Chapter 3. Using Commands
AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT have been around for a long time. As a result, the way you give the program commands—called the user interface—is somewhat unique. You can give the same command in several ways. In this chapter, you read about the various possibilities and start to get acquainted with all of them.
Commands are important. In a word processing program, you can simply start typing, and in a spreadsheet program, you can begin by entering data; but in most cases nothing happens in AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT until you give it a command.
The AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT Interface
Many new commands have been added to AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT over the years. Often, older commands that were no longer necessary were kept to maintain compatibility with earlier releases. A number of these older commands, as well as certain rarely used commands, are not found in the menus. Other than this idiosyncrasy, the menus are similar to those of other Windows programs.
Using the ribbon
You give AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT commands using the buttons on the ribbon. The Home tab contains many of the commands that you use most often. The ribbon is divided into control panels (panels, for short). Each panel contains a related group of commands. Many of the panels have an arrow at their lower-right corner that you can click to display more buttons for commands that you don't use as often.
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