Works Like You Do

OK. I figured that since it is a MAC, I should be able to use it without reading the manual. I still believe that this works for some people. The problem is that once you’ve grown accustomed to doing things a certain way, in order to learn to do those same things you need some guidance. Mine comes from family and friends who use MACs. Here’s my learning model:

“I can’t do [fill in the blank].”

“Of course you can. Just do [fill in the blank].”

“Why is it so counterintuitive?”

“If you hadn’t learned the hard way on the PC, it would be intuitive.”

And on it goes.

My latest was saving a file. Yes, I can save a file but for a few days the only place I could save it was in the big bucket labeled Documents. I tried the down arrow next to documents but it wouldn’t open up any other folders. Every so often I would go to the Finder and drag documents into the folders I wanted to use. When I mentioned how painful this process is I was told you can click on the down arrow next to the file and that opens up more folders. Imagine that! I thought the arrow next to the file would open up file types or maybe memorized file names. Now I see that if you want to see more folders, you click next to the filename. When I questioned the “intuitiveness” of this arrangement, the response was that since you want to save a file in a folder, the folder expander button should be near the file. It works. I can live with it. I’m not sure I’ll ever think this way.