What’s it for?
When moving from a Windows computer to a Mac, the first thing that unsettles an average user is the Menubar. This small bar sits on top of the screen always. It doesn’t exist in Windows, as each program you open has it’s own Menubar. The Mac has always (well for at least 25 years at least) had a Menubar which changes, depending on what program you’ve got open. So, if you open Safari, the Menubar shows you the Safari Menu. Click on the Desktop somewhere, and the Menubar switches to Finder.
A tale of two halves.
The right half of the Menubar has nothing really to do with what you have open at the moment though. Look at the picture at the top of this article. That’s my Menubar from this morning. You can see little icons on the left of the time (and date). In order, they are (from right to left):
- Spotlight
- Time and Date
- Volume control
- Language of keyboard
- WiFi signal
- Bluetooth status
- Time Machine
- Display settings
- MobileMe sync status
- Spaces panel
- VPN connection
- Universal Access
- Growl
I could have added more. My Adobe updater wants in on the action as well. So do yet another half a dozen programs that I use. It’s a similar affair on the Windows side of the fence, with little icons fighting their way to your attention, this time in the bottom right of your TaskBar.
The point….
The MenuBar is one of my favourite things about using a Mac. It keeps program windows tidy and neat. But do you have to have icons in the Menubar? Heck no! Keep only the ones you need. If you regularly change your display settings (when you attach a beamer say) then make sure that it’s in your Menubar. If you switch languages regularly, put the language in your Menubar. Don’t let it become crowded just because a program you run says it should be there. Make the Menubar work for you. Oh, and for the record, here’s what’s normally in my Menubar (the above picture was NOT what I normally stare at when I work….)
Now, isnt’ that much better?
