Section B: Introducing Windows
There are two main reasons for working in the Windows environment:
firstly, to reduce memory load and make working easier, and secondly,
to run multiple applications at the same time. These aspects are discussed
in the following sections, (which follow on from each other in this
page, as well as being individual links within this page).
B 1 The Desktop Metaphor
Windows is based on the "Desktop Metaphor" to make accessing
your computer feel easier. The principle is based on real-life: that
you are sitting at your desk (your screen), which has a filing system
in drawers (your hard disk). You can arrange both your desktop and your
hard disk however you choose.
On some areas on your desk you have a variety of things relating to
report writing - a typewriter, a dictionary, other documents you are
referencing. In another area on your desk there might be things to do
with numerical analysis and storage - data sheets, a calculator, financial
reports, a statistics manual. In another area on your desk, you might
have your appointments diary, and an address book. In a single work
session, you might want access to all this information, and so you have
spread it all out on your desk, some of it is overlapping, and you can
see little bits of all of them, and all of some of them. You might just
leave some room by your hands, for your notetaker, for example. Windows
allows you to have all of these activities immediately available to
you at the same time, without having to put one activity away before
starting the next one.
The entire surface of your desk is known as the "desktop"
in the Windows environment, and each activity (typewriting, statistics,
clock) has its own enclosed area on the desktop called application windows.
These are described in more detail in Section D 6. Examples would be
having a wordprocessor, a statistics package and a clock application
each having their own application windows open on the desktop. The desktop
is the area on which all windows appear, and if there are no windows
open, only the desktop would be visible.
The desktop can be full of many open windows, overlapping, of different
sizes and shapes, but it could be fairly neat and clear, and does not
have to be completely filled by these application windows. The desktop
can be organised how you wish; it might be covered in various sheets
of paper, or these papers might be orderly and stacked up in one corner,
or they might all be filed neatly in your filing cabinet. Windows allows
you to arrange your desktop how you like at any time.
It is used to remind you of applications which are still currently
running, but which have no windows open. For example, you have moved
your typewriter to the edge of your desk, out of the way, and it has
no paper in it. It is still accessible for immediate use, you did not
put it back in the cupboard - and to use it again, you simply put it
within hand's reach, and insert a piece of paper. This event is represented
by pictures on the desktop, indicating your word processor application,
for example. This application icon sits on your desktop, still running,
but without any open windows, and to use the application again, you
must open a window in which to work. Application icons are described
in more detail in Section C 3. If you don't want to work with your typewriter
any more, you simply put it back in the cupboard.
There are a number of advantages to being able to run and to have lots
of applications on the screen at the same time. The main advantage is
to be able to work quickly between applications. You can see the data
in each application at the same time, and keyboard commands are minimised,
since you don't have to close one application, then start the other
to work in another application. Windows allows you to use data from
one application in another, by copying, cutting and pasting to the clipboard.
The clipboard is a useful facility that Windows provides for temporary
storage of data. A cut or copy command stores selected data in memory
on the clipboard until either another cut or copy command is issued,
or until you exit Windows. The paste command will insert the contents
of the clipboard where you request. This could be to a new location
in the same document, or in another document, or even in another application.
The application Clipboard Viewer can be used to view the current contents
of the clipboard.
B 2 Standards and Similarity Between Applications
All windows applications have to survive in the Windows environment,
which requires designers to build all applications to certain standards.
Hence, different applications tend to behave in the same way, so unlike
different DOS applications which each have their own set of possibly
complex keyboard commands, most Windows applications can be driven using
the same keyboard commands. This general consistency means that it will
be easier for users to understand new applications.
So, to initiate saving a file, Word for Windows uses the same keyboard
commands as Excel. Although not all applications do use exactly the
same commands or layout, once you learn the basics of operating Windows
applications, you won't have to search through manuals for daily task
commands every time you use a new application.
One of these standards is that every application is driven from a single
line of high-level options, a menu bar (or main menu) containing between
3 and 10 options depending on the complexity of the application, and
is used in the same way in every application. This is described in more
detail in Section E 1.
Another standard Windows function is the method of data selection,
in order to, for example, cut, copy, delete, move, a piece of text.
Holding the Shift key down while using the keyboard movement keys (eg
cursors, Tab, PgUp etc) puts a highlight on the data. When you release
the shift key, the highlighted text is 'selected'. This applies in most
word processors, spreadsheets, and so on.
B 3 Graphical User Interface and Direct Manipulation
The Graphical User Interface affords more visually aesthetic and often
visually practical means of interaction than DOS applications usually
do. As outlined in the Introduction, because the screen can be divided
into an infinite number of sections, and objects are simply dots, called
pixels, not text, many objects can be displayed on the screen at any
time, in any position, in any order. In many applications you can create
and display graphics in text documents, you can use and display different
styles and sizes of font, rather like a newspaper, with WYSIWYG presentation
(What You See Is What You Get): formatting like bold and underlined
are shown on the screen as they will appear when printed, and so on.
Sighted users often have overlapping windows on their screen, (just
like overlapping pieces of paper on your desk) to enable them to see
some of the content of each application window, as memory joggers, or
for browsing data in one while working in the other. This arrangement
may be useful in some situations for non-sighted users too, but you
may prefer to arrange them in a more orderly manner. Tiling the windows
can be useful, so that they fill the screen like wall-tiles, with no
spaces between them and no overlapping windows. Alternatively you could
cascade the windows, so that they look like a deck of cards spread towards
you, so you can see the top edge of each card, and the whole of the
front card. Maximising the window to fill the whole screen can sometimes
be the easiest way to avoid clutter on the screen.
Direct manipulation is the term used for executing tasks by handling
objects themselves with a pointing device. For example, to open an application
from an icon, the mouse pointer is moved onto the icon, and the mouse
button is double-clicked. This launches the application. To move an
icon representing a file from one directory to another, a drag-and-drop
operation is performed by pointing at the file icon with the mouse,
holding down the mouse button and moving the mouse pointer to the new
directory, and then dropping the file icon into this directory by releasing
the mouse button.
Almost all Windows direct manipulation capabilities can also be executed
by keyboard commands. Some of these keyboard commands can be tailored
(more or less easily) by the user to their own preferences. (The book
"Windows from the Keyboard" by Baran might be a useful reference
book).
B 4 Multiple Applications
Windows enables us to run several applications at the same time, and
to have them all on the screen at once. For example, if you were producing
a report, you would have your word processor open, maybe also a spreadsheet
to perform calculations, and to study data while you are working in
the wordprocessor. You might also have a database open, to examine which
companies you should reference in your report, for example. In addition,
you might have a clock running, with its alarm set, and a Print Manager
application running, to keep a check on your printing. This is all based
on the Desktop Metaphor (see Section B 1).
Another way in which Windows relieves memory load for users is to start
an application called "Program Manager" as soon as Windows
loads. This presents icons for programs that you can start from Windows,
organised into user-defined groups. This application is usually the
first application users experience in Windows, and is therefore described
in detail in Section F.
B 4a Object Linking and Embedding (OLE)
Windows 3.1 allows documents to contain information created in different
applications by a process known as OLE (Object Linking and Embedding).
Although it is not suitable to discuss OLE in detail here, it is mentioned
briefly as it is a powerful feature of Windows. Even if your access
technology cannot view graphics, if it can tell you that a document
contains an embedded or linked object, it is important to know what
these are, and how they work, or you could find yourself unexpectedly
opening applications.
Put simply, Object Embedding inserts a copy of a source document, eg,
an audio file or a graphic, into a destination document, eg, a word-processing
document. This is similar in concept to copying and pasting (using the
clipboard area in memory) from the source into the destination. Thus,
the embedded object is independent of the source object, so if you edit
the embedded (copied) version, the source (original) document is not
affected.
Object Linking is a similar process, however, the destination document
does not contain an actual copy of the source document, but rather an
interactive Link to the source document. This means that any future
changes made to the source document will be reflected in the destination
document.
Windows also allow you to access, and to edit the embedded or linked
document from within the destination document. It does this by automatically
launching the application required to edit this embedded or linked document.
Here, the difference between Embedding and Linking is particularly important.
Changes made to embedded files will only affect the copy stored in the
destination document; whereas, changes made to linked documents will
actually be made to the original source document.
It is important to note here that if you are working on a network,
and you launch the application from the linked object, any changes you
save to this object will be updated in all documents which have a link
to this object - important if you are working with other people using
the same source files!
Precise details of how to perform OLE operations (which may use the
Object Packager program, as well as the usual copy and paste techniques)
cannot be described here, as they are a relatively advanced feature
of Windows. Users are encouraged to re-read the menu bar when they are
investigating an OLE object, since the menu options may change, depending
on the object concerned.
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