Windows XP for Starters: The Missing Manual: Exactly What You Need to Get Started

3.3. Window Toolbars

On the day it's born, every Windows XP desktop window has a standard toolbar across the top (see Figure 3-6). A toolbar is simply a strip of one-click buttons like Back, Forward, Search, and so on.

Figure 3-6. Here are the three basic toolbars that you can summon independently for any desktop window. By dragging the vertical left-side handle of a toolbar, you can place two or more bars on the same row, or even in the menu bar (arrow).

But by choosing View Toolbars, or right-clicking a blank spot on a toolbar and pointing to Toolbars on the shortcut menu, you can add or hide whichever toolbars you like, on a window-by-window basis. Three different toolbars are available from the View menu: Standard Buttons, Address Bar, and Links.

Tip: As anyone in the U.S. Justice Department could probably tell you, the Internet Explorer Web browser is deeply embedded in Windows itself. These window toolbars are perfect examples: they appear not only in desktop windows but also in Internet Explorer when you're browsing the Web.

3.3.1. The Standard Buttons Toolbar

This toolbar helps you navigate your desktop (or the Web). The desktop version contains buttons like these:

  • Back, Forward . On the Web, these buttons let you return to Web pages you've just seen. At the desktop, they display the contents of a disk or folder you've just seen.

    But waitthere's more! You can click the tiny down-pointing black triangle on the Back or Forward button to see a drop-down menu of every Web page (or desktop window) you visited on your way to your current position. Similarly, if you point to one of these buttons without clicking, a tooltip indicates which Web site or folder you'll go to if you click.

    Tip: These Back and Forward buttons work exactly the same in both Internet Explorer and the Windows desktop.

  • Up . This button, short for "up a level," displays the contents of the folder that contains the one you're examining. If you're looking at the contents of, say, the Idaho folder, clicking this button would open the USA folder that contains it.

  • Search . Opens the Search panel described on Section 2.7. Keyboard shortcut : F3.

  • Folders . Hides or shows the master map of disks and folders at the left side of the window, re-creating the two-panel Windows Explorer navigational display described in the next chapter.

  • Views . Opens a short menu listing the different window views: Tiles, Thumbnails, Details, and so on. In other words, it duplicates the View menu on the menu bar. (More details about these views begin on Section 3.2.1.)

3.3.2. The Address Bar

In a Web browser, the Address bar is where you type the addresses of the Web sites you want to visit. At the desktop, the Address bar obeys your commands in all kinds of ways. Here's what you can type there (pressing Enter afterward):

  • A Web address . You can leave off the http:// portion. Just type the body of the Web address, such as www.sony.com, into this strip. When you click Go or press Enter, the icons in your desktop window are replaced by the actual Web page you specified. Suddenly you're in Internet Explorer.

  • A search phrase . If you type some text into this strip that isn't obviously a Web address, Windows assumes that you're telling it, "Go online and search for this phrase."

  • A folder name . You can also type one of several important folder names into this strip, such as My Computer, My Documents, My Music , and so on. When you click Go or press Enter, that particular folder window opens.

    The little down-arrow button at the right end of the Address bar is very useful, too. It offers a list of the primary locations on your PC (My Computer, My Documents, your hard drives , and so on) for instant location jumping.

In each case, as soon as you begin to type, a drop-down list of recently visited Web sites, files, or folders appears below the Address bar. Windows XP is trying to save you some typing. If you see what you're looking for, click it with the mouse, or press the down arrow key to highlight the one you want and then press Enter.

3.3.3. The Links Toolbar

At first glance, you might assume that the purpose of this toolbar is to provide links to your favorite Web sites. And sure enough, that's what it's forwhen you're using Internet Explorer.

Although few realize it, you can drag any icon at all onto the toolbarfiles, folders, disks, programs, or whateverto turn them into one-click buttons. In short, think of the Links toolbar as a miniature Start menu for places and things you use most often.

To add your own icons, just drag them from the desktop or any folder window directly onto the toolbar, at any time. Here are a few possibilities, just to get your juices flowing :

  • Install toolbar icons of the three or four programs you use the most (or a few documents you work on every day).

  • Install toolbar icons for shared folders on the network. This arrangement saves several steps when you want to connect to them.

  • Install toolbar icons of Web sites you visit often, so that you can jump directly to them when you sit down in front of your PC each morning.

You can drag these links around on the toolbar to put them into a different order, or remove a link by dragging it awaydirectly into the Recycle Bin, if you like. (They're only shortcuts; you're not actually deleting anything important.) To rename something herea good idea, since horizontal space in this location is so preciousright-click it and choose Rename from the shortcut menu.

Tip: When you're viewing a Web page, dragging a Web link from this toolbar into the address bar takes you to the page. But when you're viewing a folder window , dragging one of these Web links to the address bar creates an Internet shortcut file in the window. When double-clicked, this special document connects you to the Internet and opens the specified Web page.

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