Glossary » Widgets
notification slip
a simple dialog box for providing information to a user (NewtonOS term).
Read more »option sheet
a type of form or dialog box for selecting among options not specific to any particular object. For instance, a Preferences dialog.
Read more »overwrite mode
a method of editing text where what is typed replaces the text at the current cursor location, as opposed to “insert mode” where the text is inserted at the current location without deleting any text.
Read more »page-oriented scrollbar
a scrollbar that indicates the page number of a document as the user moves the scroll thumb (scrollbox). The page number may be indicated inside or beside the scroll thumb or on a status line. The scrollbar may also have…
Read more »parametric search
a search done that fits a number of simultaneous criteria (the parameters of the search). For example, finding a house within one of three neighborhoods, $3-600,000, with at least 3 bedrooms and 2 baths.
A typical difficulty for users with…
Read more »password field
a text entry field for entering passwords. As a person types, a password field typically conceals the password by displaying blocking characters, “*”, instead of the actual letters typed.
Read more »pen-based computing
interacting with computers using a pen, as opposed to a keyboard or mouse. A pen allows fluid handwriting, gestures, and sketching that are difficult with many other input devices, thus enabling a more expressive form of input. Pen-based interfaces are…
Read more »percent-done indicator
a type of progress indicator where the percentage completed is also displayed.
Read more »pie menu
a circular menu of options radiating out from where the user clicks. Each option occupies a pie slice. Because each option is equally distant, menu selection can be faster than with traditional pull-down menus. The geometry of the pie menu…
Read more »pinned menu
a menu that would normally go away after a selection is made but which stays up because a pushpin icon is clicked which “pins” it up, causing it to remain available after the selection; similar in spirit to tear-off menus.…
Read more »pinyin input
Chinese-character input based on the pinyin alphabet. Pinyin is a method of writing Chinese in a roman alphabet. With pinyin input systems, users can type the Chinese words phonetically, and then select among a few alternative Chinese characters that represent…
Read more »placard
a rectangular region that can provide status information or controls, generally that apply to the entire document view within a window, such as a magnification percentage displayed at the bottom of a window that can be clicked to choose other…
Read more »pluggable look and feel architecture
an application or system architecture that allows applications to run with a different look and feel than that originally envisioned by the application’s designers. Any other interface specification can be substituted for the same application. While allowing general-purpose substitution of…
Read more »pointer
a small image on the screen (typically an arrow) indicating where the user is currently pointing. The pointer is moved by a pointing device, such as a mouse, a tablet, or a touchpad.
Note: pointers are often mistakenly called “cursors”,…
Read more »pointer jumping
when the pointer automatically moves around to the most likely place you’ll want to click next, such as moving the pointer over the default button of a dialog box as soon as the dialog appears. This shortens the average amount…
Read more »popup menu
a menu that appears outside of the menubar and that pops up when a user clicks on it. Popup menus are typically used to contain options (equivalent to a set of radio buttons, but taking less screen real estate) rather…
Read more »progress indicator
a display showing how far a time-consuming process has gone. A progress bar, for instance, increases in size over time to show what proportion of the total time has already passed. Below is a progress indicator for copying a file.…
Read more »prompt
A message on the computer screen indicating that the computer is ready to accept user input. In a command-line interface, the prompt may be a simple “>” symbol or “READY >” message, after which the user may type a command…
Read more »property sheet
a form containing a set of attributes and values for a selected object and allowing those properties to be modified, often displayed as a dialog box or palette. A typical example is a property sheet for text properties, which allows…
Read more »proportional scrollbox
a scrollbox that varies in size according to the percentage of the document that is visible.
Read more »proxy
a small image that serves as a graphical preview of an operation that will take place on a full image. The proxy usually substitutes a generic shape for the full image or eliminates detail otherwise. Used commonly in dialog boxes…
Read more »pulldown menu
a list of options that appears when the user clicks on a menu button (typically in a menubar, but also sometimes a popup menu). Users can then drag their pointer down to select an item in the list, which issues…
Read more »pushpin
a pushpin icon at the top of menus and dialogs that, when pinned, keeps them available even after options have been chosen or applied (in the OpenLook graphical user interface). When unpinned, these same menus and dialogs go away after…
Read more »query box
a type of dialog box that poses a question to the user and has a space for typing a reply or selecting among options.
Read more »QWERTY keyboard
the standard North American keyboard layout (pronounced KWER-TEE), named for the first 6 letters that appear along the top-left row. Primary alphabetic keys are arranged in three rows as follows:
QWERTYUIOP
ASDFGHJKL;
ZXCVBNM,./
The layout is thought to…
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