Mike
McBride
Jost
Schenck
29/01/2001
1.00.00
KDE
KControl
desktop

# Desktop

This module is used to change some of the most commonly needed options for the KDE desktop.

This module has four tabs, labeled: Desktop, Appearance, Number of Desktops and Borders.

## Desktop Tab

The Desktop tab is divided into 3 sections: Desktop Icons/Menus, Clicks on the desktop, and Pathnames.

### Desktop Icons and Menus

In the top section, you can see three options on the left:

Align Icons Vertically on Desktop

  If this option is enabled, KDE will place all of the icons in columns along the left side of the screen whenever you select "Arrange Icons" from the Desktop Menu. If this option is disabled, then KDE will place all icons in a row along the top of the screen.

Show Hidden Files on Desktop

  If this option is enabled, then all hidden files will appear on the desktop. Generally this only clutters your desktop area, but if you are often working with hidden files or directories, this can be useful.

  Be very careful when deleting or modifying hidden files. Many of these files are configuration files and are essential for the correct operation of your computer.

Enable Desktop Menu

  This option determines whether there is a menu across the top of the KDE Desktop.

To the right of these options you can see a list titled Show Previews for. The KDE desktop has a preview feature for HTML files, images and text files: if you enable previews for one of these, files of that particular file type will not be represented by standard icons on the desktop, but will instead be shown as miniature previews. On slow computers, the previews can take some time to show up, so you might not want to enable this feature.

### Clicks on the Desktop

The mouse button section allows you to determine what happens when you click one of the three mouse buttons on the Desktop (where there is no window).

Not all mice have three buttons. Two button mice can usually activate the "Middle button" by pressing both the Left and Right mouse buttons at the same time.

For each of the three mouse buttons, you can select:

No Action

  When you use this mouse button, nothing happens.

Window list menu

  This brings up a submenu with all the virtual desktops. Under each virtual desktop, you can select any window currently located on that desktop. Once selected, KDE will switch to that desktop, and place the focus on that window.

Desktop Menu.

  This brings up a submenu with commands specific to KDE. You can create icons, edit bookmarks, cut and paste, get help, run commands, configure KDE, arrange icons, lock the screen and log out of KDE. The exact content of the menu varies depending on the current status of KDE.

Application Menu

  This brings up the Application Menus (also know as the "K Menus"), so you can start a new application.

### Pathnames

You can use this section to configure where Desktop files, Trash files, and Autostart files are stored on your computer as well as the standard path for documents. By changing the values in the first three of these paths, you will automatically move the files from their previous to their new location.

If you are reading this, you probably shouldn't be changing the Pathnames. You can render your system unusable if incorrect values are entered here.

## Appearance Tab

The appearance tab has 6 options.

Font Size

  You can change the relative size of the text on the Desktop. Choices are: Small, Medium and Large.

Standard Font

  This option can be used to change the typeface used on the desktop. Simply select your typeface from the dropdown box.

Normal Text Color

  This option lets you select the color of normal (or unhighlighted) text.

Text Background Color

  This option lets you select the background color of normal text. If left unchecked, the text has a transparent background.

Underline File Names

  Determines if file names are underlined on the Desktop.

## Number of Desktops

KDE offers you the possibility to have several virtual desktops. In this tab you can configure the number of desktops as well as their names. Just use the slider to adjust the number of desktops. You can assign names to the desktops by entering text into the text fields below.

## Borders

Magic borders is a feature of KDE to help keep your desktop neat. The idea behind magic borders, is to create an area around an object (either the desktop or a window). When another window is moved within this "magic borders area", the window is automatically placed right next to the object (this can be right next to another window, or at the edge of a desktop.

There are two slider bars in this section of the module.

The first slider bar is labeled "Border snap zone". This is an area around the edge of the desktop. You can use this slider bar to adjust the width/height of the area. Once a window is placed within this area of the screen, it automatically snaps to the outside edge of the screen.

The second slider is labeled "Window snap zone". This is an area around every window. You can use this slider to adjust the width of this "magic area". Once another window enters this "magic area", it automatically snaps to the edge of the original window. This helps you set two windows right next to each other.

You may have noticed that you cannot disable magic borders. If you do not want to have one or both magic border effects on your desktop, simply set the width of the "magic area" to zero. This will effectivly disable the "magic zone".

If the option Snap windows only when overlapping is enabled, windows won't already be snapped together when they just come near eachother. Instead, you have to move one window a bit over the other for the "snap" effect to happen.

## Section Author

This section written by:

Mike McBride mpmcbride7@yahoo.com.

Jost Schenck jost@schenck.de.