OS X for dummies – guide to OS X 10.10 Yosemite (part 2)

CLICK HERE FOR THE LINKEDIN VERSION OF THIS POST  

BACK TO PART 1

Yosemite new features

Yosemite introduced numerous interesting new features and here we'll analyze some of the most relevant for the average user.

1.  New functioning of the maximize button: like I explained in my previous post Mac OS X 10.10 Yosemite official release review - Big cats have gone but does Apple still roar?, Yosemite GUI has been influenced by iOS8 and, for this reason, when you click the maximize button (i.e. the green one) in a Finder or program window, it'll display that window in full-screen. If you don't like this change, you can press the Alt key while clicking the maximize button.
2.  New Safari version:  I pointed out in the above-mentioned post that this new version presents a security flaw, as it doesn't display the full URL of the viewed page as a default. Though Safari has surely gotten faster, I warmly recommend you to change this setting from Preferences/Advanced by choosing Show full website address. Apple has also removed the Reset Safari option from the Safari menu, which makes it complicated to reset the Apple browser in case of problems, such as hijacking or spyware. The only way to workaround this problem is to enable the Develop menu from Preferences/Advanced.  Afterwards, you can choose Empty Caches from the Develop menu, which will do the trick.
3.  New Spotlight functionality: The internal OS X search engine has become yet faster and complete.  When searching a string, it'll return results both from your local computer and the Internet, your emails and your instant messages. You can get the most of Spotlight by accessing it through the keyboard shortcut CMD/SPACE. Once you've gotten used to it, you'll appreciate how fast it can find a file for you.  
4. New Apple Mail functionalities: The new features introduced for Apple Mail are focused on productivity. In fact, It's now possible to modify and annotate an attached image to a message directly from Mail without having to use third-party applications.
   
5. Handoff features: they are supported only by Mac models released from 2012 and later. If you have an iPhone in the range of your Wi-Fi network, you can use your Mac to make phone calls through your iPhone. I didn’t show this feature in the video because my iMac is older and  I don’t own an iPhone at the moment. For more details, you can check here.
6.  Dark look:  The user can change the default look of Yosemite from System Preferences/General, selecting Use dark menu bar and Dock. It’s worth pointing out that some users faced an issue related to this functionality, because this option is selected and grayed out and they can’t switch back to normal look. I have noticed other problems myself with Yosemite and I talked about it in my previous post OS X 10.10 Yosemite issues - Bugs for all. Wake up, Apple!