The Window Explained

This category will teach you about the Window - One the core components of Windows Vista. You will be taught about its different types (the Standard Window, the Requester, the Pop-Up, the Edit Box and so on), its components (Buttons, Sliders, Toolbars and so on) and how to modify it (Move, Re-Size, Close, Minimize and Maximize it). There are also some examples.

If you have not read this page before continue reading it, from top to bottom, as normal. Otherwise you can click on a subject below to get near/on the subject you was reading before. Minimize Window is the next section - It is also linked at the bottom of this page.

Depending on the type of window (i.e Standard Window. Requester. Edit Box) most windows normally have a display area (for displaying General Information, Folders and Files, Error Messages and so on) and interactive buttons for guidance (i.e Cancel, OK, Search, Delete, Exit). Below I will explain how a standard (system) window is made up and throughout this category I will explain what some of its buttons are used for. Only important examples will be given, as the window is more about knowing what each button is used for as opposed to actually using them. Meaning. Out of 10+ buttons available you will be lucky if you use 6 all the time - This is due to the menus having more options than buttons and because menus take up less space than buttons. And also because a particular button might be hidden due to the way your Windows was setup (i.e to save window space).

A Title Bar usually displays the title of the thing you are working with. For example. If you are using a Folder with Windows XP the title bar of that folder's window will be displaying the folder's name. Whereas with Windows Vista the title bar of a folder's window is left empty (blank), as it displays the folder's name inside the Address Bar's edit box (explained below). If you are using Internet Explorer its window's title bar will be displaying the current webpage's name. And if you are using a program such as Microsoft Word 2007 its window's title bar will be displaying the current document's name. Basically. Titles are used to identify your folders, files and software more easily when switching between different windows. Another identifier is the type of icon in the corner of the title bar. Here are some examples:

Fig 1.1 Windows Vista does not use the Title Bar of a folder's window to display the folder's name....

Fig 1.2 ....The folder's name (Cooking) is displayed in the folder's Address Bar edit box instead.

Fig 1.3 My C.V.docx - Microsoft Word non-commercial use is the title of this Microsoft Word 2007 document

Fig 1.4 Free Computer Lessons - Explained with Pictures and Text - Windows Internet Explorer is the title of this webpage

Fig 1.5 My Artwork.jpg - Paint is the title of this drawing made with the program called Paint

As you can see, apart from the Title itself a title bar can also have buttons and/or an icon on its left-side as well as the standard Minimize, Maximize and Close/Exit buttons (explained in later sections) on its right-side.

Fig 2.0 The Address Bar

The Address Bar can be found on a web browser's window, such as Internet Explorer, and on a Folder's window. It is made up of one Back button, one Forward button, one Edit Box and one GO button.

When you first open a folder the BACK and FORWARD buttons will be clear/unavailable

, but as soon as you go into a sub-folder of that folder the BACK button becomes available (Fig 2.1). This is so that you can get back into the folder. The same applies if you go into a sub-sub-folder, the BACK button will always be available so that you can get back into the sub-folder. When you go BACK the FORWARD button (Fig 2.2) automatically becomes available so that you can re-enter a sub-folder, sub-sub-folder and so on. Both BACK and FORWARD buttons become available when you first BACK out of a sub-sub-folder, and therefore into a sub-folder. This is the only time you have a folder to go BACK into and a sub-sub-folder to re-enter.

The edit box is explained in detail in the Edit Box section and throughout these lessons where applicable. Basically, you can either type the address of a website into the address bar's edit box or the path name to a folder or file. For more information on the address bar read the Path Names section, as well as the Edit Box section. For more examples read the Internet section.

The GO TO button (Fig 2.4) is used after typing a website's address, folder's path name or file's path name into the edit box. You click on the GO TO button to open (go to) the webpage, folder or file typed in the edit box. Alternatively. You can press the ENTER keyboard key which does the same job as the GO TO button. Once the webpage, folder or file has been opened the GO TO button turns into the REFRESH button.

The REFRESH button allows you to refresh (update/re-draw) the contents of a window's display area (explained below). So if the contents of a window's display area is a News webpage, for example, clicking on the REFRESH button would re-draw/re-display that News webpage inside the window's display area. The REFRESH button is normally used to re-display a webpage that did not display itself properly, perhaps because on its first attempt its internet connection was lost and therefore its contents could not be fully downloaded and displayed.

The Menu Bar is a Menu that is specific for the window or software you are using. The most common menus always have a File menu and an Edit menu. Although every menu has to have Menu-Items, they do not have to contain Sub-Menus and Sub-Menu Menu-Items - Many menus do though. The standard menu bar below has a File, Edit, View, Tools and Help menu.

Fig 3.0 A standard Menu Bar

Here is an example of using the Edit menu. Menus in general are exampled in other sections.

Click on a window's Edit menu (Fig 3.1) and you will see its menu-items appear. Go down the menu-items (Fig 3.2) with the mouse pointer until the SELECT ALL menu-item is highlighted (Fig 3.3). Click on it, with the left mouse button, and you will see the window's contents become selected. In this example all the sub-folders inside the Cooking folder's window will be selected (Fig 3.4). Finally. If you were to then press the DEL (Delete) keyboard key a Requester would appear (Fig 3.5) asking you if you want to delete the selected contents (sub-folders and/or files). Clicking on the YES button would delete the contents (Fig 3.6).

Fig 3.3 When the SELECT ALL menu-item is highlighted click on it

Fig 3.4 The window's contents is now Selected

Fig 3.5 Do you really want to delete the selected contents YES / NO?

Fig 3.6 The selected contents (selected sub-folders) has been deleted

The traditional Tool Bar is primarily made up of Buttons, with modern tool bars having Drop-Down menus on them as well. A traditional tool bar will have standard buttons on it that, when clicked on, allow you to Open a file, Print a document, Save a document and so on. Whereas a modern tool bar might have buttons on it that interact with the Internet and drop-down menus that give a greater choice of options for your document. Here are some example Tool Bars:

Fig 4.0 A folder's tool bar allows you to organise the layout of the folder and its contects

Fig 4.1 The Internet Explorer tool bar allows you to save/print webpages, view/clear internet history and set security levels

Fig 4.2 The Windows Live tool bar allows you to search the internet, use internet services and add webpages to your Favorites list

Fig 4.3 A traditional tool bar, from Wordpad, that allows you to open/print/save a document as well as copy/paste text

Fig 4.4 The Quick Launch tool bar allows you to quickly launch certain programs

The above tool bar descriptions are only main descriptions - Each tool bar has more to offer in terms of functionality. Also. Unlike years ago where most tool bars looked like the traditional, buttons only, Wordpad tool bar (Fig 4.3) these days the tool bar has become more advanced with the addition of drop-down menus and buttons whose functions do more complex things. For example. Some internet tool bars stop bad websites from appearing (popping-up) and have a button to switch this option off/on. They might also have a drop-down menu that gives you a choice of news items to view and/or a button that either takes you to a weather website or simply dispalys the weather inside a window. Another advanced feature, found on many tool bars, is the ability to customize the buttons on the tool bar.

Fig 4.5 Windows Live tool bar - Check your Horoscope

Fig 4.6 Folder tool bar - Change the view of the contents

Tool Bar and Toolbar are the generic names for a tool bar - They can be called Quick Access Toolbar, Quick Launch Toolbar, Drawing Toolbar, Music Toolbar or whatever name the software developer/programmer has chosen.

The Display Area is really an Edit box that is used equally as a display area and an edit area. On the display side of things the edit box is used mainly with Text Editors (such as Microsoft Word 2007, NotePad and WordPad) to display the text (Document) you are viewing. It is also used with File Requesters (to display Folders and Files) and Internet Explorer (to display a Webpage). On the edting side of things the edit box is used mainly with Text Editors (for editing text) and with windows that allow the editing of folder and/or file names (such as a File Requester and a folder's own window with sub-folders and/or files inside it).

Fig 5.0 The display area of Internet Explorer is displaying the Microsoft Security webpage

Fig 5.1 The display area of Notepad's window is displaying text that is editable

Fig 5.2 The display area of this File Requester (window) is displaying 3 Folders and 1 File whose names are editable (rename-able)

Fig 5.3 The display area of the Documents folder is displaying 6 Folders and 2 Files (1 Shortcut file) whose names are editable (rename-able)

A Display Area is basically the mid-section/main section of a window, that can be one piece or cut-up into smaller sections known as window panes. This is usually pre-done by the programmer or software developer who created the program and therefore who created the window. Regardless of this though, you should always take the biggest window pane to be the display area so that in the future you know what you are looking at/for and have a better understanding of navigating around a window. For example. The window of Windows Mail (formerly Outlook Express) is split into many window panes, but still has a main window pane to display email. In Fig 5.3 there are three window panes or example.

The Status Bar, if it is available, is the tool bar you see on the very bottom of a window. Its purpose is to provide you with status information with regards to the task you are doing with that window. So if you are selecting a file within a sub-folder for example, perhaps to rename or delete, the status bar on that sub-folder's window will display the number of files selected (1 Item Selected) and the file's size (7.43KB). If more than one file is selected the status bar will display 2 Items Selected together with the combined file size for both files.

Fig 6.0 The status bar on a sub-folder's window

As well as information you may see Tool Links (Tool Icons) on a status bar, depending on the window you are using. Above for example there is a tool link called Computer that when double clicked on shows you the Internet Security Properties (settings) window. Forget the tool link though, it is the word Computer you should notice. It is informing you that you are doing something on your computer, as opposed to online (over the Internet) for example.

This next example was taken when I was checking my email with Windows Mail. It shows I have 1 Message that has been read (0 unread) from a previous check and that I am now Working Online (on the Internet), as opposed to Offline (without the Internet). More importantly, it shows what is happening with Windows Mail - It is checking too see if I have any new email (Checking Email...).

Fig 6.1 The status bar on the Windows Mail window

The status bar on the Internet Explorer window is more advanced. It has a green guage on it for example that only appears when something is being downloaded. In this example a webpage was being downloaded. As each item of the webpage was downloaded (i.e each image) the information to the left of the green guage was updated accordingly (3 Items Remaining, 2 Items Remaining and so on).

The Internet Explorer status bar is also letting me know I have Protected Mode switched on. This is a feature of Internet Explorer's security - It makes it more difficult for malicious software to be installed on your computer by warning you of software that is trying to install itself and/or run itself from outside Internet Explorer's environment.

Fig 6.2 The status bar on the Internet Explorer window

This last example is from Microsoft Word 2007. It shows how many pages and words are in the document (file) I opened, as well as which language is used for editing and so on.

Fig 6.3 The status bar on the Microsoft Word 2007 window

The status bar is one of those things that is rarely used or taken notice of, even though it can be of help. If you really want explanations as to why an internet website is not showing properly or why a piece of software is taking so long to open you might find a clue on the status bar.

Microsoft product screen shot(s) reprinted with permission from Microsoft Corporation. As stated here by the Microsoft Corporation.

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