If you run an application and open several other windows, your screen quickly becomes cluttered with windows. You need to know how to organize windows into desks, move and shrink windows, change the way windows overlap, and close and quit from windows when you're finished using them.
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If your screen becomes cluttered with windows, consider creating a separate desk on which to place certain windows. For example, if you spend a portion of your day using 3D modeling software, and a portion of your day typing and mailing reports, you might want to create a desk for each task. One desk displays the windows that you use to build 3D models. The other desk displays the windows that you use to write reports and send them to coworkers using electronic mail.
To create a new desk, use the Desks Overview window. To open it, click the words Desks Overview now, or choose “Extra Desks” from the Desktop toolchest.
One way to conserve screen space is to open fewer windows.
Place commonly used icons on the desktop so you can access them easily. See “Placing Reference Icons on the Desktop.”
Open one an Icon View window inside of another using one of these techniques:
Choose “as List” from the View menu on an Icon View window. Icons in the window are organized in a list; an arrow appears next to folder icons. Click the arrow and the contents of that directory are listed underneath the folder icon.
Locate the icon for the directory you want to open. Drag the icon and place it in the drop pocket in the upper left corner of the window. The window changes to display the contents of that directory.
Use the icon finder at the top of the Icon View window. See “Opening a Directory Using the Icon Finder” for details.
You can resize windows to help you manage screen space on your desktop. Figure 8-1 shows a window and the areas of the border that you use to make the window narrower, shorter, taller, or wider.
Place the cursor within the window border.
Place it within a horizontal border to change the height of the window; place it within a vertical border to change the width of the border; place it within a corner border to change both the width and the height.
Press and hold the left mouse button.
The cursor changes into one of the eight resize cursors, depending on the border in which you placed the cursor.
Resize the window by dragging the mouse.
When you start to move the border, an outline of the window appears showing the new size of the window.
Release the left mouse button when the window is the size you want.
You can turn a window into a small square so that it uses very little screen space. This is called stowing or minimizing a window. Applications continue to run in windows that have been minimized.
To minimize a window:
Place the cursor over the Minimize button, as shown in Figure 8-2.
You don't need to place the cursor on the small button; place it anywhere within the button's outer border.
Click the left mouse button.
The window becomes a small square.
Restore the window to its original size by clicking the small square.
You can also minimize a window using the “Minimize” command on the Window menu.
When you work with many different windows, frequently you need to move a window to a different place on the screen.
Some windows have a border at the top of the window called a title bar. Other windows do not have title bars. These windows are called borderless windows.
If a window has a title bar, you can grab the title bar or any part of the window border with the left mouse button to move the window.
If a window doesn't have a title bar, you can grab any edge of the window borcer with the left mouse button to move the window.
If a window doesn't have a title bar or border, press the <Alt> key and hold down the right mouse button. Select “Move” from the menu that appears. The cursor changes to a crossbar and lets you move the window.
If windows are lying on top of each other on your screen, and the window you want is hidden, you can raise the window to the top of the stack, or lower the windows that are covering it to the bottom of the stack.
To raise a window, place the cursor inside the title bar or within the window border and click the left mouse button. The window pops to the top.
If the title bar or window border is not visible, you can lower other windows to the bottom of the stack to expose the window you want.
To lower a window:
Place the cursor over the Window menu button.
The Window Menu button is located in the upper left corner of the title bar.
Press the left mouse button and choose “Lower” from the menu.
The window jumps to the bottom of the stack and exposes the windows that were beneath it.
By default, you need to move your mouse cursor into a window in order to type in it. This is called implicit focus or “point to type.” You can change the focus behavior to explicit focus or “click to type” using the Window Settings Control Panel.
If the Window Settings control panel is not already open on your screen, open it by clicking the word Windows now, or by choosing “Windows” from the Customize menu in the Desktop toolchest.
To change the keyboard focus behavior:
Next to “Keyboard Focus:”
Click the button next to “Point to type” to select implicit focus.
Click the button next to “Click to type” to select explicit focus.
Selecting “Click to type” means that you give a window focus by clicking on it. The window continues to have focus until you click on another window, regardless of the location of the cursor.
A checkmark appears to let you know it's activated, and a window appears, telling you that the window manager will need to be restarted in order for the change to take affect.
Click OK or Cancel.
If you click OK, all the windows you currently have open will redraw, and the keyboard focus behavior changes.
Click the Close button to close the Window Settings panel.
When you're finished working in a window, you can make it disappear in one of several ways.
Place the cursor over the Window menu button; then double-click the left mouse button. The Window menu button appears on the window frame, in the upper left corner of the window.
If an application has a Close or Quit button, click that. If an application has a “Close,” “Quit,” or “Exit” command on one of its menus, choose that.
 | Note: When you close a window, you stop whatever process (application) is running in that window, and the window disappears. When you quit from a window, you stop whatever process (application) is running in that window, and you stop any other processes associated with that window. |