16.3.1.1. Login manager (root only)

The Appearance tab lets you edit the greeting string displayed on the login screen and choose a logo. A drop-down box offers you a choice of the GUI style of the login screen: either Windows or a Motif style. The Language option on this tab lets you select the default character encoding for the login manager.

The Fonts tab lets you choose the font style and size for the Greeting, Fail, and Standard screen messages. Select which type you want to configure from the drop-down list and click the Change Font button. The pop-up window shows a list of available fonts and lets you set the point size. Click the OK button to close the pop-up window. The font you have chosen is displayed in the Example area of the tab.

The Background tab lets you select the background for the login screen. Like the desktop background, you can choose a color or wallpaper to use.

The Users tab allows you to show a list of users on the login screen. The users are listed by username with a logo above the login boxes. A user can simply click her logo to automatically enter her name into the login box, but she still must supply her password. The tab contains listings for all users, selected users, and no-show users. You can select names from the lists and use the arrow buttons to move them from one box to another. Two options are available for who to display on the login screen. You can place names in the selected users list and click the Show Only Selected Users button. Or, you can edit the all users list and click the Show All Users But No-Show Users button. No-show users are user IDs that are used to control access-restricted system resources (e.g., root, news, and nobody).

The Sessions tab configures session settings. The drop-down list at the top sets who is allowed to shut down the system. You have the choices None, All, Root Only, and Console Only. The Commands section allows you to set the commands used for shutdown and restart. The Session Types section configures the list of session types that a user can log into from the login screen. The Default list contains the various environments that are installed on your system such as KDE and GNOME. You can add a new type or remove a type from the listing.

16.3.1.2. File manager

The Other tab allows you to enable URL-specific settings. If you have set certain properties to view a certain URL or local directory, like menu bar display or the view settings, you can have them saved for the next time you visit that URL. The Tree View Follows Navigation button causes the directory tree in the left pane of the file manager to match the current open folders in the right pane. The final settings on this page allow you to select the default programs the file manager uses for a terminal when you use Open Terminal from the File Menu and the editor used to view the source of documents.

16.3.1.3. Web browser

If your system is behind a firewall, you may need to use a proxy server for HTTP and FTP services. The Proxy tabs lets you enable the use of a proxy and configure it. Check the Use Proxy box, and supply the hostname or IP address for the proxy server and the port number to use. Some sites may not work properly when accessing them through a proxy server. The No Proxy For: box lets you specify a list of hostnames and domains that will not be accessed via the proxy server.

The HTTP tab sets a few of the parameters sent in HTTP requests by the browser. The Accept Languages box contains a list of two-letter abbreviations used to indicate the language that the browser can accept. The abbreviations, like en for English and fr for French, can be comma-or-space separated. The order of the list determines the preference of language. The Accept-Language HTTP request header is configured with this setting.

The Accept Character Sets box contains a list of character sets that the browser is capable of receiving. (This sets the Accept-Charset HTTP request header.) The list can accept the standardized character set strings, separated by spaces or commas. The Assume HTML button tells the browser to render as HTML documents whose type is not fully specified from the server response header.

16.3.1.4. Panel

The Panel tab contains settings for the location of the panel. You can choose to place it at the top, bottom, left side, or right side of the screen by clicking the appropriate radio button. Three settings are available to set the size of the panel to either Tiny, Normal, or Large. You also have choices for how the taskbar is displayed. If you do not want the taskbar to be displayed at all, click the Hidden radio button. If you want the taskbar displayed fully across the top or bottom of the screen, click either the Top or Bottom button. If you choose the Bottom option, the taskbar will appear just above the panel. Finally, the Top/Left option displays the taskbar at the top-left corner of your screen, with window buttons stacked on top of each other.

Figure 16-7. Panel options configuration

The Options tab contains the following additional settings:

Personal Menu Entries First

Check this box to display your personal menu section instead of the default system menu at the top of the main menu. The system menus will be contained in the default submenu.

Menu Folders First

Check this box if you want folders to appear at the top of your personal menu, above individual items. This setting can be overridden by customizing the menu order with the menu editor.

Clock Shows Time in AM/PM Format

This option enables AM/PM designation on your panel clock. Otherwise, the hour listing will range from 00 to 24.

Clock Shows Time in Internet Beats

This option allows you to have the panel clock display the Swatch-created time format, which divides a day into 1000 beats, in the GMT+1 time zone.

Additional options set the number of folder entries and file entries displayed in the Recent section of the disk navigator and the maximum number of files that can be displayed in a folder.

The Options section of the Disk Navigator tab contains buttons for the following settings: Show Dot Files (which shows the hidden files that start with a dot), Show Shared Section, Show Recent Section, Show Personal Section, Show Option Entry, and Ignore Case When Sorting. There is also a selection for the default terminal application to use.

16.3.2.1. Background

If you would like to use an image file as wallpaper on the background, select it from the drop-down list, or click the Browse button to look for the image on the filesystem. The Arrangement setting determines how the image file is laid out. You can choose from the basic tiling layout to such effects as symmetrical mirroring. You can also choose a random background. A new image file and settings will be used every session.

16.3.2.2. Borders

Magic Borders sets up "snap-to" zones around windows and at the edge of screens. You can set the width of zones, in pixels, in which moved windows will be placed.

16.3.2.3. Colors

16.3.2.4. Fonts

16.3.2.5. Desktop icons

Labels for icons are displayed with transparent backgrounds, allowing the background to be visible underneath them by default. Uncheck the Transparent Text for Desktop Icons box if you would like to view the background box of the label. You can set the color of text labels by clicking the Icon Foreground Color button. If backgrounds are nontransparent, you can choose their color by clicking the Icon Background Color button.

The final setting on this tab allows you to show hidden files (files that begin with a dot) on the desktop.

16.3.2.6. DPMS

16.3.2.7. Theme manager

Figure 16-8. Theme Manager installer

If you select a theme from the list, a sample desktop image using the theme is displayed on the tab, with a short text description. If you would like to apply a new theme, select from the list and click the Apply button. The selected theme will be copied to the user's theme manager work directory (~/.kde/share/apps/kthememgr/Work).

You can also manage installed themes on the Installer tab. To install a new theme that you have downloaded, click the Add button. Specify the filename and location of the theme's .tgz file in the pop-up dialog box and click OK. The Save button lets you save the currently configured theme as local or save a global theme as local. The Save As button saves the currently configured theme as a separate local package without altering the original theme. The Create button works similarly, allowing you to copy your current working theme as a new local theme package. The Remove button deletes a local theme or inactivates a global theme.

The Contents tab shows the components that are configured by a theme. A theme may not have settings available for all the listed components. If a theme configures a specific component, it is listed as available. Otherwise, the component is listed as empty. Use the checkboxes to select which theme components you want to use. If you choose to not activate a specific component, information on that component from a previous theme will be used if its information is still in the theme manager work directory. If you don't want this to happen, activate the component, even if it is listed as empty, and default settings will be used.

The About tab shows you author and version information for a selected theme.

16.3.2.8. Language

16.3.2.9. Screensaver

The Settings section allows you to set the amount of time the system is inactive before the screensaver starts. Type in the number of minutes in the Wait For box to set this time. If you check the Require Password box, the user must supply her password before returning to the desktop. You can also check the box to Show Password as Stars to display the password text as asterisks, instead of the field being blank. The Priority control lets you adjust the priority that the screensaver process has when it is run. If you have lots of important server activity, for example, set the priority to low so the performance of other programs will not suffer.

16.3.4.1. Keyboard

16.3.4.2. Mouse

16.3.5.1. Global keys

16.3.5.2. Standard keys

16.3.7.1. Advanced

Ctrl-Tab walks through desktops

This checkbox sets the Ctrl-Tab key combination to switch through your virtual desktops. It is checked by default.

Alt-Tab is limited to current desktop

This checkbox restricts the action of the Alt-Tab key combination to switch through windows on the current desktop only. It is checked by default.

Alt-Tab mode

This setting describes the style of using Alt-Tab to switch through windows. The KDE setting uses a graphical style. When you press Alt-Tab, a window appears indicating the current window and other available windows. The CDE setting switches directly without a graphic.

Grab the Right Mouse Button

This setting is on by default. It sets the control of the right mouse button to KDE by default. Some non-KDE applications require control over the right mouse button. If you need control for these applications, unselect this setting.

The Filters section of the Advanced tab contains settings that let you customize window styles or functions for application windows based on their titles or classes. The drop-down box contains a list of settings that you can define for a filtered window. After the Windows Will label, you can choose the following settings:

• Have tiny decorations

• Have no decorations

• Never gain focus

• Start as sticky

• Be excluded from session management

Select a setting, then define the window in the next section, which begins with If They Match the Following. Here you have two boxes, Titles and Classes. You can define one or both properties. Put the title of the application window in the Title box and the application's class name in the Classes box. (This is usually the capitalized name of the application, preceded by an X, for example, XEmacs for an Emacs window.) You can specify more than one title or class for a window setting.

16.3.7.3. Mouse

Figure 16-9. Mouse button configuration settings

16.3.7.4. Properties

Vertical maximization only by default

Check this box to cause the maximize window command to expand a window only to the full screen height, but leaving its width unchanged.

Display content in moving windows

Check this box to enable the display of window contents when the window is moved.

Display content in resizing window

Check this box to enable the display of window contents when the window is resized.

Resize animation

This slider controls the animation of windows that are maximized or minimized. Setting the slider all the way to the left (None), disables animation, and windows will maximize or minimize instantly. You can set the speed of the animation faster by setting the slider farther to the right.

Smart (default)

This setting uses a placement scheme that attempts to keep windows as uncluttered as possible.

Cascade

This setting attempts to place windows in a cascaded pattern, with a set of offset positions available on each desktop.

Interactive

This setting enables the "allowed overlap" setting. If a window can be placed on the desktop without overlapping another by the specified percentage, it will be placed automatically. If the overlap exceeds the setting, you will be given manual control of the window placement.

Random

This setting randomly places a new window on the desktop.

Manual

This setting opens a window with the mouse pointer activated in move mode on the titlebar. Move the window to the desired position and click once to place the window.

Click to focus

The default focus policy requires a mouseclick in a window to give it focus and raise it (bring it to the foreground). This setting uses a graphical Alt-Tab style to switch through windows on a desktop.

Focus follows mouse

This setting causes a window to receive focus when the mouse pointer enters it. The window will not come to the foreground unless the Auto Raise button is checked. The window will maintain focus until the pointer enters another window.

Classic focus follows mouse

This setting is similar to the Focus Follows Mouse setting, except that the window loses focus when the mouse pointer moves out of it. If the pointer is not in a window, no window has focus. Also, Alt-Tab switches directly among windows, without showing the graphical listing of windows.

Classic sloppy focus

This setting is similar to Focus Follows Mouse, with focus remaining in a window even when a mouse pointer leaves it. The only difference is that the nongraphical Alt-Tab style is used.

For any of the nondefault settings, you need to check either the Auto Raise or Click Raise boxes to be able to raise windows to the foreground. Click Raise raises a window when you click on it. Auto Raise raises a window after a short delay, which you can set with the Delay slider.

16.3.7.5. Titlebar

This tab contains many settings for the appearance and action of window titlebars. The Title Alignment sets the positioning of the window title in the titlebar to either Left, Middle, or Right.

The Appearance settings adjust the graphical decoration of the titlebar:

Shaded Vertically

Uses a two-color background in a top-to-bottom gradient.

Shaded Horizontally

Uses a two-color background in a left-to-right gradient.

Plain

Uses a solid color for the background.

Pixmap

Uses a pixmap image for the titlebar background. This enables the Pixmap settings, which allow you to choose images for both active and inactive titlebars. If you don't want the image to appear under the window title text for better clarity, check the box labeled No Pixmap Under Text.

The checkbox labeled Active Title has Shaded Frame gives a shadowed, 3D appearance to active titlebars.

The Mouse Action options specify the action of double-clicking on a window titlebar. The available options are (Un)Shade (the default), (Un)Maximize, Iconify, (Un)Sticky, and Close. The settings identified with (Un) are toggle settings.