AutoCAD® 2009 & AutoCAD LT® 2009 All-in-One Desk Reference for Dummies®

Chapter 2. Customizing the Interface

AutoCAD allows you to personalize the overall appearance of the application window and display settings that can affect performance. Many users personalize their AutoCAD session to reflect the way they like to work or the way they want things displayed on-screen. AutoCAD provides you with a lot of control over the appearance of colors and font sizes throughout the application window. The appearance settings include changing the background color of the drawing window and the color of the crosshairs, and controlling the font style and size of text in the command line window.

Not only does AutoCAD offer a variety of options to control the appearance of specific elements found in the application, but it also provides options to control where and if certain user interface elements are displayed. Some of the features that you can control are the buttons on the status bar and the icons in the AutoCAD tray. This chapter explains how to control the appearance of AutoCAD and how to control the display and placement of user interface items such as toolbars and pull-down menus.

Influencing Your Status (Bar)

AutoCAD takes full advantage of every space on its application window. AutoCAD has two status bars, one located at the bottom of the application window and another at the bottom of the drawing window. Both status bars offer a variety of tools that allow for quick access to drafting settings and even notifications about changes taking place in the software ...