Lesson plan

Menu extra

A menu extra, menu item, menulet, or status item is a graphical control element in macOS. It is a small indicator that appears at the right of the menu bar. They often provide quick ways to use applications (e.g. iChat) or display information (for example the system clock), or control system-level variables (for example audio volume). There are a number of third-party menu items available. Menu extras are similar to items in the Microsoft Windows notification area but are less common. There are many menu extras supplied with macOS, many independent third-party menu extra applications, and many more supplied with 3rd-party products, most of which are installed from their parent application or system preferences pane, and may remain dormant until they are notified of an event (for example, Inkwell's menu extra will come and go when a graphics tablet is connected and disconnected). While macOS provided no centralized tool to enable or configure menu extras, some of them can be rearranged and dragged off the menubar while depressing the ⌘ key. Also, all Apple-supplied menu extras can be found in the folder /System/Library/CoreServices/Menu Extras . Yet, a centralized tool is in the "Dock and menu bar" preference pane of the System Preferences.…

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Article summary

A menu extra, menu item, menulet, or status item is a graphical control element in macOS. It is a small indicator that appears at the right of the menu bar. They often provide quick ways to use applications (e.g. iChat) or display information (for example the system clock), or control system-level variables (for example audio volume). There are a number of third-party menu items available. Menu extras are similar to items in the Microsoft Windows notification area but are less common. There are many menu extras supplied with macOS, many independent third-party menu extra applications, and many more supplied with 3rd-party products, most of which are installed from their parent application or system preferences pane, and may remain dormant until they are notified of an event (for example, Inkwell's menu extra will come and go when a graphics tablet is connected and disconnected). While macOS provided no centralized tool to enable or configure menu extras, some of them can be rearranged and dragged off the menubar while depressing the ⌘ key. Also, all Apple-supplied menu extras can be found in the folder /System/Library/CoreServices/Menu Extras . Yet, a centralized tool is in the "Dock and menu bar" preference pane of the System Preferences.…

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Discussion questions

  1. Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
  2. Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
  3. If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?

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Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.