Now that you understand how the Help Browser and Nautilus File Manager work, we will describe the many features of the GNOME panel. It sits at the bottom of your screen and is very useful in order to manage your daily utilities and programs, as well as virtual desktops. Let us start with a couple of definitions. The GNOME panel is usually divided into two sections. On the left, you find the GNOME menu icon.
As you can see in the figure, essential applets and programs are included in the panel. Starting on the left-hand side is the GNOME menu, where all your applications (whether text editors, multimedia or games) lie.
![]() | If you wish to add programs or applets to your panel, simply go in the GNOME menu, select the desired application and right-click on it. A pop-up menu will show an Add this launcher to panel item. Release your mouse on the that message and the program/applet will be added to your panel. |
Next to it is the Log-Out Applet. It allows you to log out of your session, either because your leaving work, or to let other users utilize the computer, etc. Now, the word "session" may bewilder you. A session is the length of time contained between the moment you log in and log out. If you click on it, it will prompt you to save the changes you made to your session (or simply log out if you configure it properly in the GNOME Control Center, which we will discuss later on) and a box holding all the computers' users (root, your_user_name, etc.) will appear after the X server restarts.
The next applet icon is called the Lock Screen. As you probably noticed, most GNOME application and applet names are extremely logical. This feature allows you to lock your screen while you are away from your computer, therefore avoiding unpleasant surprises or colleague pseudo hacking...
The two little screens next to the Lock Screen are called Screen Shooters. They allow you to take snapshots of your screen. After clicking on the blue screen, two little screen appear. The one on the left allows to select a particular window, while the other grabs the entire screen. This applet is very useful for... user guides since it enables precise grasping of screen displays.
This is one of our favorites. It maximizes the space on your panel by reducing the size of applets/applications. You can include as many as you want (in our example: 5). In it, we inserted the Help browser, the GNOME Control Center, a GNOME-specific calculator called GNOME Calc, a Save your Session icon [1] and finally, the not-so-evil command line also known as the GNOME terminal, which is a GNOME-specific Terminal
![]() | Many Terminals exist. If you explore the Terminal section in the GNOME menu, you will find many options for command lines, such as eterm, xterm, etc. |
This is the application to use in order to configure your graphical environment to your liking. Feel free to explore it as it contains many options. Personalizing your theme, panel, background, appearance, default start-up applications, etc.: it's all in there! Snoop around. If you get lost, refer to the Help browser.
This GNOME pager allows you to split your work area into several virtual desktops. In our example, four are set up. In your daily work, you can separate your applications logically: in the first desktop, you could place your communication applications (Internet, chat, e-mail); in the second one, your favorite text editor. To surf through them, simply click on the one of the four desktops and your physical desktop (the one you are looking at right now) will change and show the applications you are using for each one of them.
![]() | If you wish to add applets to your panel, you will find them in the Gnome menu->Applets and right-click on the desired applet. If you delete your pager by mistake, you will find it in Gnome menu->Applets->Utility: its name is the Desk Guide. |
The GKB International Keyboard enables you to choose many languages to switch your keyboard to. If you are trilingual, you can easily select, per example, French, English and Spanish as your main keyboard languages. The flag (Québec in our screen shot) represents the language you are currently using. Simply click on the icon to change your keyboard's language. To add or modify it, right-click on the icon and choose Properties.
Next is the Load Average icon, which indicates your processor's load state. If you see it skyrocket and get green, yellow and gray, it means one or many of your applications is freaking out... We will see later how to fix this in the Reference manual.
![]() | If this icon is not on your panel, you may retrieve it in the Gnome menu->Panel->Add to panel->Applet->Monitors->CPU Load. Many CPU indicators exist: try them out! |
Finally, the clock. You may change its properties by right-clicking on the icon and choosing Properties: you can change it to 12/24 hour and a couple of simple options. However, you may select another clock in the Gnome menu->Panel->Add to panel->Clocks. Some clocks even have a mail-check option.
[1] | We use this applet to avoid the annoying prompt when we log out. When you log out, a splash screen asks you if you want to save the settings you may have changed during your session. You can simply click on Save or not if you do not wish to save your new settings, if any. You may also configure it in the GNOME Control Center. |