CSIS 572 WORKBOOK
Reading a Menu

Reading a Menu

Windows XP’s menu (and those of most other Windows applications) contain a number of common elements.

And some commands appear with a right-pointing arrow to the side, which indicates that if you choose the command, another menu or submenu will appear with more menu options.

Another menu element you will see often is the ellipsis (…). An ellipsis appears after a command to indicate that Windows XP needs more information in order to complete the command. To get that information, Windows XP displays a dialog box. We’ll talk about dialog boxes later in this workbook.

i.e. Window XP's Start menu shows a number of these common menu elements.

Unavailable Commands: Some menu commands may appear grayed-out, which means that you cannot currently use them. These commands are only available for use under certain circumstances. i.e. You cannot select the Copy command if you have not first selected an object to copy.

i.e. The Classic XP Start menu also shows a number of these common menu elements.

Another common menu element is the check mark. The check mark indicates that a menu option is currently active. Each time you choose the menu command, the option is turned on or off (like a light switch). When a check mark is present, the option is turned on.

i.e. Example of check marks.

Procedures:

To practice using menu commands, let’s suppose you want to open WordPad.