Chapter 3. Providing input
There are many ways to input data into and interact with a computer. The most common are to use a mouse and keyboard. Windows 8.1 is no different; all of the mouse and keyboard techniques you already know will work here too. So, there’s no reason to worry if your computer screen or device isn’t touch-compatible, and there’s nothing new to learn about input methods, except perhaps, a few keyboard combinations that you might not be familiar with. (One to commit to memory is pressing the Windows logo key + C to bring up the hidden charms that you can use to make changes to how your computer works.) As you read through this chapter, understand from the start that all of the ways you’ve interacted with a computer before are still available, and that touch is not a requirement for Windows 8.1.
If you do have a touch-capable device though, Windows 8.1 offers novel ways to interact with your computer. If you have compatible hardware, you can use touch techniques such as tapping, swiping, pinching, flicking, dragging, and tapping and holding to get things done and to move around in Windows 8.1. Each of these touch options has a mouse and/or keyboard counterpart, and you can mix and match techniques as desired.
Understanding input options
As noted in the Introduction, you can perform common computing tasks by using a keyboard and/or mouse, or by using a compatible touch technique. You don’t need a touch-compatible device, just as you don’t need a keyboard and mouse to use Windows 8.1. To understand how this works, here you’ll open the Search charm and resulting Search window by using three different methods.
Explore the three most common input methods
To use a mouse:
Position your cursor in the top or bottom right corner of the screen.
When the charms appear, move the cursor upward.
Click the Search charm.
To use a physical keyboard, press Windows logo key+Q.
To use touch:
Position your thumb or finger in the middle of the right side of the screen.
Touch the monitor and flick inward.
Tap the Search box.
Use the Search box to type what you’re looking for.
Overview of touchscreen gestures
With a touchscreen device, you use your finger to tap buttons, tiles, or other objects; to swipe to display toolbars or scroll through a document or a webpage (also called a flick); and to pinch to zoom in or out. Sometimes you can tap and hold, a technique that might produce what you’d get with a right-click of a mouse. You’ll learn more about these techniques in this chapter, but this overview will help you get started.
Use touch to get things done
With the Start screen displayed, tap a tile such as Maps.
Swipe from the right side of the screen inward to show the charms.
Tap the Start charm to return to the Start screen.
Swipe from the top of the screen downward to hide the app and go back to the Start screen.
From the Start screen, spread apart two fingers, place them on the screen, and pull them together to zoom out to see more tiles.
With the tiles minimized, put two fingers together, put them on the screen, and pull outward to return the tiles to their original size.
Swiping edges
In Windows 8.1, you can swipe from the edges of the screen to cause certain things to happen. You can swipe in from the right edge to display charms, which give you access to various settings and access to the Start screen; you can swipe in from the left to switch to a previously used app; you can swipe down from the top of the screen to close an app. Often you can swipe up from the bottom to show an app’s toolbar(s).
Swipe the screen
Tap the Travel app tile on the Start screen.
Swipe up from the bottom to display the Travel toolbars.
Tap the Windows key to return to the Start screen. A touch-only device will have a physical Windows button on it.
Tap the Maps app tile on the Start screen.
Swipe in from the left to access the previously used app.
Swipe down from the top to hide the app.
Zooming in and out of the display
You can use your fingers to zoom in and out while using certain apps, such as data displayed on a webpage in Internet Explorer, or a location you’ve found in Maps. You can even zoom out on the tiles on the Start screen. To zoom, you use a pinching motion with at least two fingers.
Zooming in or out
Open the Maps app.
With the Maps app displayed, position your thumb and forefinger apart, place them on the screen, and pinch them toward each other to zoom out.
Put your thumb and forefinger together, place them both on the screen, and pinch them away from each other to zoom back in.
Snapping apps
Snapping apps helps you to organize more than one app on your screen to view their contents side by side. Depending on your hardware, you can snap up to four apps at once.
Snap an app
From the Start screen, tap the Weather tile.
Tap the Windows key to return to the Start screen.
From the Start screen, tap the Sports tile.
Position your mouse in the top-left corner of the screen, move the cursor downward, and click and drag the desired app into place.
When the app is in position to take up half of the screen, let go.
To snap apps with your finger, flick in from the left side, somewhat slowly, and let go when the app is close to halfway on the screen.
Using a touchscreen keyboard
If you have a touch-only device, you’ll have to get comfortable with the touch keyboard quickly. A touch keyboard will appear when you tap inside a box, window, or other item that allows text to be input. For the most part, the touch keyboard works like a regular keyboard, complete with a Shift key, Ctrl key, and an Enter key. While this keyboard opens by default on touch-only devices when needed, there is a keyboard available from the desktop as well. If you need to enter text by using touch and no touch keyboard appears, you can access one here.
Use the touch keyboard
From the Start screen, begin typing WordPad.
Tap the WordPad app in the search results.
Tap the keyboard button on the taskbar.
Tap keys to enter a word.
Tap the Symbol/Number key.
Tap keys to enter punctuation or numbers.
Tap the Symbol/Number key again to display the letter keyboard.
Tap the Expand/Shrink button to expand the keyboard.
Tap the Close key to hide the keyboard.
Displaying charms
Charms are buttons for accessing common device settings. For example, there is a charm (named Start) that displays the Start screen, as well as one (named Search) that displays the Search feature. You can use the Settings charm to change system volume, put your device to sleep or turn it off, and connect to a network, among other things. You can display the charms by using your mouse, keyboard, or touchscreen.
Display charms
You can display the charms by using any of the following three techniques:
Swipe your finger inward from the right edge of the screen.
Press Windows logo key+C on your keyboard.
Move your mouse to the upper-right or lower-right corner of the screen.
Using keystroke shortcuts
If you don’t have a touch-capable computer or device, there’s no reason to worry. Your physical keyboard also provides a great way to get things done with keystroke shortcuts. This involves pressing one key and then, while holding down that key, pressing another key. By using these special keystroke combinations, you can access the Search feature, move from one open app to another, display the charms, and much more.
Examples of keystroke shortcuts
Press the Windows logo key to display the Start screen.
Press Windows logo key+C to display the charms.
Press Windows logo key+Q to display the Search feature for apps.
Press Windows logo key+R to go to the desktop, and enter a program or file name to run.
Press the Windows logo key to return to the Start screen.
Press Windows logo key+Tab to display recently used apps.
Right-clicking and the long tap
Right-clicking has traditionally been a way to display command menus that are contextually relevant to where you click. For example, if you right-click selected text in a Word document, you can see commands such as Cut and Copy. If you right-click an empty area of the desktop, you’ll see options, including one to change the screen resolution. You can perform a long tap (tap and hold) to get the same results. In Windows 8.1, there are new right-click and long tap features. For example, you can use a similar technique on a tile on the Start screen to access options to resize an app tile, change how the tile looks, or to add or remove it from the Start screen.
Use right-click
On the Start screen, right-click or tap, hold, and release (this may take some practice) the Weather tile to display the related options.
Right-click or tap the tile again to deselect it.
Click or tap outside the app to return to the Start screen.
Click or tap the Desktop tile.
Right-click or tap, hold, and release an empty area of the desktop.
Click or tap outside of the resulting menu to return to the desktop.
Finding recently viewed apps
In Windows 8.1, you might not close apps that often. You will likely open apps and then return to the Start screen or search for another app or file to open, leaving multiple apps open at one time. When you do this, you can display all open apps in a list and jump back to one easily. By moving your mouse to the upper-left edge of the screen, you can go to the most recently opened app quickly. You can also right-click any thumbnail to close the app, or to snap it right or left.
View, open, and manage recent apps
From the Start screen, open multiple apps.
Move your mouse to the upper-left corner of the screen.
Slide your mouse down the left edge of the screen.
Click a thumbnail to go to a recently viewed app.
Repeat steps 1–3.
Right-click any thumbnail to close an app or to insert it (snap it) when you have another app already snapped.
