<chapter id="panel-chap">
 <title>The GNOME Panel</title>
   <sect1 id="introduction">
   <title>Introduction</title>
   <para>
    <indexterm id="idx-a2">
     <primary>Panel</primary>
    </indexterm>
    The GNOME <interface>Panel</interface> is the heart of the GNOME
    user interface and acts as a repository for the <link
    linkend="mainmenu">Main Menu</link>, user <link
    linkend="menus">menus</link>, application <link
    linkend="launchers">launchers</link>, <link
    linkend="applets">applets</link>  (applications which run entirely
    within the panel), <link linkend="drawers">drawers</link>, and
    several <link linkend="specialobjects">special objects</link>.
    The <interface>Panel</interface> was designed to be highly
    configurable.  You can easily <link
    linkend="panelproperties">customize its behavior and
    appearance</link> and <link linkend="appletadd">add or remove
    objects</link> to suite your personal needs and preferences.  You
    can even have <link linkend="paneladd">multiple panels</link>,
    each with its own appearance, properties, and contents.  This
    flexibility allows you to easily create a comfortable and
    efficient personalized desktop environment.
   </para>
   <para> This manual describes version 1.2 of the GNOME
    <interface>Panel</interface>.
   </para>
 
 </sect1>


<!-- ########### Panel Basics  ############## -->  
  <sect1 id="panelbasics">   
    <title>Panel Basics</title>
   <para>
    Using the GNOME <interface>Panel</interface> is very simple and
    will come easily to anyone who has used a graphical desktop
    environment.  This section will give you a basic introduction to
    help you get started, and the following sections will discuss the
    various Panel objects and features in more detail.
   </para>

   <sect2 id="intropanel">
    <title>Introduction to Panel Objects</title>
    <para>
     A <interface>Panel</interface> can hold several types of objects.
     The example <interface>Panel</interface>  in  <xref
     linkend="examplepanelfig"> shows each type of Panel object.
    </para>
    <figure id="examplepanelfig">
     <title>An Example Panel</title>
     <screenshot>
      <screeninfo>An Example Panel.</screeninfo>
       <graphic fileref="./figures/example_panel" format="png"
       srccredit="muet">
       </graphic>
     </screenshot>
    </figure>

    <para>
     This example <interface>Panel</interface> contains the following
     objects:  <itemizedlist>    <listitem>
       <formalpara>
        <title>Menus</title>
        <para>
         Menus are lists of items, each of which either starts an
         application, executes a command, or is a submenu.  In the
         example <interface>Panel</interface> in <xref
         linkend="examplepanelfig"> , the left-most  icon  after the
         arrow is a stylized footprint icon (the GNOME logo). This is
         the <guimenu>Main Menu</guimenu>, one of the most important
         objects in the <interface>Panel</interface>.  This menu
         provides access to almost all the applications, commands, and
         configuration options available in GNOME. The <guimenu>Main
         Menu</guimenu> is described in detail in <xref
         linkend="mainmenu">. The second icon shown is a folder, the
         default icon used for user menus.  GNOME allows users to
         create their own menus with personalized contents to use in
         addition to the <guimenu>Main Menu</guimenu>.  To open a
         menu, just click on the icon with the left mouse button.  For
         more information on menus, see <xref linkend="menus">.
        </para>
       </formalpara>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
       <formalpara>
        <title>Launchers</title>
        <para>
         Launchers are buttons which either start an application or
         execute a command when you press them (click with the left
         mouse button). The third icon in the example
         <interface>Panel</interface> is a launcher which starts the
         <application>Gnumeric</application> spreadsheet.  For more
         information on launchers, see <xref linkend="launchers">.
        </para>
       </formalpara>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
       <formalpara>
        <title>Applets</title> <para>  Applets are applications which
        run inside a small part of the
        <interface>Panel</interface>. The fourth through eighth icons
        in the example <interface>Panel</interface> are applets. The
        first applet shown is the <application>GNOME
        Weather</application> applet, which periodically downloads the
        current weather conditions off the Web and displays the
        information. The second applet shown is the <application>Drive
        Mount</application> applet, which shows whether a disk (in
        this case, the floppy drive) is mounted and allows you to
        mount and unmount the drive with a single click of the mouse.
        The third applet shown is the <application>Quick
        Launch</application> applet, which acts as a container for
        launchers, but saves more space than placing your launchers
        directly on the <interface>Panel</interface>. In the example
        shown the <application>Quick Launch</application> applet
        contains six application launchers.  Next is the
        <application>GNOME Desk Guide</application>, which allows you
        to control multiple virtual desktops, each of which can have
        multiple screens.  You can move between desktops and screens
        by clicking with your left mouse button.  The final  applet
        shown is the <application>Tasklist</application>, which allows
        you to control your application windows in various ways,
        including changing the focus,  iconifying windows, closing
        windows, and killing applications.  The
        <application>Tasklist</application> shown is for a screen with
        only two windows, both of which are <application>Electric
        Eyes</application>.  For more information on applets, see
        <xref linkend="applets">.
        </para>
       </formalpara>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
       <formalpara>
        <title>Drawers</title>  <para>   Drawers are essentially
        extensions of a <interface>Panel</interface> which can be
        opened or closed.  They can hold anything the
        <interface>Panel</interface> can.  The brown icon of a drawer
        in the example  <interface>Panel</interface> is the default
        icon for drawers, although any icon can be used. Click on the
        <guiicon>Drawer</guiicon> icon with the left mouse button to
        open or close it.  For more information on drawers, see <xref
        linkend="drawers">.
        </para>
       </formalpara>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
       <formalpara>
        <title>Special Objects</title>
        <para>
         Special objects are items you can add to a
         <interface>Panel</interface> which perform functions which
         are generally not available through the other
         <interface>Panel</interface> objects. The last item in the
         example <interface>Panel</interface> is a special object
         called the <guibutton>Logout Button</guibutton>. Pressing
         this with the left mouse button  begins the logout sequence
         to end your GNOME session. For more information on special
         objects, see <xref linkend="specialobjects">.
        </para>
       </formalpara>
      </listitem>
     </itemizedlist>
    </para>
    <para>
     Each of these object types is described in detail in the
     following sections. You can easily add, move, or remove Panel
     objects (see <xref linkend="appletadd">).
    </para>
   </sect2>

 
   <sect2 id="rightclick">
    <title>Right-Click Menu</title>
    <para>
     Clicking on any Panel object with the right mouse button brings
     up the Panel object's <guimenu>right-click</guimenu> menu. This
     menu contains <guimenuitem>Remove from panel</guimenuitem> for
     removing the object from the <interface>Panel</interface>,
     <guimenuitem>Move</guimenuitem> for  moving objects within the
     <interface>Panel</interface> or between two
     <interface>Panels</interface>,  the
     <guisubmenu>Panel</guisubmenu> submenu described below, and
     typically one or more object-specific menu items.  For drawers,
     menus, and launchers the only object-specific item is
     <guimenuitem>Properties...</guimenuitem> which allows you to
     customize the properties and settings of the object. For applets,
     the <guimenu>right-click</guimenu> menu will often contain
     <guimenuitem>About...</guimenuitem> for viewing information about
     the applet such as the author's name and the applet version,
     <guimenuitem>Help</guimenuitem> for viewing the applet's
     documentation,  and <guimenuitem>Properties...</guimenuitem> for
     configuring preferences and settings for the applet.  Applets
     often have other applet-specific controls in their
     <guimenu>right-click</guimenu> menus.
    </para>
    <para>
     The <guisubmenu>Panel</guisubmenu> submenu allows you to <link
     linkend="panelmove">create and remove
     <interface>Panels</interface></link> and <link
     linkend="appletadd">add objects</link> to the
     <interface>Panel</interface>.  It also allows you to modify the
     properties of the particular <interface>Panel</interface> of
     interest using the  <guimenuitem>Properties</guimenuitem> menu
     item (see <xref linkend="panelproperties">) or the properties of
     all <interface>Panels</interface> using the <guimenuitem>Global
     Preferences...</guimenuitem> menu item (see <xref
     linkend="globalpanelprefs">).
    </para>
    <para>
     You can also right-click on the <interface>Panel</interface>
     itself. This will bring up the <link
     linkend="mainmenu"><guimenu>Main Menu</guimenu></link>. In
     particular, this menu also contains the
     <guisubmenu>Panel</guisubmenu> submenu described above.
    </para>
   </sect2>

   <sect2 id="panelhide">
    <title>Hiding the Panel</title>
    <para>
     <indexterm id="idx-a4">
      <primary>Panel</primary> <secondary>Hide Buttons</secondary>
     </indexterm>
     <indexterm id="idx-a5">
      <primary>Panel</primary> <secondary>Hiding</secondary>
     </indexterm>
     The left and right arrow icons seen at either end of the example
     <interface>Panel</interface> and in <xref linkend="fig2"> are
     used to hide the <interface>Panel</interface>.
     <figure id="fig2">
      <title>The Hide Button</title>
      <screenshot>
       <screeninfo>The Hide Button</screeninfo>
        <graphic fileref="./figures/hide-button" format="png"
        srccredit="dcm">
        </graphic>
      </screenshot>
     </figure>
    </para>
    <para>
     Pressing one of these arrows will hide the
     <interface>Panel</interface> by sliding   it in the direction of
     the arrow pressed, so that the only part of the
     <interface>Panel</interface> which remains visible is the
     <guibutton>Hide</guibutton> button itself.   Pressing it a second
     time will expand the <interface>Panel</interface>.
    </para>
    <para>
     <interface>Panels</interface> can be configured to automatically
     hide when you are  not using it and reappear when you move the
     mouse to the part of the screen where the
     <interface>Panel</interface> resides. This can be useful if you
     are unable to run your system in a high resolution.  To learn how
     to have a <interface>Panel</interface> auto-hide, see <xref
     linkend="panelproperties">.
    </para>
   </sect2>

   <sect2 id="loggingout">
    <title>Logging Out</title>
    <para>
     To log out of GNOME, right click on the
     <interface>Panel</interface> and select <guimenuitem>Log
     out</guimenuitem>. This will bring up the
     <interface>Logout</interface> dialog, shown in <xref
     linkend="logoutdialog-fig">.
    </para>
    <figure id="logoutdialog-fig">
     <title>The Logout Dialog</title>
     <screenshot>
      <screeninfo>Logout</screeninfo>
      <graphic fileref="./figures/logout-screen" format="png"
      srccredit="dcm">
      </graphic>
     </screenshot>
    </figure>
    <para>
     If you would like to save your current setup, select the
     <guilabel>Save current setup</guilabel> checkbox. This will save
     any GNOME applications you have open and configuration changes
     you may have made in the <application>Control
     Center</application>.
    </para>
    <para>
     The default way to log out is by using the
     <guilabel>Logout</guilabel> option, which ends your GNOME session
     but does not shut down the computer.  Depending on your system
     configuration, you may also have the <guilabel>Halt</guilabel>
     option, which shuts down the computer, and the
     <guilabel>Reboot</guilabel> option, which will reboot the
     computer.
    </para>
    <note>    
	<title>Note for advanced users</title>   
	<para>The
	  <guilabel>Halt</guilabel> and <guilabel>Reboot</guilabel> choices
	  will only be shown if you have permission to execute the command
	  <command>/usr/bin/shutdown</command>.
	</para>
    </note>
    <para>
     If you do not want to log out, press the
     <guibutton>No</guibutton> button and you will be returned to your
     GNOME session. Otherwise press the <guibutton>Yes</guibutton>
     button to log out.
    </para>
    <note>
     <title>Logging Out and Window Managers</title>
     <para>
      If you are running a window manager that is GNOME compliant, the
      logout feature will quit the window manager as well as GNOME. If
      you are running a non-compliant window manager you will have to
      quit the window manager yourself.
     </para>
    </note>
    <para>
     You can disable the <interface>Logout</interface> dialog so that
     selecting the <guimenuitem>Log out</guimenuitem> menu item will
     end your GNOME session without asking any questions. To do so,
     start the GNOME <application>Control Center</application> by
     selecting <menuchoice> <guimenu>Main Menu</guimenu>
     <guisubmenu>Settings</guisubmenu> <guisubmenu>Startup
     programs</guisubmenu> </menuchoice> and uncheck the
     <guilabel>Prompt on logout</guilabel> button.  <!-- Commented out
     - as suggested by Drake You may also control whether changes to
     your session are automatically saved using the
     <guilabel>Automatically save changes to session</guilabel>
     button. -->
    </para>
   </sect2>
   <sect2 id="lockscreen">
    <title>Locking the Screen</title>
    <para>
     Sometimes you may want to leave your computer with GNOME running
     and not allow others to use or view your GNOME session.  GNOME
     allows you to do this by locking the screen, requiring a password
     to unlock it. To lock your GNOME session, right click on either
     end of a <interface>Panel</interface> and select
     <guimenuitem>Lock screen</guimenuitem>.  Alternately, if you have
     the <guibutton>Lock Button</guibutton>(see <xref
     linkend="lockbutton">) on a <interface>Panel</interface>, you may
     just press this button to lock the screen.  To unlock the screen,
     just type your login password.
    </para>
    <note>
     <title>Screensavers and the Lock Button</title>
     <para>
      The <guibutton>Lock screen</guibutton> button uses a feature of
      the <application>xscreensaver</application> program. This is the
      same program that the <application>Control Center</application>
      uses to set your screensaver. In  order for the <guibutton>Lock
      screen</guibutton> button to work properly, you must have a
      screensaver enabled in the <application>Control
      Center</application>.
     </para>
    </note>
   </sect2>
  
 </sect1>



   <!-- ########### Main Menu ############## -->

  <sect1 id="mainmenu">
   <title>The Main Menu</title>
   <para>
     <indexterm id="idx-a3">  <primary>Main Menu</primary>
     </indexterm>
    The footprint icon seen towards the left end of the example
    <interface>Panel</interface> (see <xref
    linkend="examplepanelfig">) and in <xref
    linkend="main-menu-button-fig"> is the   <guibutton>Main
    Menu</guibutton> (yes, you guessed  right, it is the footprint of
    the gnome). This menu provides access to almost all GNOME
    features  &mdash; all the applications, configuration tools,
    command line prompt, <guimenuitem>Logout</guimenuitem> and
    <guimenuitem>Lock Screen</guimenuitem> commands, and much more.
    To access any of these items, click on the <guibutton>Main
    Menu</guibutton> button. You should release the mouse after
    pressing the <guibutton>Main Menu</guibutton> button so that you
    can take advantage of other mouse-activated features in the
    <guimenu>Main Menu</guimenu> such as right-click pop-up menus and
    drag-and-drop from the menu to the desktop or
    <interface>Panel</interface>.
   </para>
    <figure id="main-menu-button-fig">
     <title>The Main Menu Button</title>
     <screenshot>
      <screeninfo>The Main Menu Button</screeninfo>
       <graphic fileref="./figures/mm-button" format="png"
       srccredit="dcm">
       </graphic>
     </screenshot>
    </figure>
    <para>   You can  have several <guibutton>Main
     Menu</guibutton> buttons on different
     <interface>Panels</interface>; all of them can be configured
     independently.
    </para>

   <sect2 id="globalmenu">
    <title>Global menu</title>
    <para>
     In addition to the <guimenu>Main Menu</guimenu> which you get by
     clicking on the foot icon, GNOME also provides a <guimenu>Global
     Menu</guimenu>, which contains the same commands but is not
     linked to any button. To access the  <guimenu>Global
     Menu</guimenu>, right-click on any empty place on the
     <interface>Panel</interface>. You can also  access   the
     <guimenu>Global  Menu</guimenu> by  pressing
     <keycombo action=simul>
      <keycap>Alt</keycap> <keycap>F1</keycap> </keycombo>.  (You can
      change the default key for activating the <guimenu>Global
      Menu</guimenu> in the <link
      linkend="misctab"><guilabel>Miscellaneous</guilabel></link> tab
      of the <interface><link linkend="globalpanelprefs">Global Panel
      Preferences</link> dialog</interface>.)
    </para>
    <para>
     Note that the <guimenu>Global Menu</guimenu> is configured
     independently from the <guimenu>Main Menu</guimenu>, by using the
     <guilabel>Menu</guilabel> tab in the <link
     linkend="globalpanelprefs"><interface>Global Panel
     Preferences</interface></link> dialog.
    </para>
   </sect2>

   <sect2 id="submenus">
     <title> Components of the Main Menu</title>
     <para>
      The primary component of the <guimenu>Main Menu</guimenu> is the
      <guisubmenu>Programs</guisubmenu> submenu, which contains a list
      of preconfigured submenus and menu items. Here you will find all
      the GNOME applications, from the
      <application>Gnumeric</application> spreadsheet to the
      <application>Free Cell</application> game, as well as quite a
      few non-GNOME ones, such as the
      <application>Netscape</application> web browser and the
      <application>emacs</application> text editor.  In addition, the
      <guisubmenu>Programs</guisubmenu> submenu also contains the
      following commands:
     </para>
     <itemizedlist>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        <guimenuitem>File Manager</guimenuitem> &mdash;  launches the
        GNOME graphical file manager.
       </para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        <guimenuitem>Help system</guimenuitem> &mdash; launches the
        <application>GNOME Help Browser</application>. The
        <application>GNOME Help Browser</application> gives you access
        to most of the documentation installed on your system &mdash;
        not only GNOME documentation (the GNOME User's Guide,
        application manuals, &hellip;), but also other types of
        documentation (man pages, info pages, &hellip;).
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </itemizedlist>

     <para>    In addition to the <guisubmenu>Programs</guisubmenu>
      submenu,  the <guimenu>Main Menu</guimenu> also contains a
      number of other submenus and useful commands. Depending on your
      configuration, you may not see all of these. Also, some of them
      may be shown as submenus, and others included as part of the
      <guimenu>Main Menu</guimenu>, separated by horizontal lines from
      the other parts. These additional submenus and commands are:
     </para>
     <itemizedlist>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        <guisubmenu>Favorites</guisubmenu>. This submenu, which is
        originally empty, is a place where you can put your favorite
        applications for quick access. You can edit this menu using
        the <application>Menu Editor</application>, which can be
        accessed from the <guimenu>Main Menu</guimenu> by choosing
        <menuchoice><guisubmenu>Settings</guisubmenu>
        <guimenuitem>Menu editor</guimenuitem> </menuchoice>. You can
        also add any item from any other menu (in particular, from the
        <guimenu>Programs</guimenu> menu) to the
        <guisubmenu>Favorites</guisubmenu> menu by clicking on the
        item with the right mouse button and selecting
        <guimenuitem>Add this to Favorites menu</guimenuitem>.
       </para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
       <para>
        <guisubmenu>Applets</guisubmenu>. This submenu contains all
        the applets installed on your system. Selecting an applet will
        add it to your <interface>Panel</interface>.
       </para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
       <para>
        <guisubmenu>KDE menus</guisubmenu>. This shows the menus of
        the K Desktop Environment (KDE) if you have it installed on
        your system.
       </para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
       <para>
        <guisubmenu>AnotherLevel menus</guisubmenu> and
        <guisubmenu>Debian menus</guisubmenu>. These submenus show the
        default application menus for Red Hat Linux and Debian
        GNU/Linux, respectively. These will only appear for users of
        the particular distributions.
       </para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
       <para>
        <guimenuitem>Panel</guimenuitem>. This submenu can be used to
        change <interface>Panel</interface> properties (both for <link
        linkend="panelproperties"> <interface>individual
        Panels</interface></link> and <link
        linkend="globalpanelprefs">global</link>, i.e. for all
        <interface>Panels</interface>), <link linkend="add">add an
        object</link> to the <interface>Panel</interface>, <link
        linkend="panelremoving">remove the whole
        <interface>Panel</interface></link>, <link
        linkend="paneladd">create a new
        <interface>Panel</interface></link>, or view the
        <citetitle>Panel Manual</citetitle>.
       </para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
       <para>
        <guimenuitem>Desktop</guimenuitem>&mdash; This submenu
        contains <guimenuitem>Log out</guimenuitem>, which ends your
        GNOME session (see <xref linkend="loggingout">), and
        <guimenuitem>Lock screen</guimenuitem> (see <xref
        linkend="lockscreen">).
       </para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem id="runcommand">
       <para>
        <guimenuitem>Run &hellip;</guimenuitem> &mdash; This menu item
        opens the <interface>Run Program</interface> dialog for
        executing shell commands (see <xref linkend="runbutton">).
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </itemizedlist>
    </sect2>

    <sect2 id="mainmenuconfig">
     <title>Configuring the Main Menu</title>
     <para>
      To change the configuration of the <guimenu>Main Menu</guimenu>,
      right-click on the <guibutton>Main Menu</guibutton> button
      (shown in <xref linkend="main-menu-button-fig">) and select
      <guimenuitem>Properties &hellip;</guimenuitem>  from the pop-up
      menu. This will show the <interface>Menu Properties</interface>
      dialog. In this dialog, for each of the submenus of the
      <guimenu>Main Menu</guimenu> listed above
      (<guisubmenu>Programs</guisubmenu>,
      <guisubmenu>Favorites</guisubmenu>, &hellip;) you can choose
      whether you want it  to be shown as part of the <guimenu>Main
      Menu</guimenu>, as a submenu, or not at all.
     </para>


     <figure>
      <title>Menu Properties Dialog</title>
      <screenshot>
       <screeninfo>Menu Properties Dialog</screeninfo>
       <graphic fileref="./figures/mainmenu_properties" format="png"
       srccredit="muet">
       </graphic>
      </screenshot>
     </figure>

     <para>
      You can also edit the contents of the
      <guisubmenu>Favorites</guisubmenu> submenu (or, if you are the
      system administrator, also of the
      <guisubmenu>Programs</guisubmenu> submenu) using the
      <application>GNOME Menu Editor</application>. To start it,
      right-click on the <guibutton>Main Menu</guibutton> button and
      select <guimenuitem>Edit Menus
      &hellip;</guimenuitem>. Alternatively, you can start
      <application>GNOME Menu Editor</application> by selecting
      <menuchoice> <guisubmenu>Programs</guisubmenu>
      <guisubmenu>Settings</guisubmenu> <guimenuitem>Menu
      editor</guimenuitem> </menuchoice> from the <guimenu>Main
      Menu</guimenu> itself.
     </para>
    </sect2>

<!-- Do we need it now that we have information about Global menu?
    <sect2 id="kbdnav">
     <title>Keyboard Navigation in the Main Menu</title>
     
     <para>    If you prefer, you can use the keyboard instead of the
      mouse to navigate the <guimenu>Main Menu</guimenu>. To activate
      the <guimenu>Main Menu</guimenu>, press the
      <keycap>Menu</keycap> key on your keyboard (if you are using a
      standard PC keyboard, this key usually is located to the left of
      the space bar and labelled with a picture of a menu); you can
      change the default key for activating the <guimenu>Main
      Menu</guimenu> in the <link
      linkend="misctab"><guilabel>Miscellaneous</guilabel></link> tab
      of the <interface><link linkend="globalpanelprefs">Global Panel
      Preferences</link> dialog</interface>. Use the
      <keycap>Up</keycap> and <keycap>Down</keycap> arrow keys  to
      move inside the menu, <keycap>Right</keycap> arrow to go to a
      submenu, and <keycap>Enter</keycap> to select an item. To exit
      the menu, just press the <keycap>Esc</keycap> key.
     </para>
    </sect2> -->
   
 </sect1>


 <!-- ########### Menus  ############## -->
 <sect1 id="menus">
  <title>Menus</title>
  <para>
   In addition to the <guimenu>Main Menu</guimenu>, discussed in <xref
   linkend="mainmenu">, you can also add "normal menus" to a
   <interface>Panel</interface>. An example menu, in this case a
   <guimenu>Favorites</guimenu> menu containing three application
   launchers and one submenu titled <guisubmenu>Games</guisubmenu>, is
   shown in <xref linkend = "example-menu-fig">. Unlike the
   <guimenu>Main Menu</guimenu>, normal menus only contain whatever
   launchers and submenus you place in them - no default submenus,
   <guimenuitem>Run...</guimenuitem> command, etc. as the
   <guimenu>Main Menu</guimenu> has.  You can also add any submenu of
   your <guimenu>Favorites</guimenu> menu or the
   <guimenu>Programs</guimenu> menu as a separate menu to a
   <interface>Panel</interface>; to do so, bring up this submenu from
   the <guimenu>Main Menu</guimenu>,  right click on the submenu
   title, and select <guimenuitem>Add this as menu to
   panel</guimenuitem>.
  </para>
  <figure id="example-menu-fig">
   <title>An Example Menu</title>
   <screenshot>
    <screeninfo>An Example Menu</screeninfo>
     <graphic fileref="./figures/example_menu" format="png"
     srccredit="muet">
     </graphic>
   </screenshot>
  </figure>

   <sect2 id="addingmenus">
    <title>Adding a Menu to a Panel</title>  <para>     To learn how
    to add a menu to a <interface>Panel</interface>, see <xref
    linkend="add">.
    </para>
   </sect2>

  <sect2 id="tearoff">
   <title>Tearing Off a Menu</title>
   <para>
    All menus in GNOME have the tear-off feature: if you left-click on
    the "perforation" (thin dashed line at the top of the menu, right
    above the menu title), the menu will be turned into a separate
    window on your desktop, which will stay there even after you move
    the mouse cursor elsewhere. This is very convenient if you will be
    using the same command from some deeply nested submenu
    frequently. To remove a "torn-off" menu from your desktop, click
    on the <guibutton>Close</guibutton> button in the window title
    (its appearance and location depends on the window manager you are
    using, but usually it is the rightmost button, labelled by an "x").
   </para>
  </sect2>

   <sect2 id="menusconf">
    <title>Configuring a Menu</title>
    <para>
     You can easily change a menu name and icon (for user menus only,
     not for submenus taken from the <guimenu>Main Menu</guimenu>). To
     do so, click on the menu, right-click on the menu title (at the
     very top of the list, above all other items), and select
     <guimenuitem>Properties&hellip;</guimenuitem> from the pop-up
     menu. This will bring up the  <interface>Desktop Entry
     Properties</interface> dialog, quite similar to the <link
     linkend="launchers"><interface>Launcher Properties</interface>
     dialog</link>.
    </para>
    <para>   To add a new item to the menu, click on the menu button,
     right-click on the Menu name, and select <guimenuitem>Add new
     item to this menu</guimenuitem>. This will bring  up
     <interface>Create Menu Item</interface> dialog, in which you can
     enter the menu item name, comment, command, and type (see <xref
     linkend="launchers"> for more information).  To remove an item
     from the menu, right-click on the item and choose
     <guimenuitem>Remove this item</guimenuitem>.
    </para>
    <para>
     Finally, a frequently asked question is "How I can change the
     font and the background used by the menus?" The answer is that it
     is determined by the current GTK Theme, which can be changed
     using the <application>GNOME Control Center</application> by
     selecting <menuchoice> <guimenu>Main Menu</guimenu>
     <guisubmenu>Programs</guisubmenu>
     <guisubmenu>Settings</guisubmenu>
     <guisubmenu>Desktop</guisubmenu><guimenuitem>Theme Selector</guimenuitem>
     </menuchoice>.
    </para>
   </sect2>
  
 </sect1>


 <!-- ###########  Launchers  ############## -->
 <sect1 id="launchers">
  <title>Launchers</title>
  <para>
   Launchers are buttons which reside in your
   <interface>Panel</interface> and start an application or execute a
   command when clicked.  A launcher can use any icon and has a
   customized tooltip to display a message when the cursor is passed
   over the launcher.
  </para>
  <para>
   You can change a launcher's properties, such as the icon it uses
   and its name, by right-clicking on the launcher and selecting
   <guimenuitem>Properties...</guimenuitem> from the pop-up menu. This
   brings up the <interface>Launcher properties</interface> dialog,
   shown in <xref linkend="launcherpropsfig">. A similar dialog is
   used when you create a new launcher (see <xref
   linkend="add">). Note that internally GNOME makes no distinction
   between menu items and launchers: these are just different
   representations of the same thing. You can place any menu item on a
   <interface>Panel</interface>, and it will appear as a
   launcher. Therefore, all the information below applies equally to
   launchers and menu items.
  </para>
  <figure id="launcherpropsfig">
   <title>Create Launcher/Launcher Properties Dialog</title>
   <screenshot>
    <screeninfo>Create Launcher/Launcher Properties Dialog</screeninfo>
     <graphic fileref="./figures/launcher_properties_basic" format="png"
     srccredit="muet">
     </graphic>
   </screenshot>
  </figure>
  <para>
   The <interface>Laucher Properties</interface> dialog has two tabs:
   <guilabel>Basic</guilabel> and <guilabel>Advanced</guilabel>. In
   the <guilabel>Basic</guilabel> tab, you can set:
  </para>
    <itemizedlist>
      <listitem>
	<para>
	  <guilabel>Name</guilabel> &mdash; this is the application
	  name, for example, <userinput>GNOME
	  terminal</userinput>. This name will be used if you later
	  put this launcher in a menu.
	</para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
	<para>
	  <guilabel>Comment</guilabel> &mdash; this is a brief
	  explanation of what this application does, for example,
	  <userinput>Terminal emulation program</userinput>. This will
	  be used for tooltips.
	</para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
	<para>
	  <guilabel>Command</guilabel> &mdash; the actual command that
	  runs the application, for example,
	  <userinput>gnome-terminal</userinput>.
	</para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
	<para>
	  <guilabel>Type</guilabel> &mdash; should be
	  <guilabel>Application</guilabel>; do not change it unless
	  you want to create something other than an application
	  launcher.
	</para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
	<para>
	  <guilabel>Icon</guilabel> &mdash; this is the icon which
	  will be used to represent the launcher in the
	  <interface>Panel</interface>. If no icon is specified, a
	  default icon will be used. To change the icon, just click on
	  it to launch the icon browser.
	</para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
	<para>
	  <guilabel>Run in Terminal</guilabel> &mdash; this specifies
	  whether the application should be run inside a terminal.  If
	  the application doesn't create any windows on its own, check
	  this button. If you are unsure, leave it unchecked.
	</para>
      </listitem>
    </itemizedlist>
    
    <para>
      The <guilabel>Advanced</guilabel> properties tab is shown
      below. It is intended for advanced users; most of the time, you
      will not need to change any of these settings.
    </para>
  <figure id="launcheradvpropsfig">
   <title>Launcher Advanced Properties Dialog</title>
   <screenshot>
    <screeninfo>Launcher Advanced Properties Dialog</screeninfo>
     <graphic fileref="./figures/launcher_properties_advanced" format="png"
     srccredit="muet">
     </graphic>
   </screenshot>
  </figure>
    <para>
     In the <guilabel>Advanced</guilabel> tab, you can set:
    </para>
    <itemizedlist>
      <listitem>
	<para>
	  <guilabel>Try this before using</guilabel> &mdash; you can
	  enter a command here, and GNOME will check if this command
	  can be executed. If the command cannot be successfully
	  executed, the launcher (or menu item) will not be shown even
	  if you added it to a <interface>Panel</interface> or
	  menu. It is mostly used by people preparing GNOME
	  distributions. For example, the default GNOME <guimenu>Main
	  Menu</guimenu> contains an item for the
	  <application>TkRat</application> e-mail program, but you
	  will only see this item if you have
	  <application>TkRat</application> installed on your system.
	</para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
	<para>
	  <guilabel>Documentation</guilabel> &mdash; currently not
	  used.
	</para>
      </listitem>
       <listitem>
	<para>
	  <guilabel>Name/Comment translations</guilabel> &mdash; here
	  you can set translations of the <guilabel>Name</guilabel>
	  and <guilabel>Comment</guilabel> to other languages. For
	  example, for <application>GNOME Terminal</application>, the
	  translations to Spanish (es) are name:  <userinput>Terminal
	  UNIX de GNOME</userinput> and comment: <userinput>Emulador
	  de terminal GNOME</userinput>. This means that if a user
	  sets his language to Spanish during login (this can be done
	  by selecting the desired language from
	  <guimenu>Languages</guimenu> menu of the <application>GNOME
	  Display Manager</application> when logging in) he will see
	  <guimenuitem>Terminal UNIX de  GNOME</guimenuitem> in the
	  menu and <guilabel>Emulador de terminal GNOME</guilabel> as
	  the tooltip. The actual command that runs the terminal is
	  unchanged.
	</para>
	<para>
	  To add a new translation, enter the language 2-letter code
	  and translations of <guilabel>Name</guilabel> and
	  <guilabel>Comment</guilabel> fields in the empty fields
	  under the list of current translations, and press the
	  <guibutton>Add/Set</guibutton> button.  To change one of
	  existing translations, select the row from the list, edit
	  the fields you want to change, and press the
	  <guibutton>Add/Set</guibutton> button. To remove one of
	  existing translations, select it in the list and press the
	  <guibutton>Remove</guibutton> button.
	</para>
	<para>
          You can find the list of all languages supported by GNOME
	  along with their 2-letter codes  in  <ulink type="http"
	  url="http://www.gnome.org/gnomefaq/html/x867.html">GNOME
	  Frequently Asked Questions</ulink>.
	</para>
      </listitem>
    </itemizedlist>

    <para>
      All of the changes you make in the <interface>Launcher
      Properties</interface> dialog will take effect when you press
      <guibutton>Apply</guibutton> or
      <guibutton>OK</guibutton>. Pressing <guibutton>OK</guibutton>
      closes the dialog; pressing <guibutton>Apply</guibutton> will
      allow you to continue editing.
    </para>
 
 </sect1>


<!-- ###########  Applets  ############## -->
 <sect1 id="applets">
  <title>Applets</title>
  <para>
   Applets are GNOME applications which reside in a
   <interface>Panel</interface>.  An applet's appearance typically
   reveals the state of the applet or other information. Applets often
   have buttons, sliders, entries, or other methods to allow you to
   control their behavior.
  </para>
  <figure id="example-applets-fig">
   <title>Example Applets</title>
   <screenshot>
    <screeninfo>Example Applets</screeninfo>
     <graphic fileref="./figures/panel_applets" format="png"
     srccredit="muet">
     </graphic>
   </screenshot>
  </figure>
  <para>
   Some example applets are shown above(see <xref
   linkend="example-applets-fig">).  At the very left is the
   <application>Mixer Applet</application> which allows you to change
   the volume level and mute the sound. Next is the<application>Sound
   Monitor Applet</application>, which displays the current volume of
   sound being played and allows you to control various sound
   features. The third applet is the <application>GTCD
   Applet</application>, a CD player which has all its controls
   available in the applet and displays the track and time.The next
   applet is the <application>Drive Mount Applet</application>, used
   to mount and unmount drives with a single click of the mouse. This
   is followed by the <application>Desk-Guide Applet</application>
   which shows you your desktops and the applications which are
   running on them. The last applet shown is the <application>Tasklist
   Applet</application> which allows you to control certain aspects of
   each application or window which is open.
  </para>
  <para>
   GNOME has many useful applets.  Just right click on a
   <interface>Panel</interface> and add some applets to your
   <interface>Panel</interface> to find out which applets are
   available and which ones are best for you.  Right click on each
   applet to see a menu listing various commands and operations the
   applet can do and to access the documentation for the applet.
  </para>
 
 </sect1>


<!-- ###########  Drawers  ############## -->
 <sect1 id="drawers">
  <title>Drawers</title>
  <para>
   The simplest way to think about a drawer is that it is a container
   to store things.  Typically one may use a drawer to hold multiple
   launchers which are related to each other in some way, such as the
   various applications in GNOME Office. The drawers in the GNOME
   <interface>Panel</interface> take this one step further by making a
   drawer an actual extension of the <interface>Panel</interface>
   itself.  Thus, a drawer is a collapsible branch of an existing
   <interface>Panel</interface>.  It can contain anything that a
   <interface>Panel</interface> can, including launchers, applets, and
   other drawers.
  </para>
  <figure>
   <title>An open Drawer</title>
   <screenshot>
    <screeninfo>An open Drawer</screeninfo>
    <graphic fileref="./figures/drawer_open" format="png"
    srccredit="dcm">
    </graphic>
   </screenshot>
  </figure>
  <para>
   Once you have placed a drawer on a <interface>Panel</interface>,
   you may click on it to "open" the drawer, revealing its contents.
   You may then add items to the drawer in the same way you would add
   items to a <interface>Panel</interface>, right clicking on the end
   of the drawer with the arrow to open the <link
   linkend="globalmenu"><interface>Global Menu</interface></link>.
   You can close the drawer by clicking on its icon again or by
   clicking on the arrow at its end.
  </para>
  <para>
   You can configure a drawer's properties by right clicking on the
   drawer's icon and selecting
   <guimenuitem>Properties...</guimenuitem>. This brings up the
   <interface>Drawer Properties</interface> dialog. Here you can
   select the icon used for the drawer by clicking on the icon. A
   tooltip may be entered by typing in the
   <guilabel>Tooltip/Name</guilabel> entry. This tooltip will be
   displayed whenever the mouse is moved over the drawer to remind you
   what is inside.  One may also select whether the <guibutton>hide
   button</guibutton> and arrow are displayed at the end of the drawer.
  </para>
  <figure>
   <title>Drawer Properties Dialog</title>
   <screenshot>
    <screeninfo>Drawer Properties Dialog</screeninfo>
    <graphic fileref="./figures/drawer_properties" format="png"
     srccredit="dcm">
    </graphic>
   </screenshot>
  </figure>
  <para>
   You may also control the background color or image of the
   drawer. Just right click on the drawer and select
   <guimenuitem>Properties...</guimenuitem> to open the
   <interface>Drawer Properties</interface> dialog. Then select the
   <guilabel>Background</guilabel> tab to bring up the
   <interface>Panel Background Dialog</interface> (see <xref
   linkend="panelbacktab">).
  </para>
 
 </sect1>



<!-- ###########  Special Panel Objects  ############## -->
 <sect1 id="specialobjects">
  <title>Special Panel Objects</title>
  <para>
   There are several special Panel objects which are not considered
   menus, applets, or launchers.  These special objects are described
   below.
  </para>
  <sect2 id="lockbutton">
   <title>The Lock Button</title>
   <figure>
    <title>The Lock Button</title>
    <screenshot>
     <screeninfo>The Lock Button</screeninfo>
     <graphic fileref="./figures/panel_lockbut" format="png"
     srccredit="muet">
     </graphic>
    </screenshot>
   </figure>
   <para>
    The <guibutton>Lock Button</guibutton> is a
    <interface>Panel</interface> button which starts a screensaver
    which locks the screen. In order to remove the screensaver and
    access the GNOME session again, you must supply your password.
    For more information on locking the screen, see <xref
    linkend="lockscreen">.
   </para>
  </sect2>
  <sect2 id="logoutbutton">
   <title>The Logout Button</title>
   <figure id="logoutbuttonfig">
    <title>The Logout Button</title>
    <screenshot>
     <screeninfo>The Logout Button</screeninfo>
     <graphic fileref="./figures/panel_logoutbut"
     format="png" srccredit="muet">
     </graphic>
    </screenshot>
   </figure>
   <para>
    The <guibutton>Logout</guibutton> button is used to exit the GNOME
    desktop environment.  It initiates the logout sequence, bringing
    up the <interface>Logout Dialog</interface>, as described in <xref
    linkend="loggingout">.
   </para>
  </sect2>
  <sect2 id="runbutton">
   <title>The Run Button</title>
   <figure id="runbuttonfig">
    <title>The Run Button</title>
    <screenshot>
     <screeninfo>The Run Button</screeninfo>
     <graphic fileref="./figures/panel_runbutton"
     format="png" srccredit="muet">
     </graphic>
    </screenshot>
   </figure>
   <para>
    The <guibutton>Run</guibutton> button opens the <interface>Run
    Program</interface> dialog, shown in <xref
    linkend="runprogramdialog-fig">.  This gives you access to the
    command line prompt. It is not a full-blown shell, so it is not a
    replacement for <application>GNOME terminal</application>, but it
    is very convenient when you need to enter just one command
    quickly. You can also open the <interface>Run Program</interface>
    dialog by using a  keyboard shortcut. The default keyboard
    shortcut is
    <keycombo action=simul>
     <keycap>Alt</keycap> <keycap>F2</keycap>
    </keycombo>
    but you can change this in the <link
    linkend="misctab"><guilabel>Miscellaneous</guilabel></link> tab of
    the <interface><link linkend="globalpanelprefs">Global Panel
    Preferences</link> dialog</interface>.
   </para>
   <figure id="runprogramdialog-fig">
    <title>The Run Program Dialog</title>
    <screenshot>
     <screeninfo>The Run Program Dialog</screeninfo>
     <graphic fileref="./figures/panel_runprogram"
     format="png" srccredit="muet">
     </graphic>
    </screenshot>
   </figure>
   <para>
    The command entry has a history buffer which allows you to execute
    a previously entered command by pressing the <guiicon>down
    arrow</guiicon> icon located to the right of the text field and
    selecting the command. It also has a
    <guibutton>Browse&hellip;</guibutton> button, which allows you to
    choose a file &mdash; this filename will be appended to the end of
    your command. For example, you can enter
    <userinput>emacs</userinput> (an extremely powerful text editor)
    on the command line and then use the
    <guibutton>Browse&hellip;</guibutton> button to select the file to
    be edited.
   </para>
  </sect2>
  <sect2 id="swallowedapps">
   <title>Swallowed Applications</title>
   <para>
    You can run many applications which are not applets inside the
    <interface>Panel</interface> as if they were applets.
    Applications which you pull into the <interface>Panel</interface>,
    even though they are not GNOME applets, are called "swallowed
    applications".  Applications do not have to be GNOME-compliant to
    be swallowed.  In general, the only constraints for swallowing an
    application are that the application must be small enough to fit
    in your <interface>Panel</interface> and you must know the  title
    of the window you would like to swallow.  In many cases, the
    application can be automatically shrank to fit in the
    <interface>Panel</interface>,  as specified in the
    <interface>Create Swallowed Application Dialog</interface>.  If
    the application is not small enough to fit in the
    <interface>Panel</interface>, the <interface>Panel</interface>
    will generally grow to allow the application to fit.
   </para>
   <figure id="swallappfig">
     <title>Create Swallowed Application Dialog</title>
     <screenshot>
      <screeninfo>Create Swallowed Application Dialog</screeninfo>
      <graphic fileref="./figures/panel_swallow" format="png"
      srccredit="muet">
      </graphic>
     </screenshot>
    </figure>
   <para>
    The <guilabel>Title of application to swallow</guilabel> is the
    window title, typically displayed on the top left edge of the
    window. (Note that the window title is case sensitive.) The
    <guilabel>Width</guilabel> and <guilabel>Height</guilabel>
    determine the size of the swallowed application in the
    <interface>Panel</interface> in pixels.
   </para>
   <para>
    If you leave the <guilabel>Command</guilabel> field empty, this
    dialog will create an empty window of given size on the panel
    which will sit there waiting for a window with the given title to
    appear on your desktop. As soon such a window appears (for
    example, when you choose appropriate item in the menu), it will be
    swallowed.
   </para>
   <para>
    You can also enter any command in the <guilabel>Command</guilabel>
    field; this command will be executed before trying to swallowing
    the window to the <interface>Panel</interface> (and  each time the
    <interface>Panel</interface> is restarted afterwards). This is
    normally used to start an application which you want the
    <interface>Panel</interface> to swallow.
   </para>
         
  </sect2>
  <sect2 id="statusdock">
   <title>Status Dock</title>
   <para>
    The <interface>status dock</interface> is a
    <interface>Panel</interface> object which can hold status docklets
    &mdash; small windows which applications place in the
    <interface>status dock</interface> to provide status information.
    Status docklets can also be used to control the
    application. Essentially, docklets are small (both in size and in
    complexity) applets.   GNOME currently does not have many
    applications which place status docklets in the <interface>status
    dock</interface>.  However, GNOME's <interface>status
    dock</interface> is compatible with that of the K Desktop
    Environment (KDE), so KDE applications, such as
    <application>kscd</application>, may place status docklets in
    GNOME's <interface>status dock</interface>.  Future versions of
    GNOME applications will make use of this recently added
    <interface>Panel</interface> object.
   </para>
   <figure id="statusdockfig">
     <title>Example Status Dock With Docklet</title>
     <screenshot>
      <screeninfo>Example Status Dock With Docklet</screeninfo>
      <graphic fileref="./figures/status_dock" format="png"
      srccredit="lebl">
      </graphic>
     </screenshot>
    </figure>
   <para>
    The above example shows the <interface>status dock</interface>
    with a status docklet from  the <application>kscd</application> CD
    player program.  This particular docklet is used to open and close
    the main <application>kscd</application> window without ending the
    program.
   </para>
  </sect2>
 
 </sect1>


<!-- ####### Adding, Moving, and Removing Panel Objects ########## -->
  <sect1 id="appletadd">
    <title>Adding, Moving, and Removing Panel Objects</title>
    <sect2 id="moving">
      <title>Moving objects</title>
      <para>
       To move any object in a <interface>Panel</interface> to a
       different location, just hold down the middle mouse button and
       drag it to the new location. Or, you can right-click on it and
       choose <guimenuitem>Move</guimenuitem>, then move the mouse to
       the new location and press any mouse button to anchor it in its
       new position. You can move it to a different location on the same
       <interface>Panel</interface>, or to a different
       <interface>Panel</interface>.  If in the course of this
       movement it hits other objects, the behavior depends on the
       global preferences (see <xref linkend="appletstab">): the
       object you are moving can switch places with other objects,
       "push" all objects it meets, or "jump" over all other objects
       without disturbing them. You can also override the default
       behavior by holding the <keycap>Shift</keycap> button (for
       "push" mode), the <keycap>Ctrl</keycap> button (for "switched"
       mode), or the <keycap>Alt</keycap> button (for "free" mode,
       i.e. jumping other objects without disturbing them) while
       moving the object.
      </para>
    </sect2>

    <sect2 id="remove">
      <title>Removing objects from the Panel</title>
      <para>
       To remove an object from a <interface>Panel</interface>,
       right-click on it and choose <guimenuitem>Remove from
       panel</guimenuitem> from the pop-up menu.
      </para>
    </sect2>


    <sect2 id="add">
      <title>Adding objects to the panel</title>
      <para>
	By default, the GNOME <interface>Panel</interface> contains
	only a few basic objects, such as the <guimenu>Main
	Menu</guimenu>. However, there are many
	<interface>Panel</interface> objects you can
	add to it. For example, every menu item in the <guimenu>Main
	Menu</guimenu> or its submenus can be added to a
	<interface>Panel</interface> as an
	application launcher. GNOME also has many applets
	that can be added to a <interface>Panel</interface>, ranging from
	<application>Printer Applet</application>, which prints files
	which you drag and drop onto the applet, to
	<application>Wanda the Fish</application>. There are many
	additional GNOME applets and applications available on the
	Internet.
      </para>
	<variablelist>
	  <varlistentry>
	    <term> <emphasis>Applets</emphasis></term>
	    <listitem>
	      <para>
                To add an applet to a <interface>Panel</interface>,
                right-click on the <interface>Panel</interface> and select
                <menuchoice><guisubmenu>Panel</guisubmenu><guisubmenu>Add
                to panel</guisubmenu>
                <guisubmenu>Applet</guisubmenu></menuchoice>. This
                will show you a
                menu of all the applets on your system, divided into
                categories; choosing any applet from this menu will
                add it to the <interface>Panel</interface>.
	      </para>
	    </listitem>
	  </varlistentry>


	  <varlistentry>
	    <term> <emphasis>Application launchers</emphasis></term>
	    <listitem>
	      <para>
		To create a new application launcher, right-click on
		the <interface>Panel</interface> and select
		<menuchoice><guisubmenu>Panel</guisubmenu><guisubmenu>Add
		to panel</guisubmenu>
		<guimenuitem>Launcher</guimenuitem></menuchoice>.
		This will open the <interface>Create Launcher
		dialog</interface>, shown below.  In this dialog you
		should enter a name for your launcher, a comment, and
		the command line to launch the application. This
		dialog is virtually identical to <interface>Launcher
		Properties</interface> dialog. See <xref
		linkend="launchers"> for a more detailed description. 
	      </para>
	      <figure>
		<title>The Create launcher dialog</title>
		<screenshot>
		  <screeninfo>Create launcher dialog</screeninfo>
		  <graphic fileref="./figures/create_launcher" format="png"
			   srccredit="muet">
		  </graphic>
		</screenshot>
	      </figure>
	      <para>
                You can also add any application in the <guimenu>Main
                Menu</guimenu> or application launcher on your
                desktop to a <interface>Panel</interface>.
                To do so, use the first mouse button to drag the object 
                onto the <interface>Panel</interface>. Be
		careful to drop it in an empty space on the
                <interface>Panel</interface> and
		not on any existing object: for example, if you drop
		it on the <interface>Printer Applet</interface>, it
                will be printed. You can also right-click on an item
                in the <guimenu>Main Menu</guimenu>
		and select <guimenuitem>Add this launcher to
		panel</guimenuitem>. After this, you can change any
		options for that launcher by clicking on it with the
		right mouse button and selecting
		<guimenuitem>Properties...</guimenuitem>.
	      </para>
	    </listitem>
	  </varlistentry>

	  <varlistentry>
	    <term> <emphasis>Menus</emphasis></term>
	    <listitem>
	      <para>
                To add a menu, right-click on the
                <interface>Panel</interface> and select
                <menuchoice><guisubmenu>Panel</guisubmenu> <guisubmenu>Add
                to panel</guisubmenu> <guisubmenu>Menu</guisubmenu>
                </menuchoice>. This gives you a choice of the <guimenu>Main
                menu</guimenu>, <guimenu>Programs menu</guimenu>, and
                <guimenu>Favorites menu</guimenu>.
	      </para>
	      <para>
		You can also add the <guimenu>Main Menu</guimenu> or
		any its submenu as a new menu to the
		<interface>Panel</interface> by
		right-clicking  on the menu title (the top line of the
		menu, separated from menu items by a thin line) and
		selecting <guimenuitem>Add this as a menu to the
		panel</guimenuitem>.
	      </para>
              <note>
               <title>Creating Menus By Hand</title>
	       <para>
                Advanced users can also create new menus
                manually. To do so, you need to know that internally,
                GNOME represents a menu by a directory, with menu items
                presented by files of special type
                (<filename>.desktop</filename> files &mdash; these files
                also represent the application launchers), and submenus
                presented by subdirectories. For example, the
                <guimenu>Favorites</guimenu> menu corresponds to the
                directory <filename>~/.gnome/apps</filename> (where
                <filename>~</filename> denotes your home directory), and
                the <guimenu>Programs</guimenu> menu corresponds to the
                directory
                <filename>/usr/share/gnome/apps</filename>. Thus, you
                can create a new directory, using the GNOME File
                Manager, drag and drop there any
                <filename>.desktop</filename> files from any other
                directories you might have (for example, from
                <filename>/usr/share/gnome/apps</filename>) or from the
                desktop, and then drag and drop this directory from the
                File Manager window to the
                <interface>Panel</interface>. This will add this
                directory as a menu to the <interface>Panel</interface>.
	       </para>
              </note>
	      <para>
                After you have added a menu to your
                <interface>Panel</interface> using any of  the methods
                described above, you can modify its properties (for
                example, add new items to this menu or change the icon
                used by the menu), as described in <xref
                linkend="menus">.
	      </para>
	    </listitem>
	  </varlistentry>

	  <varlistentry>
	    <term> <emphasis>Drawers</emphasis></term>
	    <listitem>
	      <para>
                To add a new empty drawer, select
                <menuchoice><guisubmenu>Panel</guisubmenu>
                <guisubmenu>Add to panel</guisubmenu>
                <guisubmenu>Drawer</guisubmenu></menuchoice>. Then
                right-click on the drawer and select
                <guimenuitem>Properties...</guimenuitem> to change its
                properties (for example, the icon it uses). You can
                add new items to this drawer in the same way as you
                add items to a <interface>Panel</interface>: all the
                methods for adding new objects to the
                <interface>Panel</interface> described in this section
                will also work for adding new items to a drawer.
	    </para>
	    <para>
                You can also add the <guimenu>Main Menu</guimenu> or any
                of its submenus to the <interface>Panel</interface> as a
                drawer by right-clicking on the menu title and selecting
		<guimenuitem>Add this as drawer to
		panel</guimenuitem>.
	      </para>
	    </listitem>
	  </varlistentry>
	  <varlistentry>
	    <term> <emphasis>Swallowed application</emphasis></term>
	    <listitem>
	      <para>To add a swallowed application to your
		<interface>Panel</interface>, select
		<menuchoice><guisubmenu>Panel</guisubmenu>
		<guisubmenu>Add to panel</guisubmenu>
		<guisubmenu>Swallowed
		app</guisubmenu></menuchoice>. This will
		open the <interface>Create Swallowed
		Application</interface> dialog.  For detailed information
		on using this dialog, see <xref
		linkend="swallowedapps">.
	      </para>
	    </listitem>
	  </varlistentry>
	</variablelist>

   </sect2>
 
 </sect1>




<!-- ########### Creating, Moving, and Removing Panels  ########### -->
  <sect1 id="panelmove">
    <title>Creating, Moving, and Removing Panels</title>
    <sect2 id="paneladd">
     <title>Creating new panels</title>
     <para>
       To add a new <interface>Panel</interface> to your desktop,
       select
       <menuchoice><guisubmenu>Panel</guisubmenu><guisubmenu>Create
       panel</guisubmenu></menuchoice> from the <guimenu>Main
       Menu</guimenu>. Choose from the following
       <interface>Panel</interface> types:
     </para>
     <itemizedlist mark="bullet">
      <listitem>
        <para>
          <guilabel>Menu Panel</guilabel> &mdash; The <interface>Menu
          Panel</interface> is a special <interface>Panel</interface>
          which is always placed at the top of your screen and
          contains several pull-down menus.  These are
          <guimenu>Programs</guimenu>, <guimenu>Favorites</guimenu>,
          <guimenu>Settings</guimenu>, <guimenu>Desktop</guimenu>, and
          a special menu which provides quick access to GNOME-related
          Internet resources (look for the bullet hole icon).  This
          <interface>Panel</interface> can also hold the other objects
          which other <interface>Panel</interface>s can hold, but it
          does not have the configuration properties which other
          <interface>Panel</interface>s have. Note that the
          <interface>Menu Panel</interface> is more restrictive than
          other <interface>Panel</interface>s, and some normal
          <interface>Panel</interface> operations, such as moving the
          <interface>Panel</interface>, cannot be performed on it.
        </para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>
          <guilabel>Edge Panel</guilabel> &mdash; An <interface>Edge
           Panel</interface> is exactly like the main
           <interface>Panel</interface> that starts up with GNOME; it
           stretches along the whole length of one of screen edges. By
           selecting this type of <interface>Panel</interface>, you
           may add a new <interface>Panel</interface> to another edge
           of your screen to give yourself more functionality.
        </para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>
          <guilabel>Aligned Panel</guilabel> &mdash;  An
          <interface>Aligned Panel</interface> is also positioned
          along one of the screen edges. But unlike an <interface>Edge
          Panel</interface>, an <interface>Aligned Panel</interface>
          will not stretch across the entire edge of the screen it is
          on; It will only stretch as much as necessary to  display
          the icons and applets it contains. It can be positioned
          either at one of the corners (in this case, it will stretch
          towards the opposite corner) or at the center of the edge
          (in this case, it will stretch in both directions,
          automatically recentering when you add new objects).
        </para>
        <para>
          If an <interface>Aligned Panel</interface> is aligned with
          one of the corners, the hide buttons will work slightly
          differently than for an <interface>Edge Panel</interface>.
          The hide button closest to the edge of your screen will hide
          the <interface>Panel</interface> as usual but the other hide
          button will send the whole <interface>Panel</interface> to
          the opposite corner. When the latter move is made it will
          not hide the <interface>Panel</interface> since it is
          changing the side of the screen it resides on.  If you want
          to hide it you will have to press the hide button once again.
        </para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>
          <guilabel>Sliding Panel</guilabel> &mdash; A
          <interface>Sliding Panel</interface> is very similar to an
          <interface>Aligned Panel</interface>, but can be placed
          anywhere along the screen edge, not necessarily in one of
          the corners or in the center. As you add objects, it will
          only grow in one direction &mdash; it won't automatically
          recenter.
        </para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>
          <guilabel>Floating Panel</guilabel> &mdash; A
          <interface>Floating Panel</interface> can be placed anywhere
          on your screen, not necessarily along one of the edges.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </itemizedlist>

     <tip>
      <title>Changing Panel Type</title>
      <para>
       You can also change type of existing panel &mdash; for example,
       convert edge panel to a floating panel, see <xref
       linkend="panelproperties">.
      </para>
     </tip>

    </sect2>

    <sect2 id="panelmoving">
     <title>Moving Panels</title>
     <para>
      Any <interface>Panel</interface> you have on your desktop(except
      a <interface>Menu Panel</interface>) can be
      moved by pressing the middle mouse button, or by simultaneously
      pressing the left and right mouse buttons, while dragging the
      <interface>Panel</interface> to
      the desired position on your screen. If you do not have a middle
      mouse button and did not configure your mouse to emulate a
      middle button you may also move a <interface>Panel</interface>
      by changing its location in the <interface>Panel
      properties</interface> dialog.  You can read more about this in
      <xref linkend="panelproperties"> of this documentation.
     </para>
    </sect2>
    <sect2 id="panelremoving">
     <title>Removing Panels</title>
     <para>
      To remove an existing <interface>Panel</interface>, right-click
      on it and choose
      <menuchoice><guisubmenu>Panel</guisubmenu><guisubmenu>Remove
      this panel</guisubmenu></menuchoice>. If the
      <interface>Panel</interface> is not empty, you will be prompted
      to confirm.
     </para>
     <note>
      <title>Removing Your Only Panel</title>
      <para>
        You must have at least one <interface>Panel</interface>
        running at all times.  GNOME will not allow you to remove your
        only <interface>Panel</interface>.
      </para>
     </note>
    </sect2>
   
 </sect1>


<!-- ############### Global Panel Preferences  ################## -->
  <sect1 id="globalpanelprefs">
   <title>Global Panel Preferences</title>
    <para>
     To start configure the behavior of all of your
     <interface>Panel</interface>s, select
     <menuchoice><guisubmenu>Panel</guisubmenu> <guisubmenu>Global
     Preferences</guisubmenu></menuchoice> from  the <link
     linkend="mainmenu"><guimenu>Main Menu</guimenu></link>.
    </para>
    <para>
     This will open the <interface>Global Panel
     Preferences</interface> dialog. (This dialog is a
     component of the <application>GNOME Control
     Center</application>).  With this dialog you can control many
     properties shared by all of your <interface>Panel</interface>s.
     <figure>
      <title>The Global Panel Configuration Dialog</title>
     <screenshot>
      <screeninfo>The Global Panel Configuration Dialog</screeninfo>
       <graphic fileref="./figures/glob_pref_anim"
       format="png" srccredit="muet">
       </graphic>
     </screenshot>
     </figure>
    </para>
    <para>
     The <interface>Global Panel Configuration</interface> dialog
     contains the following five tabs:
     <guilabel>Animation</guilabel>, <guilabel>Buttons</guilabel>,
     <guilabel>Panel Objects</guilabel>, <guilabel>Menu</guilabel>, and
     <guilabel>Miscellaneous</guilabel>. Each of these tabs is
     explained below.
    </para>
    <sect2 id="animtab">
     <title>Animation  Tab</title>
    <itemizedlist mark="bullet">
     <listitem>
      <para>
       <guilabel>Enable animations</guilabel> &mdash; This allows
       <interface>Panel</interface>s and drawers to animate as the
       hide and unhide.
      </para>
     </listitem>
     <listitem>
      <para>
       <guilabel>Constant speed animations</guilabel> &mdash; By
       default, the animations start slowly, but then accelerate. If
       you enable this option, the animations will not use any
       acceleration.
      </para>
     </listitem>
      <listitem>
      <para>
       <guilabel>[Animation speed] Auto hide</guilabel> &mdash; This
       controls the speed of animation for any
       <interface>Panel</interface> which is set to hide automatically
       when the mouse leaves the <interface>Panel</interface>. The
       slowest setting is 1, and the fastest is 100.
      </para>
     </listitem>
     <listitem>
      <para>
       <guilabel>[Animation speed] Explicit hide</guilabel> &mdash; This
       controls the hide speed when you press a <interface>Panel</interface>'s
       <guibutton>Hide Button</guibutton>. The slowest setting is 1,
       and the fastest is 100.
      </para>
     </listitem>
     <listitem>
      <para>
       <guilabel>[Animation speed] Drawer sliding</guilabel> &mdash;
       This controls how fast a drawer menu will raise when you
       press a drawer button on a <interface>Panel</interface>. The
       slowest setting is 1, and the fastest is 100.
      </para>
     </listitem>
     <listitem>
      <para>
       <guilabel>[Auto hide] Delay (ms)</guilabel> &mdash; If you have
       a <interface>Panel</interface> set to minimize automatically
       after the mouse leaves the <interface>Panel</interface>
       this will allow you to control how much time passes before it
       minimizes.  The <interface>Panel</interface>
       will start the time count once the mouse is no longer over
       it. It will appear again when the mouse is passed over the
       portion of the <interface>Panel</interface> that remains
       visible. This time is measured in milliseconds.
      </para>
     </listitem>
     <listitem>
      <para>
       <guilabel>[Auto hide] Size (pixels)</guilabel> &mdash;
       This determines the number of pixels that show when a
       <interface>Panel</interface> is minimized, for any
       <interface>Panel</interface> which is set to hide automatically.
       To maximize the <interface>Panel</interface>, the pointer must
       enter the <interface>Panel</interface> area.
      </para>
     </listitem>
    </itemizedlist>
   </sect2>
   <sect2 id="launchtab">
    <title>Buttons Tab</title>
    <para>
      In this section, you can set the
      appearance of the various types of buttons: launcher buttons, menu
      buttons, drawer buttons, and special buttons(such as the <link
      linkend="logoutbutton">Logout Button</link> and the <link
      linkend="lockbutton">Lock Button</link>).
    </para>
    <itemizedlist mark="bullet">
     <listitem>
      <para>
       <guilabel>Button Type</guilabel> &mdash; Select the type of
       button you wish to configure.
      </para>
     </listitem>
     <listitem>
      <para>
       <guilabel>Tiles enabled</guilabel> &mdash; This checkbox will
       enable background tiles for buttons of the given type on the
       <interface>Panel</interface>.
      </para>
     </listitem>
     <listitem>
      <para>
       <guilabel>Normal tile</guilabel> &mdash; This shows the image
       used for the tile in the up position (inactive, not
       pressed). To choose another image file, just click on the
       image, and it will launch the icon browser. Tiles must be
       enabled to access this option.
      </para>
     </listitem>
     <listitem>
      <para>
       <guilabel>Clicked tile</guilabel> &mdash; This shows the image
       used for the tile in the down position (active, pressed). To
       choose another image file, just press on the image, and it will
       launch the icon browser. Tiles must be enabled to access this
       option.
      </para>
     </listitem>
     <listitem>
      <para>
       <guilabel>Border width (tile only)</guilabel> &mdash; This
       determines the width of the border around an icon. For example,
       if you set border width equal to 5, this will ensure that at
       least 5 pixels of the tile will be shown on every side of the
       icon; if necessary, the icon will be cropped. This is very
       useful if you have an icon that would normally cover up a tile.
       Tiles must be enabled to access this option.
      </para>
     </listitem>
     <listitem>
      <para>
       <guilabel>Depth (displacement when pressed)</guilabel> &mdash;
       This determines the depth an icon will displace when
       pressed. Tiles must be enabled to access this option.
      </para>
     </listitem>
    </itemizedlist>
      <para>
       This tab also contains 3 options which affect all types
       of buttons simultaneously:
     </para>
      <itemizedlist>
	<listitem>
         <para>
          <guilabel>Make buttons flush with panel edge</guilabel>
	  &mdash; This allows you to align the button with
	  the edge of the <interface>Panel</interface>.  If this
	  option is not set then the border width setting is obeyed.
	  By default this option is off.
	  </para>
	</listitem>
	<listitem>
	 <para>
          <guilabel>Show button tiles only when cursor is over
	  the button</guilabel> &mdash; If this option is enabled, the
	  tiles will only appear when mouse cursor is over the button.
	 </para>
	</listitem>
	<listitem>
	  <para>
	    <guilabel>Prelight buttons on mouseover</guilabel>
	    &mdash; Choosing this option will make the buttons
	    brighten up when the mouse cursor is over them.
	  </para>
	</listitem>
      </itemizedlist>
   </sect2>
    <sect2 id="appletstab">
      <title>Panel objects Tab</title>
      <para>
	This tab shows some options related to the placement and moving
	of objects on the <interface>Panel</interface>.  
      </para>
      <itemizedlist>
	<listitem>
	  <para>
	    <guilabel>Default movement mode</guilabel> &mdash; Here
	    you can choose the default mode for moving objects on
	    the <interface>Panel</interface>. Possible variants are
	    </para>
	    <itemizedlist>
	      <listitem>
               <para> 
                <emphasis>Switched</emphasis> &mdash;
                When the object you are moving hits another object,
                they switch places.
	       </para>
	      </listitem>

	      <listitem>
               <para>
                <emphasis>Free</emphasis> &mdash; When
		the object you are moving hits another object, it
                "jumps" over it, so no other object is disturbed.
                This is a convenient option if you like the
                current arrangement of objects on your
		<interface>Panel</interface> and want to leave the
		other objects in place.
		</para>
	      </listitem>

	      <listitem>
		<para>
		  <emphasis>Push</emphasis> &mdash; The object you are
		  moving pushes all other objects in front of it, like
		  a snow plow.
		</para>
	      </listitem>
	    </itemizedlist>
	  <para>
            You can override the default movement mode by dragging
	    an  object while holding <keycap>Ctrl</keycap> (for
	    switched movement), <keycap>Alt</keycap> (for free
	    movement), or <keycap>Shift</keycap> (for push movement)
	    button pressed.
	    </para>
	</listitem>
	<listitem>
	  <para>
	    <guilabel>Padding</guilabel> &mdash;  This changes
	    the amount of space (padding) between objects on the
	    <interface>Panel</interface>. It is measured in pixels.
	  </para>
	</listitem>
      </itemizedlist>
    </sect2>

   <sect2 id="menutab">
    <title>Menu Tab</title>
      <para>
       In this tab, you can set the options determining the
       appearance of <interface>Panel</interface> menus.
      </para>
      
     <itemizedlist>
      <listitem>
      <para>
       <guilabel>Use large icons</guilabel> &mdash; This will use
       large icons (rather than the default size) in menus. This is only
       practical for those with high resolution screens (1280x1024 and
       higher).
      </para>
     </listitem>
      <listitem>
      <para>
       <guilabel>Show [...] buttons</guilabel> &mdash; This will add
       small buttons labelled by three dots (...) to all the items of
       the <guimenu>Main Menu</guimenu>. Clicking on such a button
       with the left mouse button will bring the
       <guimenu>pop-up</guimenu> menu for this item, i.e. the same
       menu which you get by clicking on the menu item with the right
       mouse button.   
      </para>
     </listitem>
     <listitem>
      <para>
       <guilabel>Show popup menus outside of panels</guilabel> &mdash;
       When this button is on, it allows pop-up menus to appear away
       from the <interface>Panel</interface>. When toggled off, the
       pop-ups will appear over the <interface>Panel</interface>. This
       can be useful on smaller screens or cluttered desktops.
      </para>
     </listitem>
     <listitem>
      <para>
       <guilabel>Keep menus in memory</guilabel> &mdash; This will
       keep your menus in memory so that they do not rescan for added
       items. This can increase the speed of GNOME, but may also
       result in you missing new items added to your menu.
	</para>
	</listitem>
	<listitem>
         <para>
          <guilabel>Global menu</guilabel> &mdash; This
	  allows you to configure the <link linkend="globalmenu">
          <guimenu>Global Menu</guimenu></link>
	  which you get by right-clicking on a
	  <interface>Panel</interface>, or by using
	  the keyboard shortcut. For each of the possible submenus
	  (<guisubmenu>Programs</guisubmenu>,
	  <guisubmenu>Favorites</guisubmenu>, etc.), you can choose
	  whether it should be included as a part of the <guimenu>Global
	  Menu</guimenu>, as a submenu, or not included at all. A
	  description of these submenus is given in <xref
	  linkend="submenus">.
	  </para>
	</listitem>
      </itemizedlist>
    </sect2>

   <sect2 id="misctab">
    <title>Miscellaneous Tab</title>    
      <para>
       The <guilabel>Miscellaneous</guilabel> tab contains options for various
       customizable behavior that didn't fit anywhere else.
      </para>

     <itemizedlist mark="bullet">
     <listitem>
      <para>
       <guilabel>Tooltips enabled</guilabel> &mdash; This option
       defines whether GNOME should show a tooltip when the
       pointer pauses on a <interface>Panel</interface> item.
      </para>
     </listitem>
     <listitem>
      <para>
       <guilabel>Close drawer if a launcher inside it is
       pressed</guilabel> &mdash; By default drawers will remain open
       when you select an item within one. This can be annoying as the
       drawer will remain open until you close it with a mouse
       click. With this option selected drawers will close
       automatically when you select any item within one.
      </para>
     </listitem>
     <listitem>
      <para>
       <guilabel>Raise panels on mouse-over</guilabel> &mdash; If you
       are using a window manager that is not GNOME compliant it will
       not understand its relationship with the
       <interface>Panel</interface>. This can cause
       your <interface>Panel</interface> to be covered by
       applications. If you enable this feature you can have the
       <interface>Panel</interface> automatically raise when your
       mouse is over it.
      </para>
     </listitem>
     <listitem>
      <para>
       <guilabel>Keep panel below windows</guilabel> &mdash; If you
       are using a GNOME compliant window manager, the window manager
       will understand its relationship with the
       <interface>Panel</interface>. If you choose
       this feature the window manager and GNOME will allow
       applications to appear over the
       <interface>Panel</interface>. This can be useful on
       smaller screens.
      </para>
     </listitem>
     <listitem>
      <para>
       <guilabel>Confirm removal of panels with a
       dialog</guilabel> &mdash; If this option is enabled,
       GNOME will ask for confirmation before removing a
       <interface>Panel</interface>.
      </para>
     </listitem>
    </itemizedlist>
    <para>
     This tab also allows you to configure some global key
     bindings. You can define key bindings for the <link
     linkend="globalmenu"><guimenu>Global Menu</guimenu></link>(ie.
     <guimenu>Popup Menu</guimenu>) and
     for the <link linkend="runbutton"><interface>Run
     Program</interface></link> dialog. (The default key bindings for
     these are
     <keycombo action=simul>
      <keycap>Alt</keycap>
      <keycap>F1</keycap>
     </keycombo>
     and 
     <keycombo action=simul>
      <keycap>Alt</keycap>
      <keycap>F2</keycap>
     </keycombo>
     respectively.)  To
     change these key bindings,  select a key from the drop-down list
     or press the <guibutton>Grab key&hellip;</guibutton> button and then
     press the desired key. 
    </para>
      <note>
	<title>Using the Menu and Window keys</title>
	<para>
	  You should be able to use the special <keycap>Menu</keycap>
	  and <keycap>Windows</keycap> keys for keybindings. If you
	  have problems with using these keys, the most probable reason
	  is that your X server was incorrectly configured: the
	  keyboard type chosen during installation does not match
	  your actual keyboard. If you are using
	  <application>XFree86</application> server, you can fix it by
	  manually editing the configuration file. This file, named
	  <filename>XF86Config</filename>, is usually located in
	  the <filename class="directory">/etc</filename> or <filename
	  class="directory">/etc/X11</filename>
	  directory. Open this file with any text editor (not a
	  word-processor!) and find the line containing the word
	  <literal>XkbModel</literal>. Change it to read
	  <programlisting>
              XkbModel "pc104"
	  </programlisting>
	  You must be root (system administrator) to do this. Now,
	  logout of GNOME and restart the X server by simultaneously
	  pressing <keycombo> <keycap>Ctrl</keycap>
	  <keycap>Alt</keycap> <keycap>Backspace</keycap> </keycombo>.
	</para>
      </note>
      <warning>
	<title>Use Caution When Editing XF86Config</title>
	<para>
	Making a mistake while editing the <filename>XF86Config</filename>
	file can make your keyboard or screen unusable in X
	Windows. Before editing this file, you should make a backup copy of
	it and make sure you know how to restore it from the backup file
	without using X Windows or GNOME, i.e., from a terminal. If
	you don't know how to do this, then do not edit this file.
       </para>
      </warning>
   </sect2>
   
 </sect1>


<!-- ###############  Individual Panel Properties  ################ -->

   <sect1 id="panelproperties">
    <title>Individual Panel Properties</title>
    <para>
     <indexterm id="idx-a62"> <primary>Panel</primary>
      <secondary>Individual Panel Properties</secondary>
     </indexterm>
     <indexterm id="idx-a63">
      <primary>Panel</primary> <secondary>properties</secondary>
      </indexterm>
      In addition to global Panel properties, described in <xref
      linkend="globalpanelprefs">, some properties can be configured
      individually for each <interface>Panel</interface>.  This
      includes <interface>Panel</interface> type (Edge,
      Aligned, Sliding, Floating), size, location, background color,
      and hiding preferences. To change these properties for a
      <interface>Panel</interface>,
      click on it with the right mouse button and select
      <menuchoice><guimenu>Panel</guimenu>
      <guisubmenu>Properties</guisubmenu></menuchoice>. You may also
      press the <guibutton>Main Menu</guibutton> button and select
      <menuchoice><guimenu>Panel</guimenu>
      <guisubmenu>Properties</guisubmenu></menuchoice>.
    </para>
    <para>
      From the <guisubmenu>Properties</guisubmenu> submenu, you can
      choose <guimenuitem>All properties...</guimenuitem>, which will
      launch the <interface>Panel properties</interface> dialog.  If you
      are already familiar with this dialog, you can more quickly
      change some of the properties &mdash; say,
      <interface>Panel</interface> size or type
      &mdash; by selecting the appropriate item in the
      <guisubmenu>Properties</guisubmenu> menu.
    </para>
    <para>
     The <interface>Panel properties</interface> dialog contains two
     tabs to help you set the active <interface>Panel</interface>
     properties: <guilabel>Edge
     Panel</guilabel> (or <guilabel>Aligned</guilabel>, &hellip; -
     depending on your <interface>Panel</interface> type) and
     <guilabel>Background</guilabel>. Both of these tabs are explained
     below.
    </para>

   <sect2 id="edgetab">
    <title>Edge Panel Tab</title>
    <figure>
     <title>Panel Edge Properties Dialog</title>
    <screenshot>
     <screeninfo>Panel Edge Properties Dialog</screeninfo>
      <graphic fileref="./figures/panel_props_edge"
      format="png" srccredit="muet">
      </graphic>
    </screenshot>
    </figure>
    <itemizedlist mark="bullet">
	<listitem>
	  <para>
	    <guilabel>Panel Position</guilabel> &mdash; This changes
	    the position of the <interface>Panel</interface> on the screen. For
	    <interface>Edge Panel</interface>, you must specify an
	    edge (<guilabel>Top</guilabel>,
	    <guilabel>Right</guilabel>, <guilabel>Left</guilabel> or
	    <guilabel>Bottom</guilabel>). For <interface>Aligned
	    Panel</interface>, you have to specify an edge and one of
	    the edge's ends or the center. For <interface>Sliding
	    Panel</interface>, you must specify the edge and offset
	    from one of the corners (in pixels). Finally, for
	    <interface>Floating Panel</interface> you must specify
	    orientation (horizontal or vertical) and position of
	    <interface>Panel</interface>'s left top corner (relative
	    to the left top corner of the screen and measured in pixels).
	  </para>
	  <para>
	    The <interface>Panel</interface> will change position once
	    you have pressed the <guibutton>Apply</guibutton> or
	    <guibutton>OK</guibutton> button.
	  </para>
	  <tip>
	    <title>Manually Moving a Panel</title>
	    <para>
	      You can also change <interface>Panel</interface>
	      position by dragging it with the middle mouse button to
	      the new location.
            </para>
	  </tip>
	</listitem>

	<listitem>
	 <para>
          <guilabel>Panel size</guilabel> &mdash; Here you can
	  choose the <interface>Panel</interface> width. The default
	  size is 48 pixels, which is
	  also the default size of icons used by GNOME. Users with low
	  screen resolution might want to decrease the
	  <interface>Panel</interface> size to
	  free some screen space; conversely, users with high
	  resolution displays may try using larger
	  <interface>Panel</interface> sizes.
        </para>
        <para>
          Changing <interface>Panel</interface> size automatically
          resizes all the icons on this <interface>Panel</interface>,
          which can lead to some quality loss. Also,
          the <interface>Panel</interface> will ask all the applets to resize
          themselves. Most of the applets will comply; however, if
          some applets do not obey this request, then the
          <interface>Panel</interface> will resize itself so that it
          can fit all the applets.
	  </para>
	</listitem>

     <listitem>
      <para>
       <indexterm id="idx-a64"> <primary>Panel</primary>
        <secondary>Auto-hide</secondary>
       </indexterm>
       <guilabel>Hiding</guilabel> &mdash; In this section, you
       can choose whether you want to <guilabel>Enable
       Auto-hide</guilabel> &mdash; that is, have the
       <interface>Panel</interface> automatically hide when
       the mouse is not over the <interface>Panel</interface>. The
       autohide parameters
       can be configured in the <link linkend="animtab">Global
       Preferences dialog</link>. If you choose to auto-hide, you
       might want to disable the hide buttons here as well. You
       may also disable the hide button arrows graphics on the
       hide buttons.
      </para>
     </listitem>
    </itemizedlist>
   </sect2>

   <sect2 id="panelbacktab">
    <title>Background Tab</title>
      <indexterm id="idx-a65">
	<primary>Panel</primary>  <secondary>Background</secondary>
	</indexterm>
  
      <figure>
	<title>Panel Background Properties Dialog</title>
	<screenshot>
	  <screeninfo>Panel Background Properties Dialog</screeninfo>
	  <graphic fileref="./figures/panel_props_back"
	       format="png" srccredit="muet">
	  </graphic>
	</screenshot>
      </figure>


      <para>
	These options allow you to change the background of the
       <interface>Panel</interface>
       itself. You may choose, if you wish, to have the
       <guilabel>Standard</guilabel>, <guilabel>Pixmap</guilabel>, or
       <guilabel>Color</guilabel> background. The standard look for
       the <interface>Panel</interface> is determined by the GTK theme
       you are running at the
       time (you can configure the GTK theme using the
       <application>GNOME Control Center</application>).  The
       <guilabel>Pixmap</guilabel> option allows you to choose an
       image to tile or scale to the <interface>Panel</interface>. The
       <guilabel>Color</guilabel> option allows you to specify a
       particular color for the <interface>Panel</interface>.
      </para>

   <itemizedlist mark="bullet">

     <listitem>
      <para>
       <guilabel>Color to use</guilabel> &mdash; If you choose to have
       your <interface>Panel</interface> one color, this button will
       launch a dialog which allows you to specify which color to use.
      </para>
     </listitem>


     <listitem>
      <para>
       <guilabel>Image</guilabel> &mdash; If you wish to have a
       <guilabel>Pixmap</guilabel>
       for the background of your <interface>Panel</interface>, this
       section of the dialog allows you to choose which image to use.
       If you press the <guibutton>Browse</guibutton> button, you can
       search for the file you want to use. The current filename is
       shown to the left of this button. The window above it shows you
       the preview of this background.
      </para>
     </listitem>
   </itemizedlist>

      
      <tip>
	<title>Drag and Drop With Images</title>
	<para>
	  An easier way to change the  background of your
	  <interface>Panel</interface> is to
	  drag and  drop an image  file from the <application>GNOME
	  File Manager</application> onto the
	  <interface>Panel</interface>.  This will automatically
	  change the background of the <interface>Panel</interface> to
	  that image.
	</para>
      </tip>
    
    <itemizedlist mark="bullet">
     <listitem>
      <para>
       <guilabel>Don't scale image to fit</guilabel> &mdash; If this
       button is checked, the background image will be tiled to cover
       the <interface>Panel</interface>, rather than scaled.
      </para>
     </listitem>
     <listitem>
      <para>
       <guilabel>Scale image (keep proportions)</guilabel> &mdash; If
       this button is checked, the background image will be scaled as
       much as possible preserving image's proportions, and then the
       scaled image will be used to tile the
       <interface>Panel</interface>.
      </para>
     </listitem>
     <listitem>
      <para>
       <guilabel>Stretch image (change proportions)</guilabel> &mdash;
       If this button is checked, the background image will be
       stretched in both dimensions to the size of the
       <interface>Panel</interface>.
      </para>
     </listitem>
     <listitem>
      <para>
       <guilabel>Rotate image for vertical panel</guilabel> &mdash; If
         this button is checked, the image will be rotated when you
         change <interface>Panel</interface> orientation
         (horizontal/vertical).
      </para>
     </listitem>
    </itemizedlist>
   </sect2>
   
 </sect1>

<!-- ############### Current Bugs and Limitations ############### -->

<sect1 id="panelbugs">

    <title>Current bugs and limitations</title>
    <para>
      Most of the things here are not really bugs; rather, they
      describe situations when the <interface>Panel</interface>'s
      behavior is not what you would expect.
   </para>

    <para> 
      You cannot place an ordinary file or directory on the
      <interface>Panel</interface>. If you try to drag and drop a file
      from the File Manager window to the
      <interface>Panel</interface>, it won't work. The only type of
      file that can be placed on the <interface>Panel</interface> are
      <filename>.desktop</filename>
      files, which describe launchers (and
      <filename>.kdelnk</filename> files, which describe launchers in
      the format used by K Desktop Environment); any directory dropped on the
      <interface>Panel</interface> will be interpreted as a menu
      &mdash; that is, all the
      files other than <filename>.desktop</filename> files will be
      ignored.
    </para>

    <para>
      Editing menus other than the <guimenu>Main Menu</guimenu>
      is rather confusing. <application>Menu Editor</application> at
      the moment cannot be used for this, and the
      <guimenuitem>Properties</guimenuitem> item of the right-click
      menu is not too helpful either - for example, it doesn't allow
      one to change the menu's icon (see <xref linkend="menusconf"> for
      instructions for doing this). This will be improved in the next
      release.
    </para>

    <para>
      The <guimenu>Global Menu</guimenu> (which you get by
      pressing the
      <keycombo><keycap>Alt</keycap><keycap>F1</keycap></keycombo> key
      on the keyboard or by
      right-clicking on the <interface>Panel</interface>), and the
      <guimenu>Main
      Menu</guimenu> (which you get by clicking on the foot icon)
      are configured separately. The reason is that you
      can have several <guimenu>Main Menu</guimenu> buttons on
      different <interface>Panel</interface>s.
    </para>

    <para>
     The <guibutton>Screen Lock</guibutton> button does not lock the
     screen if <guilabel>No Screensaver</guilabel> is set in the
     <application>GNOME Control Center</application>.
    </para>

    <para>
      The only way of changing a <interface>Panel</interface>'s type
      (Edge, Aligned, etc.)
      is by choosing <menuchoice><guisubmenu>Panel</guisubmenu> <guisubmenu>Properties</guisubmenu>
      <guisubmenu>Type</guisubmenu>  </menuchoice> from the
      <guimenu>Main Menu</guimenu> or <guimenu>Global Menu</guimenu>:
      you can not change <interface>Panel</interface> type in the 
      <interface>Panel Properties</interface> dialog. Conversely,
      <menuchoice> <guisubmenu>Panel</guisubmenu><guisubmenu>Properties</guisubmenu>
      <guisubmenu>Background type</guisubmenu></menuchoice> allows
      you to change the background type (Pixmap/Color/Standard), but
      not to choose the actual color or image to use.
    </para>

  
 </sect1>


<!-- ###############  Authors  ################## -->
  <sect1 id="panel-authors">
    <title>Authors</title>
     <para>
      <application>GNOME Panel</application> was written by many GNOME
      developers; you can find a partial list in the
      <interface>About</interface> dialog. By
      the way: if you wonder what is the name of the animal shown in
      the <interface>About</interface> dialog, it is called
      "Gegl" and it has its own
      <ulink type="http" url="http://www.gegl.org/">Web page</ulink>.
    </para>
    <para>
      Please send all comments, suggestions, and bug reports to the
      <ulink url="http://bugs.gnome.org/" type="http">GNOME bug
      tracking database</ulink>. Instructions for submitting bug
      reports can be found on-line at <ulink
      url="http://bugs.gnome.org/Reporting.html" type="http">
      http://bugs.gnome.org/Reporting.html</ulink>. You can also use
      the <application>Bug Report Tool</application>
      (<command>bug-buddy</command>), available in the
      <guisubmenu>Utilities</guisubmenu> submenu of <guimenu>Main
      Menu</guimenu>, for submitting bug reports.
      </para>
    <para>
      This manual was written by Dave Mason
      (<email>dcm@redhat.com</email>), Dan Mueth
      (<email>d-mueth@uchicago.edu</email>), and Alexander Kirillov
      (<email>kirillov@math.sunysb.edu</email>). Please send all
      comments and suggestions regarding this manual to the GNOME
      Documentation Project at <email>docs@gnome.org</email> or enter
      your comments online using the <ulink type="http"
      url="http://developer.gnome.org/projects/gdp/doctable/">GNOME
      Documentation Status Table</ulink>.
      </para>
 </sect1> 
  <!--

  <sect1 id="license">
  <title>License</title>
  <para>
   This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
   modify it under the terms of the <ulink type="help"
   url="gnome-help:gpl"><citetitle>GNU General Public
   License</citetitle></ulink> as published by the Free Software
   Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option)
   any later version.
  </para>
  <para>
   This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
   WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
   MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
   <ulink type="help" url="gnome-help:gpl"><citetitle>GNU General
   Public License</citetitle></ulink> for more details.
  </para>
  <para>
   A copy of the <ulink type="help"
   url="gnome-help:gpl"><citetitle>GNU General Public
   License</citetitle></ulink> is included with the GNOME documentation.  
   You may also obtain a
   copy of the <ulink type="help" url="gnome-help:gpl"><citetitle>GNU
   General Public License</citetitle></ulink> from the Free Software
   Foundation by visiting <ulink type="http"
   url="http://www.fsf.org/">their Web site</ulink> or by writing to
   <address>
    Free Software Foundation, Inc.
    <street>59 Temple Place</street> - Suite 330
    <city>Boston</city>, <state>MA</state> <postcode>02111-1307</postcode>
    <country>USA</country>
   </address>
  </para>

 </sect1>
 -->
 </chapter>






