It can be difficult working in 3D when you can only see one view at a
time. You can split the 3D window into parts so you can see several views
at once.
Do this by right clicking the small
border line between the two windows you have at the beginning and select
"split area". That will give you 2 windows and you can set views in
each one independently of the other. You can split each window as many times as
you wish so you can make a top-view, a front-view, etc. If you want to join two
windows right click on the border and select "join areas".
You can change the interface (eg. splitting windows, adding windows,
etc), then hit CTRL+U and save the 'user defaults'. Next time you restart Blender,
you will have the interface you saved.
Changing the value of buttons
To change buttons that have a numeric value (a number),
, you can left click and drag back and forth along the button, or you can hold
Shift and click and then type in a value.
If part of the buttons window is hidden, you can simply drag the border between 3D
window and button window toward the top to
reveal hidden part of the screen.
, you can left click and drag back and forth along the button, or you can hold
Shift and click and then type in a value. 
