Icon bar
Encyclopedia
In computing
, the icon bar is the name of the dock
in Acorn
's RISC OS
operating system
, and is fundamental to the OS. Its introduction in 1987 (as part of Arthur, the predecessor to ) was a new concept in GUI
s. It displays icons through which access is provided to all parts of the computer
that a typical user will require, from physical devices and system utilities to running applications, and will usually be their starting point for interacting with the system once it has finished booting
.
, a program should place its icons to the left hand side of the icon bar if they relate to physical devices or resources such as filing systems
. These will have an item of text underneath them identifying the device or resource. All other icons should be placed on the right of the bar. If too many icons are present to be displayed at once then the icon bar will extend horizontally and become wider than the screen; in order to access the non-visible icons the user must scroll the bar by hovering the mouse pointer at the appropriate edge of the screen.
The result of clicking the left mouse button (known as the Select button) on an icon will vary depending on what the icon represents. For filing systems, a filer window will open containing the contents of the root directory. For document-oriented applications supporting multiple open documents, clicking Select will open a window containing a new, empty document. This is different to the behaviour of the typical Taskbar
and Dock
, where clicking an icon will result in a task switch
(All windows associated with the icon will be brought to the front of the window stack and will gain input focus
). For programs that do not support multiple open documents, clicking its icon will typically result in the task switch behaviour.
By pressing the middle (Menu) mouse button while the pointer is over an icon, a context-sensitive menu
associated with that icon will open. Although the owner of the icon is responsible for the contents of the menu, the menus for icons with similar functions will typically contain the same subset of options. For example filing systems will allow the naming and formatting of disks, as well as an option to open a window displaying free space. Most applications will provide access to an Info window (displaying the version number and copyright information), online help
, and a quit option.
Drag and Drop, Filer Icons (File or Directory) can be dragged and dropped on top of an Icon bar Icon to initiate a process, if the object type is known to the application. For example:
Even if there are no running applications or active filing systems, the icon bar will contain a small number of system-managed icons:
In RISC OS 3 the AddTinyDir star command was introduced, which allows an icon for any file, folder or application to be added to the left-hand side of the icon bar. This provides functionality similar to that later embodied in the Mac OS X dock.
and icon grouping were also added, with the intention of simplifying the finding of desired icons.
The whole of RISC OS, including the icon bar, was given a facelift for the 1994 release of RISC OS 3.5 on the series, including replacement of the flat grey colour with a textured wallpaper
. This was referred to as the 3D "Look and Feel".
'blue jellybean' Task Manager icon, again designed by Richard Hallas.
Computing
Computing is usually defined as the activity of using and improving computer hardware and software. It is the computer-specific part of information technology...
, the icon bar is the name of the dock
Dock (computing)
The Dock is a prominent feature of the graphical user interface of the Mac OS X operating system. It is used to launch applications and switch between running applications...
in Acorn
Acorn Computers
Acorn Computers Ltd. was a British computer company established in Cambridge, England, in 1978. The company produced a number of computers which were especially popular in the UK. These included the Acorn Electron, the BBC Micro, and the Acorn Archimedes...
's RISC OS
RISC OS
RISC OS is a computer operating system originally developed by Acorn Computers Ltd in Cambridge, England for their range of desktop computers, based on their own ARM architecture. First released in 1987, under the name Arthur, the subsequent iteration was renamed as in 1988...
operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
, and is fundamental to the OS. Its introduction in 1987 (as part of Arthur, the predecessor to ) was a new concept in GUI
Gui
Gui or guee is a generic term to refer to grilled dishes in Korean cuisine. These most commonly have meat or fish as their primary ingredient, but may in some cases also comprise grilled vegetables or other vegetarian ingredients. The term derives from the verb, "gupda" in Korean, which literally...
s. It displays icons through which access is provided to all parts of the computer
Computer
A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...
that a typical user will require, from physical devices and system utilities to running applications, and will usually be their starting point for interacting with the system once it has finished booting
Booting
In computing, booting is a process that begins when a user turns on a computer system and prepares the computer to perform its normal operations. On modern computers, this typically involves loading and starting an operating system. The boot sequence is the initial set of operations that the...
.
Appearance and features
The bar is fixed in height and located at the bottom of the screen. It takes up the full width of the screen, and a single row of icons is displayed within. Icons are either justified to the left or the right edge of the screen, at the control of the owning program. According to Acorn's official RISC OS Style GuideStyle guide
A style guide or style manual is a set of standards for the writing and design of documents, either for general use or for a specific publication, organization or field...
, a program should place its icons to the left hand side of the icon bar if they relate to physical devices or resources such as filing systems
File system
A file system is a means to organize data expected to be retained after a program terminates by providing procedures to store, retrieve and update data, as well as manage the available space on the device which contain it. A file system organizes data in an efficient manner and is tuned to the...
. These will have an item of text underneath them identifying the device or resource. All other icons should be placed on the right of the bar. If too many icons are present to be displayed at once then the icon bar will extend horizontally and become wider than the screen; in order to access the non-visible icons the user must scroll the bar by hovering the mouse pointer at the appropriate edge of the screen.
The result of clicking the left mouse button (known as the Select button) on an icon will vary depending on what the icon represents. For filing systems, a filer window will open containing the contents of the root directory. For document-oriented applications supporting multiple open documents, clicking Select will open a window containing a new, empty document. This is different to the behaviour of the typical Taskbar
Taskbar
In computing, a taskbar is a bar displayed on a full edge of a GUI desktop that is used to launch and monitor running applications. Microsoft incorporated a taskbar in Windows 95 and it has been a defining aspect of Microsoft Windows's graphical user interface ever since. Some desktop environments,...
and Dock
Dock (computing)
The Dock is a prominent feature of the graphical user interface of the Mac OS X operating system. It is used to launch applications and switch between running applications...
, where clicking an icon will result in a task switch
Context switch
A context switch is the computing process of storing and restoring the state of a CPU so that execution can be resumed from the same point at a later time. This enables multiple processes to share a single CPU. The context switch is an essential feature of a multitasking operating system...
(All windows associated with the icon will be brought to the front of the window stack and will gain input focus
Focus (computing)
In computing, the focus indicates the component of the graphical user interface which is currently selected to receive input. Text entered at the keyboard or pasted from a clipboard is sent to the component which currently has the focus. Moving the focus away from a specific user interface element...
). For programs that do not support multiple open documents, clicking its icon will typically result in the task switch behaviour.
By pressing the middle (Menu) mouse button while the pointer is over an icon, a context-sensitive menu
Context sensitive user interface
A context sensitive user interface is one which can automatically choose from a multiplicity of options based on the current or previous state of the program operation.Context sensitivity is almost ubiquitous in current graphical user interfaces, and should, when operating correctly, be practically...
associated with that icon will open. Although the owner of the icon is responsible for the contents of the menu, the menus for icons with similar functions will typically contain the same subset of options. For example filing systems will allow the naming and formatting of disks, as well as an option to open a window displaying free space. Most applications will provide access to an Info window (displaying the version number and copyright information), online help
Online help
Online help is topic-oriented, procedural or reference information delivered through computer software. It is a form of user assistance. Most online help is designed to give assistance in the use of a software application or operating system, but can also be used to present information on a broad...
, and a quit option.
Drag and Drop, Filer Icons (File or Directory) can be dragged and dropped on top of an Icon bar Icon to initiate a process, if the object type is known to the application. For example:
- Copying a file or directory to the root of a Floppy or Network drive
- Adding a file or Directory to a Compressed Archive.
- Opening a text file in a Word-processor
- Playing a Music file or Video.
- Deleting a file by placing it in the Waste bin.
Even if there are no running applications or active filing systems, the icon bar will contain a small number of system-managed icons:
- The Apps icon, located within the left-hand group of icons. This was introduced in RISC OS 3 as a way to access the applications built into the computer's ROMRead-only memoryRead-only memory is a class of storage medium used in computers and other electronic devices. Data stored in ROM cannot be modified, or can be modified only slowly or with difficulty, so it is mainly used to distribute firmware .In its strictest sense, ROM refers only...
. It is actually just a frontend to the read-only ResourceFS filing system; when the icon is clicked it opens the Resources:$.Apps folder. Although ResourceFS is read-only via the usual filing system interface, system APIsApplication programming interfaceAn application programming interface is a source code based specification intended to be used as an interface by software components to communicate with each other...
can be used to add or replace files. In RISC OS 3.5 this functionality was leveraged to allow the user to easily add his own applications to the Apps folder, via the AddApp star command. The applications inserted using AddApp are simple shell applicationsComputer shortcutA file shortcut in Microsoft Windows is a small file containing a target URI or GUID to an object, or the name of a target program file that the shortcut represents. The shortcut might additionally specify parameters to be passed to the target program when it is run. Each shortcut can have its own...
that will just execute the real, original copy of the application when they are started. This allows the applications to be added without using significant amounts of RAM and restricting them to read-only access to their internal files.
- The Task Manager icon, located to the far right of the icon bar. When clicked with the left mouse button this opens a window similar to that of the Windows Task ManagerWindows Task ManagerWindows Task Manager is a task manager application included with the Microsoft Windows NT family of operating systems that provides detailed information about computer performance and running applications, processes and CPU usage, commit charge and memory information, network activity and...
, where the running programs and processes are listed, along with their memory usage. Basic control over the processes is also available (forced termination and in some cases manual control over how much memory is allocated). From the task manager's icon bar menu it is also possible to shutdown the computer, exit the window manager to the single-tasking CLI, or open a multi-tasking CLI window. A desktop boot file can also be saved, which contains the current state of the desktop and any loaded programs. In theory this provides full hibernationHibernate (OS feature)Hibernation in computing is powering down a computer while retaining its state.Upon hibernation, the computer saves the contents of its random access memory to a hard disk or other non-volatile storage...
support, although in reality because each program is responsible for saving and restoring its state within the file, the computer's state after executing the saved boot file will not be identical to its state before.
- The Display Manager icon is located just to the left of the task manager. This allows selection of which display mode is in use. In versions of RISC OS prior to 3.5, where memory restrictions forced most people to use modes with 16 or less colours, it was also possible to alter the current palettePalette (computing)In computer graphics, a palette is either a given, finite set of colors for the management of digital images , or a small on-screen graphical element for choosing from a limited set of choices, not necessarily colors .Depending on the context In computer graphics, a palette is either a given,...
from this icon.
In RISC OS 3 the AddTinyDir star command was introduced, which allows an icon for any file, folder or application to be added to the left-hand side of the icon bar. This provides functionality similar to that later embodied in the Mac OS X dock.
Arthur
The icon bar first appeared in the Arthur operating system, in 1987. To the right was an Exit icon, which provided an exit to the command line (later to be replaced by the Task Manager). In keeping with the operating system as a whole, the icon bar reflected the multicolour appearance, being orange in colourRISC OS 2
RISC OS 2 in 1988 introduced the Task Manager and Display icons, with the Task Manager adopting Acorn's Archimedes logo. The colour scheme was also revised and a suite of applications supplied on floppy disk. Amongst these was one called TinyDirs, which allowed users to dock applications and directories on the icon bar for convenient access.RISC OS 3
RISC OS 3 in 1991 introduced the Apps icon to the left and replaced the Task Managers Archimedes logo with the Acorn nut. Apps provided access to the ROM based applications and the functionality of TinyDirs was replaced by the OS command AddTinyDir. The Shift-F12 keyboard shortcutKeyboard shortcut
In computing, a keyboard shortcut is a finite set of one or more keys that invoke a software or operating system operation when triggered by the user. A meaning of term "keyboard shortcut" can vary depending on software manufacturer...
and icon grouping were also added, with the intention of simplifying the finding of desired icons.
The whole of RISC OS, including the icon bar, was given a facelift for the 1994 release of RISC OS 3.5 on the series, including replacement of the flat grey colour with a textured wallpaper
Computer wallpaper
Wallpaper is an image used as a background of a graphical user interface on a computer screen or mobile communications device. On a computer it is usually for the desktop, while for a mobile phone it is usually the background for the 'home' or 'idle' screen...
. This was referred to as the 3D "Look and Feel".
RISC OS 4
RISC OS 4 in 1999 introduced the facility for iconised windows to be sent to the icon bar rather than the Pinboard. The facelift introduced in RISC OS 3.5 was also incorporated directly into the OS. Additionally, temporarily bringing the icon bar to the front of the window stack was enhanced by invoking this feature through moving the pointer to the bottom of the screen (previously this required Shift-F12 on the keyboard). The Task Manager icon was again replaced, this time with the cube logo used by . Later versions of replaced the Task Managers cube with the cogwheel, designed by Richard Hallas.RISC OS 5
RISC OS 5 in 2002 introduced further changes in icon design, including the IyonixIyonix PC
The Iyonix PC was an Acorn-clone personal computer from Castle Technology. It was released in 2002 and runs .- History :The Iyonix originated as a secret project by Pace engineers in connection with development of set-top boxes . Pace had a licence to develop RISCOS Ltd's OS sources for use in the...
'blue jellybean' Task Manager icon, again designed by Richard Hallas.