Glossary
applet
An applet is a small, interactive application that resides
within a panel, for example the CD Player. Each
applet has a simple user interface that you can operate with the mouse or
keyboard.
desktop background object
An icon on your desktop background that you can use to open
your files, folders, and applications. You can use desktop background objects
to provide convenient access to files, folders, and applications that you
use frequently.
drawer
A drawer is a sliding extension to a panel that you can open
or close from a drawer icon.
GNOME-compliant application
An application that uses the standard GNOME programming libraries
is called a GNOME-compliant application. For example, Nautilus
and gedit are GNOME-compliant applications.
inode
A data structure that contains information about individual
files in UNIX file systems. Each file has one inode. An inode contains the
node, type, owner, and location of a file.
launcher
A launcher starts a particular application, executes a command,
or opens a file. A launcher can reside in a panel or in a menu.
layer
Your desktop is structured as a sequence of layers. Each user
interface item, such as a window or a panel, is a member of a layer. Each
layer has a layer number. A layer number is an integer that represents the
position of a layer in the stacking order.
menubar
A menubar is a bar at the top of an application window that
contains the menus for the application.
pane
A pane is a subdivision of a window. For example, the
Nautilus window contains a side pane and a view pane.
preference tool
A dedicated software tool that controls a particular part
of the behavior of the desktop.
shortcut key
A shortcut key is a series of one or more keystrokes or mouse
clicks that provides a quick way to perform an action.
stacking order
The stacking order is the order in which windows are stacked
on top of each other on your screen.
statusbar
A statusbar is a bar at the bottom of a window that provides
information about the current state of what you are viewing in the window.
toolbar
A toolbar is a bar that contains buttons for the most commonly-used
commands in an application. Typically, a toolbar appears under a menubar.
view
A Nautilus component that enables
you to display a folder in a particular way. For example, Nautilus
contains an icon view which enables you to display the contents
of a folder as icons. Nautilus also contains a
list view which enables you to display the contents of a folder as a list.
viewer component
A Nautilus component that enables
you to display a particular type of file in the view pane. A viewer component
might add menu items that are relevant to the file type to the Nautilus menus.
A viewer component might also enable you to use the Nautilus
zoom buttons to change the size of the item in the view pane.
workspace
A workspace is a discrete area on the desktop in which you
can work.