• The background area that fills the screen between the application windows is called the root window.
  
  
• Moving the mouse pointer around the screen changes the shape of the mouse pointer. These changes serve as cues to what operations you can perform with the mouse.
  
  
• Over the root window, the mouse pointer is shaped like an 'x'.
  
  
• Over a terminal window, the mouse pointer is shaped like an I-beam, which is easy to position between characters on the screen.
  
  
• Over the title bar, the mouse pointer often changes shape to an arrow, pointing to that object.