Scrollbar
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Vertical_scrollbar.png
A scrollbar, or slider, is a graphical widget in a GUI with which continuous text, pictures or anything else can be scrolled, i.e., viewed even if it does not fit into the space in a computer display, window, or viewport.
Usually designed as a long rectangular area on one or two sides of the viewing area, containing a bar (or wiper) that can be dragged along a trough to move the body of the document as well as two arrows on either end for precise adjustments. The "wiper" has different names in different environments: on the Java platform it is called "thumb" or "knob"; Microsoft's .NET documentation refers to it as "scroll box" or "scroll thumb"; in other environments it is called "elevator". Additional functions may be found, such as zooming in/out or various application-specific tools. The wiper can also sometimes be adjusted by dragging its ends. In this case it would adjust both the position and the zooming of the document, where the size of the wiper represents the degree of zooming applied. A wiper that completely fills the through represents viewing the entire document.
While dragging the wiper is historically the most common way of manipulating the widget, a scroll wheel may also be used. Scrollbars can be seen as a computer representation of a thumb, with which you thumb through pages of documents.
See also: Scroll Lock