The Window

There are two types of windows: file and folder windows, and application windows. The window shown below is a file and folder window. If you open a folder, the window allows you to "look inside." Although the two types of windows do different things, most of their features are the same.

The Window

1. Title Bar
2. Minimize, Maximize/Restore Down, and Close Buttons
3. Menu Bar
4. Tool Bar
5. Task Management Area*
6. Scroll Bar
7. Resize Handle
8. Status Bar
9. Window Button**

* only in file and folder windows.

** notice that the button for the window looks darker and like it is pushed in

The Title Bar is the blue stripe at the top of the window. It contains the name of the window (left) and the window buttons (right). If you double-click the title bar, it will "restore down" the window (make the window smaller than the screen) or maximize the window (make the window take up the whole screen). If the window is "restored down" (made small), then you can move the window by click-and-dragging on the title bar.

The Minimize, Maximize/Restore Down, and Close Buttons control the appearance of the window.

The first (left) button will minimize(also called "hide") the window. This makes the window disappear, but it is not closed. Instead, it is "hiding inside" the window button in the task bar, and can be brought out again by clicking on the window button (see #9).

The middle button will maximize or restore down the window; if the window is full-screen, then the button will "restore down" the window so it is smaller than the full screen; if the window is small, the same button will "maximize" the window, expanding it to fill the whole screen.

The third (right) button will close the window; if it an application window, it may quit the application.

If the window contains a running program, you may see two sets of these buttons. In that case, the top set controls the window for the program, and the lower set controls an inner window for a document.

Remember those names: (1) minimize, (2) maximize/restore down, and (3) close.

The Menu Bar contains the menus; click on one and a list of commands will come down. Each window has its own menu bar. (On the Macintosh, there is only one menu bar at the top of the screen which changes when you change the window.)

The Tool Bar(s) contain(s) buttons which will activate commands. Usually only the most commonly-used commands can be found here. Tool bars are a second way to do a command, the first way being the menu. A third way is by using hotkey shortcuts.

A Scroll Barallows you to change the view in a window to show things that are outside the window's viewing area. For example, you might open an MS Word document which is four pages long. Of course, you cannot see all four pages at once. Instead, you see a part of that document through the "window." The scroll bar moves the pages of the document past the window, so you can see different pages. Scroll bars on the right side of a window can go up and down. Scroll bars at the bottom of a window can move things to the left and right.

The Status Bar shows details about what is in the window. The information changes from window to window. For example, in a window showing the contents of a volume or folder, the status bar will show how many items there are and what size they are. In a window showing a text document, the status bar may show the page number, the total number of pages, spellchecking information, and so on.

You can always see which window is open by looking at the Window Button, in the task bar at the bottom. The active window is a different color from the other buttons, and looks like it has been "clicked down."

Window Views

In the toolbar, there is a special button to change the way you see the icons in the window:

Go ahead and try the different views. Thumbnails is best with photos. Icons might look the simplest. For a plain view, try List. For more information on each file, try Details.

Menus and the Menu Bar

Each window has a menu bar. The first three are usually "File," "Edit," and "View." Menus change according to the situation. When you click on a menu title, the menu "drops down"--therefore it is called a "drop-down menu" or "pull-down menu." (Remember, this is different from a "pop-up menu," which is also called a "contextual menu.") You can then bring down the cursor and select any "menu item."

Notice that some menu items have a small black triangle-arrow at the right. This means that the menu item has a "submenu," or a secondary menu which will appear when you move the mouse over the menu item. There can be many submenus for any item--in other words, one item might have a submenu in a submenu in a submenu.

Some menu items are followed by an "ellipsis," or three small dots ( ... ). This means that if you select the item, you will see a dialog box with choices.