website view en/doc/handbook/desktop.html @ rev 169
en: Update Tazusb Manual (roadmap) and Edits
| author | Paul Issott <paul@slitaz.org> |
|---|---|
| date | Wed Sep 17 20:49:14 2008 +0000 (2008-09-17) |
| parents | 0b70fb72663e |
| children | 1a336180f07a |
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24 <h1><font color="#3E1220">SliTaz Handbook (en)</font></h1>
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31 <h2><font color="#DF8F06">SliTaz Desktop</font></h2>
33 <ul>
34 <li><a href="#intro">Introduction.</a></li>
35 <li><a href="#jwm">JWM.</a></li>
36 <li><a href="#lxpanel">LXPanel.</a></li>
37 <li><a href="x-window.html#openbox">Openbox.</a></li>
38 <li><a href="enlightenment.html">Enlightenment.</a></li>
39 </ul>
41 <a name="intro"></a>
42 <h3>Introduction</h3>
43 <p>
44 The default SliTaz desktop is brought to you by many different components.
45 JWM (Joe's Window Manager) and LXPanel combine to provide a Desktop providing
46 simplicity and functionality.
47 </p>
49 <a name="jwm"></a>
50 <h3>JWM - Joe's Window Manager</h3>
51 <p>
52 Joe's window manager, written in C is quick, simple, clean, stable and efficient.
53 JWM proposes a taskbar, a menu of icons and a
54 pager for the management of virtual desktops. The taskbar can also act as a dock.
55 In addition it is easily configurable with a single text file that can
56 change the menu, fonts and their sizes, and different colors.
57 </p>
59 <h4>Use and configure JWM</h4>
60 <p>
61 The application of Joe's Window Manager is very fast. To view the menu just
62 click somewhere on the desktop. You can resize a window through the edges or
63 corners, minimize or pass a virtual desktop to another via a pager. You
64 also have configurable keyboard shortcuts for faster access to the applications
65 that you often use. On SliTaz the system configuration file is
66 <code>/etc/jwm/system.jwmrc</code>. Apart from this file, each user can use
67 its own configuration file hidden in <code>~/.jwmrc</code>. This is a text file using XML
68 syntax, it can edited with a simple text editor - lines beginning with:
69 <code><!--</code> are comments that let you understand what each tag does.
70 </p>
71 <p>
72 To facilitate the customization of the desktop, SliTaz automatically copies
73 at the launch of the first (graphical) session, a system configuration file to
74 the root directory of the user. You can directly modify this file and test
75 without risk. To edit with your favorite text editor:
76 </p>
77 <pre>
78 $ geany $HOME/.jwmrc &
79 </pre>
80 <p>
81 To retrieve an original configuration file, you can copy the system configuration
82 file and rename it <code>.jwmrc</code> in your home directory:
83 </p>
84 <pre>
85 $ cp /etc/jwm/system.jwmrc $HOME/.jwmrc
86 </pre>
87 <p>
88 The tag <code>RootMenu</code> corresponds to the menu displayed by clicking on one of the
89 (three) buttons on the mouse. To add a category, you must use the tag: <code>Menu</code>
90 - this contains entries for various programs. Any entry in the JWM menu can
91 fit on one line. Example using the GQview image management application:
92 </p>
93 <pre class="script">
94 <Program icon="gqview.png" label="GQview">gqview</Program>
95 </pre>
96 <p>
97 There are still many opportunities to configure <code>RootMenu</code> according to the
98 mouse buttons; the choice of method to move windows, create groups, etc.
99 The Manual is available online at the official website of the project. To view
100 a list of command-line options, just type <code>jwm -h</code> in a terminal.
101 </p>
103 <h4>Create your own JWM style</h4>
104 <p>
105 Creating your own graphical style with JWM is relatively quick
106 and easy, the tags are clear and the attributes possible
107 are given in the comments. When preparing your work, you can
108 see your amendments by restarting the window manager from the
109 menu or via the <code>jwm -restart</code> command. In the configuration
110 file, style tags start after the <!-- Visual Styles --> comment. To
111 begin, here is a short list of the main style tags with a short
112 description:
113 </p>
114 <ul>
115 <li><code>Background</code> manages the wallpaper. This tag supports the
116 <code>solid</code>, <code>gradient</code>, <code>image</code> or <code>tile</code>
117 attributes, to respectively:- use a solid color, create a gradient,
118 display a resized image or tile an image.</li>
120 <li><code>BorderStyle</code> controls the windows border.</li>
122 <li><code>TrayStyle</code> controls a taskbar. The taskbar may, among other
123 things be automatically hidden or only fill a part of the
124 screen with the <code>width</code> attribute.</li>
126 <li><code>TrayListStyle</code> controls the style of the list of open windows
127 on the current desktop.</li>
129 <li><code>PagerStyle</code> controls the pager displaying different virtual
130 desktops (4 by default).</li>
132 <li><code>MenuStyle</code> defines the menu style.</li>
134 <li>The icons are defined by the <code>IconPath</code> tag, you can use your
135 own personal icons by specifing the full path to the directory
136 that contains them. Note that you can specify more than
137 one path, if you want, you can use your own icons <em>and</em> those
138 contained in the <code>/usr/share/pixmaps</code> and <code>/usr/share/icons</code>
139 system directories. SliTaz uses the Tango theme icons:
140 <a href="http://tango.freedesktop.org/">tango.freedesktop.org</a>
141 for the menu, they are 16x16 and are stored in
142 <code>/usr/share/icons/Tango</code>. You can add, edit, delete
143 these... If you want to install new icons in your user
144 space, we advise you to use <code>~/Picture/Icons</code> (set as default)
145 or a hidden directory <code>~/.Icons</code>.</li>
146 </ul>
147 <p>
148 The colors can be defined by their name or RGB number, such
149 as <code>#3A4956</code>. To use colors in their gradient mode, you must
150 specify the two colors separated by a colon, example
151 <code>#6C0023:#3E1220</code>. You can change fonts and their sizes by
152 using the <code>Font</code> tag. There are still some small things that
153 you can change to customize your desktop, such as the name
154 of a menu item and its icon. Before restarting JWM with your
155 new configuration file, you can check its syntax by using
156 the command: <code>jwm -p</code>. To explore further, the official
157 handbook describes all the tags, options and valid attributes.
158 You can view it online at the JWM website.
159 </p>
161 <h4>JWM website</h4>
162 <ul>
163 <li><a href="http://www.joewing.net/programs/jwm/"
164 >www.joewing.net/programs/jwm/</a> - The official website of
165 Joe's Window Manager, providing news and a comprehensive manual.</li>
166 <li>#jwm on irc.freenode.net - The JWM IRC discussion channel on
167 Freenode server.</li>
168 </ul>
170 <a name="lxpanel"></a>
171 <h3>LXPanel</h3>
172 <p>
173 LXPanel is part of the LXDE project and follows the Freedesktop standards. Menus
174 are dynamically generated by adding <code>.desktop</code> files to the
175 <code>/usr/share/applications</code> directory.
176 </p>
177 <h4>*.desktop files</h4>
178 <p>
179 A single .desktop file
180 can contain eight lines with respectively:-
181 the name (<code>Name</code>), generic name, comment, the command to
182 execute (<code>Exec</code>), icon, type and Freedesktop categories.
183 Example of a .desktop file:
184 </p>
185 <pre class="script">[Desktop Entry]
186 Name=XTerm
187 GenericName=Terminal
188 Comment=Run commands in a shell
189 Exec=xterm -bg black -fg white -cr orange -sb -bd violet -rightbar
190 Icon=xterm.png
191 Type=Application
192 Categories=Utility;Terminal;
193 </pre>
194 <p>
195 Note that the icons are located in the <code>/usr/share/icons</code> or
196 <code>/usr/share/pixmaps</code> directory. The <code>Categories</code>
197 entry states where the program will sit in the menu.
198 </p>
199 <p>
200 The system configuration file is located in <code>/etc/lxpanel</code>
201 and can also be stored locally in <code>~/.config</code>, though it is
202 recommended that you configure LXPanel graphically by using the
203 preferences entry in the main menu.
204 </p>
206 <h4>LXPanel configurator</h4>
207 <p>
208 The LXPanel configurator has 3 tabs:-
209 </p>
210 <ul>
211 <li><code>General</code> handles the position, size - either dynamic
212 or fixed, panel background and properties.</li>
213 <li><code>Plugins</code> lets you add, remove, edit and move plugins
214 around on the panel.</li>
215 <li><code>Applications</code> allows you to set preferred applications
216 like the file manager, terminal and logout command.</li>
217 </ul>
218 <p>
219 The official website for the LXDE project and LXPanel can be found
220 <a href="http://lxde.org/">here</a>.
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