# Glossary

applet

An applet is a small, interactive application that resides within a panel, for example the CD Player. Each applet has a simple user interface that you can operate with the mouse or keyboard.

desktop background object

An icon on your desktop background that you can use to open your files, folders, and applications. You can use desktop background objects to provide convenient access to files, folders, and applications that you use frequently.

drawer

A drawer is a sliding extension to a panel that you can open or close from a drawer icon.

GNOME-compliant application

An application that uses the standard GNOME programming libraries is called a GNOME-compliant application. For example, Nautilus and gedit are GNOME-compliant applications.

inode

A data structure that contains information about individual files in UNIX file systems. Each file has one inode. An inode contains the node, type, owner, and location of a file.

launcher

A launcher starts a particular application, executes a command, or opens a file. A launcher can reside in a panel or in a menu.

layer

Your desktop is structured as a sequence of layers. Each user interface item, such as a window or a panel, is a member of a layer. Each layer has a layer number. A layer number is an integer that represents the position of a layer in the stacking order.

menubar

A menubar is a bar at the top of an application window that contains the menus for the application.

pane

A pane is a subdivision of a window. For example, the Nautilus window contains a side pane and a view pane.

preference tool

A dedicated software tool that controls a particular part of the behavior of the desktop.

shortcut key

A shortcut key is a series of one or more keystrokes or mouse clicks that provides a quick way to perform an action.

stacking order

The stacking order is the order in which windows are stacked on top of each other on your screen.

statusbar

A statusbar is a bar at the bottom of a window that provides information about the current state of what you are viewing in the window.

toolbar

A toolbar is a bar that contains buttons for the most commonly-used commands in an application. Typically, a toolbar appears under a menubar.

view

A Nautilus component that enables you to display a folder in a particular way. For example, Nautilus contains an icon view which enables you to display the contents of a folder as icons. Nautilus also contains a list view which enables you to display the contents of a folder as a list.

viewer component

A Nautilus component that enables you to display a particular type of file in the view pane. A viewer component might add menu items that are relevant to the file type to the Nautilus menus. A viewer component might also enable you to use the Nautilus zoom buttons to change the size of the item in the view pane.

workspace

A workspace is a discrete area on the desktop in which you can work.