Global Panel Preferences

To start configuring the GNOME panel, select Global Preferences from the Panel submenu of the Main Menu (you can access the main menu by either pressing the foot icon or by right-clicking on the panel).

This will bring the Global Panel Preferences dialog up (this dialog is one of the components of the GNOME Control Center). With this dialog you can set properties that will affect all Panels you use now and any panels you add in the future.

Figure 19. The Global Panel Configuration Dialog

The Global Panel Configuration Dialog contains five tabs which help you configure the global properties of the GNOME Panel: Animation, Buttons, Panel Objects, Menu, and Miscellaneous. Each of these tabs is explained below.

Animation Tab

This tab controls dynamic motion by the panel ("animation").

Buttons Tab

This tab controls the appearance of panel buttons, i.e., launcher buttons, menu buttons, drawer buttons, and special (e.g., Logout and Lock Screen) buttons.

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

Panel Objects Tab

This tab controls options related to placement of objects on the panel.

Menu Tab

This tab controls the appearance of Panel menus.

Miscellaneous Tab

This tab controls options for various ...

This tab also allows you to configure some global key bindings. You can define key bindings for the Global Menu(ie. Popup Menu) and for the Run Program dialog. (The default key bindings for these are Alt-F1 and Alt-F2 respectively.) To change these key bindings, select a key from the drop-down list or press the Grab key… button and then press the desired key.

NoteNOTE
 

If you have problems with using Menu or Windows keys, the most probable explanation is that your X server was incorrectly configured: the keyboard type chosen during installation does not match your actual keyboard. If you are using XFree86 server, you can fix it by manually editing the configuration file. This file, named XF86Config, is usually located in /etc or /etc/X11 directory. Open this file with any text editor (not a word-processor!), find the line containing words XkbModel and change it to read
              XkbModel "pc104"
	  
You need to be root (system administrator) to do this. Now, logout of GNOME and restart the X server by simultaneously pressing Ctrl-Alt-Backspace.

WarningWARNING
 

Making a mistake while editing XF86Config file can make you keyboard or screen unusable in X Windows. Therefore, please be careful, make a backup copy of this file and make sure you know how to restore it from backup without using X Windows, i.e., from a terminal. If you don't, then do not edit it at all.