Conventions Used in This Book + Foolish Assumptions + Beyond the Book + Icons Used in This Book + Where to Go from Here

     To get the most out of this book, you need to know how I do things and why. Here are a few conventions I use in this book to make your life easier:

✓ When I want you to open an item in a menu, I write something like Choose File➪Open, which means, “Pull down the File menu and choose the Open command.”

✓ Stuff you’re supposed to type appears in bold type, like this.

✓ Sometimes an entire a sentence is in boldface, as you see when I present a numbered list of steps. In those cases, I leave the bold off what you’re supposed to type, like this.

✓ Web addresses, programming code (not much in this book), and things that appear onscreen are shown in a special monofont typeface, like this. (If you’re reading an ebook version of this book, web addresses are clickable links.)

✓ For keyboard shortcuts, I write something like ⌘+A, which means to hold down the ⌘ key (the one with the little pretzel and/or • symbol on it) and then press the A key on the keyboard. If you see something like ⌘+Shift+A, that means to hold down the ⌘ and Shift keys while pressing the A key. Again, for clarity, I never refer to the ⌘ key with the • symbol. I reserve that symbol for the • menu (Apple menu). For the Command key, I use only the ⌘ symbol. Got it? Very cool.

     Although I know what happens when you make assumptions, I’ve made a few anyway. First, I assume that you, gentle reader, know nothing about using OS X — beyond knowing what a Mac is, that you want to use OS X, that you want to understand OS X without having to digest an incomprehensible technical manual, and that you made the right choice by selecting this particular book. And so I do my best to explain each new concept in full and loving detail. Maybe that’s foolish, but . . . that’s how I roll.
     Oh, and I also assume that you can read. If you can’t, ignore this paragraph.

     We have written a lot of extra content that you won’t find in this book. Go online to find the following:

✓ Online articles covering additional topics at www.dummies.com/extras/osxmavericks
✓ The Cheat Sheet for this book is at www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/osxmavericks
✓ Updates to this book, if we have any, are at www.dummies.com/extras/osxmavericksfdupdates

     Little round pictures (icons) appear off to the left side of the text throughout this book. Consider these icons miniature road signs, telling you a little something extra about the topic at hand. Here’s what the different icons look like and what they all mean.

     The first few chapters of this book are where I describe the basic things that you need to understand to operate your Mac effectively. If you’re new to Macs and OS X Mavericks, start there.
     Even though OS X Mavericks is somewhat different from previous Mac operating systems, the first part of the book is so basic that if you’ve been using a Mac for long, you might think you know it all — and okay, you might know most of it. But hey! Not-so-old-timers need a solid foundation. So here’s my advice: Skip the stuff you know; you’ll get to the better stuff faster.
     I would love to hear how this book worked for you. So please send me your thoughts, platitudes, likes and dislikes, and any other comments. Did this book work for you? What did you like? What didn’t you like? What questions were unanswered? Did you want to know more (or less) about something? Tell me! I have received more than 100 suggestions about previous editions, most of which are incorporated here. So keep up the good work! E-mail me at Mavericks4Dummies@boblevitus.com. I appreciate your feedback, and I try to respond to all reasonably polite e-mail within a few days.
     So what are you waiting for? Go — enjoy the book!