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<chapter id="panel-chap">
<title>The GNOME Panel</title>
<sect1 id="introduction">
<title>Introduction</title>
<para>
<indexterm id="idx-a2">
<primary>Panel</primary>
</indexterm>
The GNOME <interface>Panel</interface> is the heart of the GNOME
user interface and acts as a repository for the <link
linkend="mainmenu">Main Menu</link>, user <link
linkend="menus">menus</link>, application <link
linkend="launchers">launchers</link>, <link
linkend="applets">applets</link> (applications which run entirely
within the panel), <link linkend="drawers">drawers</link>, and
several <link linkend="specialobjects">special objects</link>.
The <interface>Panel</interface> was designed to be highly
configurable. You can easily <link
linkend="panelproperties">customize its behavior and
appearance</link> and <link linkend="appletadd">add or remove
objects</link> to suite your personal needs and preferences. You
can even have <link linkend="paneladd">multiple panels</link>,
each with its own appearance, properties, and contents. This
flexibility allows you to easily create a comfortable and
efficient personalized desktop environment.
</para>
<para> This manual describes version 1.2 of the GNOME
<interface>Panel</interface>.
</para>
</sect1>
<!-- ########### Panel Basics ############## -->
<sect1 id="panelbasics">
<title>Panel Basics</title>
<para>
Using the GNOME <interface>Panel</interface> is very simple and
will come easily to anyone who has used a graphical desktop
environment. This section will give you a basic introduction to
help you get started, and the following sections will discuss the
various Panel objects and features in more detail.
</para>
<sect2 id="intropanel">
<title>Introduction to Panel Objects</title>
<para>
A <interface>Panel</interface> can hold several types of objects.
The example <interface>Panel</interface> in <xref
linkend="examplepanelfig"> shows each type of Panel object.
</para>
<figure id="examplepanelfig">
<title>An Example Panel</title>
<screenshot>
<screeninfo>An Example Panel.</screeninfo>
<graphic fileref="./figures/example_panel" format="png"
srccredit="muet">
</graphic>
</screenshot>
</figure>
<para>
This example <interface>Panel</interface> contains the following
objects: <itemizedlist> <listitem>
<formalpara>
<title>Menus</title>
<para>
Menus are lists of items, each of which either starts an
application, executes a command, or is a submenu. In the
example <interface>Panel</interface> in <xref
linkend="examplepanelfig"> , the left-most icon after the
arrow is a stylized footprint icon (the GNOME logo). This is
the <guimenu>Main Menu</guimenu>, one of the most important
objects in the <interface>Panel</interface>. This menu
provides access to almost all the applications, commands, and
configuration options available in GNOME. The <guimenu>Main
Menu</guimenu> is described in detail in <xref
linkend="mainmenu">. The second icon shown is a folder, the
default icon used for user menus. GNOME allows users to
create their own menus with personalized contents to use in
addition to the <guimenu>Main Menu</guimenu>. To open a
menu, just click on the icon with the left mouse button. For
more information on menus, see <xref linkend="menus">.
</para>
</formalpara>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<formalpara>
<title>Launchers</title>
<para>
Launchers are buttons which either start an application or
execute a command when you press them (click with the left
mouse button). The third icon in the example
<interface>Panel</interface> is a launcher which starts the
<application>Gnumeric</application> spreadsheet. For more
information on launchers, see <xref linkend="launchers">.
</para>
</formalpara>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<formalpara>
<title>Applets</title> <para> Applets are applications which
run inside a small part of the
<interface>Panel</interface>. The fourth through eighth icons
in the example <interface>Panel</interface> are applets. The
first applet shown is the <application>GNOME
Weather</application> applet, which periodically downloads the
current weather conditions off the Web and displays the
information. The second applet shown is the <application>Drive
Mount</application> applet, which shows whether a disk (in
this case, the floppy drive) is mounted and allows you to
mount and unmount the drive with a single click of the mouse.
The third applet shown is the <application>Quick
Launch</application> applet, which acts as a container for
launchers, but saves more space than placing your launchers
directly on the <interface>Panel</interface>. In the example
shown the <application>Quick Launch</application> applet
contains six application launchers. Next is the
<application>GNOME Desk Guide</application>, which allows you
to control multiple virtual desktops, each of which can have
multiple screens. You can move between desktops and screens
by clicking with your left mouse button. The final applet
shown is the <application>Tasklist</application>, which allows
you to control your application windows in various ways,
including changing the focus, iconifying windows, closing
windows, and killing applications. The
<application>Tasklist</application> shown is for a screen with
only two windows, both of which are <application>Electric
Eyes</application>. For more information on applets, see
<xref linkend="applets">.
</para>
</formalpara>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<formalpara>
<title>Drawers</title> <para> Drawers are essentially
extensions of a <interface>Panel</interface> which can be
opened or closed. They can hold anything the
<interface>Panel</interface> can. The brown icon of a drawer
in the example <interface>Panel</interface> is the default
icon for drawers, although any icon can be used. Click on the
<guiicon>Drawer</guiicon> icon with the left mouse button to
open or close it. For more information on drawers, see <xref
linkend="drawers">.
</para>
</formalpara>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<formalpara>
<title>Special Objects</title>
<para>
Special objects are items you can add to a
<interface>Panel</interface> which perform functions which
are generally not available through the other
<interface>Panel</interface> objects. The last item in the
example <interface>Panel</interface> is a special object
called the <guibutton>Logout Button</guibutton>. Pressing
this with the left mouse button begins the logout sequence
to end your GNOME session. For more information on special
objects, see <xref linkend="specialobjects">.
</para>
</formalpara>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
<para>
Each of these object types is described in detail in the
following sections. You can easily add, move, or remove Panel
objects (see <xref linkend="appletadd">).
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="rightclick">
<title>Right-Click Menu</title>
<para>
Clicking on any Panel object with the right mouse button brings
up the Panel object's <guimenu>right-click</guimenu> menu. This
menu contains <guimenuitem>Remove from panel</guimenuitem> for
removing the object from the <interface>Panel</interface>,
<guimenuitem>Move</guimenuitem> for moving objects within the
<interface>Panel</interface> or between two
<interface>Panels</interface>, the
<guisubmenu>Panel</guisubmenu> submenu described below, and
typically one or more object-specific menu items. For drawers,
menus, and launchers the only object-specific item is
<guimenuitem>Properties...</guimenuitem> which allows you to
customize the properties and settings of the object. For applets,
the <guimenu>right-click</guimenu> menu will often contain
<guimenuitem>About...</guimenuitem> for viewing information about
the applet such as the author's name and the applet version,
<guimenuitem>Help</guimenuitem> for viewing the applet's
documentation, and <guimenuitem>Properties...</guimenuitem> for
configuring preferences and settings for the applet. Applets
often have other applet-specific controls in their
<guimenu>right-click</guimenu> menus.
</para>
<para>
The <guisubmenu>Panel</guisubmenu> submenu allows you to <link
linkend="panelmove">create and remove
<interface>Panels</interface></link> and <link
linkend="appletadd">add objects</link> to the
<interface>Panel</interface>. It also allows you to modify the
properties of the particular <interface>Panel</interface> of
interest using the <guimenuitem>Properties</guimenuitem> menu
item (see <xref linkend="panelproperties">) or the properties of
all <interface>Panels</interface> using the <guimenuitem>Global
Preferences...</guimenuitem> menu item (see <xref
linkend="globalpanelprefs">).
</para>
<para>
You can also right-click on the <interface>Panel</interface>
itself. This will bring up the <link
linkend="mainmenu"><guimenu>Main Menu</guimenu></link>. In
particular, this menu also contains the
<guisubmenu>Panel</guisubmenu> submenu described above.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="panelhide">
<title>Hiding the Panel</title>
<para>
<indexterm id="idx-a4">
<primary>Panel</primary> <secondary>Hide Buttons</secondary>
</indexterm>
<indexterm id="idx-a5">
<primary>Panel</primary> <secondary>Hiding</secondary>
</indexterm>
The left and right arrow icons seen at either end of the example
<interface>Panel</interface> and in <xref linkend="fig2"> are
used to hide the <interface>Panel</interface>.
<figure id="fig2">
<title>The Hide Button</title>
<screenshot>
<screeninfo>The Hide Button</screeninfo>
<graphic fileref="./figures/hide-button" format="png"
srccredit="dcm">
</graphic>
</screenshot>
</figure>
</para>
<para>
Pressing one of these arrows will hide the
<interface>Panel</interface> by sliding it in the direction of
the arrow pressed, so that the only part of the
<interface>Panel</interface> which remains visible is the
<guibutton>Hide</guibutton> button itself. Pressing it a second
time will expand the <interface>Panel</interface>.
</para>
<para>
<interface>Panels</interface> can be configured to automatically
hide when you are not using it and reappear when you move the
mouse to the part of the screen where the
<interface>Panel</interface> resides. This can be useful if you
are unable to run your system in a high resolution. To learn how
to have a <interface>Panel</interface> auto-hide, see <xref
linkend="panelproperties">.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="loggingout">
<title>Logging Out</title>
<para>
To log out of GNOME, right click on the
<interface>Panel</interface> and select <guimenuitem>Log
out</guimenuitem>. This will bring up the
<interface>Logout</interface> dialog, shown in <xref
linkend="logoutdialog-fig">.
</para>
<figure id="logoutdialog-fig">
<title>The Logout Dialog</title>
<screenshot>
<screeninfo>Logout</screeninfo>
<graphic fileref="./figures/logout-screen" format="png"
srccredit="dcm">
</graphic>
</screenshot>
</figure>
<para>
If you would like to save your current setup, select the
<guilabel>Save current setup</guilabel> checkbox. This will save
any GNOME applications you have open and configuration changes
you may have made in the <application>Control
Center</application>.
</para>
<para>
The default way to log out is by using the
<guilabel>Logout</guilabel> option, which ends your GNOME session
but does not shut down the computer. Depending on your system
configuration, you may also have the <guilabel>Halt</guilabel>
option, which shuts down the computer, and the
<guilabel>Reboot</guilabel> option, which will reboot the
computer.
</para>
<note>
<title>Note for advanced users</title>
<para>The
<guilabel>Halt</guilabel> and <guilabel>Reboot</guilabel> choices
will only be shown if you have permission to execute the command
<command>/usr/bin/shutdown</command>.
</para>
</note>
<para>
If you do not want to log out, press the
<guibutton>No</guibutton> button and you will be returned to your
GNOME session. Otherwise press the <guibutton>Yes</guibutton>
button to log out.
</para>
<note>
<title>Logging Out and Window Managers</title>
<para>
If you are running a window manager that is GNOME compliant, the
logout feature will quit the window manager as well as GNOME. If
you are running a non-compliant window manager you will have to
quit the window manager yourself.
</para>
</note>
<para>
You can disable the <interface>Logout</interface> dialog so that
selecting the <guimenuitem>Log out</guimenuitem> menu item will
end your GNOME session without asking any questions. To do so,
start the GNOME <application>Control Center</application> by
selecting <menuchoice> <guimenu>Main Menu</guimenu>
<guisubmenu>Settings</guisubmenu> <guisubmenu>Startup
programs</guisubmenu> </menuchoice> and uncheck the
<guilabel>Prompt on logout</guilabel> button. <!-- Commented out
- as suggested by Drake You may also control whether changes to
your session are automatically saved using the
<guilabel>Automatically save changes to session</guilabel>
button. -->
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="lockscreen">
<title>Locking the Screen</title>
<para>
Sometimes you may want to leave your computer with GNOME running
and not allow others to use or view your GNOME session. GNOME
allows you to do this by locking the screen, requiring a password
to unlock it. To lock your GNOME session, right click on either
end of a <interface>Panel</interface> and select
<guimenuitem>Lock screen</guimenuitem>. Alternately, if you have
the <guibutton>Lock Button</guibutton>(see <xref
linkend="lockbutton">) on a <interface>Panel</interface>, you may
just press this button to lock the screen. To unlock the screen,
just type your login password.
</para>
<note>
<title>Screensavers and the Lock Button</title>
<para>
The <guibutton>Lock screen</guibutton> button uses a feature of
the <application>xscreensaver</application> program. This is the
same program that the <application>Control Center</application>
uses to set your screensaver. In order for the <guibutton>Lock
screen</guibutton> button to work properly, you must have a
screensaver enabled in the <application>Control
Center</application>.
</para>
</note>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<!-- ########### Main Menu ############## -->
<sect1 id="mainmenu">
<title>The Main Menu</title>
<para>
<indexterm id="idx-a3"> <primary>Main Menu</primary>
</indexterm>
The footprint icon seen towards the left end of the example
<interface>Panel</interface> (see <xref
linkend="examplepanelfig">) and in <xref
linkend="main-menu-button-fig"> is the <guibutton>Main
Menu</guibutton> (yes, you guessed right, it is the footprint of
the gnome). This menu provides access to almost all GNOME
features — all the applications, configuration tools,
command line prompt, <guimenuitem>Logout</guimenuitem> and
<guimenuitem>Lock Screen</guimenuitem> commands, and much more.
To access any of these items, click on the <guibutton>Main
Menu</guibutton> button. You should release the mouse after
pressing the <guibutton>Main Menu</guibutton> button so that you
can take advantage of other mouse-activated features in the
<guimenu>Main Menu</guimenu> such as right-click pop-up menus and
drag-and-drop from the menu to the desktop or
<interface>Panel</interface>.
</para>
<figure id="main-menu-button-fig">
<title>The Main Menu Button</title>
<screenshot>
<screeninfo>The Main Menu Button</screeninfo>
<graphic fileref="./figures/mm-button" format="png"
srccredit="dcm">
</graphic>
</screenshot>
</figure>
<para> You can have several <guibutton>Main
Menu</guibutton> buttons on different
<interface>Panels</interface>; all of them can be configured
independently.
</para>
<sect2 id="globalmenu">
<title>Global menu</title>
<para>
In addition to the <guimenu>Main Menu</guimenu> which you get by
clicking on the foot icon, GNOME also provides a <guimenu>Global
Menu</guimenu>, which contains the same commands but is not
linked to any button. To access the <guimenu>Global
Menu</guimenu>, right-click on any empty place on the
<interface>Panel</interface>. You can also access the
<guimenu>Global Menu</guimenu> by pressing
<keycombo action=simul>
<keycap>Alt</keycap> <keycap>F1</keycap> </keycombo>. (You can
change the default key for activating the <guimenu>Global
Menu</guimenu> in the <link
linkend="misctab"><guilabel>Miscellaneous</guilabel></link> tab
of the <interface><link linkend="globalpanelprefs">Global Panel
Preferences</link> dialog</interface>.)
</para>
<para>
Note that the <guimenu>Global Menu</guimenu> is configured
independently from the <guimenu>Main Menu</guimenu>, by using the
<guilabel>Menu</guilabel> tab in the <link
linkend="globalpanelprefs"><interface>Global Panel
Preferences</interface></link> dialog.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="submenus">
<title> Components of the Main Menu</title>
<para>
The primary component of the <guimenu>Main Menu</guimenu> is the
<guisubmenu>Programs</guisubmenu> submenu, which contains a list
of preconfigured submenus and menu items. Here you will find all
the GNOME applications, from the
<application>Gnumeric</application> spreadsheet to the
<application>Free Cell</application> game, as well as quite a
few non-GNOME ones, such as the
<application>Netscape</application> web browser and the
<application>emacs</application> text editor. In addition, the
<guisubmenu>Programs</guisubmenu> submenu also contains the
following commands:
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
<guimenuitem>File Manager</guimenuitem> — launches the
GNOME graphical file manager.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<guimenuitem>Help system</guimenuitem> — launches the
<application>GNOME Help Browser</application>. The
<application>GNOME Help Browser</application> gives you access
to most of the documentation installed on your system —
not only GNOME documentation (the GNOME User's Guide,
application manuals, …), but also other types of
documentation (man pages, info pages, …).
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para> In addition to the <guisubmenu>Programs</guisubmenu>
submenu, the <guimenu>Main Menu</guimenu> also contains a
number of other submenus and useful commands. Depending on your
configuration, you may not see all of these. Also, some of them
may be shown as submenus, and others included as part of the
<guimenu>Main Menu</guimenu>, separated by horizontal lines from
the other parts. These additional submenus and commands are:
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
<guisubmenu>Favorites</guisubmenu>. This submenu, which is
originally empty, is a place where you can put your favorite
applications for quick access. You can edit this menu using
the <application>Menu Editor</application>, which can be
accessed from the <guimenu>Main Menu</guimenu> by choosing
<menuchoice><guisubmenu>Settings</guisubmenu>
<guimenuitem>Menu editor</guimenuitem> </menuchoice>. You can
also add any item from any other menu (in particular, from the
<guimenu>Programs</guimenu> menu) to the
<guisubmenu>Favorites</guisubmenu> menu by clicking on the
item with the right mouse button and selecting
<guimenuitem>Add this to Favorites menu</guimenuitem>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<guisubmenu>Applets</guisubmenu>. This submenu contains all
the applets installed on your system. Selecting an applet will
add it to your <interface>Panel</interface>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<guisubmenu>KDE menus</guisubmenu>. This shows the menus of
the K Desktop Environment (KDE) if you have it installed on
your system.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<guisubmenu>AnotherLevel menus</guisubmenu> and
<guisubmenu>Debian menus</guisubmenu>. These submenus show the
default application menus for Red Hat Linux and Debian
GNU/Linux, respectively. These will only appear for users of
the particular distributions.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<guimenuitem>Panel</guimenuitem>. This submenu can be used to
change <interface>Panel</interface> properties (both for <link
linkend="panelproperties"> <interface>individual
Panels</interface></link> and <link
linkend="globalpanelprefs">global</link>, i.e. for all
<interface>Panels</interface>), <link linkend="add">add an
object</link> to the <interface>Panel</interface>, <link
linkend="panelremoving">remove the whole
<interface>Panel</interface></link>, <link
linkend="paneladd">create a new
<interface>Panel</interface></link>, or view the
<citetitle>Panel Manual</citetitle>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<guimenuitem>Desktop</guimenuitem>— This submenu
contains <guimenuitem>Log out</guimenuitem>, which ends your
GNOME session (see <xref linkend="loggingout">), and
<guimenuitem>Lock screen</guimenuitem> (see <xref
linkend="lockscreen">).
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem id="runcommand">
<para>
<guimenuitem>Run …</guimenuitem> — This menu item
opens the <interface>Run Program</interface> dialog for
executing shell commands (see <xref linkend="runbutton">).
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="mainmenuconfig">
<title>Configuring the Main Menu</title>
<para>
To change the configuration of the <guimenu>Main Menu</guimenu>,
right-click on the <guibutton>Main Menu</guibutton> button
(shown in <xref linkend="main-menu-button-fig">) and select
<guimenuitem>Properties …</guimenuitem> from the pop-up
menu. This will show the <interface>Menu Properties</interface>
dialog. In this dialog, for each of the submenus of the
<guimenu>Main Menu</guimenu> listed above
(<guisubmenu>Programs</guisubmenu>,
<guisubmenu>Favorites</guisubmenu>, …) you can choose
whether you want it to be shown as part of the <guimenu>Main
Menu</guimenu>, as a submenu, or not at all.
</para>
<figure>
<title>Menu Properties Dialog</title>
<screenshot>
<screeninfo>Menu Properties Dialog</screeninfo>
<graphic fileref="./figures/mainmenu_properties" format="png"
srccredit="muet">
</graphic>
</screenshot>
</figure>
<para>
You can also edit the contents of the
<guisubmenu>Favorites</guisubmenu> submenu (or, if you are the
system administrator, also of the
<guisubmenu>Programs</guisubmenu> submenu) using the
<application>GNOME Menu Editor</application>. To start it,
right-click on the <guibutton>Main Menu</guibutton> button and
select <guimenuitem>Edit Menus
…</guimenuitem>. Alternatively, you can start
<application>GNOME Menu Editor</application> by selecting
<menuchoice> <guisubmenu>Programs</guisubmenu>
<guisubmenu>Settings</guisubmenu> <guimenuitem>Menu
editor</guimenuitem> </menuchoice> from the <guimenu>Main
Menu</guimenu> itself.
</para>
</sect2>
<!-- Do we need it now that we have information about Global menu?
<sect2 id="kbdnav">
<title>Keyboard Navigation in the Main Menu</title>
<para> If you prefer, you can use the keyboard instead of the
mouse to navigate the <guimenu>Main Menu</guimenu>. To activate
the <guimenu>Main Menu</guimenu>, press the
<keycap>Menu</keycap> key on your keyboard (if you are using a
standard PC keyboard, this key usually is located to the left of
the space bar and labelled with a picture of a menu); you can
change the default key for activating the <guimenu>Main
Menu</guimenu> in the <link
linkend="misctab"><guilabel>Miscellaneous</guilabel></link> tab
of the <interface><link linkend="globalpanelprefs">Global Panel
Preferences</link> dialog</interface>. Use the
<keycap>Up</keycap> and <keycap>Down</keycap> arrow keys to
move inside the menu, <keycap>Right</keycap> arrow to go to a
submenu, and <keycap>Enter</keycap> to select an item. To exit
the menu, just press the <keycap>Esc</keycap> key.
</para>
</sect2> -->
</sect1>
<!-- ########### Menus ############## -->
<sect1 id="menus">
<title>Menus</title>
<para>
In addition to the <guimenu>Main Menu</guimenu>, discussed in <xref
linkend="mainmenu">, you can also add "normal menus" to a
<interface>Panel</interface>. An example menu, in this case a
<guimenu>Favorites</guimenu> menu containing three application
launchers and one submenu titled <guisubmenu>Games</guisubmenu>, is
shown in <xref linkend = "example-menu-fig">. Unlike the
<guimenu>Main Menu</guimenu>, normal menus only contain whatever
launchers and submenus you place in them - no default submenus,
<guimenuitem>Run...</guimenuitem> command, etc. as the
<guimenu>Main Menu</guimenu> has. You can also add any submenu of
your <guimenu>Favorites</guimenu> menu or the
<guimenu>Programs</guimenu> menu as a separate menu to a
<interface>Panel</interface>; to do so, bring up this submenu from
the <guimenu>Main Menu</guimenu>, right click on the submenu
title, and select <guimenuitem>Add this as menu to
panel</guimenuitem>.
</para>
<figure id="example-menu-fig">
<title>An Example Menu</title>
<screenshot>
<screeninfo>An Example Menu</screeninfo>
<graphic fileref="./figures/example_menu" format="png"
srccredit="muet">
</graphic>
</screenshot>
</figure>
<sect2 id="addingmenus">
<title>Adding a Menu to a Panel</title> <para> To learn how
to add a menu to a <interface>Panel</interface>, see <xref
linkend="add">.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="tearoff">
<title>Tearing Off a Menu</title>
<para>
All menus in GNOME have the tear-off feature: if you left-click on
the "perforation" (thin dashed line at the top of the menu, right
above the menu title), the menu will be turned into a separate
window on your desktop, which will stay there even after you move
the mouse cursor elsewhere. This is very convenient if you will be
using the same command from some deeply nested submenu
frequently. To remove a "torn-off" menu from your desktop, click
on the <guibutton>Close</guibutton> button in the window title
(its appearance and location depends on the window manager you are
using, but usually it is the rightmost button, labelled by an "x").
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="menusconf">
<title>Configuring a Menu</title>
<para>
You can easily change a menu name and icon (for user menus only,
not for submenus taken from the <guimenu>Main Menu</guimenu>). To
do so, click on the menu, right-click on the menu title (at the
very top of the list, above all other items), and select
<guimenuitem>Properties…</guimenuitem> from the pop-up
menu. This will bring up the <interface>Desktop Entry
Properties</interface> dialog, quite similar to the <link
linkend="launchers"><interface>Launcher Properties</interface>
dialog</link>.
</para>
<para> To add a new item to the menu, click on the menu button,
right-click on the Menu name, and select <guimenuitem>Add new
item to this menu</guimenuitem>. This will bring up
<interface>Create Menu Item</interface> dialog, in which you can
enter the menu item name, comment, command, and type (see <xref
linkend="launchers"> for more information). To remove an item
from the menu, right-click on the item and choose
<guimenuitem>Remove this item</guimenuitem>.
</para>
<para>
Finally, a frequently asked question is "How I can change the
font and the background used by the menus?" The answer is that it
is determined by the current GTK Theme, which can be changed
using the <application>GNOME Control Center</application> by
selecting <menuchoice> <guimenu>Main Menu</guimenu>
<guisubmenu>Programs</guisubmenu>
<guisubmenu>Settings</guisubmenu>
<guisubmenu>Desktop</guisubmenu><guimenuitem>Theme Selector</guimenuitem>
</menuchoice>.
</para>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<!-- ########### Launchers ############## -->
<sect1 id="launchers">
<title>Launchers</title>
<para>
Launchers are buttons which reside in your
<interface>Panel</interface> and start an application or execute a
command when clicked. A launcher can use any icon and has a
customized tooltip to display a message when the cursor is passed
over the launcher.
</para>
<para>
You can change a launcher's properties, such as the icon it uses
and its name, by right-clicking on the launcher and selecting
<guimenuitem>Properties...</guimenuitem> from the pop-up menu. This
brings up the <interface>Launcher properties</interface> dialog,
shown in <xref linkend="launcherpropsfig">. A similar dialog is
used when you create a new launcher (see <xref
linkend="add">). Note that internally GNOME makes no distinction
between menu items and launchers: these are just different
representations of the same thing. You can place any menu item on a
<interface>Panel</interface>, and it will appear as a
launcher. Therefore, all the information below applies equally to
launchers and menu items.
</para>
<figure id="launcherpropsfig">
<title>Create Launcher/Launcher Properties Dialog</title>
<screenshot>
<screeninfo>Create Launcher/Launcher Properties Dialog</screeninfo>
<graphic fileref="./figures/launcher_properties_basic" format="png"
srccredit="muet">
</graphic>
</screenshot>
</figure>
<para>
The <interface>Laucher Properties</interface> dialog has two tabs:
<guilabel>Basic</guilabel> and <guilabel>Advanced</guilabel>. In
the <guilabel>Basic</guilabel> tab, you can set:
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
<guilabel>Name</guilabel> — this is the application
name, for example, <userinput>GNOME
terminal</userinput>. This name will be used if you later
put this launcher in a menu.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<guilabel>Comment</guilabel> — this is a brief
explanation of what this application does, for example,
<userinput>Terminal emulation program</userinput>. This will
be used for tooltips.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<guilabel>Command</guilabel> — the actual command that
runs the application, for example,
<userinput>gnome-terminal</userinput>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<guilabel>Type</guilabel> — should be
<guilabel>Application</guilabel>; do not change it unless
you want to create something other than an application
launcher.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<guilabel>Icon</guilabel> — this is the icon which
will be used to represent the launcher in the
<interface>Panel</interface>. If no icon is specified, a
default icon will be used. To change the icon, just click on
it to launch the icon browser.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<guilabel>Run in Terminal</guilabel> — this specifies
whether the application should be run inside a terminal. If
the application doesn't create any windows on its own, check
this button. If you are unsure, leave it unchecked.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>
The <guilabel>Advanced</guilabel> properties tab is shown
below. It is intended for advanced users; most of the time, you
will not need to change any of these settings.
</para>
<figure id="launcheradvpropsfig">
<title>Launcher Advanced Properties Dialog</title>
<screenshot>
<screeninfo>Launcher Advanced Properties Dialog</screeninfo>
<graphic fileref="./figures/launcher_properties_advanced" format="png"
srccredit="muet">
</graphic>
</screenshot>
</figure>
<para>
In the <guilabel>Advanced</guilabel> tab, you can set:
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
<guilabel>Try this before using</guilabel> — you can
enter a command here, and GNOME will check if this command
can be executed. If the command cannot be successfully
executed, the launcher (or menu item) will not be shown even
if you added it to a <interface>Panel</interface> or
menu. It is mostly used by people preparing GNOME
distributions. For example, the default GNOME <guimenu>Main
Menu</guimenu> contains an item for the
<application>TkRat</application> e-mail program, but you
will only see this item if you have
<application>TkRat</application> installed on your system.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<guilabel>Documentation</guilabel> — currently not
used.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<guilabel>Name/Comment translations</guilabel> — here
you can set translations of the <guilabel>Name</guilabel>
and <guilabel>Comment</guilabel> to other languages. For
example, for <application>GNOME Terminal</application>, the
translations to Spanish (es) are name: <userinput>Terminal
UNIX de GNOME</userinput> and comment: <userinput>Emulador
de terminal GNOME</userinput>. This means that if a user
sets his language to Spanish during login (this can be done
by selecting the desired language from
<guimenu>Languages</guimenu> menu of the <application>GNOME
Display Manager</application> when logging in) he will see
<guimenuitem>Terminal UNIX de GNOME</guimenuitem> in the
menu and <guilabel>Emulador de terminal GNOME</guilabel> as
the tooltip. The actual command that runs the terminal is
unchanged.
</para>
<para>
To add a new translation, enter the language 2-letter code
and translations of <guilabel>Name</guilabel> and
<guilabel>Comment</guilabel> fields in the empty fields
under the list of current translations, and press the
<guibutton>Add/Set</guibutton> button. To change one of
existing translations, select the row from the list, edit
the fields you want to change, and press the
<guibutton>Add/Set</guibutton> button. To remove one of
existing translations, select it in the list and press the
<guibutton>Remove</guibutton> button.
</para>
<para>
You can find the list of all languages supported by GNOME
along with their 2-letter codes in <ulink type="http"
url="http://www.gnome.org/gnomefaq/html/x867.html">GNOME
Frequently Asked Questions</ulink>.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>
All of the changes you make in the <interface>Launcher
Properties</interface> dialog will take effect when you press
<guibutton>Apply</guibutton> or
<guibutton>OK</guibutton>. Pressing <guibutton>OK</guibutton>
closes the dialog; pressing <guibutton>Apply</guibutton> will
allow you to continue editing.
</para>
</sect1>
<!-- ########### Applets ############## -->
<sect1 id="applets">
<title>Applets</title>
<para>
Applets are GNOME applications which reside in a
<interface>Panel</interface>. An applet's appearance typically
reveals the state of the applet or other information. Applets often
have buttons, sliders, entries, or other methods to allow you to
control their behavior.
</para>
<figure id="example-applets-fig">
<title>Example Applets</title>
<screenshot>
<screeninfo>Example Applets</screeninfo>
<graphic fileref="./figures/panel_applets" format="png"
srccredit="muet">
</graphic>
</screenshot>
</figure>
<para>
Some example applets are shown above(see <xref
linkend="example-applets-fig">). At the very left is the
<application>Mixer Applet</application> which allows you to change
the volume level and mute the sound. Next is the<application>Sound
Monitor Applet</application>, which displays the current volume of
sound being played and allows you to control various sound
features. The third applet is the <application>GTCD
Applet</application>, a CD player which has all its controls
available in the applet and displays the track and time.The next
applet is the <application>Drive Mount Applet</application>, used
to mount and unmount drives with a single click of the mouse. This
is followed by the <application>Desk-Guide Applet</application>
which shows you your desktops and the applications which are
running on them. The last applet shown is the <application>Tasklist
Applet</application> which allows you to control certain aspects of
each application or window which is open.
</para>
<para>
GNOME has many useful applets. Just right click on a
<interface>Panel</interface> and add some applets to your
<interface>Panel</interface> to find out which applets are
available and which ones are best for you. Right click on each
applet to see a menu listing various commands and operations the
applet can do and to access the documentation for the applet.
</para>
</sect1>
<!-- ########### Drawers ############## -->
<sect1 id="drawers">
<title>Drawers</title>
<para>
The simplest way to think about a drawer is that it is a container
to store things. Typically one may use a drawer to hold multiple
launchers which are related to each other in some way, such as the
various applications in GNOME Office. The drawers in the GNOME
<interface>Panel</interface> take this one step further by making a
drawer an actual extension of the <interface>Panel</interface>
itself. Thus, a drawer is a collapsible branch of an existing
<interface>Panel</interface>. It can contain anything that a
<interface>Panel</interface> can, including launchers, applets, and
other drawers.
</para>
<figure>
<title>An open Drawer</title>
<screenshot>
<screeninfo>An open Drawer</screeninfo>
<graphic fileref="./figures/drawer_open" format="png"
srccredit="dcm">
</graphic>
</screenshot>
</figure>
<para>
Once you have placed a drawer on a <interface>Panel</interface>,
you may click on it to "open" the drawer, revealing its contents.
You may then add items to the drawer in the same way you would add
items to a <interface>Panel</interface>, right clicking on the end
of the drawer with the arrow to open the <link
linkend="globalmenu"><interface>Global Menu</interface></link>.
You can close the drawer by clicking on its icon again or by
clicking on the arrow at its end.
</para>
<para>
You can configure a drawer's properties by right clicking on the
drawer's icon and selecting
<guimenuitem>Properties...</guimenuitem>. This brings up the
<interface>Drawer Properties</interface> dialog. Here you can
select the icon used for the drawer by clicking on the icon. A
tooltip may be entered by typing in the
<guilabel>Tooltip/Name</guilabel> entry. This tooltip will be
displayed whenever the mouse is moved over the drawer to remind you
what is inside. One may also select whether the <guibutton>hide
button</guibutton> and arrow are displayed at the end of the drawer.
</para>
<figure>
<title>Drawer Properties Dialog</title>
<screenshot>
<screeninfo>Drawer Properties Dialog</screeninfo>
<graphic fileref="./figures/drawer_properties" format="png"
srccredit="dcm">
</graphic>
</screenshot>
</figure>
<para>
You may also control the background color or image of the
drawer. Just right click on the drawer and select
<guimenuitem>Properties...</guimenuitem> to open the
<interface>Drawer Properties</interface> dialog. Then select the
<guilabel>Background</guilabel> tab to bring up the
<interface>Panel Background Dialog</interface> (see <xref
linkend="panelbacktab">).
</para>
</sect1>
<!-- ########### Special Panel Objects ############## -->
<sect1 id="specialobjects">
<title>Special Panel Objects</title>
<para>
There are several special Panel objects which are not considered
menus, applets, or launchers. These special objects are described
below.
</para>
<sect2 id="lockbutton">
<title>The Lock Button</title>
<figure>
<title>The Lock Button</title>
<screenshot>
<screeninfo>The Lock Button</screeninfo>
<graphic fileref="./figures/panel_lockbut" format="png"
srccredit="muet">
</graphic>
</screenshot>
</figure>
<para>
The <guibutton>Lock Button</guibutton> is a
<interface>Panel</interface> button which starts a screensaver
which locks the screen. In order to remove the screensaver and
access the GNOME session again, you must supply your password.
For more information on locking the screen, see <xref
linkend="lockscreen">.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="logoutbutton">
<title>The Logout Button</title>
<figure id="logoutbuttonfig">
<title>The Logout Button</title>
<screenshot>
<screeninfo>The Logout Button</screeninfo>
<graphic fileref="./figures/panel_logoutbut"
format="png" srccredit="muet">
</graphic>
</screenshot>
</figure>
<para>
The <guibutton>Logout</guibutton> button is used to exit the GNOME
desktop environment. It initiates the logout sequence, bringing
up the <interface>Logout Dialog</interface>, as described in <xref
linkend="loggingout">.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="runbutton">
<title>The Run Button</title>
<figure id="runbuttonfig">
<title>The Run Button</title>
<screenshot>
<screeninfo>The Run Button</screeninfo>
<graphic fileref="./figures/panel_runbutton"
format="png" srccredit="muet">
</graphic>
</screenshot>
</figure>
<para>
The <guibutton>Run</guibutton> button opens the <interface>Run
Program</interface> dialog, shown in <xref
linkend="runprogramdialog-fig">. This gives you access to the
command line prompt. It is not a full-blown shell, so it is not a
replacement for <application>GNOME terminal</application>, but it
is very convenient when you need to enter just one command
quickly. You can also open the <interface>Run Program</interface>
dialog by using a keyboard shortcut. The default keyboard
shortcut is
<keycombo action=simul>
<keycap>Alt</keycap> <keycap>F2</keycap>
</keycombo>
but you can change this in the <link
linkend="misctab"><guilabel>Miscellaneous</guilabel></link> tab of
the <interface><link linkend="globalpanelprefs">Global Panel
Preferences</link> dialog</interface>.
</para>
<figure id="runprogramdialog-fig">
<title>The Run Program Dialog</title>
<screenshot>
<screeninfo>The Run Program Dialog</screeninfo>
<graphic fileref="./figures/panel_runprogram"
format="png" srccredit="muet">
</graphic>
</screenshot>
</figure>
<para>
The command entry has a history buffer which allows you to execute
a previously entered command by pressing the <guiicon>down
arrow</guiicon> icon located to the right of the text field and
selecting the command. It also has a
<guibutton>Browse…</guibutton> button, which allows you to
choose a file — this filename will be appended to the end of
your command. For example, you can enter
<userinput>emacs</userinput> (an extremely powerful text editor)
on the command line and then use the
<guibutton>Browse…</guibutton> button to select the file to
be edited.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="swallowedapps">
<title>Swallowed Applications</title>
<para>
You can run many applications which are not applets inside the
<interface>Panel</interface> as if they were applets.
Applications which you pull into the <interface>Panel</interface>,
even though they are not GNOME applets, are called "swallowed
applications". Applications do not have to be GNOME-compliant to
be swallowed. In general, the only constraints for swallowing an
application are that the application must be small enough to fit
in your <interface>Panel</interface> and you must know the title
of the window you would like to swallow. In many cases, the
application can be automatically shrank to fit in the
<interface>Panel</interface>, as specified in the
<interface>Create Swallowed Application Dialog</interface>. If
the application is not small enough to fit in the
<interface>Panel</interface>, the <interface>Panel</interface>
will generally grow to allow the application to fit.
</para>
<figure id="swallappfig">
<title>Create Swallowed Application Dialog</title>
<screenshot>
<screeninfo>Create Swallowed Application Dialog</screeninfo>
<graphic fileref="./figures/panel_swallow" format="png"
srccredit="muet">
</graphic>
</screenshot>
</figure>
<para>
The <guilabel>Title of application to swallow</guilabel> is the
window title, typically displayed on the top left edge of the
window. (Note that the window title is case sensitive.) The
<guilabel>Width</guilabel> and <guilabel>Height</guilabel>
determine the size of the swallowed application in the
<interface>Panel</interface> in pixels.
</para>
<para>
If you leave the <guilabel>Command</guilabel> field empty, this
dialog will create an empty window of given size on the panel
which will sit there waiting for a window with the given title to
appear on your desktop. As soon such a window appears (for
example, when you choose appropriate item in the menu), it will be
swallowed.
</para>
<para>
You can also enter any command in the <guilabel>Command</guilabel>
field; this command will be executed before trying to swallowing
the window to the <interface>Panel</interface> (and each time the
<interface>Panel</interface> is restarted afterwards). This is
normally used to start an application which you want the
<interface>Panel</interface> to swallow.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="statusdock">
<title>Status Dock</title>
<para>
The <interface>status dock</interface> is a
<interface>Panel</interface> object which can hold status docklets
— small windows which applications place in the
<interface>status dock</interface> to provide status information.
Status docklets can also be used to control the
application. Essentially, docklets are small (both in size and in
complexity) applets. GNOME currently does not have many
applications which place status docklets in the <interface>status
dock</interface>. However, GNOME's <interface>status
dock</interface> is compatible with that of the K Desktop
Environment (KDE), so KDE applications, such as
<application>kscd</application>, may place status docklets in
GNOME's <interface>status dock</interface>. Future versions of
GNOME applications will make use of this recently added
<interface>Panel</interface> object.
</para>
<figure id="statusdockfig">
<title>Example Status Dock With Docklet</title>
<screenshot>
<screeninfo>Example Status Dock With Docklet</screeninfo>
<graphic fileref="./figures/status_dock" format="png"
srccredit="lebl">
</graphic>
</screenshot>
</figure>
<para>
The above example shows the <interface>status dock</interface>
with a status docklet from the <application>kscd</application> CD
player program. This particular docklet is used to open and close
the main <application>kscd</application> window without ending the
program.
</para>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<!-- ####### Adding, Moving, and Removing Panel Objects ########## -->
<sect1 id="appletadd">
<title>Adding, Moving, and Removing Panel Objects</title>
<sect2 id="moving">
<title>Moving objects</title>
<para>
To move any object in a <interface>Panel</interface> to a
different location, just hold down the middle mouse button and
drag it to the new location. Or, you can right-click on it and
choose <guimenuitem>Move</guimenuitem>, then move the mouse to
the new location and press any mouse button to anchor it in its
new position. You can move it to a different location on the same
<interface>Panel</interface>, or to a different
<interface>Panel</interface>. If in the course of this
movement it hits other objects, the behavior depends on the
global preferences (see <xref linkend="appletstab">): the
object you are moving can switch places with other objects,
"push" all objects it meets, or "jump" over all other objects
without disturbing them. You can also override the default
behavior by holding the <keycap>Shift</keycap> button (for
"push" mode), the <keycap>Ctrl</keycap> button (for "switched"
mode), or the <keycap>Alt</keycap> button (for "free" mode,
i.e. jumping other objects without disturbing them) while
moving the object.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="remove">
<title>Removing objects from the Panel</title>
<para>
To remove an object from a <interface>Panel</interface>,
right-click on it and choose <guimenuitem>Remove from
panel</guimenuitem> from the pop-up menu.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="add">
<title>Adding objects to the panel</title>
<para>
By default, the GNOME <interface>Panel</interface> contains
only a few basic objects, such as the <guimenu>Main
Menu</guimenu>. However, there are many
<interface>Panel</interface> objects you can
add to it. For example, every menu item in the <guimenu>Main
Menu</guimenu> or its submenus can be added to a
<interface>Panel</interface> as an
application launcher. GNOME also has many applets
that can be added to a <interface>Panel</interface>, ranging from
<application>Printer Applet</application>, which prints files
which you drag and drop onto the applet, to
<application>Wanda the Fish</application>. There are many
additional GNOME applets and applications available on the
Internet.
</para>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term> <emphasis>Applets</emphasis></term>
<listitem>
<para>
To add an applet to a <interface>Panel</interface>,
right-click on the <interface>Panel</interface> and select
<menuchoice><guisubmenu>Panel</guisubmenu><guisubmenu>Add
to panel</guisubmenu>
<guisubmenu>Applet</guisubmenu></menuchoice>. This
will show you a
menu of all the applets on your system, divided into
categories; choosing any applet from this menu will
add it to the <interface>Panel</interface>.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term> <emphasis>Application launchers</emphasis></term>
<listitem>
<para>
To create a new application launcher, right-click on
the <interface>Panel</interface> and select
<menuchoice><guisubmenu>Panel</guisubmenu><guisubmenu>Add
to panel</guisubmenu>
<guimenuitem>Launcher</guimenuitem></menuchoice>.
This will open the <interface>Create Launcher
dialog</interface>, shown below. In this dialog you
should enter a name for your launcher, a comment, and
the command line to launch the application. This
dialog is virtually identical to <interface>Launcher
Properties</interface> dialog. See <xref
linkend="launchers"> for a more detailed description.
</para>
<figure>
<title>The Create launcher dialog</title>
<screenshot>
<screeninfo>Create launcher dialog</screeninfo>
<graphic fileref="./figures/create_launcher" format="png"
srccredit="muet">
</graphic>
</screenshot>
</figure>
<para>
You can also add any application in the <guimenu>Main
Menu</guimenu> or application launcher on your
desktop to a <interface>Panel</interface>.
To do so, use the first mouse button to drag the object
onto the <interface>Panel</interface>. Be
careful to drop it in an empty space on the
<interface>Panel</interface> and
not on any existing object: for example, if you drop
it on the <interface>Printer Applet</interface>, it
will be printed. You can also right-click on an item
in the <guimenu>Main Menu</guimenu>
and select <guimenuitem>Add this launcher to
panel</guimenuitem>. After this, you can change any
options for that launcher by clicking on it with the
right mouse button and selecting
<guimenuitem>Properties...</guimenuitem>.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term> <emphasis>Menus</emphasis></term>
<listitem>
<para>
To add a menu, right-click on the
<interface>Panel</interface> and select
<menuchoice><guisubmenu>Panel</guisubmenu> <guisubmenu>Add
to panel</guisubmenu> <guisubmenu>Menu</guisubmenu>
</menuchoice>. This gives you a choice of the <guimenu>Main
menu</guimenu>, <guimenu>Programs menu</guimenu>, and
<guimenu>Favorites menu</guimenu>.
</para>
<para>
You can also add the <guimenu>Main Menu</guimenu> or
any its submenu as a new menu to the
<interface>Panel</interface> by
right-clicking on the menu title (the top line of the
menu, separated from menu items by a thin line) and
selecting <guimenuitem>Add this as a menu to the
panel</guimenuitem>.
</para>
<note>
<title>Creating Menus By Hand</title>
<para>
Advanced users can also create new menus
manually. To do so, you need to know that internally,
GNOME represents a menu by a directory, with menu items
presented by files of special type
(<filename>.desktop</filename> files — these files
also represent the application launchers), and submenus
presented by subdirectories. For example, the
<guimenu>Favorites</guimenu> menu corresponds to the
directory <filename>~/.gnome/apps</filename> (where
<filename>~</filename> denotes your home directory), and
the <guimenu>Programs</guimenu> menu corresponds to the
directory
<filename>/usr/share/gnome/apps</filename>. Thus, you
can create a new directory, using the GNOME File
Manager, drag and drop there any
<filename>.desktop</filename> files from any other
directories you might have (for example, from
<filename>/usr/share/gnome/apps</filename>) or from the
desktop, and then drag and drop this directory from the
File Manager window to the
<interface>Panel</interface>. This will add this
directory as a menu to the <interface>Panel</interface>.
</para>
</note>
<para>
After you have added a menu to your
<interface>Panel</interface> using any of the methods
described above, you can modify its properties (for
example, add new items to this menu or change the icon
used by the menu), as described in <xref
linkend="menus">.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term> <emphasis>Drawers</emphasis></term>
<listitem>
<para>
To add a new empty drawer, select
<menuchoice><guisubmenu>Panel</guisubmenu>
<guisubmenu>Add to panel</guisubmenu>
<guisubmenu>Drawer</guisubmenu></menuchoice>. Then
right-click on the drawer and select
<guimenuitem>Properties...</guimenuitem> to change its
properties (for example, the icon it uses). You can
add new items to this drawer in the same way as you
add items to a <interface>Panel</interface>: all the
methods for adding new objects to the
<interface>Panel</interface> described in this section
will also work for adding new items to a drawer.
</para>
<para>
You can also add the <guimenu>Main Menu</guimenu> or any
of its submenus to the <interface>Panel</interface> as a
drawer by right-clicking on the menu title and selecting
<guimenuitem>Add this as drawer to
panel</guimenuitem>.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term> <emphasis>Swallowed application</emphasis></term>
<listitem>
<para>To add a swallowed application to your
<interface>Panel</interface>, select
<menuchoice><guisubmenu>Panel</guisubmenu>
<guisubmenu>Add to panel</guisubmenu>
<guisubmenu>Swallowed
app</guisubmenu></menuchoice>. This will
open the <interface>Create Swallowed
Application</interface> dialog. For detailed information
on using this dialog, see <xref
linkend="swallowedapps">.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<!-- ########### Creating, Moving, and Removing Panels ########### -->
<sect1 id="panelmove">
<title>Creating, Moving, and Removing Panels</title>
<sect2 id="paneladd">
<title>Creating new panels</title>
<para>
To add a new <interface>Panel</interface> to your desktop,
select
<menuchoice><guisubmenu>Panel</guisubmenu><guisubmenu>Create
panel</guisubmenu></menuchoice> from the <guimenu>Main
Menu</guimenu>. Choose from the following
<interface>Panel</interface> types:
</para>
<itemizedlist mark="bullet">
<listitem>
<para>
<guilabel>Menu Panel</guilabel> — The <interface>Menu
Panel</interface> is a special <interface>Panel</interface>
which is always placed at the top of your screen and
contains several pull-down menus. These are
<guimenu>Programs</guimenu>, <guimenu>Favorites</guimenu>,
<guimenu>Settings</guimenu>, <guimenu>Desktop</guimenu>, and
a special menu which provides quick access to GNOME-related
Internet resources (look for the bullet hole icon). This
<interface>Panel</interface> can also hold the other objects
which other <interface>Panel</interface>s can hold, but it
does not have the configuration properties which other
<interface>Panel</interface>s have. Note that the
<interface>Menu Panel</interface> is more restrictive than
other <interface>Panel</interface>s, and some normal
<interface>Panel</interface> operations, such as moving the
<interface>Panel</interface>, cannot be performed on it.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<guilabel>Edge Panel</guilabel> — An <interface>Edge
Panel</interface> is exactly like the main
<interface>Panel</interface> that starts up with GNOME; it
stretches along the whole length of one of screen edges. By
selecting this type of <interface>Panel</interface>, you
may add a new <interface>Panel</interface> to another edge
of your screen to give yourself more functionality.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<guilabel>Aligned Panel</guilabel> — An
<interface>Aligned Panel</interface> is also positioned
along one of the screen edges. But unlike an <interface>Edge
Panel</interface>, an <interface>Aligned Panel</interface>
will not stretch across the entire edge of the screen it is
on; It will only stretch as much as necessary to display
the icons and applets it contains. It can be positioned
either at one of the corners (in this case, it will stretch
towards the opposite corner) or at the center of the edge
(in this case, it will stretch in both directions,
automatically recentering when you add new objects).
</para>
<para>
If an <interface>Aligned Panel</interface> is aligned with
one of the corners, the hide buttons will work slightly
differently than for an <interface>Edge Panel</interface>.
The hide button closest to the edge of your screen will hide
the <interface>Panel</interface> as usual but the other hide
button will send the whole <interface>Panel</interface> to
the opposite corner. When the latter move is made it will
not hide the <interface>Panel</interface> since it is
changing the side of the screen it resides on. If you want
to hide it you will have to press the hide button once again.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<guilabel>Sliding Panel</guilabel> — A
<interface>Sliding Panel</interface> is very similar to an
<interface>Aligned Panel</interface>, but can be placed
anywhere along the screen edge, not necessarily in one of
the corners or in the center. As you add objects, it will
only grow in one direction — it won't automatically
recenter.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<guilabel>Floating Panel</guilabel> — A
<interface>Floating Panel</interface> can be placed anywhere
on your screen, not necessarily along one of the edges.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<tip>
<title>Changing Panel Type</title>
<para>
You can also change type of existing panel — for example,
convert edge panel to a floating panel, see <xref
linkend="panelproperties">.
</para>
</tip>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="panelmoving">
<title>Moving Panels</title>
<para>
Any <interface>Panel</interface> you have on your desktop(except
a <interface>Menu Panel</interface>) can be
moved by pressing the middle mouse button, or by simultaneously
pressing the left and right mouse buttons, while dragging the
<interface>Panel</interface> to
the desired position on your screen. If you do not have a middle
mouse button and did not configure your mouse to emulate a
middle button you may also move a <interface>Panel</interface>
by changing its location in the <interface>Panel
properties</interface> dialog. You can read more about this in
<xref linkend="panelproperties"> of this documentation.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="panelremoving">
<title>Removing Panels</title>
<para>
To remove an existing <interface>Panel</interface>, right-click
on it and choose
<menuchoice><guisubmenu>Panel</guisubmenu><guisubmenu>Remove
this panel</guisubmenu></menuchoice>. If the
<interface>Panel</interface> is not empty, you will be prompted
to confirm.
</para>
<note>
<title>Removing Your Only Panel</title>
<para>
You must have at least one <interface>Panel</interface>
running at all times. GNOME will not allow you to remove your
only <interface>Panel</interface>.
</para>
</note>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<!-- ############### Global Panel Preferences ################## -->
<sect1 id="globalpanelprefs">
<title>Global Panel Preferences</title>
<para>
To start configure the behavior of all of your
<interface>Panel</interface>s, select
<menuchoice><guisubmenu>Panel</guisubmenu> <guisubmenu>Global
Preferences</guisubmenu></menuchoice> from the <link
linkend="mainmenu"><guimenu>Main Menu</guimenu></link>.
</para>
<para>
This will open the <interface>Global Panel
Preferences</interface> dialog. (This dialog is a
component of the <application>GNOME Control
Center</application>). With this dialog you can control many
properties shared by all of your <interface>Panel</interface>s.
<figure>
<title>The Global Panel Configuration Dialog</title>
<screenshot>
<screeninfo>The Global Panel Configuration Dialog</screeninfo>
<graphic fileref="./figures/glob_pref_anim"
format="png" srccredit="muet">
</graphic>
</screenshot>
</figure>
</para>
<para>
The <interface>Global Panel Configuration</interface> dialog
contains the following five tabs:
<guilabel>Animation</guilabel>, <guilabel>Buttons</guilabel>,
<guilabel>Panel Objects</guilabel>, <guilabel>Menu</guilabel>, and
<guilabel>Miscellaneous</guilabel>. Each of these tabs is
explained below.
</para>
<sect2 id="animtab">
<title>Animation Tab</title>
<itemizedlist mark="bullet">
<listitem>
<para>
<guilabel>Enable animations</guilabel> — This allows
<interface>Panel</interface>s and drawers to animate as the
hide and unhide.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<guilabel>Constant speed animations</guilabel> — By
default, the animations start slowly, but then accelerate. If
you enable this option, the animations will not use any
acceleration.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<guilabel>[Animation speed] Auto hide</guilabel> — This
controls the speed of animation for any
<interface>Panel</interface> which is set to hide automatically
when the mouse leaves the <interface>Panel</interface>. The
slowest setting is 1, and the fastest is 100.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<guilabel>[Animation speed] Explicit hide</guilabel> — This
controls the hide speed when you press a <interface>Panel</interface>'s
<guibutton>Hide Button</guibutton>. The slowest setting is 1,
and the fastest is 100.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<guilabel>[Animation speed] Drawer sliding</guilabel> —
This controls how fast a drawer menu will raise when you
press a drawer button on a <interface>Panel</interface>. The
slowest setting is 1, and the fastest is 100.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<guilabel>[Auto hide] Delay (ms)</guilabel> — If you have
a <interface>Panel</interface> set to minimize automatically
after the mouse leaves the <interface>Panel</interface>
this will allow you to control how much time passes before it
minimizes. The <interface>Panel</interface>
will start the time count once the mouse is no longer over
it. It will appear again when the mouse is passed over the
portion of the <interface>Panel</interface> that remains
visible. This time is measured in milliseconds.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<guilabel>[Auto hide] Size (pixels)</guilabel> —
This determines the number of pixels that show when a
<interface>Panel</interface> is minimized, for any
<interface>Panel</interface> which is set to hide automatically.
To maximize the <interface>Panel</interface>, the pointer must
enter the <interface>Panel</interface> area.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="launchtab">
<title>Buttons Tab</title>
<para>
In this section, you can set the
appearance of the various types of buttons: launcher buttons, menu
buttons, drawer buttons, and special buttons(such as the <link
linkend="logoutbutton">Logout Button</link> and the <link
linkend="lockbutton">Lock Button</link>).
</para>
<itemizedlist mark="bullet">
<listitem>
<para>
<guilabel>Button Type</guilabel> — Select the type of
button you wish to configure.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<guilabel>Tiles enabled</guilabel> — This checkbox will
enable background tiles for buttons of the given type on the
<interface>Panel</interface>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<guilabel>Normal tile</guilabel> — This shows the image
used for the tile in the up position (inactive, not
pressed). To choose another image file, just click on the
image, and it will launch the icon browser. Tiles must be
enabled to access this option.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<guilabel>Clicked tile</guilabel> — This shows the image
used for the tile in the down position (active, pressed). To
choose another image file, just press on the image, and it will
launch the icon browser. Tiles must be enabled to access this
option.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<guilabel>Border width (tile only)</guilabel> — This
determines the width of the border around an icon. For example,
if you set border width equal to 5, this will ensure that at
least 5 pixels of the tile will be shown on every side of the
icon; if necessary, the icon will be cropped. This is very
useful if you have an icon that would normally cover up a tile.
Tiles must be enabled to access this option.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<guilabel>Depth (displacement when pressed)</guilabel> —
This determines the depth an icon will displace when
pressed. Tiles must be enabled to access this option.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>
This tab also contains 3 options which affect all types
of buttons simultaneously:
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
<guilabel>Make buttons flush with panel edge</guilabel>
— This allows you to align the button with
the edge of the <interface>Panel</interface>. If this
option is not set then the border width setting is obeyed.
By default this option is off.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<guilabel>Show button tiles only when cursor is over
the button</guilabel> — If this option is enabled, the
tiles will only appear when mouse cursor is over the button.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<guilabel>Prelight buttons on mouseover</guilabel>
— Choosing this option will make the buttons
brighten up when the mouse cursor is over them.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="appletstab">
<title>Panel objects Tab</title>
<para>
This tab shows some options related to the placement and moving
of objects on the <interface>Panel</interface>.
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
<guilabel>Default movement mode</guilabel> — Here
you can choose the default mode for moving objects on
the <interface>Panel</interface>. Possible variants are
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
<emphasis>Switched</emphasis> —
When the object you are moving hits another object,
they switch places.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<emphasis>Free</emphasis> — When
the object you are moving hits another object, it
"jumps" over it, so no other object is disturbed.
This is a convenient option if you like the
current arrangement of objects on your
<interface>Panel</interface> and want to leave the
other objects in place.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<emphasis>Push</emphasis> — The object you are
moving pushes all other objects in front of it, like
a snow plow.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>
You can override the default movement mode by dragging
an object while holding <keycap>Ctrl</keycap> (for
switched movement), <keycap>Alt</keycap> (for free
movement), or <keycap>Shift</keycap> (for push movement)
button pressed.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<guilabel>Padding</guilabel> — This changes
the amount of space (padding) between objects on the
<interface>Panel</interface>. It is measured in pixels.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="menutab">
<title>Menu Tab</title>
<para>
In this tab, you can set the options determining the
appearance of <interface>Panel</interface> menus.
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
<guilabel>Use large icons</guilabel> — This will use
large icons (rather than the default size) in menus. This is only
practical for those with high resolution screens (1280x1024 and
higher).
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<guilabel>Show [...] buttons</guilabel> — This will add
small buttons labelled by three dots (...) to all the items of
the <guimenu>Main Menu</guimenu>. Clicking on such a button
with the left mouse button will bring the
<guimenu>pop-up</guimenu> menu for this item, i.e. the same
menu which you get by clicking on the menu item with the right
mouse button.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<guilabel>Show popup menus outside of panels</guilabel> —
When this button is on, it allows pop-up menus to appear away
from the <interface>Panel</interface>. When toggled off, the
pop-ups will appear over the <interface>Panel</interface>. This
can be useful on smaller screens or cluttered desktops.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<guilabel>Keep menus in memory</guilabel> — This will
keep your menus in memory so that they do not rescan for added
items. This can increase the speed of GNOME, but may also
result in you missing new items added to your menu.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<guilabel>Global menu</guilabel> — This
allows you to configure the <link linkend="globalmenu">
<guimenu>Global Menu</guimenu></link>
which you get by right-clicking on a
<interface>Panel</interface>, or by using
the keyboard shortcut. For each of the possible submenus
(<guisubmenu>Programs</guisubmenu>,
<guisubmenu>Favorites</guisubmenu>, etc.), you can choose
whether it should be included as a part of the <guimenu>Global
Menu</guimenu>, as a submenu, or not included at all. A
description of these submenus is given in <xref
linkend="submenus">.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="misctab">
<title>Miscellaneous Tab</title>
<para>
The <guilabel>Miscellaneous</guilabel> tab contains options for various
customizable behavior that didn't fit anywhere else.
</para>
<itemizedlist mark="bullet">
<listitem>
<para>
<guilabel>Tooltips enabled</guilabel> — This option
defines whether GNOME should show a tooltip when the
pointer pauses on a <interface>Panel</interface> item.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<guilabel>Close drawer if a launcher inside it is
pressed</guilabel> — By default drawers will remain open
when you select an item within one. This can be annoying as the
drawer will remain open until you close it with a mouse
click. With this option selected drawers will close
automatically when you select any item within one.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<guilabel>Raise panels on mouse-over</guilabel> — If you
are using a window manager that is not GNOME compliant it will
not understand its relationship with the
<interface>Panel</interface>. This can cause
your <interface>Panel</interface> to be covered by
applications. If you enable this feature you can have the
<interface>Panel</interface> automatically raise when your
mouse is over it.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<guilabel>Keep panel below windows</guilabel> — If you
are using a GNOME compliant window manager, the window manager
will understand its relationship with the
<interface>Panel</interface>. If you choose
this feature the window manager and GNOME will allow
applications to appear over the
<interface>Panel</interface>. This can be useful on
smaller screens.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<guilabel>Confirm removal of panels with a
dialog</guilabel> — If this option is enabled,
GNOME will ask for confirmation before removing a
<interface>Panel</interface>.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>
This tab also allows you to configure some global key
bindings. You can define key bindings for the <link
linkend="globalmenu"><guimenu>Global Menu</guimenu></link>(ie.
<guimenu>Popup Menu</guimenu>) and
for the <link linkend="runbutton"><interface>Run
Program</interface></link> dialog. (The default key bindings for
these are
<keycombo action=simul>
<keycap>Alt</keycap>
<keycap>F1</keycap>
</keycombo>
and
<keycombo action=simul>
<keycap>Alt</keycap>
<keycap>F2</keycap>
</keycombo>
respectively.) To
change these key bindings, select a key from the drop-down list
or press the <guibutton>Grab key…</guibutton> button and then
press the desired key.
</para>
<note>
<title>Using the Menu and Window keys</title>
<para>
You should be able to use the special <keycap>Menu</keycap>
and <keycap>Windows</keycap> keys for keybindings. If you
have problems with using these keys, the most probable reason
is that your X server was incorrectly configured: the
keyboard type chosen during installation does not match
your actual keyboard. If you are using
<application>XFree86</application> server, you can fix it by
manually editing the configuration file. This file, named
<filename>XF86Config</filename>, is usually located in
the <filename class="directory">/etc</filename> or <filename
class="directory">/etc/X11</filename>
directory. Open this file with any text editor (not a
word-processor!) and find the line containing the word
<literal>XkbModel</literal>. Change it to read
<programlisting>
XkbModel "pc104"
</programlisting>
You must be root (system administrator) to do this. Now,
logout of GNOME and restart the X server by simultaneously
pressing <keycombo> <keycap>Ctrl</keycap>
<keycap>Alt</keycap> <keycap>Backspace</keycap> </keycombo>.
</para>
</note>
<warning>
<title>Use Caution When Editing XF86Config</title>
<para>
Making a mistake while editing the <filename>XF86Config</filename>
file can make your keyboard or screen unusable in X
Windows. Before editing this file, you should make a backup copy of
it and make sure you know how to restore it from the backup file
without using X Windows or GNOME, i.e., from a terminal. If
you don't know how to do this, then do not edit this file.
</para>
</warning>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<!-- ############### Individual Panel Properties ################ -->
<sect1 id="panelproperties">
<title>Individual Panel Properties</title>
<para>
<indexterm id="idx-a62"> <primary>Panel</primary>
<secondary>Individual Panel Properties</secondary>
</indexterm>
<indexterm id="idx-a63">
<primary>Panel</primary> <secondary>properties</secondary>
</indexterm>
In addition to global Panel properties, described in <xref
linkend="globalpanelprefs">, some properties can be configured
individually for each <interface>Panel</interface>. This
includes <interface>Panel</interface> type (Edge,
Aligned, Sliding, Floating), size, location, background color,
and hiding preferences. To change these properties for a
<interface>Panel</interface>,
click on it with the right mouse button and select
<menuchoice><guimenu>Panel</guimenu>
<guisubmenu>Properties</guisubmenu></menuchoice>. You may also
press the <guibutton>Main Menu</guibutton> button and select
<menuchoice><guimenu>Panel</guimenu>
<guisubmenu>Properties</guisubmenu></menuchoice>.
</para>
<para>
From the <guisubmenu>Properties</guisubmenu> submenu, you can
choose <guimenuitem>All properties...</guimenuitem>, which will
launch the <interface>Panel properties</interface> dialog. If you
are already familiar with this dialog, you can more quickly
change some of the properties — say,
<interface>Panel</interface> size or type
— by selecting the appropriate item in the
<guisubmenu>Properties</guisubmenu> menu.
</para>
<para>
The <interface>Panel properties</interface> dialog contains two
tabs to help you set the active <interface>Panel</interface>
properties: <guilabel>Edge
Panel</guilabel> (or <guilabel>Aligned</guilabel>, … -
depending on your <interface>Panel</interface> type) and
<guilabel>Background</guilabel>. Both of these tabs are explained
below.
</para>
<sect2 id="edgetab">
<title>Edge Panel Tab</title>
<figure>
<title>Panel Edge Properties Dialog</title>
<screenshot>
<screeninfo>Panel Edge Properties Dialog</screeninfo>
<graphic fileref="./figures/panel_props_edge"
format="png" srccredit="muet">
</graphic>
</screenshot>
</figure>
<itemizedlist mark="bullet">
<listitem>
<para>
<guilabel>Panel Position</guilabel> — This changes
the position of the <interface>Panel</interface> on the screen. For
<interface>Edge Panel</interface>, you must specify an
edge (<guilabel>Top</guilabel>,
<guilabel>Right</guilabel>, <guilabel>Left</guilabel> or
<guilabel>Bottom</guilabel>). For <interface>Aligned
Panel</interface>, you have to specify an edge and one of
the edge's ends or the center. For <interface>Sliding
Panel</interface>, you must specify the edge and offset
from one of the corners (in pixels). Finally, for
<interface>Floating Panel</interface> you must specify
orientation (horizontal or vertical) and position of
<interface>Panel</interface>'s left top corner (relative
to the left top corner of the screen and measured in pixels).
</para>
<para>
The <interface>Panel</interface> will change position once
you have pressed the <guibutton>Apply</guibutton> or
<guibutton>OK</guibutton> button.
</para>
<tip>
<title>Manually Moving a Panel</title>
<para>
You can also change <interface>Panel</interface>
position by dragging it with the middle mouse button to
the new location.
</para>
</tip>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<guilabel>Panel size</guilabel> — Here you can
choose the <interface>Panel</interface> width. The default
size is 48 pixels, which is
also the default size of icons used by GNOME. Users with low
screen resolution might want to decrease the
<interface>Panel</interface> size to
free some screen space; conversely, users with high
resolution displays may try using larger
<interface>Panel</interface> sizes.
</para>
<para>
Changing <interface>Panel</interface> size automatically
resizes all the icons on this <interface>Panel</interface>,
which can lead to some quality loss. Also,
the <interface>Panel</interface> will ask all the applets to resize
themselves. Most of the applets will comply; however, if
some applets do not obey this request, then the
<interface>Panel</interface> will resize itself so that it
can fit all the applets.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<indexterm id="idx-a64"> <primary>Panel</primary>
<secondary>Auto-hide</secondary>
</indexterm>
<guilabel>Hiding</guilabel> — In this section, you
can choose whether you want to <guilabel>Enable
Auto-hide</guilabel> — that is, have the
<interface>Panel</interface> automatically hide when
the mouse is not over the <interface>Panel</interface>. The
autohide parameters
can be configured in the <link linkend="animtab">Global
Preferences dialog</link>. If you choose to auto-hide, you
might want to disable the hide buttons here as well. You
may also disable the hide button arrows graphics on the
hide buttons.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="panelbacktab">
<title>Background Tab</title>
<indexterm id="idx-a65">
<primary>Panel</primary> <secondary>Background</secondary>
</indexterm>
<figure>
<title>Panel Background Properties Dialog</title>
<screenshot>
<screeninfo>Panel Background Properties Dialog</screeninfo>
<graphic fileref="./figures/panel_props_back"
format="png" srccredit="muet">
</graphic>
</screenshot>
</figure>
<para>
These options allow you to change the background of the
<interface>Panel</interface>
itself. You may choose, if you wish, to have the
<guilabel>Standard</guilabel>, <guilabel>Pixmap</guilabel>, or
<guilabel>Color</guilabel> background. The standard look for
the <interface>Panel</interface> is determined by the GTK theme
you are running at the
time (you can configure the GTK theme using the
<application>GNOME Control Center</application>). The
<guilabel>Pixmap</guilabel> option allows you to choose an
image to tile or scale to the <interface>Panel</interface>. The
<guilabel>Color</guilabel> option allows you to specify a
particular color for the <interface>Panel</interface>.
</para>
<itemizedlist mark="bullet">
<listitem>
<para>
<guilabel>Color to use</guilabel> — If you choose to have
your <interface>Panel</interface> one color, this button will
launch a dialog which allows you to specify which color to use.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<guilabel>Image</guilabel> — If you wish to have a
<guilabel>Pixmap</guilabel>
for the background of your <interface>Panel</interface>, this
section of the dialog allows you to choose which image to use.
If you press the <guibutton>Browse</guibutton> button, you can
search for the file you want to use. The current filename is
shown to the left of this button. The window above it shows you
the preview of this background.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<tip>
<title>Drag and Drop With Images</title>
<para>
An easier way to change the background of your
<interface>Panel</interface> is to
drag and drop an image file from the <application>GNOME
File Manager</application> onto the
<interface>Panel</interface>. This will automatically
change the background of the <interface>Panel</interface> to
that image.
</para>
</tip>
<itemizedlist mark="bullet">
<listitem>
<para>
<guilabel>Don't scale image to fit</guilabel> — If this
button is checked, the background image will be tiled to cover
the <interface>Panel</interface>, rather than scaled.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<guilabel>Scale image (keep proportions)</guilabel> — If
this button is checked, the background image will be scaled as
much as possible preserving image's proportions, and then the
scaled image will be used to tile the
<interface>Panel</interface>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<guilabel>Stretch image (change proportions)</guilabel> —
If this button is checked, the background image will be
stretched in both dimensions to the size of the
<interface>Panel</interface>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<guilabel>Rotate image for vertical panel</guilabel> — If
this button is checked, the image will be rotated when you
change <interface>Panel</interface> orientation
(horizontal/vertical).
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<!-- ############### Current Bugs and Limitations ############### -->
<sect1 id="panelbugs">
<title>Current bugs and limitations</title>
<para>
Most of the things here are not really bugs; rather, they
describe situations when the <interface>Panel</interface>'s
behavior is not what you would expect.
</para>
<para>
You cannot place an ordinary file or directory on the
<interface>Panel</interface>. If you try to drag and drop a file
from the File Manager window to the
<interface>Panel</interface>, it won't work. The only type of
file that can be placed on the <interface>Panel</interface> are
<filename>.desktop</filename>
files, which describe launchers (and
<filename>.kdelnk</filename> files, which describe launchers in
the format used by K Desktop Environment); any directory dropped on the
<interface>Panel</interface> will be interpreted as a menu
— that is, all the
files other than <filename>.desktop</filename> files will be
ignored.
</para>
<para>
Editing menus other than the <guimenu>Main Menu</guimenu>
is rather confusing. <application>Menu Editor</application> at
the moment cannot be used for this, and the
<guimenuitem>Properties</guimenuitem> item of the right-click
menu is not too helpful either - for example, it doesn't allow
one to change the menu's icon (see <xref linkend="menusconf"> for
instructions for doing this). This will be improved in the next
release.
</para>
<para>
The <guimenu>Global Menu</guimenu> (which you get by
pressing the
<keycombo><keycap>Alt</keycap><keycap>F1</keycap></keycombo> key
on the keyboard or by
right-clicking on the <interface>Panel</interface>), and the
<guimenu>Main
Menu</guimenu> (which you get by clicking on the foot icon)
are configured separately. The reason is that you
can have several <guimenu>Main Menu</guimenu> buttons on
different <interface>Panel</interface>s.
</para>
<para>
The <guibutton>Screen Lock</guibutton> button does not lock the
screen if <guilabel>No Screensaver</guilabel> is set in the
<application>GNOME Control Center</application>.
</para>
<para>
The only way of changing a <interface>Panel</interface>'s type
(Edge, Aligned, etc.)
is by choosing <menuchoice><guisubmenu>Panel</guisubmenu> <guisubmenu>Properties</guisubmenu>
<guisubmenu>Type</guisubmenu> </menuchoice> from the
<guimenu>Main Menu</guimenu> or <guimenu>Global Menu</guimenu>:
you can not change <interface>Panel</interface> type in the
<interface>Panel Properties</interface> dialog. Conversely,
<menuchoice> <guisubmenu>Panel</guisubmenu><guisubmenu>Properties</guisubmenu>
<guisubmenu>Background type</guisubmenu></menuchoice> allows
you to change the background type (Pixmap/Color/Standard), but
not to choose the actual color or image to use.
</para>
</sect1>
<!-- ############### Authors ################## -->
<sect1 id="panel-authors">
<title>Authors</title>
<para>
<application>GNOME Panel</application> was written by many GNOME
developers; you can find a partial list in the
<interface>About</interface> dialog. By
the way: if you wonder what is the name of the animal shown in
the <interface>About</interface> dialog, it is called
"Gegl" and it has its own
<ulink type="http" url="http://www.gegl.org/">Web page</ulink>.
</para>
<para>
Please send all comments, suggestions, and bug reports to the
<ulink url="http://bugs.gnome.org/" type="http">GNOME bug
tracking database</ulink>. Instructions for submitting bug
reports can be found on-line at <ulink
url="http://bugs.gnome.org/Reporting.html" type="http">
http://bugs.gnome.org/Reporting.html</ulink>. You can also use
the <application>Bug Report Tool</application>
(<command>bug-buddy</command>), available in the
<guisubmenu>Utilities</guisubmenu> submenu of <guimenu>Main
Menu</guimenu>, for submitting bug reports.
</para>
<para>
This manual was written by Dave Mason
(<email>dcm@redhat.com</email>), Dan Mueth
(<email>d-mueth@uchicago.edu</email>), and Alexander Kirillov
(<email>kirillov@math.sunysb.edu</email>). Please send all
comments and suggestions regarding this manual to the GNOME
Documentation Project at <email>docs@gnome.org</email> or enter
your comments online using the <ulink type="http"
url="http://developer.gnome.org/projects/gdp/doctable/">GNOME
Documentation Status Table</ulink>.
</para>
</sect1>
<!--
<sect1 id="license">
<title>License</title>
<para>
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
modify it under the terms of the <ulink type="help"
url="gnome-help:gpl"><citetitle>GNU General Public
License</citetitle></ulink> as published by the Free Software
Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option)
any later version.
</para>
<para>
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
<ulink type="help" url="gnome-help:gpl"><citetitle>GNU General
Public License</citetitle></ulink> for more details.
</para>
<para>
A copy of the <ulink type="help"
url="gnome-help:gpl"><citetitle>GNU General Public
License</citetitle></ulink> is included with the GNOME documentation.
You may also obtain a
copy of the <ulink type="help" url="gnome-help:gpl"><citetitle>GNU
General Public License</citetitle></ulink> from the Free Software
Foundation by visiting <ulink type="http"
url="http://www.fsf.org/">their Web site</ulink> or by writing to
<address>
Free Software Foundation, Inc.
<street>59 Temple Place</street> - Suite 330
<city>Boston</city>, <state>MA</state> <postcode>02111-1307</postcode>
<country>USA</country>
</address>
</para>
</sect1>
-->
</chapter>
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