Title Bar Icon: A small square in the top left hand corner of
the window. By moving your mouse pointer on top of this and clicking
once, a menu appears allowing you to select between several options. By
double clicking the entire window shuts down.
Title Bar: This is the text at the top of the window. You can
move the window around by moving the mouse arrow to the title bar,
holding down the left mouse button, and using the mouse to move the
window to where you want it (a process called "dragging").
Minimize Button: Clicking on the minimize button will "stuff"
the window into a little icon, generally located somewhere along the
bottom of the screen. No works is lost when this is done, so the window
can be "re-opened" again by double-clicking on the icon.
Maximize/Restore Button: Two buttons in one! When there is an
arrow pointing up in the upper right hand corner of the window, clicking
on it will maximize your window to fill the whole screen. If there is a
double headed arrow (stating your window is maximized already), clicking
on it will return the window to it's original size.
Menu Bar: This bar contains words which represent menus. By
moving the mouse pointer on top of one of the items, and by holding down
the left mouse button, a pop-up menu will appear. To the right is a menu
bar with a selected menu.
Menus: Once you have found one of the pop-up menus on your screen,
you can select a menu item by keeping the left button down (dragging) and
moving your mouse pointer down to the selection that you want. In releasing
the button, you select this option. The options to save your work or exit
are almost always under a "File" menu. To the right is an example of a menu.
Scroll Controls: Often there is too much material in a window
to display all at once. If this is the case, there may be a scroll bar
on the right hand side of the window, or another one along the bottom.
The box in the scroll bar indicates where in the display you are. You
can use the mouse to drag the box up or down, or left or right, OR you
may click on the arrows to move the box more slowly. To the left is an
example of a scrollbar.
Borders: The outside edge of a window has a very small border. By moving
your mouse pointer onto this border, the pointer will change shape. Where
on the border you move will indicate what shape it will have, with different
shapes being on the sides, top and bottom, and corners. When your pointer
is this shape, you can hold down your mouse button and drag it to a new location.
This movement will change the size of your window.
Window: A window is an element that contains most, if not all
of these pieces. Your main window is your Program Manager. Within that
window you may have others. To the right is an example of a window.
Icon: Every icon (little picture) represents a program on the
computer. Icons can be moved around within and between windows, allowing
you to change the way your window is organized. Holding down the mouse
button while on an icon will allow you to drag the icon to a new place.
Clicking once on an icon will open a menu which gives your various
options for manipulating it. Finally, double-clicking on an icon
activates the associated program.
Icon: This is another type of icon.
Mouse Pointer: This graphic indicates where on the screen your
mouse is pointing, and also acts as a display of the computer state. If
your pointer is shaped like an arrow, you are in an area where you can
select icons or click on menus. A watch, or hourglass, indicates that
the computer is busy loading a program. A vertical bar (I-beam) indicates
that the mouse is on an area where you may type text. There are many
more shapes the mouse pointer can take, each having a separate function.
As a note to experts: I have made many simplifications in
describing the system in order to make it easier to understand. Please
bear with them!
Congratulations on learning the various
parts of windows.
If you'd like to test yourself on the skills. Click
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