Everyone using a graphical environment sooner or later wishes to customize it: Changing font size or colors, displaying an image in the desktop's background, adding icons... We'll introduce to you here some ways to do this.
You can access almost every configurable aspect of KDE from a central point. Click on this icon in the tool bar :
You soon get this window, the KDE Control Center :
As you can see, the configurable parameters are categorized, which makes it easier to find what you need. Each name is rather self-explanatory. As a start point, you can try by using the LookNFeel category: Here you control the way your graphical environment is drawn. The simplest way to start is to use the Style item, which gives you this window :
In the list on the top, look for a style named Marble. Click on the name then click on the Apply button in the bottom right. After a few blinks, you get this :
Rather different, isn't it? Use the list to find the style you prefer. You can always get the default theme back, by clicking on the button labelled Default, then Apply. Click on OK when you're done.
You can rather easily create icons on your desktop. These can then be used to provide a short access to programs or web sites.
To create an icon, simply right-click on the desktop's background : you see a pull-down menu appears. In this menu, choose Create new : Another menu pops up, where the things you can create on your desktop are listed:
As you can see, you can create directories, a few file types... In fact, you're not advised to create files or directories right on the desktop: It's far better to create them in the usual way (I mean, from an appropriate program, then to link them on the desktop, as previously explained).
We'll create an icon for an application. So, in the Create new menu, choose Application. This dialog box appears :
The field on the top is where you're are supposed to type the name you want to see under the icon. As an example, we choose to create an icon for the GQView program, an image viewer. Just on the left, the big icon is, well, the icon itself: Click on it to choose a well suited icon.For now, don't bother with the Permissions and the Application tabs. Go to the Execute tab :
Here you need to tell KDE which program you want to execute. If possible, enter a full pathname to the program. You can use the Browse... button to find the file you need. Again, don't bother for now with the other parameters. When you're done, click on OK.You can see your new icon on the desktop: Click on it to launch the attached program.
Now, we'll create an icon for a web site: Choose Internet address (URL) in the Create new. You're prompted for the URL : as an example, we choose the site of the Linux Documentation Project :
Click OK when you've entered the right URL. Then the icon appears on the desktop : clicking on it will launch the web browser to display the corresponding site (provided you're connected to the Internet).If you don't like the default icon image or name, you can change it if you wish (as you can do for any icon, in fact). Right-click on the icon, then choose Properties... in the pull-down menu that appears. You then find this window :
In the text field, you can enter the name you want for the icon, and as usual the big button allows you to choose another icon. Note that you can even change the URL itself, by using the URL tab. Click OK when you're done.As well as the general style and the icons, you may also wish to customize your virtual desktops, and the background associated with each of them.
If you right-click on the background, you get an already-seen pull-down menu: Choose Configure Background. You then get this window :
There you can precisely configure your desktop's background.You can see on the top a list of your desktops: The one highlighted is the one you're currently configuring. Each desktop can have its own configuration. If you want a unique configuration for all the desktops, you can click on the Common Background box. In real-time, you see a preview of your configuration on the top-right.
In the bottom, you have three tabs corresponding to various way to set up the background. The first one, Background, is for "simple" configuration. Basically, through the Mode, you can define a simple flat color, or a gradient from one color to another in various directions. Or you can choose a Background program, i.e. a program that will periodically update your background : click on the Setup button to choose which program to use. Try kdeworld, it's very nice.
The second tab, Wallpaper, allows you to display a picture on your background. This time, the Mode list controls the way the picture is displayed: Tiled, if it's smaller than the screen, or scaled, to extend or shrink it to the screen's size. You can choose a predefined wallpaper from the Wallpaper, or you can use the Browse button to choose your own image file.
Finally, the third tab named Advanced is (as its name suggests) to control more complex features. I won't say more here, but feel free to experiment...
At any time you can click on Apply to test your settings. Click on OK when you're done.
You can change the way the virtual desktops buttons are displayed. By default, they display numbers and a preview of the desktop's content.
Right-click on one of them: This little menu appears:
You can deactivate the preview mode of the buttons if you wish. More interesting, you can make them display a name rather than a number: Choose Name in the menu.Now the buttons are labelled Desktop 1, Desktop 2 and so on. It's friendlier, isn't it ? But we can do even better: Click on the name of the active desktop. The name is highlighted: you're now free to type any name you want, and validate it with the Enter key.
This configuration allows you to clearly organize your work: You can name a desktop Main where you would do general- purpose actions, another Chat where you would have half a dozen ICQ or IRC windows, another Games where you would hide some strange windows... You're are just free to do what you want!
For more in-depth configuration of these buttons, use the Configure... item of the previous little pop-up menu. You get this window :
...which allows you to change the number of virtual desktops you want to use, and also to change their names. Click on OK when you're satisfied.