tdebase/doc/userguide/panel-and-desktop.docbook

<chapter id="panel-and-desktop">

<chapterinfo>
<authorgroup>
<author>
&Philip.Rodrigues;
</author>
</authorgroup>
</chapterinfo>


<title>The Panel and the Desktop</title>

<sect1 id="kicker-panel">
<title>&kicker;, the &kde; Panel</title>

<indexterm
significance="preferred"><primary>Panel</primary></indexterm>
<indexterm
significance="preferred"><primary>&kicker;</primary></indexterm>

<para>&kicker; is the application launcher panel of the K Desktop
Environment.  By default, it appears along the bottom of the screen,
and takes up the whole of the width of the screen, but this is
configurable. &kicker; is something of a one-stop shop for (almost!)
everything that you might want quick access to. Besides the &kicon;
Menu, where you can start applications, &kicker; is also capable of
running docked applets like the pager, the taskbar or the clock, and
extensions, such as child panels. With all these options, you will
probably want to configure &kicker; so that it works best for you. The
next section describes some common ways to customize the panel.</para>
<!-- TODO: steal screenies from kicker manual -->
</sect1>

<!-- FIXME: Titles and id's  in this section should be more consistent -->
<sect1 id="kicker-configuring">
<title>Configuring &kicker;</title>


<sect2 id="customize-panel-icons">
<title>Customizing the icons on the panel</title>

<para>When you first start &kde;, kicker displays some icons next to
the <guimenu>K</guimenu> menu. These can be used to start the
applications that they represent. To see which application is launched
 by each icon, hold the mouse cursor over the icon until a tooltip (a
small popup label) appears telling you the name of the application.</para>

<para>These default icons might not represent the applications you use
most often, so you can remove the ones you do not want and add icons
for other applications that you use. To remove an icon, &RMB;-click on
the icon, and select <guilabel>Remove <replaceable>application
name</replaceable> Button</guilabel> in the popup menu that
appears. To add a new icon, &RMB;-click on an empty space on the
panel, and follow the menu entry <guisubmenu>Add Application to Panel
</guisubmenu>. This leads you to a copy of the
<guimenu>K</guimenu> menu, where you can find all of the &kde;
applications. For example, to add an icon for the &juk; music player,
follow through the menus to <menuchoice><guisubmenu>Add Application
to Panel</guisubmenu><guisubmenu>Multimedia</guisubmenu><guimenuitem>&juk; (Music
Player)</guimenuitem></menuchoice>. The icon will appear on the
panel in the space that you <mousebutton>right</mousebutton>-clicked on.</para>

</sect2>


<sect2 id="adding-extras-and-applets">
<title>Adding extras and applets</title>

<indexterm><primary>Applets</primary></indexterm>

<para>&kicker; can add many types of items as well as application
launch icons. You can find these items using the same menu as before,
but this time selecting
<guisubmenu>Add Applet to Panel...</guisubmenu>
or
<guisubmenu>Add New Panel</guisubmenu>.
The items in the <guilabel>Add Applet</guilabel> window are small
programs that can reside on the panel. An example of an applet is the
<guilabel>Desktop Preview &amp; Pager</guilabel><indexterm><primary>Pager</primary></indexterm>, which shows a small image of each of your virtual
desktops. (For more information about virtual desktops, see <xref
linkend="using-multiple-desktops" />). You can switch to a different
virtual desktop by clicking on its image in the desktop pager. 
<!-- TODO: screenie --></para>
<para>You can find information about the other applets available for
&kicker; in the &kicker; manual. Just enter
<userinput>help:/kicker</userinput> in the
<guilabel>Location</guilabel> bar in &konqueror;. </para>
</sect2>

<sect2 id="the-system-tray">
<sect2info>
<authorgroup>
<author>
<personname>
<firstname>Simon</firstname>
<surname>Vermeersch</surname>
</personname>
<email>titeuf@ph34rus.org</email>
</author>
</authorgroup>
</sect2info>

<title>The System Tray</title>

<!-- Simon Vermeersch -->
<para>The system tray is where programs that are run, but not directly needed are
kept. Some programs (like music players) are shown there, because you
probably want to keep them open, but so that it does not take too much space on
your screen, it will put an icon in the system tray.</para>

<para>When you <mousebutton>right</mousebutton> click on such an icon, a
popup menu will appear where you can see some options of the program (like
play, pause, stop, ... in a music player).</para>
<para>When you <mousebutton>left</mousebutton> click on it, the main window
of the program will appear. If you hover your mouse above the icon, a tool
tip will appear with some information (in the music player case information
like the current song). Programs that normally support system tray icons are
music players, IRC clients, organizers, ...</para>

<para>In most of these programs you can configure if you want an icon to be
shown or not. For other tricks and tips with the system tray see the section on <xref linkend="system-tray" />.</para>

</sect2>

<sect2 id="removing-panel-items">
<title>Removing Panel Items</title>

<!-- TODO: Need a screenie to show the handles, since they're not very -->
<!-- easy to describe (and also very small - possible -->
<!-- accessibility/usability issue? -->
<para>You can remove applets and other special items from the panel
using the arrow on its handle on the applet's left. Right click on the
arrow, and choose <guimenuitem>Remove <replaceable>applet
name</replaceable></guimenuitem>.</para>
</sect2>

</sect1>

<sect1 id="kicker-taskbar">
<title>The Taskbar</title>
<!-- TODO: Screenie (again), write more about why taskbar is useful -->
<para>The taskbar is an item on the panel which displays an entry for
each window that you have opened. You can use the taskbar to switch
between windows by clicking on the entry of the window you want to
activate. The taskbar has entries for windows on each virtual desktop,
including windows which have been minimized.</para>

</sect1>

<sect1 id="using-the-clipboard">
<sect1info>
<authorgroup>
<author>&Philip.Rodrigues;
</author>
</authorgroup>
</sect1info>

<title>Using the Clipboard</title>

<indexterm><primary>Clipboard</primary></indexterm>

<para>Very often, it's useful to move some text, or an object in a
program, from one place to another. It's also very common to need to
duplicate some text, for example, if you're typing the same thing
several times. The system used for doing this is known as the
<firstterm>clipboard</firstterm>. There are two slightly different ways to use this system,
known technically as the <quote>selection</quote> and the
<quote><glossterm>clipboard</glossterm></quote>. We'll look at them separately:
</para>

<!-- TODO: Describe how to select text -->

<sect2 id="the-selection">
<title>The Selection</title>
<indexterm><primary>Selection</primary></indexterm>

<para>This method uses the mouse to copy text from one place to
another. The method is:
<orderedlist>

<listitem><para>Select the text you want to copy.</para>
</listitem>

<listitem><para>Click the &MMB; at the place you want the text to be
copied to. This can be in the same program as you copied the text
from, or in another program entirely.</para>
</listitem>
</orderedlist>
If you have three buttons on your mouse, this is easy, but if not, all
is not lost! If you have only two buttons, try clicking them both at
the same time instead of the &MMB;. 
<!-- Should we mention Emulate3Buttons in XF86Config here? -->
</para>
</sect2>

<sect2 id="the-clipboard-proper">
<title>The Clipboard</title>
<indexterm><primary>Cut</primary></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>Paste</primary></indexterm>
<para>With this method, you can copy text, or <quote>cut</quote> it
(that is, remove it from one place and move it to another). You can
use either the mouse and the menu entries, or the keyboard with this
method. I'll list both ways, with the menu entry to use, followed by
the keyboard shortcut which will do the same thing, like this:</para>
<para>
<menuchoice><shortcut><keycombo action="simul">&Ctrl;<keycap>X</keycap>
</keycombo>
</shortcut><guimenu>Edit</guimenu><guimenuitem>Cut</guimenuitem>
</menuchoice> </para>
<para>
<orderedlist>
<title>Moving (<quote>Cutting</quote>) Text</title>
<listitem><para>Select the text you want to cut.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>From the menu, select
<menuchoice><shortcut><keycombo
                      action="simul">&Ctrl;<keycap>X</keycap>
</keycombo>
</shortcut><guimenu>Edit</guimenu><guimenuitem>Cut</guimenuitem>
</menuchoice>, and the text will be removed from its current location.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Position the text cursor at the point you want to
insert the text. This can be in the same application you got the text
from, or another application entirely. Select
<menuchoice><shortcut><keycombo action="simul">&Ctrl;<keycap>V</keycap>
</keycombo>
</shortcut><guimenu>Edit</guimenu><guimenuitem>Paste</guimenuitem>
</menuchoice>, and the text will appear at the point where you placed
the cursor.</para>
</listitem>
</orderedlist>
</para>

<para>
Copying text from one place to another is very similar:
<orderedlist>
<title>Copying Text</title>
<listitem><para>Select the text you want to copy.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>From the menu, select
<menuchoice><shortcut><keycombo action="simul">&Ctrl;<keycap>C</keycap>
</keycombo>
</shortcut><guimenu>Edit</guimenu><guimenuitem>Copy</guimenuitem>
</menuchoice>, and the text will be copied in the clipboard.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Position the text cursor at the point you want to
insert the text. This can be in the same application you got the text
from, or another application entirely. Select
<menuchoice><shortcut><keycombo action="simul">&Ctrl;<keycap>V</keycap>
</keycombo>
</shortcut><guimenu>Edit</guimenu><guimenuitem>Paste</guimenuitem>
</menuchoice></para>
</listitem>
</orderedlist>
</para>


</sect2>
<sect2 id="klipper">
<title>More Advanced Clipboard Use</title>
<indexterm><primary>&klipper;</primary></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>Clipboard</primary><secondary>History</secondary></indexterm>
<!-- Should we describe this advanced use, or just point to it? -->
<para>The instructions above describe the default <glossterm>clipboard</glossterm>
behavior. The &klipper; application, which you can add as an applet in
the panel (see <xref linkend="kicker-configuring"/> for instructions
on how to do this), provides some useful clipboard-related features,
like a clipboard history, and the ability to change the behavior of
the clipboard and selection. Take a look at the &klipper; Handbook for
more information.</para>

<!-- Add links to "further reading" here -->
<itemizedlist>
<title>Related Information</title> 

<listitem><para>You can find more information about &kicker;, the
&kde; Panel, in &khelpcenter; or by entering
<userinput>help:/kicker</userinput> in &konqueror;'s
<guilabel>Location</guilabel> bar.</para>
</listitem>

<listitem><para>The &klipper;
Handbook has information about the advanced clipboard management
features in &kde;. You can read it in &khelpcenter; or by entering
<userinput>help:/klipper</userinput> in &konqueror;'s
<guilabel>Location</guilabel> bar.</para>
</listitem>

</itemizedlist>


</sect2>

</sect1>

<sect1 id="kicker-related-information">
<title>Related Information</title>
<itemizedlist>
<title>Related Information</title>
<listitem><para>Though some information has been presented here, there is a lot more information on &kicker; tips, options, tricks and hacks, in the &kicker; handbook. You can access it via the &khelpcenter; or by simply entering <userinput>help:/kicker</userinput> in the &konqueror; Location toolbar.</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>

</sect1>

</chapter>

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