21 – Making the Desktop Your Own

December 5, 2009 – 10:17 pm

Please note… This information no longer exists at the referenced locations. This is only a copy of what was available in 2003.

Basic Linux Training™

Making the Desktop Your Own

Table of Contents

Gnome is famous for being highly customizable. You can customize almost every feature globally or individually. For example, you can customize all the panels on the desktop, or just one.

Customization controls are scattered throughout the desktop. However, most of them are available from:

  • The Gnome Control Center icon on the panel.
  • The Settings menu.
  • Pop-up menus for different parts of the desktop.

This chapter mentions only the most common customization features. It directs you to where you can customize:

  • Display settings.
  • General settings for the Gnome desktop and the Sawfish window manager.
  • Program launchers (icons).
  • General desktop behavior, including confirmation dialogs.
  • The panel.
  • The menu.
  • Individual windows.
  • The program launched when a type of file is selected (mime Type).

For complete information about the features that you can customize, see the on-line Gnome help.

If a feature are unfamiliar to you, whenever possible, many customization settings let you use the Try and Revert buttons. Use the Try button to test the new settings, then the Revert button to reverse the changes.

Some changes may have no effect until you reboot or restart the X server.

If you change window managers, some of your configuration options may change.

This chapter assumes that you are working with a default desktop using the Sawfish window manager.

Configuring Monitor Color Display

If you are doing graphics work, or need to adjust your monitor’s display, select Settings > Imlib Configuration Options from the main menu.

You can edit:

  • Color palettes: The colors used for the desktop display.
  • Rendering: The technical aspects of displaying images, such as dithering and the cache size reserved by the desktop.
  • Display: Forcing selections if they are not used by your hardware. Otherwise, this tab is blank.
  • rgb Color correction: The calibration of basic colors for the display: Red, Green and Blue.

You can save configurations for the current user or, if you are logged in as root, for the entire system.

Changing these settings can worsen your display if you do not know what you are doing. Make changes carefully, and record original settings so that you can restore them.

Customizing General Settings for Gnome and Sawfish

You can customize settings for the behavior of Gnome, the Sawfish window manager, and your themes from the Control Center.

To customize general settings:

  • 1 – Do one of the following:
  • Select the Control Center icon from the panel.
  • From the menu, select Settings > gnome Control Center.
  • Middle-click on the workspace area to display a pop-up window, then select an item from the Customize menu.In all cases, the Control Center window opens.

  • 2 – Select the item to customize in the list in the left pane. Use the scroll bar to move up and down the list. Click on a top level item to see sub-items.

When an item is selected, you can open the Help topic for it from the menu bar of the window. Context help appears at the bottom of the window.

  • 3 – Make your changes using the controls in the right pane of the Control Center window.
  • 4 – Select the Try button to test your changes. If you change your mind, select the Revert button to return to the previous settings.

  • 5 – Select the OK button to save any changes, or the Cancel button to discard them.

Setting Global Options from the Control Center

Item to Customize Menu Item in the Control Center
Autostart programs Session > Startup Programs
Dialog windows User Interface > Dialogs
Keyboard Peripherals > Keyboard
Keyboard shortcuts Sawfish window manager > Shortcuts
MIME Types Document Handler > MIME Types
Mouse Peripherals > Mouse
Panel Desktop > Panel
Power management use Desktop > Screensaver
Screensaver Desktop > Screensaver
Sound, enabling support Sawfish window manager > Sound
Sounds Multimedia > Sound
Text editor Document Handler > Default Editor
Themes (colors, window frames, and other desktop appearances) Desktop > Themes
Virtual desktops Sawfish window manager > Workspaces
Wallpaper for desktop Desktop > Background
Web page display Document Handler > url Handlers
Window managers, installing and selecting Desktop > Window Manager
Windows, behavior and look Sawfish window manager (various sub-menus)

Customizing Program Launchers

A program launcher is a link to a file represented by an icon. Launchers can be added, deleted, or repositioned. You can also restore the default launchers that appear the first time that you start the system.

In most cases, the process for customizing launchers is the same, regardless of whether they are on the panel, a menu, or the desktop work space.

Adding Launchers

Adding a program launcher is the same process if you are adding it to the desktop workspace, the panel, or a menu.

To add an icon for a launcher:

  • 1 – Right click to display the pop-up menu for the part of the desktop:
  • On the desktop, select New > Launcher.
  • On the panel, select Panel > Add to Panel > Launcher.
  • On the main menus, select Add New Item to this menu (available only to the root user.In each case, the Desktop entry properties window opens.

  • 2 – Enter the information on the Basics tab. All except Comment are required fields:
  • Name: The text that displays below the icon.
  • Comment: Notes about the program that appears in tool tips. Not a required field.
  • Command: The file to which the launcher links.
  • Type: The type of launcher. Choices are Directory and Application.
  • 3 – Select the icon box and choose an icon.

By default, custom icons do not display in a directory on the desktop. To use custom icons, select from the desktop pop-up menu Desktop Properties > Caching > Allow customization of icons in icon view.

  • 4 – If the program is not designed to run in the X Window System, select the Run in terminal box.

You do not need to set anything on the Advanced tab for the launcher to work. Advanced tab settings matter mainly to makers of distributions or to system administrators working with multiple languages.

Deleting Launchers

Deleting an program launcher is the same process, regardless of whether you are adding it to the desktop workspace, the panel, or a menu.

To delete an icon for a launcher:

  • 1 – Right click to display the pop-up menu for the launcher:
  • On the desktop, do one of the following:
  • Select Delete. The launcher is permanently removed.
  • Select Move to Trash. The launcher is removed, but you may restore it later.
  • On the panel, select Remove from panel.
  • On the main menus, select Remove this item.
  • In each case, a confirmation window opens.

  • 2 – Select the Yes button to continue deleting.

Deleting a launcher does not delete the file or directory associated with it.

Launchers are links. They point to the files with which they are associated, but otherwise have no direct connection with them.

Recreating Default Launchers

The desktop installs with a number of default icons. To restore these defaults, right-click on the workspace and select Recreate Default Icons.

Positioning Desktop Launchers Automatically

  • 1 – Right-click on the workspace and select Desktop Properties. The Desktop Properties window opens.

  • 2 – Select the Desktop tab.The Icon position pane shows the automatic placement of icons. Icons can be arranged in vertical or horizontal rows.
  • 3 – To change the automatic positioning, click on the icon in the diagram that will be closest to the corner of the side of the desktop that the icons will be aligned to.This icon is always one at the end of a row in the diagram. However, it may be in the first or second row in the pane.Using this method, you can align icons to any side of the desktop.

  • 4 – Select Automatic icon placement or Snap icons to grid if you want either of these features. These features let you tidy the icons, but limit where you can place them.
  • 5 – Select the Apply button, then the OK button.

Customizing General Desktop Behavior

  • 1 – From the desktop pop-up menu, select Desktop Properties. The Desktop Properties window opens.

  • 2 – Edit the desktop behaviors. You can edit:
  • File display: Which files display, and how.
  • Confirmations: Which warnings to display when you are using files.
  • vfs (Virtual File system): Settings that affect how you manipulate remote files, especially on ftp sites.
  • Caching: How the desktop uses memory. This tab includes Allows customization of icons in icon view, which allows customs icons in sub-directories.
  • Desktop: How icons are positioned on the desktop. See Positioning Desktop Launchers Automatically.

Customizing the Panel

Panels may contain icons, draws, applets, and other features, such as the task bar. Right-clicking on the panel selects the pop-up menu. This menu includes items for the nearest panel item as well as for the panel.

From the pop-up menu, you can:

  • Remove from panel: Delete the closest item from the panel.
  • Move: Change the position of the closest item on the panel. The mouse cursor changes to a four way arrow, and the icon slides along the panel following the cursor’s movements. Left-click on the desktop when the panel is repositioned.
  • Properties: The icon’s settings. These icons are the same as those for an icon on the desktop or the main menus. See Customizing Program Launchers.
  • Global Preferences: Sets the default for all panel settings. in the Gnome Control Center.
  • Panel: Options for customizing the panel.

  • The panel options are:
  • Add to panel: Items that can be added to the panel, including applets, drawers, launchers, and icons for such desktop functions as Logout, Lock and Run.
  • Create panel: Add a new panel. Several types are available.
  • Remove this panel: Delete the panel from the desktop
  • Properties: How the panel opens and behaves. Options include the panel type, the hiding policy, the buttons to hide, the panel’s size, and background.

You can also add a launcher to the panel from the main menu. From the menu item’s pop-up menu, select Add this launcher to panel.

Customizing the Menu

  • 1 – Log in as root user.
  • 2 – From the menu bar, select Settings > Menu editor. The Menu editor opens.

If you want to add a launcher to a menu, you can also select Add new item to this menu on the pop-up menu. if you are logged in as the root user.

  • 3 – Enter the information for the icon. See Adding Launchers.
  • 4 – If you highlight an item in the tree in the left pane, you can also:
  • Add a new sub-menu.
  • Add a new menu item.
  • Delete an item or menu.
  • Move an item up in a menu.
  • Move an item down in a menu.
  • Sort a sub-menu in alphabetical order.

Adding Applets to the Panel

Applets are small Gnome programs that can be added to the panel. They range from the serious to the frivolous.

To add an applet to the panel, select it from the Applets sub-menu in the Gnome main menu. When the applet is selected, it displays on the panel.

Customizing Individual Windows

  • 1 – Right-click on the title bar to open the window menu.
  • 2 – Select from the following items:
  • Frame type: Sets which sides have a border or if a title bar displays.
  • Frame style: Apply an installed theme only to the open window.
  • History: Set whether the window’s position, size, or attributes (frame type and frame style) are remembered.
  • 3 – Select History > Remember attributes to keep the new settings the next time you open the window.

Starting Files With Programs: Setting MIME Types

You can configure your desktop so that you can start a program by clicking on a file associated with it. This association is known as a MIME type.

Setting up a MIME type requires two steps. First, you must add the MIME type. Then you must edit it.

Adding MIME Types

  • 1 – Do one of the following:
  • From the Control Center, select mime types.
  • From the menu, select Settings > Document Handlers > mime types.
  • From the menu of the file manager, select Commands > Edit mime types.
  • In all cases, the MIME type window of the Control Center opens.

  • 2 – Select the Add button. The Add new Mime Type window opens.

  • 3 – Enter the MIME Type.All types have a two-part name, with a forward slash separating the parts.The first part is the general category of file. Pre-defined general categories include application, audio, font, image, text, video and x-url.

    The second part is the specific file type. For example, image/tiff is the type for the tiff graphic format.

  • 4 – Enter the extensions normally associated with the type. Separate each extension by a comma.
  • 5 – If you choose, add two regular expressions associated with the type. Select the OK button. The type now opens in the alphabetical list of MIME types.

Now, you must edit the type to use it.

Editing a MIME Type

  • 1 – Select a type from the mime Type panel in the Control Center.
  • 2 – Select the Edit button. The setting window for the type opens.

  • 3 – Click on the icon box to select an icon for all files of the type.
  • 4 – Select the programs in which to open, view, and edit the typeFor each field, an entry must include a program, followed by %f.If necessary, you can use the Browse button to select a program.
  • 5 – Select the OK button. The MIME Type is now ready for use.

Deleting a MIME Type

  • 1 – Select a type from the mime Type panel in the Control Center.
  • 2 – Select the Delete button.

No confirmation is asked. The type is deleted as soon as you select the Delete button.

Pre-defined MIME types cannot be deleted.

Copyright © 2003 Henry White. Copyright © 2001 Progeny Linux Systems. Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU General Public License, Version 2.0 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation. A copy of the license is included in the file entitled “GNU General Public License” and must be included with all copies.

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