Tip Toe through the Tool Tips with Me

Sometimes our computers can seem overwhelming when trying to figure out what button on the screen does what. Time and experience make selection of the correct button fast and easy. When working on a PC a client will comment that I click buttons and open and close windows faster than they can figure out what each one was. That is experience. But for the novice there is a very simple tool built into the Windows operating system to help us navigate around. That same tool is an industry standard and is used by nearly every software company when they write new programs such as a word processor or even a game. This tool is called a ToolTip.
The ToolTip is a common GUI (graphical user interface) element. It activates by hovering the mouse pointer over a button on a tool bar or over a link or picture on a web page. When activated, a small box appears displaying supplementary information regarding the item being hovered over. Let’s try it out. Hold the mouse pointer over the time in the system tray. See the box that pops up with the day, date and year? That is a tooltip. Open Internet Explorer move the mouse over one of the in the toolbar. After a moment or so, a little box appears telling us what that button does. For example: Move the cursor over the reverse arrow icon and a box pops up that telling us that if we click on this button we will reply to an e-mail. Now open your favorite word processor program and move the mouse pointer over one of the many icons on the toolbars. After a moment a box pops up and tells you what it does. That is a ToolTip. Check Spelling, Copy or Paste are just a few of the ToolTips that we can find in MS Word.
Another valuable tool that many people don’t utilize is the ability to open multiple windows and programs at the same time. Right now Word is open as I write this column; Internet Explorer open to research different topics. Windows Live Mail is open so I can read and send mail and Notepad is open for a place to hold partial thoughts and sentences that need polish. But how can I see the windows that are open behind the one I am working in?
If using Windows versions prior to Windows 8 or using the desktop mode in Windows 8.1 we can hold down the ALT key and then tap the TAB key. Every tap of the TAB key will switch screens and allow us to rotate quickly from open program to open program. The window for the program that disappears from our screen, is represented by an icon visible on our taskbar. Now hold the mouse pointer over the icon on the taskbar and a ToolTip appears telling us what program the button represents. To open the window again, click on the taskbar icon. Remember that minimizing the window doesn’t close the program. The program is still running, using system resources and available for immediate use if we need it.
With apologies to Tiny Tim, let’s Tip Toe through the ToolTips.

Grumbles From The Keyboard: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love My Computer eBook: Courtland Nederveld, Valerie Heisey: Kindle Store ASIN: B00EHI14GU

Epicuria: An Adventure That Really Cooks!: Court Nederveld: 9781456561734: Books ISBN: 1456561731 ISBN-13: 9781456561734