tdebase/doc/userguide/customizing-desktop.docbook

<chapter id="customizing-desktop">
<chapterinfo>
<authorgroup>
<author>
<firstname>Juan Carlos</firstname>
<surname>Torres</surname>
</author>
</authorgroup>
</chapterinfo>

<title>Customizing the Appearance of your &kde; Desktop</title>

<para>Changing the appearance of your &kde; desktop can be done quite easily and
flexibly by either individually controlling different parts of the visual
appearance or by using a predefined theme. This guide explains the various
customizable parts of &kde; and how to control their appearance.</para>

<sect1 id="background">
<title>Background</title>
<para>The desktop background, more commonly known as the wallpaper, allows you
to display certain images on your desktop. The settings for the background are
found in the &kcontrolcenter;, or by <mousebutton>right</mousebutton>-clicking
on the desktop and selecting <guilabel>Configure Desktop...</guilabel>.</para>

<para>In &kde;, you have the option to use no picture, a single picture, or a
slideshow of images. If <guilabel>No picture</guilabel> is chosen to be the
desktop background, the <guilabel>Colors</guilabel> options are used instead.
You can also choose whether to use a single
background on all virtual desktops or to apply a different background for each
desktop. This is done by selecting <guilabel>All desktops</guilabel> or the
specific desktop name from the drop-down menu.</para>

<para>Other background images can be downloaded using the
<guibutton>Get New Wallpapers</guibutton> button on the right or you can visit
the <ulink url="http://www.kde-look.org/index.php?xcontentmode=1x2x3x4x5x6x7">
Wallpapers section</ulink> of the kde-look.org website.</para>
</sect1>

<sect1 id="colors">
<title>Colors</title>
<para>The <guilabel>Colors</guilabel> settings of the &kcontrolcenter; allow you to control the
colors that are used for various window elements, such as window titlebars,
window backgrounds, text, and buttons. You can change the color of each window
element by selecting the element from the drop down list and choosing a color
for it. You can then save your changes by clicking on
<guibutton>Save Scheme...</guibutton>. This will save your settings in a Color
Scheme file. Color schemes are text files, with a <literal
role="extension">.kcsrc</literal> extension, that contain
entries for each window widget and its color, in RGB format. It is also very
easy to add color schemes that you have downloaded by clicking on
<guibutton>Import Scheme...</guibutton> and pointing to the <literal
role="extension">.kcsrc</literal> file. With color schemes, you can save the
changes you have done in one convenient file or easily change to a predefined
color setting, without having to change each window element separately.</para>

<para>Additional color schemes can be downloaded from <ulink
url="http://www.kde-look.org/index.php?xcontentmode=28">the Color Schemes
section</ulink> of kde-look.org.</para>
</sect1>

<sect1 id="icons">
<title>Icons</title>
<para>An icon theme contains the images used to represent actions, files,
devices, and applications. Managing icon themes is easily done through the Icons
module in the &kcontrolcenter;. Simply select the icon theme you want to use and
click on <guibutton>Apply</guibutton> to switch to the new theme. To install new
icon themes, all you need to do is to click on <guibutton>Install New
Theme...</guibutton> and browse to the location of the icon theme archive. There
is no need to extract the contents of the archive into a directory. In fact, the
Icons module only accepts archived icon themes. To remove an icon theme, simply
select the theme from the list and click on <guibutton>Remove Theme</guibutton>.
Note that you cannot remove the icon theme that you are currently using. You
need to switch to some other theme before the current one will become removable.
You also cannot remove icon themes that were installed by the administrator
(<systemitem class="username">root</systemitem>) or by your distribution's
package manager.</para>
<para>Other icon themes can be found in <ulink
url="http://www.kde-look.org/index.php?xcontentmode=27">the Icon Themes
subsection</ulink> of kde-look.org.</para>
</sect1>

<sect1 id="splash-screen">
<title>Splash Screen</title>

<mediaobject>
<imageobject>
<imagedata fileref="splash-screen.png" format="PNG" />
</imageobject>
<textobject><phrase>The default &kde; splash screen</phrase></textobject>
<caption><para>The default &kde; splash screen</para></caption>
</mediaobject>

<para>The splash screen is the animated image or screen that is displayed while
&kde; loads after you log in. Each user can have a different splash screen.
Changing the splash screen for the current user can be done in the Splash
Screen module of the &kcontrolcenter;. Select the splash screen you want to
use and click on <guibutton>Apply</guibutton>. You can also test what a splash
screen will look like by selecting the splash screen and clicking on
<guibutton>Test</guibutton>. Installing a new splash theme is very easy. Just
click on <guibutton>Add...</guibutton> and browse to the splash screen archive you
want to add. There is no need to extract the contents of the archive. Removing
splash screens is also easily done by selecting the splash screen and clicking
on <guibutton>Remove</guibutton>. Note that you cannot remove splash screens
installed by the administrator (<systemitem class="username">root</systemitem>)
or by your distribution's package manager.</para>

<para>Splash screen themes can be found on kde-look.org, in <ulink
url="http://www.kde-look.org/index.php?xcontentmode=35">the Splash Screens
section</ulink>. Take note that some splash screens require a specific &ksplash;
engine to be installed.</para>
</sect1>

<sect1 id="win-deco">
<title>Window Decorations</title>
<para>You can change the appearance of window borders, titlebars and buttons in
&kde; using window decorations. Some window decorations even have the capability
to apply effects such as translucency. Window decorations must be able to do all
these without sacrificing speed and performance. This is the reason why window
decorations come in source code that must be compiled, or as binary packages
that must be installed. Basically, Window decorations are plugins or small
programs that instruct &kwin;, &kde;'s Window Manager,
how to display window frames.</para>

<para>In order to add a new window decoration, you need to compile it from
source code. If a binary package for your distribution or system is provided,
you simply need to install it using your distribution's package manager. Please
refer to your distribution's manual for instructions on how to do this. Once the
window decoration has been installed, it can be accessed in the Window
Decorations settings in the &kcontrolcenter;. In the
<guilabel>Window Decoration</guilabel> tab,
a list of installed window decorations can be seen in the drop down box. Simply
select the decoration you want to use and click on <guibutton>Apply</guibutton>.
Different window decorations have different capabilities and settings. Play
around with the different options available. The <guilabel>Buttons</guilabel> tab allows you to
control the buttons on the window titlebar. Enable the <guilabel>Use custom
titlebar button positions</guilabel> check box in order to rearrange, remove, or
add buttons. To add buttons to the titlebar, drag an item from the list to the
titlebar preview above it. To remove a button, drag the button from the titlebar
preview to the item list. Simply drag buttons in the titlebar preview to
rearrange them.</para>

<para>While all window decorations need to be compiled from source code, some
window decorations can load pixmap-based theme files that do not need to be
compiled. &kde; ships with a pixmap-based window decoration called the IceWM
window decoration. Another pixmap-based window decoration is <ulink
url="http://www.kde-look.org/content/show.php?content=31447">deKorator</ulink>,
which can be found on kde-look.org. Please refer to your distribution's
documentation on how to install these. The advantage of using pixmap-based
window decorations is it is relatively easy to make themes for them, by using
images and editing a configuration file. The tradeoff is a slight loss of performance,
while this may be unnoticeable on very fast systems.</para>

<para>To add an IceWM theme, select IceWM as the window decoration and click on
the <guilabel>Open &kde;'s IceWM theme folder</guilabel> link in the window
decoration description area. This will open a &konqueror; window
to <filename>$<envar>KDEHOME</envar>/share/apps/kwin/icewm-themes</filename>.
Extract your IceWM theme to this folder. The theme will then be added to
the list of IceWM themes. Select the theme you want to use and click on
<guibutton>Apply</guibutton>.</para>

<para>To add a deKorator theme after you've installed deKorator, select
deKorator from the window decorations list and go to the <guilabel>Themes</guilabel>
tab. Click on <guibutton>Install New Theme</guibutton> and locate
your deKorator theme archive. Make sure that the version of the deKorator theme
matches the deKorator version installed on your system. Once the theme has been
added, select the theme you want to use and click on <guibutton>Set Theme
Paths</guibutton>. Click on <guibutton>Apply</guibutton> for the changes to
take effect.</para>

<para>Some more window decorations are available at kde-look.org under <ulink
url="http://www.kde-look.org/index.php?xcontentmode=17">the
Native &kde; 3.x</ulink> and <ulink
url="http://www.kde-look.org/index.php?xcontentmode=20">the
Native &kde; 3.2+</ulink> subsections. Themes for the <ulink
url="http://www.kde-look.org/index.php?xcontentmode=18">IceWM</ulink> and
<ulink
url="http://www.kde-look.org/index.php?xcontentmode=21">deKorator</ulink> window
decorations have their own subsections under the Window Decorations
category.</para>
</sect1>

<sect1 id="style">
<title>Style</title>
<para>Widgets are the basic elements of a graphical user interface, such as
buttons, scrollbars, tabs, and menus. A widget style is a plugin or a small
program that instructs &kde; how widgets are displayed. Since widgets are the
very basic parts of an interface, they are frequently accessed and must be able
to respond very quickly. This is why widget styles must come as source code to
be compiled or as binary packages to be installed, just like window decorations.
Please refer to your distribution's documentation on how to compile from source
or install binary packages.</para>

<para>Once a widget style has been installed, it will be added to the list of
available styles in the <guilabel>Style</guilabel> module in the &kcontrolcenter;.
The <guilabel>Style</guilabel> tab allows
you to select a widget style from the list and to configure it if the style has
a <guibutton>Configure...</guibutton> feature. Different styles have different options. A preview of the
selected style is available at the lower portion of the tab. The
<guilabel>Effects</guilabel> tab
controls different visual effects for some widgets like comboboxes and tooltips.
The <guilabel>Toolbar</guilabel> tab gives some options on the general appearance of toolbars.</para>

<para>Additional widget styles can be found in <ulink
url="http://www.kde-look.org/index.php?xcontentmode=
8x9x10x11x12x13x14x15x16">the different &kde; subsections of the
Themes/Styles</ulink> of kde-look.org. Take note that styles come in source
code or binary package forms. They are not &kde; theme files.</para>
</sect1>

<sect1 id="kde-theme">
<title>&kde; Theme</title>
<para>&kde; allows you to save the different changes you made to your desktop's
appearance in one file, using the Theme Manager in &kcontrolcenter;. Once you
have set up your desktop the way you want, click on <guibutton>Create New
Theme...</guibutton>. Enter the details you want to give your theme, such as theme
name, author, version, &etc;, then click <guibutton>OK</guibutton> when done.
This will add your theme to the list of available themes and save your settings
in a &kde; theme. A &kde; theme (<literal role="extension">.kth</literal> file)
instructs &kde; on what window decoration, style, or color scheme to use for
that particular theme. To add a &kde; theme from an outside source, click on
<guibutton>Install New Theme...</guibutton> and locate the &kde; theme file.
Removing a theme is easily done by clicking on <guibutton>Remove
Theme</guibutton>. If you made changes to your theme, you have to either create
a new theme name for it, or remove the previous version first to be able to use
the same theme name.</para>

<para>The following are the settings that are saved and indicated in a &kde;
Theme:</para>

<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>
Background</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Screen Saver</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Icon Theme</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
System Notifications</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Color Scheme</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Cursor Theme</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Window Decoration</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
&konqueror; background (File Management)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Panel background</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Style</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fonts</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>

<para>One very important thing to consider when using or installing a &kde;
Theme is that it only indicates what settings to use for the above. A &kde;
Theme includes only system notifications, desktop background, panel background,
&konqueror; background, and  the color scheme in its package. The other
components must be installed separately if they do not already come with
&kde;.</para>

<para>&kde; Themes can be downloaded from the <ulink
url="http://www.kde-look.org/index.php?xcontentmode=8">Theme-Manager
subsection</ulink> of
kde-look.org, under the Themes/Styles section.</para>
</sect1>

<sect1 id="desktop-glossary">
<title>Glossary</title>

<glosslist>
<glossentry id="gloss-background">
<glossterm>Background</glossterm>
<glossdef><para>Background/wallpaper image or color for the
desktop</para></glossdef>
</glossentry>

<glossentry id="gloss-color-scheme">
<glossterm>Color Scheme</glossterm>
<glossdef><para>(<literal role="extension">.kcsrc</literal>)
Configuration file that indicates what colors to use
for certain widgets</para></glossdef>
</glossentry>

<glossentry id="gloss-icons">
<glossterm>Icons</glossterm>
<glossdef><para>Images representing applications, files,
devices, &etc;</para></glossdef>
</glossentry>

<glossentry id="gloss-splash-screen">
<glossterm>Splash Screen</glossterm>
<glossdef><para>Animated image or screen that displays while &kde;
loads after logging in</para></glossdef>
</glossentry>

<glossentry id="gloss-win-deco">
<glossterm>Window Decoration</glossterm>
<glossdef><para>Plugins or small programs that instruct the window
manager how to display window frames</para></glossdef>
</glossentry>

<glossentry id="gloss-style">
<glossterm>Style</glossterm>
<glossdef><para>Plugin or a small program that instructs &kde;
how widgets are displayed</para></glossdef>
</glossentry>

<glossentry id="gloss-kde-theme">
<glossterm>&kde; Theme</glossterm>
<glossdef><para>(<literal role="extension">.kth</literal>)
A file that contains instructions on what settings to use for
different GUI components</para></glossdef>
</glossentry>

<glossentry id="gloss-widgets">
<glossterm>Widgets</glossterm>
<glossdef><para>Basic elements that build up a graphical user
interface: buttons, scrollbars, menus, tabs, &etc;</para></glossdef>
</glossentry>

</glosslist>
</sect1>


</chapter>

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