Tracery is an architectural solution by which windows (or screens, panels, and vaults) are divided into sections of various proportions by stone "bars" or "ribs" of moulding. Pointed arch windows of Gothic buildings were initially (late 12th–late 13th centuries) lancet windows, a solution typical of the "Early Gothic" or "First Pointed" style and of the "Early English" Gothic. Plate tracery was the first type of tracery to be developed, emerging in the later phase of "Early Gothic" or "First Pointed". "Second Pointed" is distinguished from "First" by the appearance of "bar–tracery", allowing the construction of much larger window openings, and the development of "Curvilinear", "Flowing", and "Reticulated" tracery, ultimately contributing to the "Flamboyant" style. "Late Gothic" in most of Europe saw tracery patterns resembling lace develop, while in England "Perpendicular Gothic" or "Third Pointed" preferred plainer vertical mullions and transoms. Tracery is practical as well as decorative, because the increasingly large windows of Gothic buildings needed maximum support against the wind.