AutoCAD 2007
nize from other Windows applications much of the appearance and workings
of the program, such as its toolbars and pull-down menus, which you use for
entering commands or changing system settings. But other aspects of the
program's appearance -- and some of the ways in which you work with it --
are quite different from other Windows programs. You can, in many cases, tell
the program what to do in at least four ways -- pick a toolbar icon, pick from
a pull-down menu, type at the keyboard, or pick from a right-click menu --
none of which is necessarily the best method to use for every task.
ter and throughout the book show the
screen looks if you use the standard version of
AutoCAD (not a flavored version such as
Architectural Desktop) and haven't messed with
the display settings. You can change the
appearance of the screen with settings on the
Display tab of the Options dialog box (choose
ToolsOptionsDisplay) and by dragging tool-
bars and other screen components.
drawing area background to be white instead of
black, because the figures in the book show up
better that way. You may want to set a white
background on your own system or stay with the
default black background -- it's your choice, and
there's no right or wrong. Some of AutoCAD's
colors show up better on a white background,
and some are better on a black one.
if someone has already changed your configu-
ration or added a third-party program to your
setup, your screen may look different from the
figures in this book. You can restore the default
configuration -- including display settings --
with the Reset button on the Options dialog
box's Profiles tab. (AutoCAD LT doesn't include
the Profiles feature, so LT users are out of luck
here.) But before you click the Reset button,
consider whether the modified configuration
may be useful to someone in the future -- like
you! If so, first click the Add To List button to
create a new profile. Enter a name for the new
profile, such as AutoCAD default. Then select
the new profile that you created, click the Set
Current button to make it the current profile, and
finally click the Reset button. In the future, you
can switch between your modified and default
configurations with the Set Current button.