The Mouse
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Mouse Position
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The mouse is one of several pieces of
A mouse is primarily made of three parts: the buttons, the handling area, and the rolling
object. By default, a mouse has two buttons: left and right. Most mice nowadays
are also equipped with a wheel on top:
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You will usually see the expression "by default" in computer books and web sites. The expression "by default" means "if everything is not (yet) changed from the original or normal settings". |
To use the mouse, the first decision you make is to know which of your
two hands you will be using to handle the mouse. By default, the mouse
is configured to
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Practical Learning: Introducing the Mouse |
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Mouse Cursors
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After positioning the mouse to the desired position,
the next thing you must do is to locate its presence on the screen. Most
of the time, and after a while of practice, you will be more concerned
with where your mouse is on the screen as opposed to where your fingers
are. This means that the position of the mouse on the screen is very
important and you should know it at all times (unless an application, such
as a screen saver, is meant to hide it).
To make the position of the mouse known, the computer
draws a small picture on the screen. This picture is called a mouse cursor
or simply, a cursor.
The most used cursor displays as an arrow pointing to
the North-West
 (in some scenarios of word processing, it will point to the
North-East).
Because there are various types of operations you will usually be asked to
perform, there are other types of cursors. To support the most regular
assignments, the computer comes with its own set of cursors:
As mentioned already, the most regularly used cursor
is the one with the up-left pointing arrow. The primary object that
defines what cursor to use is the computer. In some cases, when performing
an assignment, the mouse cursor may change also depending on what you are
doing. A programmer (a person who creates a computer program) also is highly in charge of deciding what cursor to
display and when. Besides the above cursors, many programs you will use
also have their own cursors, in addition to, or instead of, the above.
Not all mice function the same, nor do they use the same mechanical
functionality, but all accomplish the same purpose. Many mice have a ball in the
bottom section; that ball rolls when the mouse moves. Some mice, such as
trackballs, have their ball on top and/or they don't exhibit buttons; you would have to grab the ball to do what
you want:
Many of the new mice don't use a ball at all: they use a type of
light beam to provide the same functionality as the ball. Laptop
computers - Notebooks - use another process to simulate the mouse. They
are usually equipped with a small flat area/surface, or, sometimes, a
short stick.
One
of the actions you can perform with the mouse is to move it. To do this, if
you are using a regular mouse, you can physically but slightly push the mouse on the
table. If you are using a trackball, you can roll the ball. If you are
using a laptop, you can position a finger on the pad, press and hold the
finger, then move the pressed finger.
When the mouse rests on certain items on the desktop or on
some buttons of some programs, a short word or sentence appears: that's a
tool tip.
The
mouse is the object you will use the most when interacting with
the computer. The mouse is primarily used in one of four actions.
When asked to click, this request always refers to the left mouse
button. To perform this action:
Another regular action you will perform using the mouse
consists of pressing one of its button twice, very fast. This action is
referred to as Double-Click. To perform this action:
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From now on, unless specified otherwise,
if you are asked to DOUBLE-CLICK: 1. Position the mouse cursor on the item you are asked to DOUBLE-CLICK (you will always be indicated what you need to double-click) 2. Then press the left mouse button twice and very fast Remember two things. Unless indicated otherwise: 1. DOUBLE-CLICK always refers to the LEFT MOUSE BUTTON 2. DOUBLE-CLICK always means press the left mouse button TWICE VERY FAST |
Mouse Operations: Drag
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An action that has become popular with the use of the
computer now consists of clicking somewhere and moving the mouse while the
clicked button is still held down. This action is referred as Dragging.
To perform this action:
What happens, when you drag, depends on the item you
were dragging, whether an item was selected when you were dragging, and
what button was pressed when you were dragging.
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Practical Learning: Dragging |
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From now on, unless specified otherwise,
if you are asked to DRAG
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Mouse Operations: Right-Click
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We saw already that the mouse is equipped with two
buttons. This is not intended to make it fancy. Each button has a distinct
role in the computer. Just like the left mouse button, the right mouse button
can be clicked. It can also be double-clicked. It can even be involved in a
dragging operation. Clicking the right mouse button of the mouse is
referred to as Right-Click. What happens when you click with the right
mouse button depends on the item that was clicked and/or sometimes whether the item
was selected.
To perform the right-click action:
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Practical Learning: Right-Clicking |
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Some applications, namely programs used to manipulate text (they are called word processors), allow you to triple-click. We will review this action when we get to that area of our lessons. |
Introduction
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The computer keyboard, commonly called the keyboard, is a semi-flat object
that lies on the table in front of the monitor or is the main area of the laptop
when the laptop is opened:
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A keyboard is equipped with small
objects called keys. These keys are the real objects that give meaning to the
keyboard. The keyboard is made useful when you press a key and something
happens.
The keyboard is made of three main categories of keys. Each category
is used for a different purpose. The end-goal is to help your computer
experience be as effective as
possible. Many companies that manufacture computers equip their
keyboards with additional useful keys. For example, this HP
keyboard has buttons to increase the volume of your computer and
even to get
on the internet:
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The following description relates only to the QWERTY keyboard used in US English. If you are using a different keyboard layout or language, please consult the documentation that came with it or the MS Windows Help files |
Key Categories: Character Keys
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The first category is made of keys used to display readable characters on the screen. To display
a character or to get the equivalent character of a key,
you have to press its corresponding key. The keys in this category include:
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| Letters | a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, x, y, z | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Numbers | 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Symbols |
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Unlike the mouse, the keyboard shows its presence on
the screen only when you are typing (in a text-based document). In that
case, the object that shows the presence of the keyboard is called a
caret. We will come back to it when we perform word processing. The caret allows you to know what section of the document
would receive a letter that you type. If you are typing in a text
document, it is very important for you to know
at all times where the caret is.
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Practical Learning: Typing Readable Characters |
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Key Categories: Action Keys
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A second category of keys are those not used to type anything, instead they cause an action. Some of these special keys are:
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| Escape |  |
Tab |  |
Caps Lock |  |
Shift |  |
| Control |  |
Alt |  |
Backspace |  |
Enter |  |
| Windows | Win Menu | ||||||
| Insert |  |
Home |  |
Page Up |  |
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| Delete |  |
End |  |
Page Down |  |
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| Up Arrow |  |
Left Arrow |  |
Right Arrow |  |
Down Arrow |  |
| Space Bar |  |
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The letters you typed in the previous section are referred to as lower case or
lowercase. To type their equivalent uppercase, first press and hold a Shift key
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While the Shift key is down, press the key corresponding to the letter you want.
If you wanted to type only one uppercase letter, after typing, you can release
Shift. Otherwise, you can keep Shift down and type the desired uppercase
letters. At the end, release the Shift key.
If you plan to type a lot of
uppercase characters, you can press the Caps Lock key. This causes the keyboard
to display a light, usually on the upper-right section of the keyboard of a
desktop or the Caps Lock key itself. After typing the uppercase characters,
press the Caps Lock again to turn the light off.
Besides being used to type uppercase letters, the Shift key also allows you to
access the upper base of the keys that display two of them. Such symbols are:
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| Tilde | ~ | Exclamation Mark | ! | At | @ | Pound | # |
| Dollar | $ | Percent | % | Accent | ^ | Ampersand | & |
| Asterisk | * | Opening Parenthesis | ( | Closing Parenthesis | ) | Underscore | _ |
| Plus | + | Opening Curly Bracket | { | Closing Curly Bracket | } | Colon | : |
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Practical Learning: Using Action Keys |
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From now on, and throughout this web site,
unless specified otherwise
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Application-Dependant Keys
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The third category of keys is mainly subject to programmers' choice.
These are called function
keys. They are F1, F2, F3, F4, F5, F6, F7, F8, F9, F10, F11, and
F12. Although the F1 key is usually used to get help while working in
Microsoft Windows, the use of the other keys vary from
one application to another. Eventually, the application you use will
give you instructions on what to do and how to use the function keys.
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Practical Learning: Using Application-Defined Keys |
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Key Combinations
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In the Action Keys section, we saw that some
keys can be
combined to produce uppercase letters or to access the upper
symbols of
some keys. Keys are also combined for many other reasons. When
this site,
a book or any other document wants you to combine keys, the
request will usually specify how to use/press those keys; this sometimes
differs from one book
or document to
another.
In some situations, you have to press keys simultaneously, which means that you
may be expected to press two or more keys at the same time, or almost at
the same time. In some other situations, you may have to press and release
one key, followed by another.
For our lessons on this site, here are the
conventions we will use:
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| if you are asked to | Do this |
| Press T |
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| Type t |
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| Press Ctrl + T |
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| press Ctrl + Alt + Delete |
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| press Alt, V |
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| Alt, F, C |
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As we move in our lessons, we will review many other combinations of keys for various purposes. |
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Practical Learning: Combining Keys |
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Shortcuts
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A shortcut is a quick action you ask a program to perform when you press one particular key or a combination of
keys. Some shortcuts are universal or almost, that is, the computer responds regardless of what application is running.
Some other shortcuts depend on what you have on your screen.
When to use a shortcut, you will be directed so. If
the shortcut is made of one key, you will be specified the key. If the
shortcut is a combination, you will be given the combination as we
reviewed them earlier. Whenever you open a menu and decide not to use it anymore, press Esc.
Some shortcuts are already known to the
computer (as part of the operating
system). Most other shortcuts are set by the programmer of the
particular application you are using. Yet some applications allow you to
create your own
shortcuts. Some shortcuts are readily obvious and can be seen from the
main menu of the application. Some other shortcuts are either part of
Microsoft Windows (and can be applied in your program) or are not easily
displayed, you might have to search the Help documentation of the
program you are using.
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Practical Learning: Using Shortcuts |
- To open the Start menu, press Ctrl + Esc
- To dismiss it, press Esc
- Press Ctrl + Alt + Delete
- What comes on your screen depends (on the operating system you are using). To dismiss it, press Esc
- If you have any window open, close it
Press F1, notice that the Help window for the computer comes up - To close the Help file, press Alt + F4
- To start WordPad, on the Taskbar, click Start. Position the mouse on Programs or All Programs. Position the mouse on Accessories. Click WordPad
- While WordPad is displaying, press F1. Notice that, this time, it is the Help window for WordPad that came up
- To close the Help file, press Alt + F4
- To close WordPad, press Alt + F4
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