Newbie question about tutorial and timeline window

[marjimsha]

Greetings.  I am going through tutorial (backtracking, as I am in week four of class) , and trying to learn more about timeline.  In this tutorial, I was instructed to click and drag top layer from the beginning to one second in, so that it would appear one second after the rest of the layers during playback.  However, when I hit space bar, the first layer remains static, and the other layers are no where to be seen during playback.  Why am I not seeing what i am supposed to see, which is all three layers with the first one coming in one second after the other two?  Such an elementary question!  Thank you in advance!

[marjimsha]

I can now accurately view composition, but am not able to explain what I was doing wrong before, but it has something to do with the time signature (wording?) appearing in composition window, which was when things went sideways.  I backtracked and am ok for time being.

[Mike_Abbott · Accepted solution]

All that you've done is accidently double clicked on that layer bar. Doing this opens the layer in another main window - the Layer Window. Look at the top of the main window area and you'll now find two tabs - one for the Composition window - the window you've been using so far, and one for the layer window that you've accidently opened. Simply click on the Composition window tab to  bring it to the foreground. If you like you can close the layer window with the x to the left of the coloured square.

Good to hear that you're working through a structured course - that's the best way to learn Ae. : )

EDIT:
I should have explained that the layer window is for viewing and working with the content of an individual layer in isolation - that's why you couldn't see your other layers. Opening that window accidently is a very common situation for new users - and more experienced users too!

[marjimsha]

Thank you kindly.