Apple IIgs - Manual (Page 13)

Page 13 of 84 II gs
Printed: Thursday, July 25, 2002 12:14:50 PM
it.
Using Mouse-Based Programs
When you move the mouse across your desk, a small arrow, called a pointer, moves in a
corresponding way across the screen.
Clicking
Pressing and releasing the mouse button is called clicking. You point to something and click
when you want to select that item for some action.
Double clicking means pressing and releasing the mouse button twice in rapid succession. It's a
shortcut used in many mouse-based applications. Where the shortcut leads depends on the
application. Again, the manual provided with the application will tell you how double clicking
is used in that application.
Selecting
When you point to a word or picture and click the mouse button, you are selecting that word or
picture for some action.
Selecting is an important concept in mouse-based applications. You select something; then you
tell the application what action to perform on the selected text or picture. For example, you
might select a block of text and then tell the application to delete it or move it somewhere
else in the document.
To select a block of text, point just to the left of the first character, hold down the mouse
button, move the pointer to the right of the last character, then release the mouse button. The
text between the first and last character will be highlighted to show that you selected it.
Holding the mouse button down while you move the mouse is called dragging.
Besides dragging across text to select it, you can use the mouse to drag objects from one place
on the screen to another. You can move a window by dragging it with the title bar or change the
size of the window by dragging the size box. You'll learn more about dragging later in this
chapter.
Pull-Down Menus
Menus in mouse-based applications stay out of sight until you need them. In this respect, they
are like those maps you may have had in elementary school. The teacher pulled down the map to
teach geography, then rolled it up to demonstrate subtraction on the blackboard.
To pull down a menu in a mouse-based application, just point to the title of the menu and hold
down the mouse button. (The menu will remain visible until you release the mouse button.)
Each word or picture on the menu bar represents a different menu. Each application has its own
menus, but there is almost always one called the File menu. The File menu is the menu you'll
use when you want to do something to the document as a whole save it on a disk, quit using it,
and so on.
Choosing
To choose a command from a menu, point to the menu title, hold down the mouse button, move the
pointer down the list until the command you want is highlighted, then release the button.