2. The terminal and your workspace

How the terminal works

Open, read and arrange screens, and know how fresh the data is.

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  • 9 lessons
  • 42 min
About this section

The mechanics of the terminal: how to open, read and arrange screens, get help, and know how fresh the data is.

What you will be able to do

  • Get from a blank screen to a useful workspace in ten minutes.
  • Open any function on any ticker from the keyboard.
  • Arrange panes and layouts, and make panes follow each other.
  • Find the help card of any screen and read its freshness line.
  • Run Gloom from your shell.

Five words to know before you start

function
a screen with a short code, like DES or PF
command bar
where you type DES AAPL; open it with Ctrl+P
pane
one rectangle on screen showing one function
focus
the pane your keys go to right now; its border is highlighted
layout
a saved arrangement of panes, one tab per layout at the bottom
  1. 01Your first 10 minutesGloom is a grid of screens you open by typing a short code and a ticker; in ten minutes you can set up your holdings, open a company, see what moves today, set an alert and find help.5 min
  2. 02The command bar and function codesThe command bar is the one place you type everything: a function code, then what it applies to (DES AAPL), or plain words to search; it answers "how do I open X?".5 min
  3. 03Tickers, listings and asset classesThe same company can trade under several tickers on several exchanges, so Gloom lets you pick the exact listing with a suffix or a search and filter by asset class.5 min
  4. 04Panes, focus and linking (WIN, GL, PS, LMA)Every function opens in a pane, one pane at a time has the focus and receives your keys, and panes can be moved, tidied and linked so they follow a list.4 min
  5. 05Layouts and desks (LAY, DESK)A layout is a saved screen of panes, DESK adds a ready-made one for a kind of market, and LAY switches, adds and shares layouts.5 min
  6. 06Getting help (HELP, F1, CHG, FB)HELP opens the guide and every function, and F1 opens the help card of the pane in front of you, including how fresh its data is on your plan.4 min
  7. 07Free, Pro and how fresh your data is (UPGRADE, CONN)Every number has an age (real-time, 15 minutes behind, daily or on release), and the help card's Data line and the clock mark on a quote tell you which.5 min
  8. 08Gloom from your shell (the CLI)The functions you open in panes also run from your computer's command line, printing a table or JSON and CSV for scripts and spreadsheets.4 min
  9. 09Make it yours (VIEW, PL, TH, LANG, FONT, SB, VF, CR)VIEW builds your own table from any data function, PL manages plugins, and a few short commands change the theme, language, font size and visual effects.4 min

Educational material about reading market data, not investment advice.