<para>An applet is a small, interactive application that resides
within a panel, for example the <application>Volume Control</application>. Each
applet has a simple user interface that you can operate with the mouse or
keyboard. </para>
</glossdef>
</glossentry>
<glossentry id="glossary-40">
<glossterm>desktop</glossterm>
<glossdef>
<para>The part of the GNOME Desktop where there are no graphical interface items, such as panels and windows.</para>
</glossdef>
</glossentry>
<glossentry id="glossary-31">
<glossterm>desktop background</glossterm>
<glossdef>
<para>The image or colour that is applied to your desktop.</para>
</glossdef>
</glossentry>
<glossentry id="glossary-9">
<glossterm>desktop object</glossterm>
<glossdef>
<para>An icon on your desktop that you can use to open your files, folders and applications. You can use desktop objects to provide convenient access to files, folders and applications that you use frequently.</para>
</glossdef>
</glossentry>
<glossentry id="glossary-20">
<glossterm>DNS name</glossterm>
<glossdef>
<para>A unique alphabetic identifier for a computer on a network.</para>
</glossdef>
</glossentry>
<glossentry id="glossary-8">
<glossterm>drawer</glossterm>
<glossdef>
<para>A drawer is a sliding extension to a panel that you can open or close from a drawer icon.</para>
</glossdef>
</glossentry>
<glossentry id="glossary-fileextension">
<glossterm>file extension</glossterm>
<glossdef>
<para>The final portion of a file's name, after the last dot (.) in the name. For example, the file extension of the file <filename>picture.jpeg</filename> is <filename>jpeg</filename>.</para>
<para>The file extension can identify the type of a file. <application>Nautilus</application> file manager uses this information when to determine what to do when you open a file. For more on this, see <xref linkend="nautilus-open-file"/>.</para>
</glossdef>
</glossentry>
<glossentry id="glossary-23">
<glossterm>format</glossterm>
<glossdef>
<para>To format media is to prepare the media for use with a particular file system. When you format media, you overwrite any existing information on the media.</para>
<para>An application that uses the standard GNOME programming libraries is called a GNOME-compliant application. For example, <application>Nautilus</application> file manager and <application>gedit</application> text editor are GNOME-compliant applications.</para>
</glossdef>
</glossentry>
<glossentry id="glossary-21">
<glossterm>IP address</glossterm>
<glossdef>
<para>A unique numeric identifier for a computer on a network.</para>
</glossdef>
</glossentry>
<glossentry id="glossary-25">
<glossterm>keyboard shortcut</glossterm>
<glossdef>
<para>A <firstterm>keyboard shortcut</firstterm> is a key or combination of keys that provides an alternative to standard ways of performing an action.</para>
</glossdef>
</glossentry>
<glossentry id="glossary-3">
<glossterm>launcher</glossterm>
<glossdef>
<para>A launcher starts a particular application, executes a command or opens a file. A launcher can reside in a panel or in a menu.</para>
</glossdef>
</glossentry>
<glossentry id="glossary-11">
<glossterm>menubar</glossterm>
<glossdef>
<para>A menubar is a bar at the top of an application window that contains the menus for the application.</para>
</glossdef>
</glossentry>
<glossentry id="glossary-27">
<glossterm>MIME type</glossterm>
<glossdef>
<para>A Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension (MIME) type identifies the format of a file. The MIME type enables applications to read the file. For example, an email application can use the <literal>image/png</literal> MIME type to detect that a Portable Networks Graphic (PNG) file is attached to an email.</para>
</glossdef>
</glossentry>
<glossentry id="glossary-24">
<glossterm>mount</glossterm>
<glossdef>
<para>To mount is to make a file system available for access. When you mount a file system, the file system is attached as a subdirectory to your file system.</para>
</glossdef>
</glossentry>
<glossentry id="glossary-4">
<glossterm>pane</glossterm>
<glossdef>
<para>A pane is a subdivision of a window. For example, the <application>Nautilus</application> window contains a side pane and a view pane.</para>
</glossdef>
</glossentry>
<glossentry id="glossary-2">
<glossterm>preference tool</glossterm>
<glossdef>
<para>A dedicated software tool that controls a particular part of the behaviour of the GNOME Desktop.</para>
</glossdef>
</glossentry>
<glossentry id="glossary-5">
<glossterm>shortcut keys</glossterm>
<glossdef>
<para>Shortcut keys are keystrokes that provide a quick way to perform an action.</para>
</glossdef>
</glossentry>
<glossentry id="glossary-15">
<glossterm>stacking order</glossterm>
<glossdef>
<para>The stacking order is the order in which windows are stacked on top of each other on your screen.</para>
</glossdef>
</glossentry>
<glossentry id="glossary-13">
<glossterm>statusbar</glossterm>
<glossdef>
<para>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.</para>
</glossdef>
</glossentry>
<glossentry id="glossary-28">
<glossterm>symbolic link</glossterm>
<glossdef>
<para>A special type of file that points to another file or folder. When you perform an action on a symbolic link, the action is performed on the file or folder to which the symbolic link points.</para>
</glossdef>
</glossentry>
<glossentry id="glossary-12">
<glossterm>toolbar</glossterm>
<glossdef>
<para>A toolbar is a bar that contains buttons for the most commonly-used commands in an application. Typically, a toolbar appears under a menubar.</para>
<para>A Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) is a string that identifies a particular location in a file system or on the Web. For example, the address of a web page is a URI.</para>
</glossdef>
</glossentry>
<glossentry id="glossary-19">
<glossterm>Uniform Resource Locator</glossterm>
<glossdef>
<para>A Uniform Resource Locator (URL) is the address of a particular location on the Web.</para>
</glossdef>
</glossentry>
<glossentry id="glossary-16">
<glossterm>view</glossterm>
<glossdef>
<para>A <application>Nautilus</application> component that enables you to display a folder in a particular way. For example, <application>Nautilus</application> contains an icon view which enables you to display the contents of a folder as icons. <application>Nautilus</application> also contains a list view which enables you to display the contents of a folder as a list.</para>
</glossdef>
</glossentry>
<glossentry id="glossary-7">
<glossterm>workspace</glossterm>
<glossdef>
<para>A workspace is a discrete area in the GNOME Desktop in which you can work.</para>
