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toolbar

 
Dictionary: tool·bar   (tūl'bär') pronunciation
 
n.

A row of icons on a computer screen that activate commands or functions when clicked.


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A row or column of on-screen buttons used to activate functions in the application. Many toolbars are customizable, letting you add and delete buttons as required. Toolbars may be fixed in position or may float, which means they can be dragged to a more convenient location in the application window by the user. For example, floating toolbars are common in graphics applications so that they can be moved into the canvas area closer to the objects being drawn. See tool palette, tool and toolkit.

A Toolbar with Tools!
Most toolbar buttons show only pictures, while some have a text explanation too. This toolbar from VTEL's videoconferencing software has real tools on it!

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Business Dictionary: Toolbar
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Area of a computer screen, often across the top, containing Buttons and Menus. In some applications a toolbar can be docked at any edge of the screen or torn off to become a floating palette. Toolbars can also be turned off (caused not to appear). Also called a button bar.

 
Wikipedia: Toolbar
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In a graphical user interface on a computer monitor a toolbar is a panel on which onscreen buttons, icons, menus or other input or output elements are placed.

Toolbar from gedit on Ubuntu.

Earlier forms of toolbars were defined by the programmer and had set functions, and thus there was no difference between a toolbar with buttons or just a row of buttons. Most modern programs and operating systems however, allow the end user to modify and customize toolbars to fit their personal needs. Some prominent examples of customizable toolbars are panels of the GNOME and KDE desktop environments, functions of which range from expandable menus and buttons for applications, window lists, notification areas, clocks and resource monitors to volume controls and weather report widgets.

Detachable toolbars of Inkscape. Shown inside is Inkscape with undetached toolbars.

Some applications, e.g. graphics editors, allow their toolbars to be detached and moved between windows and other toolbars.

The first toolbar appeared on the Xerox Alto computer in 1973[citation needed].

Toolbars are seen in office suites such as OpenOffice.org, graphics editors such as Inkscape and web browsers such as Mozilla Firefox.

Web browser toolbar add-ons

Third-party toolbars for browsers are best known for adding functionality and ease-of-use options to the end user. While the browser itself handles basic browsing navigation (Back, Stop, Reload, etc) using its own toolbars, external toolbars often add additional functionality to browsers (additional search fields, form-fill, links back to popular sites, etc)

An example of a web browser toolbar, the Google toolbar, in Firefox

Some third party web browser toolbars include:

See also


 
Translations: Toolbar
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Dansk (Danish)
n. - værktøjsbjælke (på computerskærm)

Français (French)
n. - (Comput) barre d'outils

Deutsch (German)
n. - (Comp.) Tool-Leiste

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - γραμμή εργαλείων

Español (Spanish)
n. - barra de símbolos gráficos que pueden ser utilizados como botones para activar funciones, etc.

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - verktygslist

中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
工具栏

中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 工具欄

한국어 (Korean)
n. - (컴퓨터) 도구 막대

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) قائمه في أعلى الشاشه تبين العمليات المتاحه (كومبيوتر)‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮רצועה בראש המרקע המכילה כפתורים להפעלת תוכניות-שירות שונות (מחשב)‬


 
 

 

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Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Computer Desktop Encyclopedia. THIS COPYRIGHTED DEFINITION IS FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY.
All other reproduction is strictly prohibited without permission from the publisher.
© 1981-2009 Computer Language Company Inc.  All rights reserved.  Read more
Business Dictionary. Dictionary of Business Terms. Copyright © 2000 by Barron's Educational Series, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Toolbar" Read more
Translations. Copyright © 2007, WizCom Technologies Ltd. All rights reserved.  Read more

 

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