The panel stretches across the bottom of the desktop.
The panel is very configurable. You can add and remove applications and
applets, which will allow you to access them easily. Right-click on the
panel and select to open the
KPanel Control Module. Go
to the General tab for panel placement and appearance
options.
You can hide the panel by choosing to auto-hide it, making it appear to
sink beneath the lower frame of your screen (it will return when you
hold the cursor over the bottom edge of your screen). You can also hide the panel by clicking on one of the arrows on either
of its borders.
Other tabs in the KPanel Control Module have
options to further customize your panel. Click on
Help for more information.
Applications and utilities can easily be added to the panel.
To add an application to the panel, right-click on the panel and
go to . Then select ,
, or and make your choice
from the corresponding menu. Once your choice is highlighted, release
the mouse button and the item will be added to the panel.
By default, KDE provides four desktops on which you can spread your
work. Each desktop can hold icons, open applications, and have
individually customized backgrounds.
For example, while you're writing email on the first desktop, you can
have Netscape Navigator running on desktop
two, a word processor open on desktop three, and so on.
You can change the number and names of desktops available in
KDE. To make these adjustments:
Right-click on the desktop; you'll see a limited menu of actions you
can take.
Select ; the KDE panel configuration
tool will open.
Click on the tab (see
Figure 3-6).
To change the names of your desktops, from
One, Two, and so on,
replace the default names with your preferred names in the
appropriate boxes (see Figure 3-6).
You can increase (or decrease) the number of desktops available to you
by adjusting the Visible slider of the
Desktops dialog. For more desktops, drag the bar
to the right; for fewer desktops, drag the bar to the left. The
Desktop, Appearance, and
Borders tabs are where you can make various
desktop configuration selections, like icon arrangement and font size.
Buttons for your desktops appear on the panel in the
Desktop Pager. Click on the buttons to move
among your desktops. Alternately, you can use the
Windowlist applet to navigate your desktops. If
the Windowlist icon is not on your panel, you
can add it by right-clicking on the panel and selecting
=> .
 | Switch Desktops Quickly |
|---|
| | You can use the keyboard combination of the [Ctrl]
and Function keys to switch desktops. For example,
[Ctrl]-[F2] will
switch you from desktop one to desktop two,
[Ctrl]-[F3] will
take you to desktop three.
|
