AutoCADderMonday, January 22, 2007
AutoCAD is different ...
"AutoCAD ist anders..."
Unlike almost all other Windows applications the primary user interaction in AutoCAD takes place via commands (command names) and AutoCAD commandline. This is where you enter your directives (commands) to draw, modify and setup your drawing database.
While some AutoCAD power users still use the commandline (command window) as their main user interface to AutoCAD, most of the users depend on standard Windows UI components like pulldown menus, toolbars, or AutoCAD palletes.
But most users do not distinguish between individual commands (commandline) and their menu counterparts. I often hear complaints that this and this command should be placed differently in the menu structure, that this and this command is hard to find in menu, this and this command is missing in toolbars, etc. They simply do not realize that the whole menu+toolbars is just a sample UI offering the most frequent command set. All the menu items do nothing more than running the individual command names, "typing the commands" more conveniently for you and presenting a standard UI to learn and share.
As the whole menu structure in AutoCAD is fully customizable (via CUI), it is completely up to you how your AutoCAD menu looks like and what commands are included in it. So feel free to play around. You can also switch off the menu altogether and use just the commandline - the full AutoCAD command set will be still available for you.
Unlike almost all other Windows applications the primary user interaction in AutoCAD takes place via commands (command names) and AutoCAD commandline. This is where you enter your directives (commands) to draw, modify and setup your drawing database.
While some AutoCAD power users still use the commandline (command window) as their main user interface to AutoCAD, most of the users depend on standard Windows UI components like pulldown menus, toolbars, or AutoCAD palletes.
But most users do not distinguish between individual commands (commandline) and their menu counterparts. I often hear complaints that this and this command should be placed differently in the menu structure, that this and this command is hard to find in menu, this and this command is missing in toolbars, etc. They simply do not realize that the whole menu+toolbars is just a sample UI offering the most frequent command set. All the menu items do nothing more than running the individual command names, "typing the commands" more conveniently for you and presenting a standard UI to learn and share.
As the whole menu structure in AutoCAD is fully customizable (via CUI), it is completely up to you how your AutoCAD menu looks like and what commands are included in it. So feel free to play around. You can also switch off the menu altogether and use just the commandline - the full AutoCAD command set will be still available for you.
