xfce4-panel version 4.4.0.
Last updated: December 2006
Copyright © 2006 Jasper Huijsmans
Table of Contents
The Xfce 4 panel is part of the Xfce 4 Desktop Environment and features program launchers, panel menus, a clock, a graphical pager and more. Many aspects of the panel can be configured through graphical dialogs. This manual should provide you with all necessary information on how to adjust the panel to your liking.
The panel will usually be started as part of your Xfce session. For
convenience, Xfce provides the startxfce4
script. The command for the panel is xfce4-panel.
When you first start the panel you will see a bar appearing at the top
of the screen and a smaller one at the bottom. Both panels are managed
by the same xfce4-panel program. You can add and remove panels from the
Panel Manager.
The Xfce Panel makes extensive use of left and right mouse buttons. Left clicking performs the default action of an item and right-clicking brings up a context menu. Ctrl + left click may generally be used as alternative for a right-click. Note that this manual assumes the use of a right-handed mouse configuration.
The Xfce 4 panel has the possibility to load external plugins as well as builtin ones. In this section we will only describe panel items that are installed with the panel.
When you choose the 'Add Items' option from the right-click mouse menu of a panel item, a dialog is opened showing all available panel items. Some items can appear only once on the panel, e.g. the system tray, and they will appear greyed out when another instance is already present. A search box allows you to type a filter term to limit the number of choices in the list.
The most common panel item is the launcher item. It allows you to start programs from the panel. The properties dialog allows you to edit or add one or more programs.
The first entry in the list is shown on the panel. When more programs are added they are shown in a menu that can be accessed by clicking the small arrow button that will appear next to the main launcher icon.
Every item has several options you can edit: name, comment (tooltip), icon and command. You can select whether the command should be run in a terminal and whether the program supports startup notification. This last option allows the window manager to show an hourglass while the program is loading.
Besides launchers the panel comes with several other items. We will shortly list them here. As always, the best way to find out if they may be useful is to try them.
- Xfce Clock
Simple clock item. You can choose between LED, digital and analog mode.
- Graphical Pager
Shows a miniature view of the workspaces and even allows you to move windows to another workspace by dragging the mini-window in the pager. You can change workspaces by using the mouse scroll wheel when the mouse is over the pager.
- Task List
Shows running applications in a button with icon and application name. Clicking on the button will focus or minimize the application. There's also a right-click menu with more window actions.
- Window List
Shows running applications in a popup menu. Optionally shows active application on the panel.
- Icon Box
A third alternative to show running applications, in this case using a button with only an icon.
- System Tray
Allows applications to show a so called notification or status icon. This is used for example by some media players and instant messaging clients.
- Show Desktop Button
When clicked it will show the desktop by minimizing all programs. Clicking again will restore the windows to their previous state.
- Action Buttons
Show one or two small buttons that execute a special system action. Two actions are available: quit the session and lock the screen.
- Separator
A separator item shows a line or an empty space between two other items. Can optionally expand to fill all available space; this can be used on a full width panel to have items on both ends of the panel and empty space in between.
Many more plugins for the Xfce Panel are available from the Xfce Goodies project.
The Panel Manager can be opened from the Xfce Settings Manager or from the right-click menu on one of the panel items.
The currently active panel is selected by default or the one that was last active if there is no active panel. You can choose another panel from the option menu. Next to this menu are two buttons to add a new panel or remove the current panel.
- Size
Choose the size in pixels for the panel. This is the height for horizontal panels and the width for vertical panels.
- Transparency
If your system and the window manager support it, you can set the transparency level of the panel. You can also choose if you would like the panel to become fully visible when the mouse moves over it.
There are two ways to choose the position of a panel: use a fixed position or make a panel freely moveable.
- Fixed Position
A panel can be placed in one of twelve positions on the edge of the screen. You can choose whether the panel should be stretched to fit the entire width or height of the screen. When the autohide option is selected the panel will collapse to a thin line and reappear when the mouse is moved over it.
- Freely Moveable
A freely moveable panel has one or two move handles by which you can drag the panel anywhere on the screen. You can select the orientation and where to put a move handle (on one or both sides of the panel).
Xfce uses the Basedir Specification as defined on Freedesktop.org to locate its data and configuration files. This means that file locations will be specified as a path relative to the directories described in the specification.
- ${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}
The first base directory to look for configuration files. By default this is set to
~/.config/.- ${XDG_CONFIG_DIRS}
A list of system directories that contain configuration data. By default the panel will look in
${sysconfdir}/xdg/and/etc/xdg/. The value of ${sysconfdir} depends on how the program was build and will often be/etc/for binary packages.- <basedir>/xfce4/panel/panels.xml
This is the location of the xml configuration file that describes the contents of the panel, relative to the base directories metioned above.
- <basedir>/xfce4/kiosk/kioskrc
Kiosk Mode configuration file. See below for an explanation.
None of the configuration files, except kioskrc, are
designed to be edited by hand; in fact the changes will be overwritten if
you edit them while the panel is running.
The Xfce Panel will look under the data directories specified by the Basedir Specification for data files, such as panel plugin description files.
- ${XDG_DATA_HOME}
The first base directory to look for panel plugin files. By default this is set to
~/.local/share/.- ${XDG_DATA_DIRS}
A list of system directories that contain data files. By default this is
/usr/shareand/usr/local/share.
The panel now has support for Kiosk Mode, that will prevent users from
making changes to their panel configuration. To use it you have to edit
or create the file
${sysconfdir}/xdg/xfce4/kiosk/kioskrc.
The best way to explain the format of this file is by using an example. The xfce4-panel section of your kioskrc might look like this:
[xfce4-panel] CustomizePanel=%powerusers,foo
This allows only users in the group powerusers and the user foo to customize their panels.
The maintainers of xfce4-panel are Jasper Huijsmans
<jasper@xfce.org> and Nick Schermer
<nick@xfce.org>. For more information about Xfce and its
components, visit the
Xfce web site.
To report a bug or make a suggestion regarding this application or this manual, please use the bug tracking system at http://bugzilla.xfce.org/.
If you have questions about the use or installation of this package, please ask on the xfce mailing list. Development discussion takes place on the xfce4-dev mailing list.
xfce4-panel is distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License as
published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License,
or (at your option) any later version.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.