Panel Basics

Using the GNOME Panel 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.

Introduction to Panel Objects

The Panel can hold several types of objects. The example Panel in Figure 1 shows each type of Panel object.

Figure 1. An Example Panel

This example Panel contains the following objects:

Each of these object types is described in detail in the following sections. You can easily add, move, or remove Panel objects (see the section called Adding, Moving, and Removing Panel Objects).

Right-click menu

Clicking on any panel object with the right mouse button brings up the Panel object Pop-up Menu. This Menu contains Remove from panel for removing the object from the panel, Move applet for moving objects within the Panel or between Panels, the Panel Submenu described below, and object-specific items. For Drawers, Menus, and Launchers the only object-specific item is the Properties... item which allows you to customize the properties and settings of the object. For Applets, the Pop-up Menu will often contain About for viewing information about the Applet such as the author's name and the Applet version, Help for viewing documentation about the Applet, and Properties for configuring preferences and settings for the Applet. Applets often have other Applet-specific controls in the Pop-up Menu.

The Panel Submenu allows you to create and remove Panels and add objects to the Panel. It also allows you to modify the properties of the particular Panel of interest using the Properties menu item (see the section called Individual Panel Properties) or the properties of all panels using Global Preferences... menu item (see the section called Global Panel Preferences).

You can also right-click on the Panel itself. This will bring up the Main Menu. In particular, this Menu also contains the Panel Submenu described above.

Hiding the Panel

The left and right arrow icons seen at either end of the example panel are used to hide the panel. These arrows are shown in the following figure.

Figure 2. The Hide Button

Pressing one of these arrows will hide the GNOME Panel by sliding it in the direction of the arrow pressed. Pressing it a second time will expand the Panel.

The Panel 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 Panel resides. This can be a helpful function if you are unable to run your system in a high resolution. To learn how to have the Panel auto-hide, see the section called Individual Panel Properties.

Logging Out

To log out of GNOME, right click on either end of the Panel and select Log out. This will bring up the Logout Dialog seen below.

Figure 3. The Logout Dialog

If you would like to save your current setup, select the Save current setup checkbox. This will save any GNOME programs you have open and configuration changes you may have made in the Control Center.

The default way of logging out is by using the Logout option, which ends your GNOME session but does not shut down the computer. Depending on your system configuration, you may also have the Halt option, which shuts down the computer, and the Reboot option, which will reboot the computer.

Note for advanced users: The Halt and Reboot choices will only be shown if you have the permission to execute the command /usr/bin/shutdown.

If you do not want to log out, press the No button and you will be returned to your GNOME session. Otherwise press the Yes button to log out.

Logging Out and Window Managers: 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.

You can disable the Logout Dialog so that pressing the logout button will end your GNOME session without asking any questions. To do so, start GNOME control center (Startup programs) and uncheck the button Prompt on logout. You may also control whether changes to your session are automatically saved using the Automatically save changes to session button.

Locking the Screen

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 Panel and select Lock screen.

Screensavers and The Lock Button: The Lock Button uses a feature of the xscreensaver program. This is the same program that the Control Center uses to set your screensaver. In order for the Lock Button to work properly, you must have a screensaver enabled in the Control Center.