What Is That Thingie Called, Anyway?

by Linda Johnson

reprinted with permission from TechTrax

I do a lot of online and phone tech support and I'm constantly asking people "Are you sure you mean the toolbar? Or do you mean taskbar?" I know that most non-tech people don't feel a need to know the names of all of the parts of their operating system or program interfaces, but think of it this way—if you call tech support and are paying for that call, or if you need an answer to a problem quickly, you may be wasting time and money just trying to clarify what it is that you are seeing on your screen.

So, with this in mind, here's a brief tutorial explaining the names of some main components of the Office and Windows interfaces. Obviously, I can't include them all, but this will give both users and tech support staff a webpage they can use to make sure they are both talking about the same thing. I would suggest users bookmark this page so they can correctly identify the part of their screen where they are having a problem. And, I suggest tech support people bookmark this page so, when they receive a question that makes no sense to them, they can send the user to this page to find the correct name for what item they are trying to identify.

Let's start at the top of the screen and work our way down.

Title Bar
This is what you see at the top of almost every window on your screen. It identifies the name of the file you are looking at and the name of the program you are using to open that file.

Word's Title Bar identifies the name of the document and Microsoft Word.

Internet Explorer's Title Bar identifies the name of the web page and Internet Explorer.

Your Windows Control Panel Title Bar identifies the Control Panel and then, when you click on one of the system icons inside the control panel, the Title Bar for that Window identifies the specific part of the Control Panel that you are accessing.

Note! On the left end of every Title Bar you see an Icon. This is called the Control Menu Icon. If you click on this icon, you have choices that allow you to minimize, maximize, close, resize, and move your window. This is especially helpful if you have a window that has moved off the right side of your screen and you can't get to the buttons on the right end of your Title Bar.

Menu Bar
The menu bar is almost always directly below the Title Bar. It's called the Menu Bar because it has buttons on it that allow you to access all of your available menus. Usually these menus have names like File, Edit, View, Help, etc. These menus will be different, depending on what program you are using.

Here's a picture of Word's Menu Bar.

When you click on a button on the Menu Bar, you see that menu and all of its commands. For example, the File menu is generally the menu that includes commands like New, Open, Close, Save, etc.

Here is a picture of an expanded File Menu.

Notice that some commands are followed by three dots (…). This is called an ellipsis and indicates that, if you click on this command you will be taken to a dialog box. Dialog boxes include a lot of additional parts from which to choose.

Another thing you will see on your menus, beside ellipses which take you to dialog boxes, are submenus which are indicated by an arrow to the right of a command. When you see one of these, this tells you that the command itself cannot be chosen, but hovering your mouse over this command will reveal a submenu of subcommands which can be clicked.

Dialog Boxes
This is the Windows Run dialog box and in here you see two features you will often use in dialog boxes. One is called a dropdown list and the other is called a button. The dropdown list has a downward pointing triangle on the right end of it. If you click on this triangle, you can choose from the available options which will be displayed. The buttons allow you to make choices, simply by clicking on them.

Note! that one button will usually appear slightly differently than the others (shadowed or raised). In this case, it is the OK button. This indicates that OK is the default choice. If you hit the Enter key on your keyboard, it's the same as clicking on the OK, or default, button. Note also that the Browse button contains an ellipsis (…) which means clicking on it will take you to another dialog box.

Also, in a dialog box, you will see some of the following features.

This is Word's Paste Special dialog box, which is accessed by going to the Edit menu and choosing the Paste Special command. In here, you see radio buttons (also called option buttons), a scroll box, a check box, and some buttons (also called command buttons).

The scroll box allows you to choose one item from the list (sometimes scroll boxes are set up so you can combine the CTRL key with your clicks to select multiple items). The radio buttons allow you to make one choice from the options, whereas check boxes allow you to choose more than one item. (Note that radio buttons are always round and check boxes are square.) After you make your choices, you can click on the OK button to accept and apply the selections or click the Cancel button to reject them and leave things as they were before you accessed this dialog box.

Also, in dialog boxes, you will see tabs, slider controls, and spinner controls. Tabs allow you to move from page to page within a dialog box, by clicking on them. Slider controls let you increase or decrease an amount by sliding the little control on the line. And, spinner controls are what you use to increase or decrease a number by clicking on the upward or downward triangles to the right of the box.

Standard Toolbar
Usually, the Standard Toolbar is the one immediately below your Menu Bar (however, most programs allow you to customize your toolbar layouts, so this isn't always the case). The Standard Toolbar is the one that includes icons for the standard commands, like Print, Save, etc.

This is the Standard Toolbar from Word.

And this is the Standard Toolbar from Internet Explorer.

As with the Menu Bar, the Standard Toolbar will have different icons, depending on the program options.

Formatting Toolbar
Many programs allow you to format text or graphics and therefore, include another toolbar which gives you access to the most common commands you use for this. If the program you are using allows you to format text, the Formatting toolbar will include a dropdown list where you can select your font type, font size, etc.

Word's Formatting Toolbar looks like this.

Some programs do not include a Formatting Toolbar, but, instead use other types of toolbars. PhotoShop (versions 6 and above), for example, uses an Options Bar, which reflects the options available for whatever tool you have selected to use.

Suffice it to say that there are many different toolbars in all programs and each of them allow you to do different things. In most programs, if you go to the View menu and select the Toolbars command (or right click on one of your toolbars), you will see which toolbars are checked. If they are checked, this means they are showing on your screen. The easiest way to identify a toolbar is to look at the toolbars that are showing, then go to the View menu and choose Toolbars and uncheck one and see which one goes away. To put it back, just go back there and click on that toolbar's name again and it will return.

Here's some of the toolbar choices you have in Word. If you want even more, click on the Customize… command at the end of the Toolbar submenu.

Status Bar
Many programs include a Status Bar at the bottom of your window, which gives you some statistics about your file

Here's Word's Status Bar.

Here's PhotoShop's Status Bar.

And, this is the Status Bar in Windows Explorer in Windows XP.

As you can see, a Status Bar will look very different, depending on where you are when you view it. But, generally, it will be at the very bottom of your window, just above your Windows Taskbar.

Windows Taskbar
This is one I see mis-named all the time. Nope, it's not a toolbar. It's your Taskbar. It's called this because it holds buttons for all your opened tasks. Right now, because I'm doing lots of stuff, mine is fairly full. It's the bottommost thing on your screen and it includes your clock, Start Button, Quick Launch Toolbar and System Tray and it looks something like the image below.

Remember that there are lots of parts to the interface that I haven't covered here, but I tried to cover the most common ones. And just think, now when you have a problem, you can go to a newsgroup or call tech support and save yourself lots of time and energy. Now, instead of saying "My whatsis on my doohickey at the bottom of my screen is missing", you can say "My system tray is missing from my Windows Taskbar". I guarantee you will get a much more accurate and quick reply.

For more information about Windows and the Office programs, please check out all of my free tutorials and my ABC newsletter at my website:
http://personal-computer-tutor.com. And details on my online classes, downloadable ebooks, and Office training CD can be found:
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/services.htm.

Happy Computing!

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