Customizing the Ubuntu GNOME Desktop Panels

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Revision as of 19:45, 29 June 2007 by Neil (Talk | contribs) (Adding Items to a GNOME Destop Panel)

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The bars across the top and bottom of the desktop are called panels. The top panel (shown below) contains the desktop menus, icons to launch commonly used applications such as the web browser and email client and other items such as the date and time and various status indicators.

Gnome top panel.jpg

The panel along the bottom of the desktop (shown below) contains button to hide and show the currently running applications, an area for switching between workspaces, a button to hide all currently viusible application windows and an icon to open the trash can.

Gnome bottom panel.jpg

Although only two panels are configured by default you can add as many panels you you need to the desktop (although obviously there are limits on the amount of space on the desktop to accomodate the panels).

In this chapter we will cover various ways to customize these toolbars.

Changing Desktop Panel Properties

The properties of the desktop panels are controlled using the Panel Properties dialog. To access the Panel Properties for a particular panel move the mouse pointer over a blank section of the panel and click the right hand mouse button. In the resulting popup menu select the Properties menu option to invoke Panel Properties:

GNOME Desktop Panel Properties

The position of the panel on the desktop can be changed using the Orientation menu. The panel can be positions at the top or bottom of the screen or positioned vertically on the left or right hand sides of the desktop.

The height of the panel may be adjusted using the Size property. Reduce the height of the panel to increase available desktop space.

By default the panel stretches to the width of the desktop. With the Expand property switched off the panel will appear only as wide as it needs to be to accomodate the items it contains.

Autohide causes the panel to be hidden until the mouse pointer moves to the side of the desktop where the panel is located, at which point the panel will appear.

The Show Hide Buttons option contols whether buttons are displayed at either end of the panel to enable th epanel to maually shown and hidden.

The Background tab of the Panel Properties dialog provides control over the background of the panel. The panel can be a specific color, the color dictated by the current theme, a user defined image or transparent to a specific degree:

Gnome panel background properties.jpg

Adding Items to a GNOME Destop Panel

When Ubuntu Linux is installed a number of items are added to the two default panels. Additonal items, however, my be added to any panel. To add items to a panel simply click with the right mouse button over the panel to be configured and select the Add to Panel menu option. The Add to Panel dialog will then appear:

Gnome add to panel.jpg

To add an item to the panel scroill through the list, select the item you are interested in and press the Add button. The following screenshot shows a panel with the system monitor and weather items added:


Gnome panel with items.jpg

To edit the properties or preferences for a panel item move the mouse pointer over the item in the panel and click the right mouse button. Select either Properties or Preferences from the menu and the appropriate dialog will appear. For example, the Preferences panel for the Weather item allows various settings to be changed, such as the location and units for displaying temperature (celcius or farenheit). The system monitor can similarly be configured to also display system load, memory and network graphs.

To delete an item from a panel right click with the mouse on the item and select Remove from Panel.

If you find there is an application you frequently launch from the desktop Applications or System menus, these may also be added to a panel. To do so launch the Add to Panel dialog as outlined above and click on the Application Launcher. The resulting dialog will list each menu item and all sub-menu items. If for example, you wanted to be able launch OpenOffice Word Processor from the panel simply click on the arrow next to Office in the Add to Panel dialog to unfold the list of Office applications. Select OpenOffice.org Word Processor and click on the Add button:

Gnome add application.jpg

To move an item to a different location in a panel right click with the mouse of the item and select Move Then use the mouse to drag and drop the item to a new location.