Using Scroll Bars

[Previous] [Next]

If a window isn't long enough to display its contents completely, Windows adds a vertical scroll bar to the right side of the window. If the window isn't wide enough, Windows adds a horizontal scroll bar. If it's neither long enough nor wide enough, Windows adds both kinds of scroll bars. Figure C-7 shows a window with vertical and horizontal scroll bars.

Scroll bars offer an easy way to navigate through a window with the mouse. They also provide useful information about the contents of the window.

In Figure C-7, notice the rectangular scroll box in each scroll bar. The position of this box within the scroll bar tells you where you are in the window itself. In the vertical scroll bar, for example, the scroll box is situated about 10 percent of the way down the bar. That means that roughly 10 percent of the window's contents lie above your current position in the window.

click to view at full size.

Figure C-7. Scroll bars provide information about the contents of a window and allow you to move quickly from one part of the window to another.

Now notice the size of the scroll boxes relative to the length of the scroll bars. The vertical box is about 5 percent of the length of the scroll bar itself. That means that about one twentieth of the window's vertical extent is currently visible within the window frame. The horizontal scroll bar works the same way.

For navigation purposes, you can use scroll bars in the following ways:

  • To move up or down a line at a time, simply click the arrow at either end of the vertical scroll bar. To move side to side a character at a time (or by a small increment in a noncharacter display), click the arrow at either end of the horizontal bar.
  • To move by approximately one windowful, click the mouse in the scroll bar itself, on either side of the scroll box.
  • To continuously scroll a line at a time, click an arrow and hold down the mouse button. To continuously scroll a windowful at a time, click in the scroll bar itself and hold down the mouse button. When you arrive where you want to be, release the button.
  • To move to a specific location, drag the scroll box. To move halfway down a long document, for example, you could move the vertical scroll box to about the midpoint of the vertical scroll bar.


Running Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional
Running Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional
ISBN: 1572318384
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2000
Pages: 317

flylib.com © 2008-2017.
If you may any questions please contact us: flylib@qtcs.net