Toolbar

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Toolbar from Microsoft
OpenOffice.org allows its toolbars to be detached and moved between windows and other toolbars

The toolbar, also called a bar or standard toolbar (originally known as ribbon)[1][2] is a graphical control element on which on-screen icons can be used. A toolbar often allows for quick access to functions that are commonly in the program. For example, a formatting toolbar with Microsoft edge access to other icons that a user will find useful, open, save and changing the font are just some common functions that can be found. Toolbars are usually distinguished from palettes by their integration into the edges of the screen or larger windows, which results in wasted space if too many underpopulated bars are stacked atop each other (especially horizontal bars on a landscape oriented display) or interface inefficiency if overloaded bars are placed on small windows.[3]

Variants and Issues[]

There are several user interface elements derived from toolbars:

  • Address bar, location bar or URL bar is a toolbar that mainly consists of a text box. It accepts uniform resource locators (URLs) or file system addresses. They are found in web browsers and file managers.
  • Breadcrumb or breadcrumb trail allows users to keep track of their locations within programs or documents. They are toolbars whose contents dynamically change to indicate the navigation path.
  • Ribbon was the original name for the toolbar, but has been re-purposed to refer to a complex user interface which consists of toolbars on tabs.
  • Taskbar is a toolbar provided by an operating system to launch, monitor and manipulate software. A taskbar may hold other sub-toolbars.

A search box is not ipso facto a toolbar but may appear on a toolbar, as is the case with the address bar.

Toolbars may appear in different software; some internet browsers allow additional toolbars to be added through plug-ins. With Browsers toolbars will add functionality to your browsers that may not come per-installed with the programming. Many different Toolbars are extremely customizable to the user depending on the program being used, Word toolbars can be customized by adding or deleting options and can even be moved to different parts of the screen.[4]

Note that adding these programs, while being very helpful to the user, can cause problems by adding malware to your computer thus infecting your system with PUPS. Your operating system, browser hijacking, and just slowing down your system all together are all common problems with these types of viruses.[5]

References[]

  1. ^ The 1996 Oxford Dictionary of Computing describes the term "ribbon" in user interface design as "...a horizontal row of control icons that can often be redefined to suit the user's requirements."- what is currently more commonly referred to as "toolbar". Illingworth, V. (ed.) (1996). Oxford dictionary of computing. 4ed. {{cite book}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  2. ^ ESPRIT '88: putting the technology to use : proceedings of the 5th Annual ESPRIT Conference, Brussels, November 14-17, 1988, Part 2. North-Holland. 1988. ISBN 978-0-444-87145-9. Retrieved 28 May 2013. [...] a ribbon that contains labeled icons (64×64 bit maps) representing tasks and tools that has been instantiated by the user. Each tasktool is represented by a different icon.
  3. ^ "What is a Toolbar?". www.computerhope.com. Retrieved 2021-09-21.
  4. ^ "Toolbar Definition". techterms.com. Retrieved 2021-09-21.
  5. ^ "Toolbars". Malwarebytes Labs. Retrieved 2021-09-22.

External links[]

  • Media related to Toolbars at Wikimedia Commons


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