frontmost (active) application.

Control Strip, to open a door, having set that door to switch back to the

Fifth, you can click on a door icon window, or use the Door menu or



it has scrolled the desktop.

application, Virtual Desktop will return you to that application as soon as

application is active.  If you operate a scroll bar while using another

Fourth, you can tell it to show the scroll bars at all times, whatever



The virtual desktop will scroll away in the opposite direction.

edge of the screen, while pressing any combination of the modifier keys.

Third, you can tell it to react when you shove the mouse pointer into any



when you release the keys.

the modifier keys, the virtual desktop will “shift” along with the pointer

option is on, and you move the mouse while pressing any combination of

Second, you can tell Virtual Desktop to watch the mouse pointer.  If this



directions.

(Command, Shift, Option, Control), plus any four keys for the four

up, down, left, or right.  You choose any combination of the modifier keys

First, you can choose a key combination which scrolls the virtual desktop





scrolling without leaving the active application.

This version of Virtual Desktop offers five ways to do virtual desktop




xUsage Options







Virtual Desktop an effective application/document launcher.

combined with its ability to tie any item to the opening of a door, makes

does the same thing without clogging your menu bar.  This feature,

System 7.5.2 or later, the “Virtual Desktop Doors” Control Strip module

Desktop and open any door.  For PowerBook users and those running

placed on the right side of the menu bar, to instantaneously launch Virtual

Even when Virtual Desktop isn’t running, you can use the Door menu,



the door.

& White”), you can tell Virtual Desktop to change the depth when you open

prefers a specific color depth (“Thousands” of colors, or plain old “Black

document, folder, or other) when you open the door.  If that application

you can have it tell Finder to open any item of your choice (application,

application active as you jump to where its windows are.  Better still,

an application with the door, so that Virtual Desktop will make that

useful preference options you can apply to each door.  You can associate

That describes the simplest use of doors.  Beyond that, there are some



your job.

have a trash can alias in the lower right corner, of course, but that’s

door.  The door icon “opens,” and you’re there.  Every “room” should

grid).  To move from one preset location to another, you just click on a

one of the predefined multiple-door arrangements (row, column, cross, or

on it.  You could build a whole corridor of doors to different places, or use

on the desktop where it can drop the little door icon window with the name

Virtual Desktop to create a new door.  It asks you for a name, and a place

To make a door, you scroll to the location you want to work in, and tell





doors.

Full View mode, so Virtual Desktop gives you a better tool for the job:

from location to location using scroll bars, and not very efficient using

corner, in case you forget what they look like.  It would be hard to move

processor there, and a picture of your spouse and children in the top

desktop layout for your applications — mail windows here, word

At some point, you will begin to imagine a virtually boundless virtual




xDoors







what group it belongs to.

Conversely, you can click on an item in the picture to see its name and

the list, you can see where that item is on the virtual desktop.

names of all the items belonging to that group.  By selecting an item from

When you click on a radio button, Virtual Desktop fills the list box with the

window open, plus one at the bottom of the heap for all desktop icons.

and a list box.  There is one radio button for every application which has a

On one side of the picture, Virtual Desktop shows a set of radio buttons



desktop view relative to all windows and icons.

that you can see them.  You can also drag the white area to move the

rearrange them, and double-click to scroll and bring them to the front so

balloons to tell you what the windows and icons are, click and drag to

currently visible through a monitor.  In this picture, you can get help

A white area in the background shows what part of the virtual desktop is

outline of every application’s windows, including the ones that are hidden.

desktop, scaled down to fit, with color-keyed rectangles showing the

menu bar and the scroll bars.  It shows a picture of the whole virtual

Full View mode takes over the main monitor, covering everything but the





command, by keystroke, and by double-clicking on the anchor window.

go into Full View mode.  There are three ways to do it — by menu

one time, to get the big picture of all items on the virtual desktop, you can

If you need to see beyond what your monitor or monitors can display at




xFull View Mode







positioning the sliders to reflect the new state of your virtual desktop.

automatically, moving the scroll bars to the correct position and

monitor, or turn video mirroring on or off, Virtual Desktop adjusts

If you change the monitor resolution, move the menu bar to another

The scroll bars appear on the main monitor (the one with the menu bar).



automatically.

move items farther outward into the pad area, the virtual desktop grows

you can increase that pad factor in increments of half a screenful.  As you

beyond the most extreme item in each direction.  To grow the desktop,

Ordinarily, the extent of the virtual desktop is padded by half a screenful

desktop in relation to all the other items (windows and desktop icons).

Reading the scroll bars’ “sliders” tells you where you are on the virtual



See the section entitled “Usage Options” below.

you prefer.

exchange for easier scrolling.  You can also suppress them altogether, if

but you can have them up all the time, losing a bit of the screen area in

By default, the scroll bars only appear while Virtual Desktop is active,



you were when you last pressed Home.

to the “home” or startup location.  Press the End key to go back to where

horizontally, with the Option key pressed).  Press the Home key to return

keyboard.  Press the Page Up or Page Down key to scroll vertically (or

While Virtual Desktop is active, you can scroll using either scroll bars or





Virtual Desktop active.

window with the Virtual Desktop icon on it, where you can click to make

choice).  In the corner between the scroll bars is a little square anchor

main monitor, and a vertical scroll bar along the right or left edge (your

Virtual Desktop puts a horizontal scroll bar along the bottom edge of your




xScroll Bars







you’re using.

enabled, let you do quick scrolling actions without leaving the application

Virtual Desktop also has a number of “usage options” which, when



later) by using the Control Strip.

menu, or (if you have a recent PowerBook or are running System 7.5.2 or

Command-digit combination or F-key, by selection from an optional Door

more ergonomic.  You can open a door by clicking, by pressing a

location when clicked, in the manner of an old push-button car radio, but

them build “doors,” which make the virtual desktop scroll to a preset

For people who use the same applications every day, Virtual Desktop lets



windows and icons on the entire virtual desktop.

It also has a mode where the user can inspect and rearrange the layout of





wants it to be, with no additional expense of memory.

than their screen.  This “virtual desktop” can be as large as the user

most intuitive way for most people to operate a desktop which is larger

Virtual Desktop, simply put, puts scroll bars on your screen.  This is the








åWhat Does Virtual Desktop Do?


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