To discuss how to use the Habi Makeover app , it's useful to know what all the parts of the window are.
Major sections of the Habi Makeover window
The title bar is the part you need to grab with the mouse to move the window around. It also contains several useful functions which deal with the window itself and some information about the app and the file you are currently working on.
The menu bar contains menus with various program functions. In Windows, this is called a window menu and is attached to the app window. On a Mac, it is called an application menu. You will find it at the top of the screen when the application is the currently active window.
The toolbar has some of the most commonly-accessed functions in the menu bar and allows one-click access to those functions.
The work area contains messages about the function currently being performed and will contain aids to laying out your habitats.
The donation bar appears at the bottom of the window to make donating money for the app very easy to access.
Title bar[]
The title bar area has several parts. On the far left is the control box, which appears as a small version of the icon for the app. A single click on the control box will bring up a menu to move, size, minimize, maximize and close the app. A double click on the control box will close (quit) the app. If you look beside the word Close, you will see that Alt+F4 will also close the app. This is the normal program-closing keyboard shortcut for Windows. While holding the Alt key, you press the F4 key in the top row of the keyboard.
On the right-hand end of the menu bar, there are 3 buttons that are shortcuts to three of the control box functions. From left to right, they are minimize, maximize, and close. Minimize puts the window down onto the Windows task bar. Maximize increases the size of the window so it takes up the whole screen. When the menu is maximized, the maximize button changes to a restore button, which reduces the window to its original size.
Between the two control box areas is the title bar itself. If there is a file open, this area starts with the name of the file. If the file has been changed since the last time it was saved, there will be an asterisk (*) after the file name. Following the file name is the name of the application, "Habi Makeover Basic." Grabbing the menu bar in this middle area and dragging with the mouse will move the window.
Menu bar[]
The menu bar contains a way to do all the functions of the application.
There are four menus, File, Edit, View, and Help. On Windows and Linux computers, these appear just below the title bar. On Mac computers, they appear in the application menu area at the top of the screen, whenever the app is selected.
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The File menu contains functions pertaining to files; Open to load a file into the program, Save to save the currently open habitat into a new file, and Extract habi items to inventory to scan through one or more files looking for items to copy to the inventory. Appearing last in this menu is the Exit or Quit function, which closes the program. These menu items also have keyboard shortcuts using the control key for Windows and the command key on a Mac.
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The Edit menu is divided into two sections.The first section is for adding or changing items in the currently loaded habitat. The second section is for deleting items from the current habitat.
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The View menu contains functions for viewing items. There are no functions in this menu for changing anything.
List items prints an alphabetical list in the window showing the names of the items in the currently opened habitat.
The Reload SPP Lite function is useful for times when something goes wrong with SPP Lite. After the SPP Lite window is closed, it can be opened again with the currently loaded habitat using this menu function.
Explore inventory folder opens the inventory folder in Windows Explorer (for Windows) or the Finder (for Mac). Looking in the folder is an easy way to see how many items are currently in the inventory and what they are.
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The last menu is the Help menu. The first few items here open web pages with information about Habi Makeover.
The last item, About Habi Makeover, tells you which version of Habi Makeover you are running and some other information about copyrights and support.
Toolbar[]
The toolbar is a way of getting to some of the most often used tools in the menus with only one click. The toolbar in Habi Makeover is a light blue strip with a number of icons that serve as buttons.
The toolbar buttons are divided into four groups which correspond with the four menus above them. Not every menu item has a button in the toolbar, but the most frequently used functions can be found here.
The illustration shows how the toolbar looks before a habitat is opened and after one is opened. Some functions, such as saving the habitat and making changes to it are not active until a habitat has been opened. The inactive functions are indicated by ghosting; they are shown in transparent colours so that they are barely visible.
The most important functions are the ones for decorating your habitat. The ones with the blue arrows are for changing or adding items. The one with the red circles are for removing items. The types of items are indicated by the letters in the little black square at the bottom right of each button:
P = Pet; H = Habitat; FX = Effects; CL = Clothing; AC = Old Accessories.
A description of what each button does pops up in tooltips when you hover your mouse pointer over the button, as shown in the illustration above.
Work area[]
In the work area, messages are shown pertaining to the functions of the application. This is also the area where you can change certain things like the look and style of your pet. The contents of the work area change for each function of the app. This is how it looks for the pet changing functions:
The pet name is a field where you can type a new name for your pet. If you want to delete the name that is already there, simply click at one end of the word(s) and drag your mouse across to highlight it or try double-clicking or triple-clicking to see if that highlights it. Once it is highlighted you can simply type new text and the old text will go away.
The other controls shown above are drop-down menus. Just click on the one you want to change, move the mouse to the new word or phrase and click. You should see the habitat change immediately in the SPP Lite window.
Donation bar[]
The donation bar can be clicked to open the donation page. You can hide and show the donation bar using an item in the Help menu. You can also hide it using the close button near the top right corner of the donation bar itself. In the illustration below, the mouse cursor arrow is pointing to the close button for the donation bar. If you want the donation bar back after closing it, you need to use the function in the Help menu.
Clicking on the words or pictures in the donation bar will open the donation page in your preferred web browser. There, you can learn about making a donation to support the development of Habi Makeover.
External links[]
- Working with windows (at Microsoft; contains Parts of a window and other useful tips)
- Using menus, buttons, bars, and boxes (at Microsoft)