APPLICATION PREFERENCES

Each individual Application has it's own set of preferences. These can be easily modified by accessing the Apps preferences from within the application. How do you do this? Simply make sure the application you want to play with is the frontmost app. Let's do a trial run with Safari together, and we'll see.
Safari's Drop-Down Menu – Select
First, open Safari. In the Menu Bar at the top left, you should see that Safari is selected, noted by the presence of it's name in Bold. Click on the name. This presents you with some Safari-specific options, one if which is Preferences. Select this option. Now you'll see a new window open with different preference panes, similar to how the layout was within the system preferences. Under each of these tabs is a set of parameters you can modify to suit your tastes. For instance, under "General," you can select which page you want to come up when you open safari.

But the one I want to show off to you is under the "Tabs" tab. Navigate here, and you'll see an option to Enable Tabbed Browsing. Make sure it's selected, then also select Always Show Tab Bar. You should see a small bar pop up near the top of the Safari browser. You now have tabbed windows! What is this? It's an easy way to have lots of websites opened without having lots of windows to go along with it. Here's how I put it to use:

Say I have to do something for work that requires online research from a bunch of different sites. I will go to File>open new tab (or just hit Apple+T) for each site in the one
Safari's
window. Now, I can click between tabs, all in one window, and not have to try and keep tabs (pardon the pun) on 10 or more different windows. it's a really nice feature, and most people have been putting it to good use for a long time, now.

There's also some shortcut key tips at the bottom of this preference pane. You'll see some key combinations to Open link in new tab, Open link in new tab & select it, and shortcuts to open them in new windows. These are useful when you're browsing. Say you come across a link in an article you're reading about dolphins. Then, there's a link about penguins you'd like to read, but you want to read it afterwards. Just hold the Apple key and click on the link; it opens in a new tab you can quickly look at after you're done!

And this is is only a small set of options, for one program! Imagine what other helpful tricks you can find in other applications you use most. Preferences are always in the same place for each program if they're available, so now you know where to look. Go get started, getting the most out of your programs!