If you right-click on certain parts of the
GIMP interface, a
“context menu” opens, which leads to a variety of
functions. Some places where you can access context menus are:
-
Clicking on an image window displays the Image menu. This is useful
when you are working in full-screen mode, without a menubar.
-
Clicking on a layer in the Layers Dialog or on a channel in the
Channels Dialog displays functions for the selected layer or
channel.
-
Right-clicking on the image menubar has the same effect as
left-clicking.
-
Right-clicking on the title bar displays functions which do not
belong to GIMP,
but to the window manager program on your computer.
There is an interesting property associated with some of the menus in
GIMP.
These are any of the menus from the Image context menu you get by
right-clicking on the canvas and any of its submenus. (You can tell
that a menu item leads to a submenu because there is an
icon next to it.) When you bring up any of these menus, there is a
dotted line at the top of it (tear-off line). By clicking on this
dotted line, you detach the menu under it and it becomes a separate
window.
Tear-off menus are actually independent. They are always visible, their
functions always apply to the current image, and they persist when all
of the images are closed. You can close a tear-off submenu by clicking
on the dotted line again or closing the window from the window manager
on your computer (often by clicking on an X icon in the upper right
corner of the window).
