The Window Pattern

The Window Pattern

What We'll Learn

• 1. Recognize the pattern of a Window

  2. Learn how to manipulate Windows

  3. Learn some common terms related to Windows

What's a Window?

Early computers simply had text on a single screen. People then invented a way to use "Screen-in-screen" so that several things could be running and seen at once on a single screen. These little screens were called "Windows" and form a basic pattern used in the Microsoft Windows operating system.

A window is the second pattern to learn to be familiar with how to easily use a Windows computer.

Below is a picture of a typical window with various parts labelled:

Exercise 1 - Exploring a Window

Use these steps to open Notepad a simple Windows program:

• 1. Click Start

1. Start typing the word notepad, click Notepad as soon as it appears in the menu above.

   1. Observe or try the following

• • The Menu Bar - Gives access to the common functions of a program.

    • Note the common menus File, Edit, View, and Help. These are on most programs.

    • File lets you save or load a file into a program.

    • Edit lets you select, copy and paste content.

    • View changes how a program window looks. Click the items on the View menu to see how they work.

    • Help gives you access to information about the program.

  • The Title Bar - Shows the name of the program.

    • Put your mouse on the Title Bar and drag the window to a different spot on the screen.

  • The Minimize button - places the program on the "back burner", hiding it so it only appears as a Task Bar button.

    • Click Minimize button to minimize a window.

    • Click the corresponding Task Bar button to put the Window back on the screen.

  • The Maximize button - expands the program to fill the entire screen

    • Click the Maximize button to maximize the window. Note how it changes shape to a Restore button.

    • Click the Restore (Maximize) button to return the Window to its previous size.

  • The Close button shuts down the program.

    • Click the Close button to shut down the Window

    • Restart the Window using the 3 steps above.

  • Scroll Bars - will appear if all the information does not fit in the window.

    • Type some letters, then press Enter until a scroll bar appears on the right hand side.

    • Drag or click on the scroll bar to move the window contents up and down.

  • Window Borders - can be dragged to re-size the Window when not maximized.

    • Try changing the size of the window by dragging the border and the corners.

Next

• Running Multiple Windows

• Working with Windows Overview

• Main Tutorials Page