6841 As has been the case with Mac OS versions for more than a decade, the documentation that ships with the OS 10.5 Leopard install DVD is pretty minimal - a thin quick start guide that is really barely more than a pamphlet, with brief descriptions of the system's more important features.

If you're upgrading from an earlier version of OS X, you shouldn't find yourself completely lost - Leopard does work in a broadly similar fashion to OS 10.4 Tiger and OS 10.3 Panther. However, when it comes to the really new stuff in Leopard, like Spaces, Time Machine, Stacks, Quick Look, the revised Dock, and so forth, you may find yourself scratching your head a bit, and that little book Apple included in the box very likely will not be adequate to provide you with what you need to know to get the best from these features.

While "Missing Manuals" junkies like your humble servant are perhaps more inclined to go with David Pogue's Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard: The Missing Manual (review here soon), if you what a great little capsule guide to getting up to speed on these new Leopard features, or are new to the whole Mac OS X experience, Chuck Toporek's just-off-the-presses Mac OS x Leopard Pocket Guide should fill the bill very nicely.

As "Pocket Guide" in the title indicates, this book is not intended to be the thoroughgoing, "everything, including the kitchen sink" comprehensive treatment of Leopard that the Pogue book is, but rather claims to be "The Ultimate Basic Quick Reference" and I don't know of any other book that could challenge that assertion. This little pocketbook-sized, 212 page volume is jam-packed with concisely structured information and tips on getting your optimum computing experience and value from Apple's new big cat - quickly and efficiently.

"For me," says Toporek, "there's a lot to love about Mac OS X Leopard." The two Big features that I can't live without now are Time Machine and Spaces. With Time Machine, there's no reason not to back up the Macs in my home office. It's automatic, and best of all it's transparent after you go through the initial backup." As for Spaces, Chiuck says "it is, without a doubt, the best feature in Leopard. I do all of my writing on a MacBook, so there's not much screen to work with. But with Spaces, I even have up 16 virtual screens to work with, and I can configure it to have applications open in any specific Space."

I agree. Spaces and Time Machine are the cream of Leopard's new feature set (which Apple claims to include some 300 changes from OS 10.4 Tiger). I find that so far, six Spaces as seems about right for me, with email in one, browsers in a couple of others, text applications in a fourth, graphics applications in another, and so forth. Time machine is slick. I just plug my external 500 gigabyte USB hard drive in and let it do its stuff with no further fuss, muss, or bother.

One point upon which I do part company with the author is his contention that "one of the coolest new features added to Mac OS X Leopard's Dock is a thing called Stacks." I consider stacks, which replace traditional hierarchical folder support in the OS X Dock, to be Leopard's worst new feature. Happily, as I write this, it is rumored that there may be a fix included in the OS 10.5.2 update, expected sometime in this month - probably to be released coincident to Macworld Expo next week.

Now, one thing that needs to be noted is that aside from Chapter 1, which takes up only the first 19 pages of this 211-page book, plus a few brief revised sections interpolated throughout the remaining six chapters, the information in this edition of the Pocket Guide is pretty much recycled for the previous Mac OS X Tiger Pocket Guide, so if you already have the latter on your bookshelf, you'll have to judge whether the "What's New In Leopard" chapter is worth a $14.99 "upgrade" fee. On the other hand, if you don't have a user manual more substantial that sketchy one that ships with Leopard, this is a good reference that I can enthusiastically recommend; especially if you prefer concision and brevity in reference books like this.

If your taste runs to more depth and prolixity (and/ or color illustrations), you ought to also check out Pogue's Mac OS X Leopard: The Missing Manual, also from O'Reilly.

Getting back to the Leopard Pocket Guide. The book is structured in seven chapters. Chapter 1 is the aforementioned "What's New In Leopard" chapter that brings the reader up to speed on Leopard's major new features, Time Machine, Spaces, Stacks, Quick Look, Parental Controls, and Screen Sharing, plus enhancements to returning features like Mail, iChat, Spotlight, iCal, Safari, and more.

Chapter 2, Mac OS Survival Guide, tells how to set up the user accounts, configuring OS X security features, including Parental Controls, File Vault, and firewalls, force-quitting applications, relaunching the Finder, and using keyboard shortcuts. There is also a one-page sidebar on the "Ten Essential keyboard shortcuts."

Chapter 3: Mac OS X Basics, is what it sounds like; a collection of short tutorials by using the OS X menu bar, Apple Menu, Application Menu, the Menu Extras, the Application Switcher, window controls, the Dock (including more on Stacks), the Finder, creating new folders, the Services Menu, Exposé which is now semi-redundant with the new Spaces feature), the Dashboard, and Spotlight.

In Chapter 4, OS X System Preferences get a tutorial chapter all their own, with a walk-through and explanation of the features of each Preferences panel.

Chapter 5, Applications And Utilities, describes the features of the 54 so applications and utilities that come bundled with Mac OS X Leopard.

Chapter 6 goes into greater complexity of Configuring your Mac, with tutorials covering Airport and wireless networking, The System, files and folders, fonts and font management, Mail App, maintenance and troubleshooting, networking,Printer configuration, Spotlight, Safari and the Internet.

Chapter 7, all of four pages long, outlines and lists special characters.

There is also a useful, 17-page Index.

Several chapters are extensively illustrated with screenshots (grayscale), but there is just one in the last 70 or so pages of the book.

In summary, this is the perfect OS X reference volume to keep on your desk beside your computer or carry in your laptop backpack. At $14.99, it's quite affordable, although a bit of a raspberry to O'Reilly for jacking the Canadian cover price to $17.99. Newsflash; the Canadian dollar has been around or sometimes substantially above par with the Greenback since September, 2007, and is likely to remain there for the foreseeable future, and this book is even printed in Canada. Fair is fair, and three bucks extra for Canucks isn't.

For more information about the book, including table of contents, index, author bio, and samples, see:
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/9780596529819/

Print Book $14.99
PDF $9.99
PDF Chapter $3.99
U.K. Print Book £8.99

Mac OS X Leopard Pocket Guide
Chuck Toporek
ISBN: 0-596-52981-3,
$14.99 USD
$17.99 Can

1-800-998-9938
1-707-827-7000
http://www.oreilly.com

Charles W. Moore

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