GNOME 2.14 Desktop User Guide

Managing Panels

The following sections describe how to manage your panels.

To interact with a panel, you must click on the vacant space on the panel, rather than any of the objects it holds. You can also middle-click or right-click on one of the hide buttons to select the panel, if the panel has no vacant space. If the hide buttons are not visible on a panel, modify the properties of the panel so that the hide buttons are visible.

Moving a Panel

Drag a panel to another side of the screen to move it there. Click on any vacant space on the panel to begin the drag.

A panel that is not set to expand to the full width of the screen can be dragged away from the edge of the screen and placed anywhere. See the section called “Panel Properties” for details on how to set a panel's expand property.

Panel Properties

You can change the properties of each panel, such as the position of the panel, the hide behavior, and the visual appearance.

To modify the properties of a panel, right-click on a vacant space on the panel, then choose Properties. The Panel Properties dialog contains two tabbed sections, General and Background.

General Properties Tab

In the General tab, you can modify panel size, position, and hiding properties. The following table describes the dialog elements on the General tabbed section:

Dialog Element	Description
Orientation	Select the position of the panel on your screen. Click on the required position for the panel.
Size	Use the spin box to specify the size of the panel.
Expand	By default, a panel expands to the full length of the edge of the screen where it is located. A panel that does not expand can be moved away from the screen edges to any part of the screen.
Autohide	Select this option if you want the panel to only be fully visible when the mouse pointer is over it. The panel hides off-screen along its principal edge, leaving a narrow part along the edge of the desktop. Move the mouse pointer over the visible part of the panel to make it move fully into the screen.
Show hide buttons	Select this option to display hide buttons at each end of your panel. Clicking on a hide button moves the panel lenthways, hiding it off-screen except for the hide button at the opposite end. Click this hide button to restore the panel to being fully visible.
Arrows on hide button	Select this option to display arrows on the hide buttons, if the hide button is enabled.

Background Properties Tab

You can choose the type of background for the panel in the Background tab. The choices are as follows:

Dialog Element

Description

None (use system theme)

Select this option to have the panel use the settings in the Theme preference tool. This keeps your panel's background looking the same as the rest of the desktop and applications.

Solid color

Select this option to specify a single color for the panel background. Click on the Color button to display the color selector dialog. Choose the color that you require from the color selector dialog.

Use the Style slider to specify the degree of transparency or opaqueness for the color. For example, to make the panel transparent, move the slider to the Transparent end.

Background image

Select this option to specify an image for the panel background. Click on the button to browse for the file. When you have selected the file, click OK.

You can also drag a color or image on to a panel to set the color or image as the background of the panel. You can drag a color or image from many applications. For example:

You can drag a color from any color selector dialog.
You can drag an image file from the Nautilus file manager to set it as the background of the panel.
You can drag a color or a pattern from the Backgrounds and Emblems dialog in Nautilus file manager to a panel to set it as the background.

Click Close to close the Panel Properties dialog.

Hiding a Panel

You can hide or show panels. To hide a panel, use a hide button. If the hide buttons are not visible on a panel, modify the panel properties so that the hide buttons are visible.

Hide buttons are at either end of a panel. The hide buttons contain an optional arrow icon. The following illustration shows hide buttons.

To hide a panel, click on one of the hide buttons. The panel reduces in the direction of the arrow on the hide button. The hide button at the other end of the panel remains visible.

To show a hidden panel again, click on the visible hide button. The panel expands in the direction of the arrow on the hide button. Both hide buttons are now visible.

You can set a panel to autohide. When you set autohide, the panel hides automatically when the mouse is not pointing to the panel. The panel reappears when you point to the part of the screen where the panel resides. To set your panel to autohide, modify the properties of the panel.

Adding a New Panel

To add a panel, right-click on a vacant space on any panel, then choose New Panel. The new panel is added to the GNOME Desktop. The new panel contains no objects. You can customize the new panel to suit your preferences.

Deleting a Panel

To delete a panel from the GNOME Desktop, right-click on the panel that you want to delete, then choose Delete This Panel.

	Note
	You must always have at least one panel in the GNOME Desktop. If you have only one panel in the GNOME Desktop, you cannot delete that panel.

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Panel Objects