The Macintosh Desktop Metaphor

The Macintosh screen you see is best thought of as an imaginary "desktop" on which you keep different kinds of items. It has tools (application programs) and documents that contain information important to you. It also contains items used to organize applications and documents--such as folders and disks.

The Macintosh screen is split into two parts:

• The Menu Bar: the bar at the top of the screen--used to get the Mac to do something.
• The Desktop itself: the place where you keep things.