bunch of things at once, I have it set up as option-arrow to flip between them. I'll keep safari chugging in one space, itunes in one, Pages or Keynote in one, and whatever I'm really working on (Image editing, cad drawing, a Wmware window, etc.) in the last one. It's great.