GRASS Basics - Desktop GIS: Mapping the Planet with Open Source Tools - page 309

MDI or SDI?
As you may have guessed by now, GRASS lets you have multiple
windows, which essentially makes it a Multiple Document Inter-
face (MDI) application as opposed to a Single Document Inter-
face (SDI) application. Some folks prefer MDI, although mod-
ern user interface design thought seems to indicate that SDI is
preferable. Using an MDI application on a small display can be
quite painful—plan accordingly.
in Figure C.9 , on the preceding page and examine both the toolbar and
the other features.
To acquaint us with the tools available on the map interface, take a look
at the following list of each tool and a brief description of its function.
The name for each is the same tooltip text you see when you hover the
mouse over a tool.
Display active layers
This tool displays all the active layers using the current region
extents (that is, view extent) for the map interface.
Redraw all layers
Redraws the map, displaying all active layers in the current view
extent.
Start NVIZ using active layers in current region
This starts NVIZ, a tool for viewing data in three dimensions. NVIZ
supports vertical exaggeration, rotation, and fly-through effects.
Erase to white
Erases the map to a white background color.
Pointer
Switches to the pointer. When the pointer is active, its location is
displayed in the status bar at the bottom of the map.
Zoom In
This provides an interactive zoom-in tool. Dragging a box zooms
in to the outlined area. A single click of the tool zooms in a fixed
amount.
Zoom Out
This provides an interactive zoom-out tool that works like that