In my quest to improve my lousy Chinese I started to learn how to type Chinese on the MAC. After some frustrations I am now making progress.
See here a screenshot of the excel spreadsheet I use to list and learn words.

The first column is English, the second one is using BiaoyinTXT and the third one is using ITABC (simplified Chinese input). For each column I switch to the right keyboard set.
BiaoyinTXT:
– Google to find the free software that allows you to write pinyin (simplified Chinese) with the tones or go straight to the link: http://homepage.mac.com/chinesemac/downloads/BiaoyinTXT.zip
– create in top level Library the folder “Input Method Plug-ins”
– after setting to ITABC select Generate IM plug-in and use the source document provided with the software
– put the generated file in the new folder
– restart (or logout and login)
To enter Chinese characters the easiest way is to type the complete word, e.g.: bing’qi’lin (ice cream) and press space. Most of the time the correct word appears or a few choices – easier than typing characters one by one.
For a beginner like me, hardest is to be able to distinguish the Chinese characters and the pinyin tones – the characters are all so small in the dictionaries one needs a magnifying glass to figure out all those strokes as to find back the right Chinese character…
The ITABC also provides shortcuts to type in common words such as Zhongguo.
Long way to go but one has to start somewhere…
Excellent tips and explanations can be found here: http://www.yale.edu/chinesemac/index.html
I am also going to try the recommended WENLIN software (http://www.wenlin.com), I already downloaded the demo. First I will explore: it is rather expensive (about US$ 200).