When you use gopher, everything is in menu format. There may be sites on the menu that to access you would normally have to issue a telnet command, or ftp command. With gopher, you don't need to know the address or issue commands, simply move the arrow to the left of the menu to the desired item on the list, press enter and gopher will take you there. Some menus are too long to fit into one screen. At the bottom right of the screen, an indication of how many screens the full menu takes.
Gopher is organized by subject like a tree.
Most menu items have sub menus that branch out from the main menu like branches from a tree. The main menu, or beginning menu at all gopher sites is called the root menu, and all other sub-menus are attached to the menu items in the main menu. You may notice that there are a lot of menu items that mention the University of Minnesota on the root menu. This is because SOSU is actually using the gopher server at the University of Minnesota as its gopher server. At the end of most menu items in the gopher program there is a symbol.