Desktop

Animation Tab

• Enable animations This allows the animations configurable on this tab to be visible. The animations must be enabled to use the other features of this tab. The default position is on.

• Constant speed animations By default, the animations start slowly, but then accelerate. If you enable this option, the animations will not use any acceleration.

• Auto hide animation speed If you have the panel hiding automatically this will control how fast it occurs. The slowest setting is 1, the fastest, 100.

• Explicit hide animation speed This controls the hide speed when you press the Panel's Hide Button. The slowest setting is 1, the fastest, 100.

• Drawer sliding animation speed this will control how fast the drawer menu will raise when you press a Drawer button on the Panel. The slowest setting is 1, the fastest, 100.

• Auto hide delay (ms) If you have the Panel set to minimize automatically this will allow you to control how much time passes before it minimizes. The Panel 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 Panel that remains visible. This time is measured in milliseconds.

• Auto hide minimized size (pixels) If you have the Panel hiding automatically this determines the number of pixels that will show while the Panel is minimized. To maximize the panel the pointer must enter the Panel area.

Buttons Tab

In this section, you can set appearance of buttons of various types (launcher buttons, menu buttons, drawer buttons, and special (Logout and Lock Screen) buttons).

• Tiles enabled This checkbox will enable background tiles for buttons of given type on the Panel.

• Normal Tile 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.

• Clicked Tile 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.

• Border width (tile only) 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.

• Depth (displacement when pressed) This determines the depth an icon will displace when pressed. Tiles must be enabled to access this option.

This tab also contains 3 options which affect all types of buttons simultaneously:

• Make buttons flush with panel edge allows you to align the button with the edge of the panel. If this option is not set then the border width setting is obeyed. By default this option is off.

• Show button tiles only when cursor is over the button if this option is enabled, the tiles will only appear when mouse cursor is over the button.

• Keep saturation low when cursor is not over the button Choosing this option will dim the panel buttons; the button will brighten up when the mouse cursor is over it.

Panel objects Tab

This tab shows some options related to placement and moving objects on the panel.

• Default movement mode here you can choose the default mode for moving the objects on the panel. Possible variants are

  • Switched when the object you are moving hits another object, they switch places

  • Free 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 panel and want to lock it

  • Push the object you are moving pushes all other objects in front of it, like a snow plow.

  You can override the default movement mode by dragging an object while holding Ctrl (for switched movement), Alt (for free movement), or Shift (for push movement) button pressed.

• Padding This changes the amount of space (padding) between objects on the panel. It is measured in pixels.

Menu Tab

In this tab, you can set the options determining the appearance of Panel menus.

• Use large icons This will use large icons (rather than the default size) in menus. Only practical for those with high resolution screens (1280x1024 and higher)

• Show ... buttons This will add small buttons labelled by three dots (...) to all the items of the Main Menu. Clicking on such a button with the left mouse button will bring the pop-up menu for this item, i.e. the same menu which you get by clicking on the menu item with the right mouse button.

• Show popup menus outside of panels When this button is on, it allows pop-up menus to appear away from the Panel. When toggled off, the pop-ups will appear over the Panel. This can be useful on smaller screens or cluttered desktops.

• Keep menus in memory 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.

• Global menu This allows you to configure the Global Menu which you get by right-clicking on the panel, or by using the keyboard shortcut. For each of the possible submenus (Programs, Favorites, etc.), you can choose whether it should be included as a part of the Global Menu, as a submenu, or not included at all. A description of these submenus is given in Panel Help file.