Working with Windows and Dialog Boxes

When you’re working in Windows, most of the action takes place in windows on the screen. A window is essentially a rectangular area on screen. For example, when you run a program, it typically opens one or more windows for you to work in. Most applications also use dialog boxes- windows that typically contain controls but don’t let you create documents. The distinction between a window and a dialog box is highly fluid. In the past, generally speaking, windows were resizable, whereas dialog boxes were not. Windows Vista blurs the distinction between windows and dialog boxes by using windows instead of dialog boxes and having dialog boxes that are resizable.

Dialog Box Modality

Most dialog boxes are modal. Modal means that when a dialog box is open, you cannot take any further action in the program that displayed the dialog box until you dismiss the dialog box. Modality is intended to focus your attention on what the dialog box is expecting you to do. For example, when you issue a Print command to print the document you’re working on, Windows figures you shouldn’t be able to edit or format the document until you’ve finished printing it. The opposite of a modal dialog box is a modeless dialog box. A modeless dialog box does not prevent you from taking actions in its program while it’s displayed. Most programs use few modeless dialog boxes, but other applications use them extensively. For instance, in Word for Windows, some dialog boxes are modeless. For example, when the Find and Replace dialog box is displayed, you can click in your document and continue working around the dialog box. But most dialog boxes in Word are modal. For example, when you display the Open dialog box or the Save As dialog box, you can’t take any further action in the program until you dismiss the dialog box. The problem with modeless dialog boxes is that, because you can continue working while a modeless dialog box is displayed on screen, you can in theory stack up an absurd number of modeless dialog boxes on screen while you continue to work. In practice, most people get annoyed enough by modeless dialog boxes that they close them smartly, provided that they can see them.

Understanding Application Modality and System Modality

Technically, there are two types of modality: application modality and system modality. When a dialog box is application modal, you can take no further action in its application until you dismiss the dialog box. When a dialog box is system modal, you can take no further action on your computer until you dismiss the dialog box.

System modality is supposedly reserved for events of systemwide importance, such as Windows errors and crashes, but some applications display system-modal dialog boxes when they should display application-modal dialog boxes.

Maximizing, Minimizing, and Restoring Windows

Most windows have three buttons: a Minimize button, a Maximize button that swaps places with a Restore Down button, and a Close button. These buttons are intuitive enough to use:

• Click the Maximize button to maximize its window. Windows expands the window to take up all the Desktop and replaces the Maximize button with a Restore Down button.

• Click the Restore Down button to restore the window to its former size. Windows replaces the Restore Down button with the Maximize button again. Once you’ve restored the window, it’s in a normal state- in other words, neither maximized nor minimized.

• Click the Minimize button to minimize its window down to a Taskbar button. Click the Taskbar button to restore the window to its pre-minimized size.

• Click the Close button to close its window.

You can also maximize, minimize, and restore windows by using the control menu see the next section.

Using the Control Menu on Windows and Dialog Boxes

At the left end of its title bar, each window and dialog box has a control menu that contains commands for moving, resizing, and closing the window or dialog box. The control menu was a standard feature of earlier versions of Windows. Users grew so used to the control menu that Microsoft has carried it over to Windows Vista even though the Vista user interface doesn’t really suit it. In Vista, some windows and dialog boxes don’t display an icon in the control-menu area. Many windows and dialog boxes have an icon to indicate the control menu’s presence, but Windows Explorer windows and many dialog boxes do not. To display the control menu on a window and in some dialog boxes, click the icon at the upperleft corner of the window or, if there is no icon, click just inside the upper-left corner of the window or press Alt+spacebar. To display the control menu on a dialog box when clicking doesn’t work, press Alt+spacebar. The control menu for most dialog boxes offers just two commands: Move and Close. The control menu for most windows offers these commands: Restore, Move, Size, Minimize, Maximize, and Close. The Restore, Minimize, Maximize, and Close commands do what they say. Either Restore or Maximize is available at any time: If the window is maximized, Restore is available; if the window is normal, Maximize is available. Move is available if the window is in a normal state because you cannot move a maximized window. To move the window by using the keyboard, select Move from the control menu, then use the arrow keys to move the window to where you want it, and press the Enter key. You can also move the window with the mouse, but unless the window has somehow moved to a position off your monitor, it’s easier simply to drag the title bar of the window with the mouse rather than display the context menu and issue the Move command. Similarly, Size is available only if the window is in a normal state. Use the arrow keys to resize the window, and then press the Enter key. Double-click the control menu box or area to close a window. This is often a handy way to close a window if the Close button the  button is too far from where the mouse pointer is positioned.