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.
DNS name
A unique alphabetic identifier for a computer on a network.
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.
hot key
Hot keys are keyboard shortcuts that start 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.
IP address
A unique numeric identifier for a computer on a network.
keyboard shortcut
A keyboard shortcut is a key or combination
of keys that provides an alternative to standard ways of performing an action.
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.
menubar
A menubar is a bar at the top of an application window that
contains the menus for the application.
mount
To mount is to make a file system available
for access. When you mount a file system, the file system is attached as a
subdirectory to your file system.
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 keys
Shortcut keys are keystrokes that provide 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.
Uniform Resource Locator
A Uniform Resource Locator (URL) is the address of a particular
location on the Web.
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.