Palette window

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Finder's Inspector window is an example of a palette window

A palette window, also known as utility window or floating palette, is a type of computing window which floats on top of all regular windows and offers tools or information for the current application.

In Mac OS X, palette windows are only visible while their parent application is in focus. Some palette windows reappear in many applications, like the font window and the color window, while other windows are unique to each individual application. An example of a common application-specific palette window is an inspector window.

Image of Photoshop with several palette windows around the central document window.

Applications use palette windows to prevent toolbar clutter and offer a way to access all of the tools needed to create and edit a document. In Mac OS X, palette windows have a specially unrounded titlebar to differentiate them from other types of windows.