Technical data

Getting Started 15
Getting your bearings
Now that you’ve got an image open, and the PhotoPlus menus and tools
are available, let’s take a quick look around the PhotoPlus environment.
Even if you’re in a rush to start working, don’t skip the rest of the
chapter! At the very least, take note of what’s here so you’ll know where
to find the information when you need it later.
Introducing the interface
PhotoPlus is an MDI application. MDI stands for Multiple Document
Interface and it means that you can have multiple documentsimages, in
PhotoPlus termsopen at the same time. Each image window contains
one image, with the image’s name shown in the window’s titlebar. At any
given time, one image window will be active in front of any others, with
its name shown in the main PhotoPlus titlebar.
You can use commands from the Window menu to arrange the image
windows. If you have more than one image open, then you can switch to
another window using the Window menu or the keyboard shortcut
Ctrl+Tab. Double-click on an image window’s titlebar to maximize it.
The PhotoPlus toolbars and tab windows (tabs for short) are essential
features of the PhotoPlus environment. The PhotoPlus Toolbars and
Tabs diagram identifies each tab and provides an overview of what it
does.
To display the related online help topic for any tab, first click the
Help button on the top toolbar, then click the tab.
When you first launch PhotoPlus, it opens with the PhotoPlus toolbars
and tabs all visible in default positions, with
certain tabs “docked” or joined together. You
can hide, show, or move them individually as
needed, and dock or undock the tabs. Chances
are you’ll want to keep the Tools toolbar
visible, but if your display area is large enough
you might consider moving it to a horizontal position alongside the top
(Standard) toolbaror “floating” it as a separate palette. Remember,
there’s nothing fixed about the PhotoPlus interface, so feel free to try
different arrangements until you’re satisfied.