win-gui.txt

Using the Windows Graphical User Interface

GUI - general

 Mouse
  Two button mouse (not one button like Mac or three-button like Unix/Linux).
  Left-click to activate current selection (open file, launch program, do button command...)
  "Click" means left click
  Sometimes you must double click (left button) to activate
  Double click is different from click, then click again -- speed matters
  Right click to bring up "context menu" of additional options 

 Desktop
  Rest cursor over icon: see text description
  Right click on desktop background for menu: "Arrange Icons" etc.

 Windows

  Title bar
   Minimize, Maximize, Close buttons (urc)
   System menu (ulc), alternative to Min, Max, Close buttons

  Menu bar (File, Edit, View etc.)
   File Edit View etc.
   Left click menu name on menu bar to show menu
   Left click menu entry to activate operation
   Left click anywhere outside menu to make menu disappear
   Menu path notation used here and in many books:
    "File>Save As..."  means click "File" on menu bar, 
      then click "Save As..." on File menu
   Menu entries (from menu bar)
    Grayed-out ("shadow") indicates operation is not enabled at this time
    Little arrow on right edge means resting cursor on entry will pop up a cascaded menu
    Three dots ("Save Project As...") indicates selection will pop up a dialog box

  Toolbar (shortcuts to menu items)
   Below menu bar
   Row of icons (little pictures): open folder, floppy disk etc.
   Icons are shortcuts for menu paths: VB open folder icon is shortcut for File>Open Project
   Place cursor over icon for a moment to see spelled-out name of operation  
   Click icon to perform operation

  Status bar at bottom of window often shows useful information

  usually Toolbar and Status bar can be customized from View menu to reduce clutter

 Keyboard shortcuts or accelerators (especially useful on notebook computers with no mouse)

  Programs
   Ctrl-Esc brings up Start menu
    letter select items, arrows move between items, Enter selects item, Alt dismisses menus
   Windows-logo key (usually left of space bar) brings up Start menu like Ctrl-Esc

  Windows
   Alt-Esc brings the next window to the top (current window goes to bottom of pile)
    (also cycles through minimized icons - click enter to open)
   Alt-Tab brings up row of icons for open windows (including minimized windows)
    Tab to select next icon
    release Alt to bring selected window to top
   Ctrl-Alt-Del brings up Close Program menu (for shutting down "hung" program)
    Ctrl-Alt-Del again to reboot

  (Is there any way to select icons on desktop without using mouse "My Computer" etc.?)

  Within a window
   PgUp, PgDn scrolls window contents - usually much more convenient than mouse, scroll bar
   up, down arrows also scroll but with finer control - usually easier than mouse
   Home - top of document, page, list ...
   End - end of ...
   Alt-(letter) brings up menu (Alt-F file menu, Alt-E edit, Alt-V view ...)
    when menu is displayed (letter) alone selects that item (Alt-F then r > Properties)
   Alt-space brings up system menu (Minimize, Maximize, Restore, Close
   Alt by itself when no menu displayed selects menu bar (but does not open any menu) 
    so arrows can select (but not open) menus
   Alt by itself when menu displayed dismisses menu (including start menu)
   (Is there any way to select toolbar items without using the mouse?)
   Tab moves to next field (pane in Explorer, link in browser, button in dailog box, etc.) 
    Shift-Tab moves backward
   Arrow keys move among items within a field (file icons in Explorer, menu items, etc.)
   Enter selects item (like click)
   Space bar toggles check box


Editing text
 Notepad editor, but also other MS programs: Outlook/Exchange mail, VB code windows etc.

 Cursor movement
  arrow keys: one character or line at a time
  Pg Up, Pg Dn: larger vertical movements
  Home, End: start, end of current line
  Ctrl-Home, Ctrl-End: start, end of document

 Selecting text
  Shift while moving cursor - selected text turns blue
  Unselecting selected text: move cursor while Shift *not* pressed - blue disappears
  
 Processing selected text
  Del Delete
  Ctrl-Z Undo (restores deleted text)
  Ctrl-X Cut (removes text from file, puts it in paste buffer), Enter also cuts
  Ctrl-C Copy (copies text to paste buffer but does not remove it from original location)
  Ctrl-V Paste (inserts contents of paste buffer back into file, cut or copied)

My Computer
 alternative to Windows Explorer, does not show tree structure
 Works best with these View options checked (almost useless without them, in fact):
 View > Status bar: checked (bar at bottom of window show n of items and size)
 View > Folder Options > General 
  check "Custom...", click Settings
   under "Browse folders as follows" 
    click "Open each folder in same window" (not "own window" -- opens too many windows!)
 View > Folder Options > View
  check "Display the full path in title bar"
  check "Show pop-up description for desktop and folder items"
  *un*check "Hide file extensions for known file types" -- you need to see .txt, .html etc.
  Hidden files: check "Show all files"

Windows Explorer
 Alternative to "My Computer", shows directory tree structure in left "Folders" panel
 Works best with these View options checked (almost useless without them, in fact):
 View > Folder Options > View ...
  (same as My Computer, see above)
 View > Small Icons (so more can fit in the panel at one time)
 View > List (arrange files in one vertical column, not rows and columns)
 View > Details (show name, type, size, modified date)
 View > Arrange Icons > By Name, or BySize, Type, Date (sort file list)

Browser (IE)
 URL: Address bar or textbox
  arrow on right: drop-down list of recently-visited URL's
  URL abbreviations
   foo instead of http://www.foo.com works
  to edit, move cursor into URL textbox - cursor turns to vertical line
  click in URL textbox - URL turns blue
   (I think these editing rules apply to other contexts, e.g. filenames in Explorer etc.)
   to clear URL and start over, press Delete key
   to edit URL from keyboard click in blue: puts text cursor (vertical line) 
     at mouse pointer, blue goes away.  Now you are in editing mode
   to move text cursor in URL use arrow keys or move mouse and click again
   to insert characters just type
   to delete after cursor press Delete key
   to delete before cursor press Backspace key
   to quit editing mode click outside URL textbox, vertical line cursor disappears
  autocomplete (or whatever they call it)
   autocompleted text appears in blue
   to accept, press End (key) *or* (left) click - cursor moves to end
   to get rid of autocompleted text, type Delete (key)
   to override, just keep typing - it will disappear
 View
   View > Toolbars: *Uncheck* Links to get rid of space-wasting row of advertising links
   View > Status Bar: *Check* this for useful info at the bottom
   View > Explorer Bar: divides browser window into two panels,  
    links appear in bar at left, check *History* sometimes useful, shows recent URL's
      sorted by date, uncheck History again to restore single-panel browser window
 Keyboard shortcuts
  Home: top of page
  End: bottom of page
  PgUp, PgDn: scroll through page (much easier than mouse, scroll bar)
  up, down arrows: scroll through page (finer control)
  Tab: move focus forward to next link (like moving cursor to link with mouse) 
  Shift-Tab: move focus backward to previous link
  Enter: go to link (like clicking mouse)

Find

Notepad
 File > Open ...
  Open dialog box 
  Files of type: 
   click arrow on right of box for drop-down list
   select "All Files (*.*)" to list, open any file, for example .html files
   if select "Text Documents", can only list, open .txt files
 File > Save As ...
  ditto, same as Open

 Editing text in Notepad - see Editing text, above

Run

Command Line 
 Long filenames

Task Manager

Customizing Windows
 Desktop icons, Start menu contents different on every system
 Desktop shortcuts - adding, getting rid of