Since Apple introduced the Multi-Touch Trackpad on the MacBook Pros a few years back, the utilization of easy-to-use gestures is on the rise. And while Lion's whole architecture is based off of these assorted swipes and finger-pulls, it's more than just moving windows and swiping between pages. Read on to learn about six other ways you can use your Trackpad to increase productivity in applications like iLife, Quicktime and even the Dock.
>> Mac OS X Lion
>> iPhoto
>> QuickTime
>> MacBook with Multi-Touch or Magic Trackpad
Multi-Touch gestures aren’t solely limited to maneuvering around OS X. Apple has included a hidden gesture in iMovie that lets you quickly and easily advance in your video timeline.
Ensure your cursor is positioned inside of the timeline area or this trick won’t work.
Simply place the pointer inside of the project timeline area, then with two fingers on the Trackpad, slide your fingers left-to-right or vice versa to position the project play head at just the right spot in the video. You can also utilize this with your video timeline in Final Cut Pro.
iPhoto also lets you use Multi-Touch gestures in edit mode. For example, if you click on the Straighten button, you can use your thumb and index finger to rotate the photo.
Look, ma… no buttons!
Back in iPhoto, you can also crop your photos using another Multi-Touch gesture. Simply click the Crop button in the edit toolbar, and uncheck the “Constrain” checkbox.
As long as the Constrain checkbox is unchecked, this trick will work.
Next, position your cursor over the top of the photo and pinch in or out with two fingers to position the grid over the area you wish to crop. Then, release your fingers from the Trackpad and click on the Done button in the toolbar to save your image.
If you’re previewing a video, PDF or other document that you want to look at in full screen, you usually have to click a button. Or, use a Multi-Touch gesture to take care of that.
To get out of full screen mode, simply pinch in with two fingers on the Trackpad.
Once you have a Quick Look window opened, you can get into full screen mode by positioning your cursor over the Quick Look window and pinching out with two fingers on the trackpad.
In Lion, Apple completely removed the “single-click and hold” Dock Exposé feature that many Mac users came to love in Snow Leopard. Fortunately, Lion has a somewhat similar feature that can only be used if you know the right gesture.
To get out of App Exposé, simply click outside of a window, or press the Escape key on your keyboard.
To see the windows for only one application opened in the Dock, hover your mouse cursor over the Dock icon, and swipe down with four fingers on the Trackpad. Assuming you haven’t changed any of the trackpad settings, you will see the active windows for that particular application.
This works differently than the standard App Exposé because it will show windows for any application, not just the currently active application.
The faster you swipe and hold, the faster the video will scrub.
Just like iMovie, QuickTime also features a Multi-Touch gesture that will quickly let you to scrub through a video timeline. Place your mouse cursor over the video window and then with two fingers, slide left or right. This is a quick way for you to fine-tune your playback location. The slower you move your fingers and stop, the slower the video will scrub; the faster you move your fingers left or right, the faster the video will scrub.
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sunbears
September 07, 2011 at 4:56pm
On item, "5. Four-Finger Swipe on Dock Icon to Show App Windows", why not just do 3-finger swipe downward? The 3-finger swipe upward shows all apps. But downward shows all windows within an app. Much easier than hovering over the the dock.
