LESSON3

 WindowsXPgotitsnamefromoneitsmostbasicelements:thewindow.Therectangularworkareaforaprogram,file,orothertaskiscalledawindow.

  BelowisanexampleofaMicrosoftWordwindow.WhileWordisaword‐processingprogram,theexamplebelowfeaturesmanyoftheelementscommoninWindowsXP.

Theworkspaceisthewhiteareainsidethewindow.Thisiswhereyoudoyourworkwithaprogram,suchaswritingaletter.Dependingonwhatprogramyou'reworkingwith,theworkspacewillappeardifferently.

WindowsXPoffersseveraltools,menus,andcommandsthatmaketheoperatingsystemeasy‐to‐use.

  Thetitlebaristhehorizontalbaratthetopofawindow.It'sdisplayedaswhitetextonbluebackgroundbydefault.

  TheControlmenubuttonistheiconatthefarleftendofthetitlebar.TheControlmenubuttonopensamenuyoucanusetocontrolthewindow.

  TheClosebuttonisatthefarrightendofthetitlebar.ItlookslikeaboxwithanXinit.ClicktheClosebuttontocloseawindowortoexitaprogram.NexttotheClosebutton,you'llseetheMinimizeandMaximizebuttons.Learnmoreaboutthesebuttonsinthenextlesson.

  Themenubaristhebelowthetitlebar.Itcontainsseveralmenus,whichletyouseealistofcommands.

  Somemenuoptionsarefollowedbyellipsis,or...Choosingamenuoptionfollowedbyanellipseswillopenadialogbox,whichfeaturehelpfultoolstohelpyouperformtasks.

  SomeWindowsXPprogramshavetoolbarsacrossthetopofthewindow.Thetoolbarbuttonsallowyoutoprint,cut,paste,ordoothertasks.Theoptionsvarydependingontheprogram.

  Thescrollbarappearsattherightsideorthebottomofawindowwhenalltheinformationinthatwindowcan'tbeseenatthesametime.Usethescrollbartoviewhiddeninformation.

  Thescrollbarfeaturesscrollarrowsthatallowyoutomoveeasilythroughadocument.It'sespeciallyconvenientwhenviewingalongdocument.

Toscroll:  Clickthearrowtoscroll

up.  Clickthearrowtoscroll

down.  Clickthearrowstoscroll

uponepageatatime.  Clickthearrowstoscroll

downonepageatatime.  Clickthebuttontoopena

browsemenu.  ORClickanddragthe

scrollbarstoviewyourdocument.

  ClickStart.  ChooseAllPrograms

AccessoriesNotepad.  ChooseFilefromthemenu

bar.  Whileholdingdownthe

leftmousebutton,movethemousepointerovertheothermenus(Edit,View,etc.)toviewthedropdownmenus.

  ChooseFormatFonttoopentheFontdialogbox

  ClosetheFontdialogbox.