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Window Concepts By Sarah Morley
Section H: Glossary
Please select a letter to jump to the alphabetical section of the term
you are interested in, or read through this page like a dictionary.
A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | L | M | O | P | R | S | T | W |
A
- Active Window:
- the window on the screen which currently has the system focus, the
window which accepts keyboard input at that moment. Has a blue title
bar by default.
- Application Icon:
- icon representing an application which is currently running but
has no open windows and has been minimised, and is therefore still
quickly accessible. Sits on the desktop.
- Application Window:
- window containing any task or program that is running. Has a menu
bar and a control menu.
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B
- Button:
- object on a window’s title bar used with the mouse, or other
pointing device, to initiate an immediate action. The same actions
can be achieved with the keyboard, from the window’s Control
menu.
[Back to Alpha List]
C
- Cascaded Windows:
- arrangement of the open windows on the screen like a deck of cards
spread towards you. You can see the top portion of each card / window,
and the whole of the very front card / window.
- Cascading Menu:
- a further submenu opened from an item on a pull-down menu.
- Checkbox:
- related, but independent options available to the user, found in
dialogue boxes. They toggle on and off: checked and unchecked. They
look like squares, and have an X in them when checked, and are empty
when not checked. (Spacebar or short-cut keys.)
- Clipboard:
- a storage place in memory for one piece of data at a time, (eg:
one character or a whole document, or graphic) used to transfer data
around in a document, or between documents, or between applications,
using cut, copy and paste. The data remains on the clipboard until
other data is saved to it, or you exit from Windows. Use the application
Clipboard Viewer to view the current selection on the clipboard. (The
clipboard memory area is also used when embedding an object into a
file.)
- Combobox:
- a related editfield and listbox (or listboxes) found in dialogue
boxes. (Direction cursor keys, Return, Spacebar.)
- Control Menu:
- menu containing commands used to manipulate a window. Also called
a system menu. Accessed with Alt+Spacebar for an application window,
or Alt+Hyphen for a document window or dialogue box, or from the menu
bar of an application window, by going left from the first menu bar
item.
- Cursor:
- particular focal point for the system. Several exist and may look
different on the screen, and can be moved independently of each other
if required. (Eg mouse cursor and insertion point cursor. There are
even different shapes for the mouse cursor depending on current tasks
- for example, over an editfield the mouse cursor becomes an I-beam,
if the system is asking you to wait, the mouse cursor looks like an
hourglass.)
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D
- Desktop Metaphor:
- the idea on which Windows is based: the screen is the user’s
desk, and is as configurable as a real desktop. There are areas on
the desk which hold different pieces of work, and things can overlap,
and are still accessible. You can have more than one activity going
on at once, and each activity may have more than one sub-activity,
without having to put one task away to make room for another.
- Dialogue Box:
- window appearing temporarily on top of an application window to
request information specific to a pull-down menu or cascading menu
command. No menu bar, only a limited control menu. Cannot be re-sized,
only moved and closed.
- Direct Manipulation:
- the use of a pointing device to handle objects themselves on the
screen by clicking and double clicking with the pointing device. For
example to open a file, double click on the file icon.
- Disabled Menu Item, or Button:
- an item on a menu, or in a dialogue box, which is not available
to the user at that given moment. Indicated by grey type instead of
the usual black type.
- Document Icon:
- icon representing a document window which is still accessible, but
has been minimised. Sits in the application window it belongs to.
- Document Window:
- window belonging to an application. Some applications can have more
than one document window open at a time. Do not have a menu bar, only
a control menu.
- Drag and Drop:
- the use of a pointing device to directly execute tasks, for example,
by moving a file icon into the Print Manager icon, to print the file.
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E
- Editfield:
- any field in which text can be entered. Could be the whole document
or restricted to a certain number of characters in a dialogue box.
Also called text boxes. (Move the insertion point with keyboard movement
keys.)
- Embedded Object:
- a copy of a source document in another document, possibly created
in a different application. The embedded object is independent of
the source object, so changes to the embedded object are not reflected
in the source object, and changes to the source are not reflected
in the destination document, unless you re-embed it.
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F
- Frame:
- the border around a window, defining its edges. Can be used to change
the size of application and document windows.
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G
- GUI:
- Graphical User Interface.
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H
- Highlight:
- a coloured band over data which can indicate selected icons, menu
item, or a block of selected text or other data. Highlighted items
have a system focus.
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I
- I-Beam:
- the shape of the mouse cursor when it is over an editfield (as opposed
to the usual upwards arrow-head of the mouse cursor when selecting
from menus for example).
- Icon:
- a small picture that represents some task, operation, file or program.
- Iconise:
- to shrink a window to an icon representing that window. It keeps
the window accessible, but not open (also called minimising). Only
application and document windows can be iconised, dialogue boxes cannot.
- Inactive Window:
- the window(s) on the screen which currently do not have the system
focus, and do not accept keyboard input. Inactive windows have white
title bars by default.
- Insertion Point:
- cursor in an editfield where any text input is inserted. Appears
as a flashing vertical bar, or a little black rectangle (moved with
cursor movement keys).
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L
- Linked Object:
- a source object which has been given an interactive link in a destination
document. Any changes to the linked object in the destination document
are made to the source, and any changes to the source are automatically
updated in the destination document. On a network server, this can
be particularly important to remember, as all documents containing
a link to the source will be affected by any changes.
- Listbox:
- a list of related items grouped under a particular heading, surrounded
by a thin border, found in dialogue boxes (selections made with arrow
cursor keys, or initial letters, or spacebar).
[Back to Alpha List]
M
- Maximise:
- to enlarge an application window to fill the entire screen, or to
enlarge a document window to fill the entire application window it
belongs to. Maximise button appears as an upwards pointing arrow-head
on the right hand side of the window’s title bar, and in the
Control menu. Dialog boxes cannot be resized, and therefore do not
show this button, and Maximize cannot be found in its Control menu.
- Menu:
- a list of available commands in an application window. From the
real-life metaphor of a restaurant menu.
- Menu Bar:
- horizontal list of options for controlling an application. Found
just below the title bar of an application window. Also called main
menu. Accessed with Alt then arrow cursor keys, or Alt+short-cut key.
Only application windows have menu bars.
- Message Box:
- a window appearing temporarily on top of an application window to
give the user information. Cannot be ignored, and is usually closed
by choosing OK or Cancel, depending on the message.
- Minimise:
- keeps the window accessible, but not open. Not the same as closing
the window. Shrinks an application window to an icon on the desktop,
or a document window to an icon in the application window it belongs
to. Also called iconising. Minimise button appears as an downwards
pointing arrow-head on the right hand side of the window’s title
bar, and in the Control menu. Dialog boxes cannot be resized, and
therefore do not show this button, and Minimise cannot be found in
its Control menu.
- MS-DOS Prompt / Shell:
- an application you can run from Windows, from Program Manager, to
take the user into a DOS Shell without actually exiting from Windows.
Swapping back from DOS to Windows, without exiting from DOS, requires
a single key command (Alt+Tab). Typing Exit and pressing Return in
the DOS Shell will exit from DOS, and return the user to Windows.
Pressing Alt+Enter will swap the DOS shell between a full screen and
a window over Program Manager.
[Back to Alpha List]
O
- OLE:Object Linking and Embedding:
- process of allowing documents to contain information created in
the same or different application. Could be an audio file, a graphic,
textual or numerical data.
[Back to Alpha List]
P
- Pixel:
- the smallest graphical unit in a graphical user interface. A coloured
dot on the screen. There are 480 by 640 pixels on a standard VGA screen.
- Program-Item Icon:
- icon representing an application you can start from Windows in Program
Manager. Found in group windows. Activated by selecting the icon,
and then pressing Return.
- Pull-Down Menu:
- vertical list of options related to, and pulled down from, the menu
bar option chosen. Items selected with arrow cursor keys, or the shortcut
key. (The Alt key is not used in pull-down menus.)
- Push-Button:
- buttons in a dialogue box to initiate an immediate action. Also
called command buttons. (Operated with the spacebar, Return or short-cut
key).
[Back to Alpha List]
R
- Radiobutton:
- items in a mutually exclusive group of options, grouped under a
particular heading in dialogue boxes, from which one and only one
must always be selected. Based on the old-style radios with pop-out
buttons. Appear as circles, which are empty if they are not selected,
or have a black dot inside if they are selected. Also called option
buttons. (Operated with the arrow cursor keys, short-cut keys.)
- Restore:
- displays the window in its previous size after the user has made
any changes to its size. Restore button appears as a double-headed
arrow-head on the right hand side of the window’s title bar,
replacing the maximise button when the window is maximised, and can
be found in the window’s Control menu.
[Back to Alpha List]
S
- Screen-Reader:
- software which interprets what is on the screen and passes it to
a speech synthesiser and / or a braille display, (or other output
medium), and allows the user to interact with an application.
- Short-Cut Keys:
- Special keyboard commands for quickly accessing menu items, or for
operating elements in dialogue boxes. Indicated by an underlined character.
Also refers to other key combinations for immediate commands, for
example to close an application immediately bypassing the menus.
- System Focus:
- the location of the system’s attention on the screen at any
given time. The place which currently is affected by keyboard input.
Several levels of system focus exist. (For example, application window,
document window, element in a document window, or in a dialogue box.)
[Back to Alpha List]
T
- Task Listing:
- a list of all currently running applications, from which the user
can swap to another application. Accessed using Ctrl+Tab, or from
the Control menu and choosing Switch To.
- Tiled Windows:
- arrangement of the open windows neatly on the screen like wall tiles;
regular sizes with no gaps between them, to fill the screen.
- Title Bar:
- the bar at the very top of every window displaying the name of the
window: the application name if an application window, and the name
of the open file if a document window. By default, active windows
have a blue title bar, and inactive windows have a white title bar.
[Back to Alpha List]
W
- Warning Box:
- a window appearing temporarily on top of an application window to
give the user a warning about a particular event. Cannot be ignored,
and is usually closed by choosing OK or Cancel, depending on the message.
- Window:
- rectangular area on the screen which represent a means of communication
between the user and a task. There can be many windows open at once.
- Window Listing:
- a list of all accessible windows (both open and minimised) within
one application. Found under the item Window on the menu bar.
- WYSIWYG: What You See Is What You Get:
- the method of displaying things on a graphical user interface as
they will appear when printed, for example.
[Back to Alpha List]
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