Appendix A. Glossary

Button - A button on a mouse pointing device; Mouse Buttons can be mapped to the keyboard. A graphical component on a window frame or in a dialog box that works by pressing it.

Cascading Menu - A submenu that provides selections that amplify the parent selection on a pull-down or pop-up menu.

Click - To press and release a Mouse Button. The term comes from the fact that pressing and releasing most Mouse Buttons makes a clicking sound.

Close - A label given to a Push Button in some dialog boxes that performs the action of closing the dialog box. Close is also used as a selection in Menus to close the window associated with the Menu.

Cursor - A graphical image, usually a pipe (|) or block, that shows the location where text appears on the screen when keys on the keyboard are pressed or where a selection can be made.

Depictable - A method to retrieve data and display it using AWIPS and the D2D.

Desktop - See "Workspace."

Dialog Box - A secondary window that the user can display. It contains application components.

Dimmed Selection - A selection that is not currently available.

Double-Click - To press and release a Mouse Button twice in rapid succession.

Extension - A depictable that allows user interaction with the D2D displays.

Focus - A state of the system that indicates which component receives keyboard events. A component is said to have the focus if keyboard events are sent to that component.

Help - A label given to a Push Button in some dialog boxes that performs the action of providing help for the dialog box.

Highlight - A graphic technique used to provide a visual cue to the current selection or to the current location of the input focus. Highlighting is frequently accomplished by reversing the video of the selection.

Icon - A small graphical image used to represent a window. Windows can be turned into icons or minimized to save room or unclutter the workspace (see "Workspace").

Insertion Cursor - The graphical symbol that provides the visual cue to the location of the insertion point.

Keyboard - An input device consisting of various keys that allows the user to input data, control cursor and pointer locations, and control the dialog with the workstation.

Keyboard Focus - Indicates the window or component within a window that receives keyboard input. It is sometimes called the "Input Focus."

Label - The text part of an icon or graphical component.

Location Cursor - A graphical symbol that marks the current location of the keyboard input focus for selection. Typically, this symbol is a box that surrounds the current object.

Maximize - To enlarge a window to its maximum size.

Menu - A list of available selections from which a user may choose.

Menu System - A collection of menus cascading from a single Cascade Button.

Menu Window - An application window used to contain a menu. Menu windows are transitory.

Menu Bar - A rectangular area at the top of the client area of a window that contains the titles of the standard pull-down menus for that application.

Menu Bar System - A collection of menus associated with a Menu Bar and the Menu Bar itself.

Message Box - The generic name for any dialog box that provides information, gives the current state of a work in progress, asks a question, issues a warning, or draws attention to an error.

Minimize (Iconify) - To turn a window into an icon.

Mouse - A pointing device commonly used in conjunction with a keyboard in point-and-click object-oriented user interfaces.

Mouse Button - A button on a mouse pointing device. Mouse Buttons can be pressed, released, moved, clicked, and double-clicked.

Multiclick - To click a Mouse Button multiple times without moving the pointer.

Open - To start an action or begin working with a text, data, or graphics file.

Pointer - The graphical image that appears on the workspace and represents the current location of a mouse or other pointing device. Also referred to as "Mouse Pointer."

Pointing Device - A device such as a mouse, trackball, or graphics tablet that allows users to move a pointer about on the workspace and point to graphical objects.

Pop-up Menu - A menu that provides no visual cue to its presence, but simply pops up when a user performs a particular action. Pop -up menus are associated with a particular area of the workspace, such as the client area of an application, and a user must memorize where these areas are.

Press - To hold down a Mouse Button or a key.

Pull-Down Menu - A menu that is pulled down from a client application's Title Bar.

Push Button - A graphic component that simulates a real-life push button. When a user pushes the Push Button, by pressing a key or a Mouse Button, an action takes place.

Radio Button - A graphic component that simulates the buttons on a real-life car radio. Each button represents a mutually exclusive selection. Radio buttons are typically used for setting states or modes.

Release - To let up on a Mouse Button or key that has been pressed. Sometimes it is the press that initiates the action; sometimes it is the release.

Resize - To change the height or width of a window.

Restore - To return an icon or maximized window to its normal size.

Save - To write changes to a data file to a storage device for safekeeping.

Scroll Bar - A graphical device used to change a user's view of the contents of a window. A scroll bar consists of a slider, a trough, and scroll arrows. A user changes the view by sliding the slider up or down in the scroll area or by pressing one of the scroll arrows. These actions cause the view to scroll up or down in the window adjacent to the scroll bar.

Secondary Window - A child window of a primary window.

Select - To choose an object to be acted upon or an action to be performed.

Selection - The object or action that is selected. Menus are composed of selection items. Dialog boxes contain components, each of which represents a selection.

Single Selection - A selection model that allows selection of a single element.

Slider - One of the graphical components of a scroll bar or scale. The slider is the object that is dragged along the scroll area to cause a change.

Submenu - A "cascading menu."

System Menu - See "Window Menu."

Tear-away Menu - A menu that can be moved around the workstation screen, away from the location on the screen where it first opened, by grabbing it in the Title Area and repositioning it on the screen.

Text Cursor - See "Insertion Cursor."

Title Area - The area at the top of the window frame immediately beneath the resize border. The Title Area has two functions: it contains a title or name that identifies the window, and it can be grabbed and dragged to relocate the window.

Title Bar - The bar across the top of a window manager window that consists of the Window menu button, the Title Area, and the Window -Control Buttons.

Window - A data structure that represents all or part of the display screen. Visually, a window is represented as a sub -area of the display screen.

Window Frame - The area surrounding a window. A window frame can consist of a resize border, a Window menu button, a Title Bar, and Window Control Buttons.

Window Menu - The menu that appears when the Window menu button is pressed. The Window Menu typically contains selections for restoring, moving, sizing, minimizing, maximizing, and closing the window.

Window Menu Button - The Graphical Control Button that appears at the left side of the Title Bar in the window frame.

Workspace - The LCD -- the area on which the windows of a user's environment appear. The workspace is sometimes called the desk, desktop, or root window.

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