Organizing Windows

Since each window has its own purpose--some display documents you are working on, others display options that are available for the work that you are doing, and others simply display messages from your computer--you might want to make some windows larger and others smaller, move some windows completely out of the way for a time, and so on. This chapter shows you techniques for doing these things.

* To organize the windows in your workspace, you can change their sizes, shapes, and positions.

Techniques for this are illustrated in Figure 2-1.

Figure 2-1

Reordering Windows

The windows in your workspace can overlap. A window can cover part of another window or all of it. Windows can be stacked up, and a window that is visible on your display may actually be covering several other windows.

Because your mouse pointer can only be in one place at a time and you can only type in one window at a time, you are limited to working in the window that is "in front" (or "on top"). If you want to work in a different window, use your mouse to bring it to the front:

* To bring a window forward, move your mouse until the pointer is over the window and click on it. Make sure you don't click on a button (such as the window's close button) when you click on the window.

The window moves to the front. In most cases its title bar turns black, to indicate that it is now the key window. Whatever you type on your keyboard will appear in the key window.

Remember that clicking in a window also makes the window's application the active application (if it isn't already). "Switching Between Applications" on page 4-3 has more information about the active application.

Figure 2-2

Scrolling

When a window contains more than it can display at one time, you can scroll to see more. If a document window displays one page of a 25-page document, for example, you scroll to see the other pages.

In many windows, you scroll using a scroller--a gray bar with a knob and scroll buttons. Figure 2-3 shows an example of a scroller.

Figure 2-3

Horizontal scrollers scroll left and right while vertical scrollers are for scrolling up and down.

* You use scrollers by clicking on a scroll button. In some cases, you scroll using buttons that aren't in a scroller but that stand alone. (A dimmed button means you can't scroll any further in that direction.)

Figure 2-4 shows you these techniques for operating a scroller.

Figure 2-4

---

Note - The scroll knob's size and position indicate how much of the total information you're viewing and where you are in the document. For example, if you're on page 2 of a 3-page document, the vertical scroller fills the middle third of the bar.

---