THE COMPASS: This is the first image on the bar. It shows you, by lit or unlit green lights at compass points, which directions are available for you to move through and which are not. By clicking on a lit green light you can move from one area to the next much faster than having to type walk north (or wherever) over and over.
 
 

THE WINDOW: This image is just to the right of the compass. It show you a generalization of the weather when you are outside, and whether there is an sufficient light source to see by when you are inside or underground. Clicking on this window will pull up a detailed description of the weather.
 
 

THE MACRO-BAR: This group of square buttons has a specific command or command string assigned to each one. Clicking a button will cause the command to go through without having to take the time to type it. These buttons can also be assigned new commands or command strings, though the process is rather complicated. Wait until you have advanced a little in the game and are familiar with exactly what commands you use the most before attempting to reprogram the macro-bar. When you are ready, leave the game and, from the "welcome area" (the place

you enter upon signing in but before you actually enter the gameworld) type @menu. From the menu that pops up choose and enter P for preferences. From this next menu enter X to toggle the Macro-Bar. When you return to the game you will find that the macro-bar has changed. It no longer display pictures to indicate it's assigned command, it now holds consecutive roman numerals from I to XV. To assign one of these "blank" buttons a command just click it. The game will ask you to enter the command string so simply type what you want the button to represent as if you were actually doing it. For example, to assign wield quarterstave to button number I, just click the button and then, when prompted, type wield quarterstave and enter. Now, whenever you click button number I you will wield whatever quarterstave you are holding.
THE STATUS BAR: Each of these colored lines represents a different attribute.
The RED indicates your health. Too many bites and scratches and line goes down. If it reaches the bottom...well, you get the idea. Bleeding wounds will remind you that they are there by popping up in the text screen every few minutes. They represent an on-going drain on your health until you can find a healer to stop the bleeding. Bruises, on the other hand, do not get any worse on their own.
The YELLOW line indicates your energy or fatigue. If allowed to go too low you will begin to have difficulty hitting anything in combat and are in danger of passing out, an easy meal for whatever you were fighting. When you get this tired it's time to Walk to (the Riverside) baths and lay around for awhile in the tepidarium ("hot bath").
The  BLUE line indicates your portage or how much you are carrying. Too much weight will cause you suffer penalties in battle, slow your movement down and increase the rate at which you are fatigued. Your portage level is managed by simply taking care in how much stuff you carry or wear.
The GREEN line indicates your hunger. When it begins to go down you should eat something. Delaying in eating for too long will cause your hunger line to drop to the point that it too begins to effect combat, movement and fatigue. Fortunately it doesn't take much food at all to fill up, hence the hunger line is the easiest to maintain.
In addition, any of the lines can be clicked in with your mouse to give you a text description of the status of all four of the lines.
THE STATUS INDICATORS: This figure, and the buttons on it and to the right of it can pretty much be ignored. They are indicators that respond to a mouse click, but some of the things they indicate are not part of the game yet. The figure, however, will give you an indication of what wounds you have suffered upon the area of it's body that you click. But this information can be as readily accessed by clicking one of the colored lines of the status bar or by typing condition.