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An about box or about dialog is a dialog box that displays the credits and revision information of a computer software.
Generally, most programs' about boxes include information about product name and installed version, company name, and copyright information. However there are programs that include much more information in their about box, like system information, registration information (if the program is distributed as shareware), text of license agreement, and the names of contributors to the project.
The concept of the about box originated with the first Macintosh operating system, where About [program name] was typically the first item in the Apple menu. In most Microsoft Windows programs, about boxes can be accessed (opened) from the menu bar, under About... menu item, in the Help menu. For example, Microsoft Internet Explorer's about box could be opened by opening the Help menu, then selecting About Internet Explorer menu item.
About boxes are not standardized and are sometimes creative or entertaining in their design. They might contain some small animation or they may be a passage to an easter egg.
Many times the splash screen (if one exists) and about box are identical or very similar. In some occasions, mostly in web browsers, the splash screen can be shown as a document of it's own in the application.
See also
- about: URI scheme
- Easter egg (in computer programs)
- Credit, and opening and closing credits (in movies)
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