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<articleinfo>

<authorgroup>
<author>
<firstname>Mike</firstname>
<surname>McBride</surname>
</author>
<author>
<firstname>Jost</firstname>
<surname>Schenck</surname>
</author>
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</authorgroup>

<date>2002-02-12</date>
<releaseinfo>3.00.00</releaseinfo>

<keywordset>
<keyword>KDE</keyword>
<keyword>KControl</keyword>
<keyword>desktop</keyword>
</keywordset>
</articleinfo>

<sect1 id="desktop">

<title>Desktop</title>

<para>This module is used to change some of the most commonly needed
options for the &kde; desktop.</para>

<para>This module has several tabs, labeled: <link
linkend="desktop-desktop"><guilabel>Desktop</guilabel></link>, <link
linkend="desktop-appearance"><guilabel>Appearance</guilabel></link>
and <link linkend="desktop-number"><guilabel>Number of
Desktops</guilabel></link> and <guilabel>Paths</guilabel>.</para>

<sect2 id="desktop-desktop">
<title><guilabel>Desktop</guilabel> Tab</title>

<sect3 id="desktop-desktop-icon">
<title><guilabel>Misc Options</guilabel></title>

<para>In this section, you can see several options on the left:</para>

<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term><guilabel>Enable desktop menu</guilabel></term>
<listitem>
<para>This option determines whether there is a menu across
the top of the &kde; Desktop in the style of &MacOS;.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term><guilabel>Enable icons on desktop</guilabel></term>
<listitem>
<para>Uncheck this option if you do not want to have icons on the
desktop.  Without icons the desktop will be somewhat faster, but you
will no longer be able to drag files to the desktop.</para>
<para>This will not remove any files already stored on the desktop,
they will instead be hidden.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term><guilabel>Align icons vertically on desktop</guilabel></term>
<listitem><para>If this option is enabled, &kde; will place all of the
icons in columns along the left side of the screen whenever you select
<guimenuitem>Arrange Icons</guimenuitem> from the
<guimenu>Desktop</guimenu> Menu.  If this option is disabled, then &kde;
will place all icons in a row along the top of the
screen.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term><guilabel>Show hidden files on desktop</guilabel></term>
<listitem><para>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.</para> 
<warning><para>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.</para></warning>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term><guilabel>Programs in desktop window</guilabel></term>
<listitem>
<para>Enabling this option allows you to set a program as your desktop
background, for example <command>xearth</command>, or &kworldclock;</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

</variablelist>

<para>To the right of these options you can see a list titled
<guilabel>Show Previews for</guilabel>.  The &kde; desktop has a
preview feature for many file types, including <acronym>HTML</acronym>
files, images, &PostScript; and <acronym>PDF</acronym>, sound, web
archives (if you have the appropriate &konqueror; plugin installed)
and text files.</para>

<para>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.</para>

</sect3>

<sect3 id="desktop-desktop-mb">
<title>Clicks on the Desktop</title>

<para>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).</para>

<note><para>Not all mice have three buttons.  Two button mice can
usually activate the <mousebutton>Middle</mousebutton> button by
pressing both the <mousebutton>Left</mousebutton> and
<mousebutton>Right</mousebutton> mouse buttons at the same
time.</para></note>

<para>For each of the three mouse buttons, you can select:</para>

<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term>No Action</term>
<listitem><para>When you use this mouse button, nothing
happens.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term>Window list menu</term>
<listitem><para>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.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term>Desktop Menu.</term>
<listitem><para>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;. </para></listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term>Application Menu</term>
<listitem><para>This brings up the <guimenu>Application</guimenu> Menus
(also know as the <guimenu>K</guimenu> Menus), so you can start a new
application.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
<!-- FIXME: someone needs to write something about these custom menus -->

</sect3>

<sect3>
<title><guilabel>Devices</guilabel></title>

<para>On some operating systems (&Linux; and FreeBSD so far) &kde; can
dynamically dispay icons for each <firstterm>mountable</firstterm>
device you have available.  This could be &CD-ROM; drives, Floppy disk
drives, or Network shares.</para>

<para>If you enable this, you can choose what kind, if any, of these
devices you would like quick access icons to be displayed for.</para>

</sect3>

</sect2>

<sect2 id="desktop-appearance">
<title><guilabel>Appearance Tab</guilabel></title>

<para>Here you can configure how icons on your desktop appear.</para>

<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term><guilabel>Standard font:</guilabel></term>
<listitem><para>This option can be used to change the typeface used on the
desktop.  Simply select your typeface from the dropdown box.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><guilabel>Font size:</guilabel></term>
<listitem><para>You can change the relative size of the text on the Desktop.
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><guilabel>Normal text color:</guilabel></term>
<listitem><para>This option lets you select the color of normal (or
unhighlighted) text.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term><guilabel>Text background color:</guilabel></term>
<listitem><para>This option lets you select the background color of
normal text.  If left unchecked, the text has a transparent
background.  If selected, you can choose the color by pressing the button.
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><guilabel>Underline filenames:</guilabel></term>
<listitem><para>Determines if file names are underlined on the
Desktop.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</sect2>

<sect2 id="desktop-number">
<title><guilabel>Number of Desktops</guilabel></title>
<para>&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.</para> 

</sect2>

<sect2 id="desktop-desktop-path">
<title><guilabel>Paths</guilabel></title>

<para>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. </para>

<warning><para>If you are reading this, you probably shouldn't be
changing the paths.  You can render your system almost unusable if
incorrect values are entered here.</para></warning>

</sect2>

<sect2 id="desktop-author">
<title>Section Author</title>

<para>This section written by:</para>
<para>Mike McBride <email>mpmcbride7@yahoo.com</email>. </para>
<para>Jost Schenck <email>jost@schenck.de</email>. </para>

<!-- TRANS:CREDIT_FOR_TRANSLATORS -->

</sect2>
</sect1>

</article>