All modern graphical environments share a common set of features: a main menu, a desktop area with some icons, a panel, etc. In the following paragraphs we will describe the elements which compose the desktop environment.
On the left of the screen and in the bar at the bottom of the screen are icons. They are usually enhanced by a short description beneath them (the icon's title or name). Clicking on an icon either launches a program or opens a folder. In both cases a window will appear on the desktop.
In the lower part of the screen is the panel. It provides a quick access to useful tools such as a Terminal, a web browser, etc. Each icon symbolizes an application (or program). Just move your mouse cursor over one of the icons and leave it there for a few seconds. A yellow help balloon will appear to describe the icon's function.
The icons and the panel do not float on the screen: they are “stuck” on something called the desktop, also called the background. In a sense, the desktop is where everything you see or use lives. Bring your mouse cursor to a free place on the desktop (i.e. where there is nothing) and right-click: a menu will appear which will give you access to several functions.
Since there are not a lot of icons on the desktop nor in the panel, you may be wondering how to access all of the software you installed during the installation process. To do so, access the first icon on the left-side of the panel (also called the main menu):
Click on this icon and
a pull-up menu listing the programs you can run will be
displayed. They are organized by tasks, so finding the program
you are looking for is pretty easy.
To launch an application or a tool, click on the main menu icon, navigate through the menu's tree until you find the desired item and click on it.
If you
click on the icon on the desktop labeled as
Home, or [your login name]'s
Home, this window will appear:
You just launched a file manager called Konqueror. The window which pops up displays the content of your Home directory. This is where all of your personal documents and files are stored: only you can access them. If you start saving a lot of files in it (e.g. text documents, MP3 files, etc.) we suggest that you create some sub-directories (for instance Music, Photos, Accounting, etc.).
A window is composed of several parts. On the top is the title bar. It shows the name or title of the program you launched and possibly, the name of the document you are working on. It can be in two different states:
Usually, the active title bar is full-colored, whereas the inactive one is shaded or gray.
Just under the title bar is the menu bar. In our example, it contains menus named Edit, View, and so on. Click on Edit. A list of items will appear in a drop-down menu, each item giving you access to one of the program's functions.
Below the menu bar is the application's tool bar. It consists of one or more rows of icons, each one equivalent to an item in one of the application's drop-down menu: you can view them as a short-hand access to frequently-accessed program features which can be found elsewhere in the menu bar.
The status bar usually sits at the bottom of the window. There you will find information about what the program is doing. Not all programs offer this feature, but if the one you are using does, remember to check it from time to time.
We introduced the word “desktop” to point out the area of the screen where all objects (panels, icons, windows) are placed. Now, look at the panel at the bottom of the screen. You can see a group of four buttons:
These buttons give you access to virtual desktops, which are identical copies of the desktop you see after you have logged in. You will find more information about the handling and usage of virtual desktops in Chapter 7, Using KDE.
Click on the button labeled 2: as you can see, the window you opened before disappears. Don't worry, you didn't close it, you simply switched desktops.
Click on the button labeled 1. The previous desktop will be displayed.
This feature called virtual desktops (also known as workspace switcher) is very handy. It allows you to open several windows and to organize them as you desire.
You can also change the virtual desktop a window is currently in. This may be handy to logically organize your work by desktop, for instance moving all network related windows into desktop 2, all multimedia applications into desktop 3, and so on.
For this exercise you will need to use your mouse. With KDE, right-click on the window's title bar and a pull-down menu will appear containing an item named To Desktop. Just point to this item and a list of your virtual desktops will appear. Simply choose the virtual desktop towards which you want to move it.
You will often find your window is in the right place, but that it is too small or too big. Click on this button in the title bar:
This operation is called maximizing a window. Click again on the same button to bring the window back to its original size.
On the other hand, if you want to hide your window but keep the program running, click on this button:
The window seems to disappear. In fact, you resized it to its minimal possible size: an icon. This is called minimizing a window. You cleared the screen space it was using, but the program is still running. You can still see it there in the panel, on the KDE Taskbar:
To view the window on your desktop once more, just click on the icon associated with it.
In most cases you do not want to maximize nor minimize the window. You just want some sort of middle range where you can adjust the window's size according to your needs. You can achieve this with your mouse and the boundary borders of the window.
Bring
the mouse cursor to the right edge between the desktop and the
running program. Your cursor will change to a double-arrow. Now
press the left mouse button and keep it pressed while moving. The
window resizes and its contents rearranges. When the new size
satisfies you, just release the mouse button.
We did this using the right-hand border of the window. You can do the same thing with the bottom, top or left-hand borders. You can even do it with the window's corners, in which case you can resize the window in two directions at once.
![]() | Note |
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Not all windows can be resized this way, and sometimes minimum and maximum sizes are predefined. |
As a final note about the buttons in the window's title bar, consider this:
By clicking on this button (the close button) you quit the running program.
You can fully personalize your working environment to suit your personal tastes, such as the background, the windows and background colors, the themes, the way windows and icons behave, and so on. Please refer to the section called “Personalizing your Desktop”.