The Three Kinds of Windows

Click here if you need the introduction to windows on Windows.

Contents

First some explanation then some activities:

The Three Kinds of Windows

Directory / Sub-Direcotry / Folder Window

• If you open a folder or hard drive / floppy disk, etc., you get this kind of window

This kind of window allows you to see the contents of the folder or hard drive / floppy disk, etc.

Application Window

• If you launch an application you get an application window

Whenever you open / launch / run an application a window opens that is that application. There'll be a menu bar under the title bar and perhaps toolbars and then a document window below that.

Document Window

• Almost all applications may have one (or more) document windows within their application window.

In the Windows OS, you can individually manipulate multiple document windows within an application window.

Note:

The Mac doesn't handle windows in this same way.

The three states of a window

Now that you've seen the different kinds of windows, here's the different ways that those windows display:

Each directory window or application window or document window can display in three different ways in Windows 95 and 98 and beyond. Explanations, illustrations and activities follow.

Below is an overview of the upper right hand corner of every window. Click on this image to open another web browser window of a bigger version of this same image. When you're done looking at that more readable image, close that window and you'll be back here!

Activity 1-Minimize and Restore

Minimize and Restore

1) Open the Directory window for the My Computer icon by double-clicking on it. That icon is usually in the upper left of the desktop.

2) Put the pointer over the Minimize button on the Title Bar as in the illustration below.

Below you can see both the My Computer window and, on the task bar (down below), the My Computer Tab. (Yes, those thingys on the task bar are called "Tabs".) And the white pointer arrow is over the Minimize button on the Title Bar.

3) Click on the Minimize button in the upper right of the window. Note that the window disappears until it's only a button on the task bar, looking like this:

4) To get the window back, click on the My Computer Tab on the Task Bar. This will make the window come back and be visible again. This is called "Restoring" a window. Minimize / Restore....

Try this several times with different windows.

Maximize and Share -- The Explanation

We've used the "X" or Close button, you just worked with the Minimize button, let's now look at the third button, the one between the X and the Minimize.

Here are the steps, click here to see a narrative overview with illustrations.

The third, middle, button actually has two different looks:

Look 1) "Click me to Maximize (take over the whole screen)"

Look 2) "Click me to share the screen with other windows"

You can toggle or switch any standard window between these states.

Activity 2-Maximize and Share

1) Have the My Computer window open again.

2) Click the Maximize window button on the Title Bar and two things happen:

a) the button will change and

b) the window will switch from taking over the whole screen to sharing the desktop with other windows or from sharing with other windows taking over the whole screen.

Try this with several different windows.

Here's another illustration and explanation of the three states for a window.

Window Sate 1: A button on the Task Bar

• All folder and application windows get a button on the Task Bar along the bottom of the screen
• Document windows do not get their own buttons on the task bar since they are within application windows.
• You can click on the buttons on the Task Bar to switch between the different windows

A window that shares the screen

• You can set a window so that you can see more than one window at a time

A window that takes over all the screen

• You can set a window so that it takes over the screen

Click here for a related lesson on how to scroll around in a window.
 
 

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