1 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
2 <!DOCTYPE refentry PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.5//EN"
3 "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.5/docbookx.dtd">
7 <refentry id='e16.man'>
9 <productname>e16</productname>
10 <!--pubdate>__date__</pubdate-->
13 <firstname>The Enlightenment Team</firstname>
15 <email>enlightenment-devel@lists.sourceforge.net</email>
18 <firstname>Kim</firstname><surname>Woelders</surname>
20 <email>kim@woelders.dk</email>
26 <refentrytitle>e16</refentrytitle>
27 <manvolnum>1</manvolnum>
28 <refmiscinfo class='date'>__date__</refmiscinfo>
29 <refmiscinfo class='source'>e16 __version__</refmiscinfo>
30 <refmiscinfo class='manual'>e16 documentation</refmiscinfo>
33 <refnamediv id='name'>
34 <refname>e16</refname>
35 <refpurpose>The Enlightenment DR16 Window Manager</refpurpose>
38 <!-- body begins here -->
40 <refsect1 id='documentation'><title>e16 documentation</title>
42 <refsect2 id='front'><title><markup role="dox-center"/>Enlightenment version 0.16.8</title>
43 <img src="E_logo.png" x="32" y="77"/>
48 <para><markup role="dox-center"/>
51 <para><markup role="dox-center"/><simplelist>
52 <member><link linkend="aboutdox">How To Use Documentation</link></member>
53 <member><link linkend="about">About Enlightenment</link></member>
54 <member><link linkend="res">Resources</link></member>
56 <member><link linkend="docindex">User Documentation</link></member>
57 <member><link linkend="faq">Frequently Asked Questions</link></member>
63 <font face="Vera/10" color="#ffffff"/>
65 Welcome to the Enlightenment Documentation Viewer. Please select a topic from
71 <refsect2 id='aboutdox'><title/>
73 This Documentation is intended to take you step by step through Enlightenment(E16)
74 and its default setup, how to use it, modify settings, and put it to use for
75 you. When you have finished reading each page please press the NEXT button to go
76 to the next page, or use the Back button until you have reached the
77 <link linkend="docindex">Docs Index</link>.
80 If you are reading this right now you have managed to get E16 itself
81 installed correctly and are either running E16 for the first time or
82 have just upgraded to a new version. Congratulations. Now it's time to take
83 you on a quick tour of the desktop you will have before you.
86 Please remember that if you use a <link linkend="themes">theme</link> other than
87 Brushed Metal that it may look slightly or completely different to the
88 contents of this User Documentation. Some behavior may also vary.
91 To relaunch this Help Browser at any time, middle click on your
92 <link linkend="desktops">desktop</link> and select the "Help" Item. The documentation should come
93 back up, reloading to the first page.
94 You can also use the "Home" key to take you back to the introduction page at
95 any time during the program.
100 <refsect2 id="about"><title></title>
102 E16 is your Window Manager. The Window Manager controls the
103 appearance of the borders of your windows, their behavior and
104 all user interaction with positioning, killing, resizing, moving, iconifying,
105 shading etc. your windows, virtual desktops, multiple desktops, menus attached
106 to windows and some root window menus and can also control the background
110 E16 is a large and complex program and is by no means perfect,
111 but it is being worked on and is as stable as possible. It has many advanced
112 features, but may also be missing some features that you would like to see.
113 The version you are now running (0.16.8) is by no means the
114 end of development and improvements, fixes and new exciting features are
115 being worked on all the time. Please visit the <link linkend="res">Web</link> site often for
116 new versions, fixes, patches and updates.
119 We hope that you enjoy using E16 as much as we have enjoyed writing
120 it. We'd like to think that even if this isn't the right software for you, you
121 at least can have fun playing around with what we have created.
126 <refsect2 id="res"><title>Resources</title>
128 Web site: http://www.enlightenment.org/
131 Forums: http://forum.enlightenment.org/
134 Bugs: http://bugs.enlightenment.org/
138 Download: http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=2
141 Mailing lists: http://sourceforge.net/mail/?group_id=2
149 <!-- should have columns=2 -->
150 <refsect2 id="docindex"><title>Documentation Index</title>
152 <member><link linkend="basicintro">Basic Intro</link></member>
153 <member><link linkend="rootmenu">Using Menus</link></member>
154 <member><link linkend="mousebind">Mouse Bindings</link></member>
155 <member><link linkend="mouseconfig">Mouse Configuration</link></member>
156 <member><link linkend="border">Using The Window Border</link></member>
157 <member><link linkend="changeborder">Changing Window Borders</link></member>
158 <member><link linkend="defkeys">Default Keybindings</link></member>
159 <member><link linkend="desktops">Multiple Desktops</link></member>
160 <member><link linkend="changedesk">Changing Desktops</link></member>
161 <member><link linkend="appsdesk">Taking Apps Between Desks</link></member>
162 <member><link linkend="dragbar">The Dragbar</link></member>
163 <member><link linkend="pager">The Pager</link></member>
164 <member><link linkend="iconbox">The Iconbox</link></member>
165 <member><link linkend="minimized">Recovering Minimized Apps</link></member>
166 <member><link linkend="properties">Remembering App Properties</link></member>
167 <member><link linkend="settings">Intro To Settings</link></member>
168 <member><link linkend="groups">Window Groups</link></member>
176 <member><link linkend="backgrounds">Desktop Backgrounds</link></member>
177 <member><link linkend="tooltips">Tooltips</link></member>
178 <member><link linkend="audio">Audio</link></member>
179 <member><link linkend="fx">Special Effects</link></member>
180 <member><link linkend="focus">Setting The Focus</link></member>
181 <member><link linkend="movemode">Moving Windows</link></member>
182 <member><link linkend="resizemode">Resizing Windows</link></member>
183 <member><link linkend="windowops">Window Operations</link></member>
184 <member><link linkend="placement">Window Placement Options</link></member>
185 <member><link linkend="placement">Autoraise Settings</link></member>
186 <member><link linkend="eesh">Quick Intro to IPC</link></member>
187 <member><link linkend="editmenus">How To Edit Menus</link></member>
188 <member><link linkend="editkeys">How To Change Keybindings</link></member>
189 <member><link linkend="themes">Themes</link></member>
190 <member><link linkend="eyecandy">Extra Eyecandy</link></member>
191 <member><link linkend="maint">Maintenance Scripts</link></member>
196 <refsect2 id="basicintro"><title/>
197 <img src="E_screen_start.png" x="16" y="16"/>
199 Now that you have started E16, if you are using it for your desktop
200 shell, your screen should look something like the image here on the left.
203 Across the whole top of the screen you will see a bar with arrows pointing
204 up and down on the left and right ends. This is your desktop
205 <link linkend="dragbar">Dragbar</link>.
208 On the bottom-left you'll see 3 boxes. The top box with the scrollbar attached
209 will be your <link linkend="iconbox">Iconbox</link>.
212 The other 2 boxes below it are <link linkend="pager">Pagers</link> for desktops 0 and 1. Everything
213 else is your desktop background.
218 <refsect2 id="rootmenu"><title>Using Menus</title>
219 <img src="E_app_menu.png" x="350" y="38"/>
221 When you click with your left mouse button on the desktop <link linkend="backgrounds">background</link> you will
222 see an "User Menus" menu appear (example displayed on the right here).
223 Applications you may have installed will appear in this menu. To launch one
224 of them simply select it from the menu.
227 Note: Menus in E16 work like most menu systems. Either hold
228 down the mouse button and navigate with the button down, releasing on the
229 selection you want, or release elsewhere to not select anything. You can also
230 quickly click and release, then navigate: move the mouse, and click
231 again on the item you wish to select, or elsewhere if you do not wish to
237 <refsect2 id="tut4"><title/>
238 <img src="E_settings_menu.png" x="285" y="235"/>
239 <img src="E_enlightenment_menu.png" x="4" y="30"/>
242 Clicking the middle button on the desktop <link linkend="backgrounds">background</link> will display
243 E16's main menu. You can access the other menus plus more options
244 from this menu (including those to log out, restart and display Help
245 information). A sample of this menu is shown to our left.
251 When you click the right mouse button
252 a menu with the title "Settings" will appear. This is
253 E16's <link linkend="settings">settings</link> menu. From it you can select various
254 configuration dialogs that will assist you in customizing your desktop to
255 better suit your needs.
260 <refsect2 id="mousebind"><title>Mouse Bindings</title>
262 Of course, when you click on the <link linkend="desktops">desktop</link> <link linkend="backgrounds">background</link> of
263 your screen, normally you will bring up a <link linkend="rootmenu">menu</link>. And of course, when you
264 click on the <link linkend="border">border</link> of a window, you will do various things. But these
265 are not the only things you can do with your mouse.
268 In E16, there are several other actions that the mouse can do by
269 default. For example, by holding down the ALT key when you click the left
270 mouse button anywhere in a window, you will find that you can <link linkend="movemode">move</link> the window
271 around the screen, just as if you had used the titlebar. You can also ALT
272 middle-click in a window to <link linkend="resizemode">resize</link> it, or use ALT and right-click to bring up
273 the <link linkend="windowops">Window Operations Menu</link>.
276 You will find that holding down the ALT key while clicking the middle
277 mouse button on the background of your <link linkend="desktops">desktop</link> will bring up a
278 menu with the titles of all currently active
279 application windows. Selecting one of these will take you to that application.
280 By using the CTRL key instead of ALT you will get a menu displaying all
281 current desktops as sub-menus, with applications on each desktop in the
287 <refsect2 id="mouseconfig"><title>Mouse Configuration</title>
289 E16 makes extensive use of the mouse.
290 However, you may be missing some features because of the way
291 that your mouse is configured on your X server.
294 If your mouse does not have a middle button you should enable
295 "Emulate 3 Buttons" in your X server. This option allows you to
296 emulate a three-button mouse by pressing both left and
297 right mouse buttons at once.
298 If this does not work, three-button emulation may not be enabled. See
299 your X server documentation to configure this emulation.
302 This may vary from system to system. The OS and X server may also
303 vary the method in which you do this, if it is possible. Not having
304 a middle mouse button in
305 E16, or for that matter X, is not a good thing as it is almost
306 assumed to be there, and is used by many applications, including E.
311 <refsect2 id="tut6"><title/>
312 <img src="E_mousewheel.png" x="370" y="30"/>
313 <img src="E_mouse.png" x="410" y="330"/>
315 If you have a Wheel-Mouse and X is configured to use it, E16
316 supports it by default.
319 Rolling your wheel up on the desktop background will take you back a
320 <link linkend="desktops">desktop</link>. Rolling your wheel downward you will advance
324 If this doesn't work, then it may be you haven't configured your X server to
325 understand a mouse with a wheel. You may need to edit your X server
326 configuration to have a "Pointer" Section like:
328 <font face="Vera/11" color="#ccaacc"/>
330 <member>Section "Pointer"</member>
331 <member>Protocol "MousemanPlusPS/2"</member>
332 <member>Device "/dev/mouse"</member>
333 <member>ZAxisMapping 4 5</member>
334 <member>Buttons 5</member>
335 <member>EndSection</member>
337 <font face="Vera/11" color="#ffffff"/>
339 You may need to modify this for your mouse.
344 <refsect2 id="border"><title>Using the Window Border</title>
346 When you start an application, unless it has special properties, it will come
347 up on your screen with a border surrounding it that contains a titlebar and
348 several control buttons.
349 This border is the primary interface to controlling an application window.
350 The Default setup (shown on the next page) gives adequate control but still
354 If you click left mouse button on the titlebar and keep the mouse button down
355 the window will follow your mouse wherever it moves. Respectively if you click
356 your left mouse button and drag on any of the resize handles, the window will
357 be resized in that direction. Clicking right mouse button on the resize
358 handles will raise the windows to the top.
361 Clicking right mouse button on the titlebar or any button on the window
362 operations menu button on the top-left will display a menu that has window
363 manipulation options in it.
366 Double-Clicking the title bar will make the Window shade or unshade.
371 <refsect2 id="tut8"><title/>
372 <img src="E_window_diagram.png" x="16" y="48"/>
377 <refsect2 id="tut9"><title/>
379 Clicking left mouse button on the iconify button will iconify the window
380 and send it off to the <link linkend="iconbox">Iconbox</link>. Hitting the Maximize button will
382 size of the application fill your screen. Hitting it again will Unmaximize,
383 bringing the window back to its normal size.
386 Clicking with the left mouse button on the close button will close the window.
387 If the application that owns that window does not respond to a nice request to
388 exit, then press the right mouse button on the close button to forcibly
389 terminate that window. This should not be used unless the application is
393 In addition to these methods, there are additional ways to manipulation
397 If you hold down the ALT key and hold down left mouse button anywhere in the
398 window (on the border OR in the application part) while dragging, you will
399 move this window around. Doing the same but with the middle mouse button will
400 resize the window in that direction. Clicking the right mouse button anywhere
401 in the window while holding down the ALT key will bring up the window
407 <refsect2 id="changeborder"><title>Changing Window Borders</title>
408 <img src="E_border_selector.png" x="300" y="40"/>
410 You may find that you don't like a particular border that a
411 window uses, for some reason or another. You can easily change the border
412 style of a window in E16 using the <link linkend="windowops">Window Operations</link>
413 menu, however. Select the "Set Border Style" menu, and a list will be
414 presented to you of available borders in this theme. The most common use
415 for this is to make an application shed its border, using the
416 BORDERLESS border type.
419 You can always click with ALT + Right mouse button anywhere in the window to
420 bring up the window operations menu again.
423 If you want to remember the border style for the next time you run this
424 application, you can always use the <link linkend="properties">Remember</link> dialog to remember
425 the current window border.
430 <refsect2 id="defkeys"><title>Default Keybindings</title>
431 <img src="E_keyboard.png" x="312" y="0"/>
433 Below are the keybindings for E as it comes "from the factory"
435 <font face="Vera/10" color="#112222"/>
437 <member>CTRL+ALT+Home - Re-shuffle windows on screen to be Clean</member>
438 <member>CTRL+ALT+Del - Exit E16 and Log Out</member>
439 <member>CTRL+ALT+End - Restart E16</member>
440 <member>CTRL+ALT+Up-Arrow - Raise window to top</member>
441 <member>CTRL+ALT+Down-Arrow - Lower window to the bottom</member>
442 <member>CTRL+ALT+Left-Arrow - Go to the previous desktop</member>
443 <member>CTRL+ALT+Right-Arrow - Go to the next desktop</member>
444 <member>CTRL+ALT+X - Close the currently focused window</member>
445 <member>CTRL+ALT+K - Kill the currently focused window nastily</member>
446 <member>CTRL+ALT+I - Iconify the currently focused window</member>
447 <member>CTRL+ALT+R - Shade/Unshade the currently focused window</member>
448 <member>CTRL+ALT+S - Stick/Unstick the currently focused window</member>
449 <member>CTRL+ALT+M - Maximize/unmaximize the currently focused window</member>
450 <member>CTRL+ALT+F - Toggle fullscreen mode of the currently focused window</member>
451 <member>CTRL+ALT+(F1 - F8) - Go directly to desktops 0 - 7</member>
453 <font face="Vera/11" color="#ffffff"/>
455 (more on next page ...)
460 <refsect2 id="tut11"><title/>
461 <font face="Vera/10" color="#112222"/>
463 <member>ALT+Tab - Switch focus to the next window</member>
464 <member>ALT+Enter - Zoom/Unzoom the currently focused window</member>
465 <member>SHIFT+ALT+Left-Arrow - Move to the virtual desktop on the left</member>
466 <member>SHIFT+ALT+Right-Arrow - Move to the virtual desktop on the right</member>
467 <member>SHIFT+ALT+Up-Arrow - Move to the virtual desktop above</member>
468 <member>SHIFT+ALT+Down-Arrow - Move to the virtual desktop below</member>
470 <font face="Vera/11" color="#ffffff"/>
472 Note: Zooming in and out of windows will only work if you have an X server
473 that implements the Xf86VidMode extension. You also need to define multiple
474 screen modes for your display, e.g. with a "Display" subsection of the X11
475 configuration that looks like:
477 <font face="Vera/11" color="#ccaacc"/>
479 <member>SubSection "Display"</member>
480 <member> Depth 16</member>
481 <member> Modes "1600x1200" "1280x1024" "1152x864" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480" "512x384" "400x300" "320x240"</member>
482 <member>EndSubSection</member>
487 <refsect2 id="desktops"><title>Multiple & Virtual Desktops</title>
488 <img src="E_deskstack.png" x="360" y="70"/>
490 E16 supports both Multiple and Virtual desktops. There are
491 distinct difference between the two, and E16 treats them differently.
494 When you start E16 you will by default have two desktops. In
495 E16 desktops are geometrically unrelated work areas. They are
496 visually stacked on top of each other and can even be dragged down to expose
500 The best way to imagine this is that each desktop is a sheet of paper with the
501 first desktop (desktop 0) being glued in-place. You can re-shuffle the stack
502 of papers and slide one down to reveal a piece of paper underneath - the only
503 paper you can't slide is the first one. Each desktop (or sheet) contains your
509 <refsect2 id="desktops2"><title/>
510 <img src="E_deskarray.png" x="350" y="140"/>
512 Windows normally live on one desktop, but can be made
513 to exist on all desktops - whenever you change to a new desktop the window
514 will follow you and be on that desktop too. This is known as being sticky.
515 if a window is sticky it will "stick to the glass of your screen" and stay
516 there until it is not sticky anymore or the window is closed.
519 Virtual desktops (also known as desktop areas) is a measure of how big your
520 desktops are. A desktop can be a multiple of your screen size in size (2x1,
521 2x2, 3x3, 4x2 etc.). That means each desktop has an AxB screen size of area
522 allocated to it and you can be looking at any screen-sized part of it at any
523 time. It's just like getting more sheets of paper and taping them to the sides
524 of your current sheet of paper. An easy way of changing your view is by just
525 sliding your mouse in the direction of a currently unviewable part of your
526 desktop. As long as you have Edge Flip enabled E16 will
527 automatically scroll over to that part of the desktop.
532 <refsect2 id="desktops3"><title/>
533 <img src="E_virtual_desk_settings.png" x="335" y="51"/>
534 <img src="E_area_settings.png" x="30" y="190"/>
536 To change the number of virtual desktops that you have, use the "Multiple
537 Desktop Settings" dialog from the right mouse <link linkend="settings">Settings Menu</link>. You
538 should see a menu that looks something like the menu to the right. You can use
539 the slider bar to quickly select the appropriate number of virtual desktops you
546 To change the number of virtual areas, use the "Virtual Desktop Settings"
547 menu. This will bring up a menu that looks something like the one on the left.
548 Use the slider bars to extend the size of the virtual areas to the size that
549 you prefer. You can also use this dialog to enable/disable edge
550 resistance (when your <link linkend="mousebind">mouse</link> hits the edge of an area) moving between
556 <refsect2 id="desktops4"><title/>
557 <img src="E_deskimg.png" x="275" y="81"/>
559 E16 also allows you to set a different desktop backdrop per desktop
560 to help you customize your environment and differentiate which desktop is
564 An easy way of having E16 automatically pick up any pictures you have
565 is to make a directory in your ~/.e16 directory called
566 backgrounds and then fill that with your favorite backdrops. E16
567 will automatically discover this and index them for you allowing you to
568 select them and change their settings. More on this topic is explained in the
569 <link linkend="backgrounds">Desktop Backgrounds</link> section.
574 <refsect2 id="changedesk"><title>Changing Desktops</title>
576 There are several ways that you can change your current desktop - let's go over
580 <member>You can use the <link linkend="defkeys">Keybindings</link> alt-F1 through alt-F8 for the first 8
582 <member>You can use the <link linkend="defkeys">Keybindings</link> Ctrl-Alt-Left and Ctrl-Alt-Right to
583 navigate to the next/previous desktop.</member>
584 <member>You can use the <link linkend="tut11">Keybindings</link> shift-alt-directional arrow to change
585 virtual areas in a given direction.</member>
586 <member>You can use the <link linkend="pager">Pager</link> to quickly navigate to the desktop/area you want
587 by clicking on the desired area.</member>
588 <member>You can use the <link linkend="dragbar">Dragbar</link> to quickly navigate to a particular
589 application or a particular desktop by using the middle and right mouse
591 <member>You can also use external applications such as the GNOME panel's pager or the
592 KDE panel's pager to navigate desktops and/or applications.</member>
597 <refsect2 id="appsdesk"><title>Moving Applications Between Desktops</title>
599 There are several ways that you can move applications from one desktop to
600 another. We'll go over a few of them now.
603 The first way you can move apps between desktops is using the <link linkend="pager">Pager</link>.
606 You can also move applications between desktops using the <link linkend="dragbar">Dragbar</link>.
609 You can also move applications between desktops using the KDE or GNOME
613 You can also <link linkend="movemode">move</link> a window, then bring the window with you as you
614 change desktops using <link linkend="defkeys">keybinding</link>.
619 <refsect2 id="dragbar"><title>The Dragbar</title>
620 <img src="E_dragbar.png" x="10" y="345"/>
621 <img src="E_dragging_desktops.png" x="315" y="20"/>
623 If you look along the top of your screen, you will notice a long thin bar that
624 looks something like the bar pictured below. This is called your Dragbar. It
625 gets its name from its primary purpose, which is dragging desktops around.
628 If you are on any desktop except desktop 0, you can pick up and move that desktop
629 in another direction. <link linkend="desktops">Desktops</link> documentation has more information
630 on how to change desktops. Once you have dragged a desktop down, you can
631 proceed to move windows between desktops this way, instead of using the
632 <link linkend="pager">pager</link>.
635 You can also use the Dragbar to retrieve windowlists. Use the middle mouse
636 button to retrieve a windowlist, and the right mouse button for a
637 windowlist sorted by desktops.
642 <refsect2 id="pager"><title>The Pager</title>
643 <img src="E_pager.png" x="320" y="70"/>
645 Pagers may not be a new idea in desktop environments, but the Pager in
646 E16 (as seen on the right) is a highly advanced and highly
647 configurable tool for desktop and window control, as well as a navigation tool.
650 The pager lets you see your desktop screen area in miniature. It lets you click
651 on a certain desktop to "visit" it, click and drag windows around in the pager
652 itself to move them about the screen quickly, or between <link linkend="desktops">desktops</link>.
653 In this example, we have two virtual areas. You can see the current area (the
654 one with the windows in it) is also highlighted.
657 Dragging a window from
658 one area of a pager to another will move it there, or to another desktop.
659 Dragging it out onto the actual desktop will drop that window right there.
660 You can also drag a window into the <link linkend="iconbox">Iconbox</link> to iconify the window.
665 <refsect2 id="pager2"><title/>
666 <img src="E_pager_settings_menu.png" x="8" y="30"/>
667 <img src="E_pager_settings.png" x="208" y="180"/>
669 Pressing right-mouse button over a blank portion of the pager gets you the
670 pager menu, allowing you to change settings. This will allow you to
671 set a couple of quick options, as shown on the left. For more available
672 options, you can select the "Pager Settings" item, and another dialog will pop
673 up, that looks like the one below.
676 This dialog box will allow you to set all sorts of additional parameters, many
677 of which can increase the performance of E16 on your system.
678 Disabling high quality snapshots and/or snapshots in general as well as
679 continuous updates can seriously improve performance - these features are
680 intended for high end machines.
685 <refsect2 id="pager3"><title/>
686 <img src="E_pager.png" x="340" y="140"/>
688 You can resize the pager to make it the size you'd like. Hold down
689 ALT and use the middle-mouse button to resize the pager in any direction. Using
690 left-mouse button while holding ALT and dragging will move the window. Holding
691 down ALT while pressing right-mouse button, just like any normal window will
692 get you a window operations menu.
695 In the default theme clicking the tab on the right side of the pager with the
696 arrow pointing right will shade and unshade the pager window horizontally,
697 allowing you to hide and unhide the window easily.
700 The striped area above this tab on the pager's border is a handle that will
701 allow you to move the pager about, just like the titlebar of any window.
706 <refsect2 id="iconbox"><title>The Iconbox</title>
707 <img src="E_iconbox.png" x="300" y="90"/>
709 The iconbox is the place the icons for all your iconified windows go. It is
710 one method of recovering <link linkend="minimized">minimized</link> applications. Whenever
711 you iconify or minimize a window it will go into an iconbox and have an icon
712 displayed for it there. Clicking on the icon again will de-iconify it.
715 You can have as many icon boxes on your desktop as you want to. You can create
716 more by using the Middle Click <link linkend="rootmenu">Menu</link> - select Desktop->Create New Iconbox
717 and a new Iconbox will pop up on your desktop. Each of these Iconboxes can
718 have individual configurations, as detailed on the next page.
721 You can <link linkend="movemode">move</link> the Iconbox around the screen using Alt-Leftclick
722 on the window, and then moving it to the desired location on the screen. You
723 can <link linkend="resizemode">resize</link> the Iconbox by alt-middleclicking on the window and
724 then adjusting the size as described in the <link linkend="mousebind">Mouse Bindings</link>
730 <refsect2 id="iconbox2"><title/>
731 <img src="E_iconbox_menu.png" x="300" y="20"/>
732 <img src="E_iconbox_settings.png" x="10" y="200"/>
734 Clicking the right-mouse button anywhere in the Iconbox will bring up a menu
735 to configure that iconbox. This menu will look a little something like the one
736 here to the right. This menu allows you to also close the Iconbox or open up
737 an additional Iconbox.
740 To change the settings of an individual Iconbox, we'll use the right mouse
741 button <link linkend="mousebind">menu</link> and select "This
742 Iconbox Settings" - this should get us a dialog that looks something like the
743 one to our left. You can change the orientation, icon size, scrollbar
744 options, display policy, base image, and many more options of the Iconbox
745 from this dialog. You may choose to change the anchor of
746 alignment for resizes - play with it until it resizes appropriately for your
752 <refsect2 id="iconbox3"><title/>
754 If you want to customize the images used for the icons in your iconbox, there
755 is already an example configuration supplied. To make your own configuration
756 copy the matches.cfg file installed in your E16 system config
757 directory (/usr/local/e16/config/matches.cfg or
758 /usr/share/e16/config/matches.cfg) to your ~/.e16 directory and then edit it.
761 There are several examples of using the globbing and matching in the system
762 matches.cfg file. Use that as a reference for your own additions.
767 <refsect2 id="minimized"><title>Recovering Minimized Applications</title>
769 There are several ways to recover an application once you have minimized it.
770 The most obvious way is to use the <link linkend="iconbox">Iconbox</link>. Of course, you might
771 have had some applications in your Iconbox when you accidentally closed it. Or
772 maybe you minimized some applications and forgot you didn't have an Iconbox.
773 Or maybe you don't like the Iconbox and usually use KDE or GNOME's panel to
774 recover them and forgot to launch them. Never fear. You can always
775 middle click on the <link linkend="dragbar">Dragbar</link>
776 and get a <link linkend="rootmenu">menu</link> that will allow you
777 to recover them. You can also Alt or Ctrl-Middleclick on the desktop to get
778 the same menus (in case you don't have a Dragbar anymore).
781 Remember, at any time you can always create a new <link linkend="iconbox">Iconbox</link> to catch
782 your applications as they minimize, if you want to re-enable it. Unfortunately
783 you'll have to reconfigure it since each Iconbox can have its own
784 <link linkend="settings">settings</link>.
789 <refsect2 id="properties"><title>Remembering Application Properties</title>
790 <img src="E_remember_settings.png" x="320" y="50"/>
792 In the <link linkend="windowops">Window Operations</link> menu of every window you will see an
794 "Remember...". If you select this it will bring up the "Remember" dialog for
795 that window, as shown to our right.
798 This dialog lets you selectively snapshot certain attributes of that window at
799 that time and have E16 remember them. You may choose to only remember
800 some of the attributes, and possibly not have the application started
801 automatically for you. Choose what you want E16 to remember about that
802 window and hit "Apply" or "OK" if you don't need the dialog anymore, and
803 E16 will, the next time that instance of the application is run,
804 apply the current location, size, border style or any other attribute to
805 that window. E16 can also launch the application for you upon startup
811 <refsect2 id="settings"><title>Settings</title>
812 <img src="E_settings_menu.png" x="240" y="87"/>
814 When you click the right mouse button on the desktop background you will pop
815 up the Settings menu. From here you can select an aspect of E16 to
816 configure to your liking. There are too many settings to actually document
817 fully right now, but the likelihood is if you want a particular behavior from
818 E16, it is achievable by merely playing with these options.
821 Combinations of options are often required to get the effect you want, so some
822 experimentation may be required. Do not be frightened. Nothing you can do
823 can't be undone by simply changing the options back to how they were and
824 clicking on Apply again.
829 <refsect2 id="groups"><title>Window Groups</title>
830 <img src="E_group_settings.png" x="370" y="255"/>
832 Sometimes you have a number of windows on your desktop that logically go
833 together. E16 allows you to group windows
834 together, so that whenever you change a property of one window in a group,
835 the change is reflected on the other group members. If you have a group whose
836 members span multiple <link linkend="desktops">desktops</link>, changing a group's property
837 affects only windows of that group that are on the current desktop.
840 The properties that you can change for an entire group include setting the window
841 border, iconifying, killing, moving, raising/lowering, sticking and shading of
845 To define what properties are applied to a group by default, you go to the
846 <link linkend="settings">settings</link> menu and pick the "Group Settings" option, which will give
847 you a dialog window in which you can configure the settings, as shown here on
853 <refsect2 id="groups2"><title/>
854 <img src="E_groups_menu.png" x="320" y="25"/>
856 There are two different methods for manipulating window groups. First, there's a
857 comprehensive submenu available in each window's operations menu
858 called "Window Groups". This menu is shown here on the right. You also are
859 able to configure the group individually apart from the default group settings
860 (as shown on the previous page).
863 The second way is the window titlebar, which has the most important options
864 directly available for convenience. Shift-click to start a group,
865 Ctrl-clicking to add a window to the youngest group (also referred to as the
866 "current" group) and Shift-Ctrl-Click to destroying a group. You can also click
867 the middle mouse button for visualizing the group(s) of a window. Click again
868 to returning to the previous border.
871 Windows can be in multiple groups at the same time, so for many
872 options you have to indicate which group you are referring to.
873 Selecting the appropriate checkboxes (showing the group members' titles)
874 at the top of the dialog windows.
879 <refsect2 id="backgrounds"><title>Selecting and Adding backgrounds</title>
881 Often you will want to change the background of a particular desktop. There
882 are several ways you can do this. But of course, to change your desktop,
883 you'll need to give E16 some graphics to play with. A desktop
884 theme may add a background or two to your available selections, but
885 most users want to have even more backgrounds to choose from.
886 To add backgrounds to your selection, make a backgrounds directory under your
887 home directory. To do this using most shells you can type
890 mkdir ~/.e16/backgrounds
901 (more on next page ...)
906 <refsect2 id="backgrounds2"><title/>
907 <img src="E_backgrounds_menu.png" x="163" y="70"/>
909 Once you have added your backgrounds, you should be
910 able to go to the root menu desktop selector. To get to this menu, middle
911 click on the desktop, select "Desktop",
912 and go to Backgrounds. You should get something that looks similar to the
913 image on the right. From here you will be able to navigate the backgrounds
925 (more on next page ...)
930 <refsect2 id="backgrounds3"><title/>
931 <img src="E_backgrounds_menu_view.png" x="3" y="84"/>
933 Once you have opened up the backgrounds menu, you should see something similar
934 to the image below. From here, you can put your mouse over any of the images
935 there, and it will change the desktop background of the current desktop to the
936 image that you have selected.
939 E16 will attempt to choose the best
940 settings for a particular background, but if it gets it wrong you can always
941 change the settings by hand. By bringing up the settings menu with the right
942 mouse button and selecting the "Desktop Background Settings" item, you can
943 bring up a dialog that looks something like the one on the next page ...
948 <refsect2 id="backgrounds4"><title/>
949 <img src="E_backgrounds_settings.png" x="0" y="0"/>
971 You can use this dialog to change your background, too, as well as fine-tune
972 all the various settings for each individual background available.
977 <refsect2 id="tooltips"><title>Tooltips</title>
978 <img src="E_tooltips.png" x="260" y="65"/>
979 <img src="E_tooltip_settings.png" x="20" y="245"/>
981 From time to time, as you use E16, if you don't remember what does
982 what, if you keep the mouse still for a little bit a tooltip will pop up. The
983 easiest example of this is when you hold the mouse over a <link linkend="border">Window Border</link>.
989 You can disable the tooltips or change the delay before they pop up by
990 selecting the "Tooltip Settings" dialog from the <link linkend="settings">settings</link> menu, as
991 shown here on the left.
996 <refsect2 id="audio"><title>Audio</title>
997 <img src="E_audio_settings.png" x="300" y="180"/>
999 Of course, E16 comes preconfigured to play lots of little blips and
1000 beeps when you do various things on your desktop. In order to use sound in
1001 E16, you must have both EsounD and audiofile installed.
1007 You can enable and/or disable sound at runtime simply by selecting from the
1008 <link linkend="settings">Settings</link> menu the "Audio Settings" option, which brings up a dialog,
1009 shown here at right.
1014 <refsect2 id="fx"><title>Special Effects</title>
1015 <img src="E_special_fx_settings.png" x="320" y="60"/>
1017 E16 has many features that are configured via the "Special FX"
1018 <link linkend="settings">Settings</link> dialog. Here you can configure the <link linkend="dragbar">Dragbar</link>,
1019 various sliding speeds (including the speed of a windowshade), as well as
1020 toggle animation of different features. You can also configure the method used
1021 for sliding windows, similar to <link linkend="resizemode">Resize Modes</link>.
1024 There are several FX features disabled by default
1025 in a new installation, including the animated display of menus. You can also
1026 enable saveunders here, which may improve or slow down the performance of
1027 E16 on your X server, depending on server and configuration.
1032 <refsect2 id="focus"><title>Setting the Focus</title>
1033 <img src="E_mouse.png" x="410" y="330"/>
1035 E16 offers lots of different options for focusing windows. By
1036 default, it comes up in sloppy focus mode. There are two other primary focus
1037 modes supported by E16 - click to focus and pointer focus.
1040 Click To Focus most people are familiar with. You click on a window and it
1041 receives the focus from E16.
1044 Pointer Focus gives the focus to whichever window the pointer is sitting over
1047 Sloppy Focus is similar to Pointer Focus, except that if you go over the
1048 <link linkend="backgrounds">Desktop Background</link> you still are focused on the last window
1051 Next we'll tell you how to change these settings.
1056 <refsect2 id="focus2"><title/>
1057 <img src="E_focus_settings.png" x="320" y="20"/>
1059 E16 allows you to change your focus settings at any time. Simply
1060 bring up the <link linkend="settings">Settings</link> menu and then select "Focus Settings" to bring
1061 up a dialog that looks something like the one on the right. At the top, we can
1062 select between our three focus modes, as described on the previous page.
1065 We can also enable some other features, such as one that will allow a simple
1066 <link linkend="mousebind">mouse</link> click to raise any window to the foreground, as well as several
1067 other advanced focus settings.
1070 Here we can also enable the focuslist feature. The focuslist is a window list
1071 that pops up as you cycle through your focus using the ALT + TAB
1072 <link linkend="defkeys">Keybinding</link>.
1077 <refsect2 id="movemode"><title>Moving Windows</title>
1078 <img src="E_move_resize_settings.png" x="300" y="50"/>
1080 E16 comes with several different available methods for moving a
1081 window. You can perform the actual moves using the Window <link linkend="border">Border</link>,
1082 or by using the available <link linkend="mousebind">Mouse Bindings</link>.
1083 This will cause the window to move until you have released the mouse button.
1086 To change the mode that the moving of the windows uses (opaque being the
1087 default), open up the <link linkend="settings">Settings</link> menu, and select "Move & Resize
1088 Settings". You can select from a list that looks similar to the one here
1089 above-right. Experiment until you find one that suits you best.
1092 For some serious eyecandy, try out the Translucent move mode. This will only
1093 work if your X server and E16 are running on the same machine,
1099 <refsect2 id="resizemode"><title>Resizing Windows</title>
1100 <img src="E_move_resize_settings.png" x="300" y="50"/>
1102 E16 also comes with several available methods for resizing windows.
1103 You can perform the actual resize on the window by clicking on any
1104 resize-handle of your window <link linkend="border">border</link> and dragging to the desired size.
1105 You can also get the same effect by using the ALT + middle button
1106 <link linkend="mousebind">Mouse Binding</link> in any part of the window.
1109 To change the mode that the resizing of the windows uses (opaque being the
1110 default), open up the <link linkend="settings">Settings</link> menu, and select "Move & Resize
1111 Settings". You can select from a list that looks similar to the one here
1112 above-right. Experiment until you find one that suits you best.
1115 The best eyecandy resize mode is probably technical move mode. This mode shows
1116 you the height and width of the window, in addition to the distance from the
1122 <refsect2 id="windowops"><title>The Window Operations Menu</title>
1123 <img src="E_app_rightmouse_menu.png" x="360" y="40"/>
1125 The Window Operations menu is a commonly used menu that allows you to perform
1126 many different actions onto the current window.
1129 The Close function closes the window in question.
1130 Annihilate destroys the window without
1131 regard to the application the window belongs to, which is especially useful if
1132 the application refuses to respond to being closed with Close.
1135 The Iconify function iconifies the window.
1136 If you have an <link linkend="iconbox">Iconbox</link> it is sent to the nearest one.
1139 The Raise function raises the window above any windows
1140 that may be obscuring it and Lower
1141 lowers it below windows it is obscuring.
1145 (more on next page ...)
1150 <refsect2 id="windowops2"><title/>
1152 Shade/Unshade toggles the shaded state of the window. Note that borderless
1153 windows are not allowed to be shaded.
1156 Stick/Unstick toggles the sticky state of a window. A window that is sticky
1157 remains "stuck to the glass" and thus is visible on all virtual and
1158 multiple <link linkend="desktops">desktops</link>.
1161 Fullscreen/Window <link linkend="tut11">zooms</link> in and out of the window changing resolutions
1162 if possible. This feature will only work if you have your X server configured
1163 correctly and it supports the XVidtune extension. Your X server may not like
1164 having resolutions changed - it is possible that an unstable X server could
1165 crash if you use this. Be aware of this when using this feature.
1168 Remember... displays the <link linkend="properties">Remember Properties</link> dialog that lets
1169 you select things to remember about this instance of an application. The
1170 attributes selected to be remembered in the state they are when you hit Apply or
1171 Ok in this dialog. You will have to bring it up again if you wish to remember
1172 a new state of the window.
1176 (more on next page ...)
1181 <refsect2 id="windowops3"><title/>
1183 In the <link linkend="groups">Window Groups</link> submenu there are various options for
1185 groups and how this window relates to any groups you may have.
1188 You can quickly modify the size of a window to one of several aspects of
1189 maximum sizes using the Window Size submenu.
1192 Set Stacking lets you change the stacking layer of that window.
1195 You can change the <link linkend="changeborder">border</link> using the Set Border Style menu if
1196 you wish to use a different window border. If you change themes after you have
1197 changed the border, and the new theme doesn't provide a border of the same
1198 name, the window will fall back to using the DEFAULT border until you
1204 <refsect2 id="placement"><title>Window Placement and Autoraise</title>
1205 <img src="E_placement_settings.png" x="220" y="70"/>
1206 <img src="E_autoraise_settings.png" x="10" y="270"/>
1208 These two <link linkend="settings">Settings</link> dialogs allow you to configure various options
1209 for the placement of windows. The two Dialog window options are for windows
1210 like the ALT+O open URL window in Netscape. Manual Placement will force you to
1211 use the mouse to position every new window that attempts to map itself.
1214 The Autoraise settings Dialog will allow you to set a timer event that causes a
1215 window to automatically raise itself to the foreground after a set time. You
1216 can enable it here, as well as change the timer.
1221 <refsect2 id="eesh"><title>E16 and IPC</title>
1223 E16 has a fairly interesting IPC system that allows external
1224 applications (such as Eterm) to talk to E16 and both ask for
1225 information and change information. There is a program that was installed with
1226 E16 called "eesh" that is a simple shell interface to the IPC in
1227 E16. It's even got its own documentation. You can go into
1228 eesh and type "help" and it should spit back a list of commands that it
1232 Note: there are many commands that will show up in E's IPC that don't
1233 necessarily work yet, or aren't fully implemented. You CAN potentially do some
1234 really bizarre things to your system by using eesh, but for the most part it's
1235 just another interesting interface to E. In your distribution package you
1236 should have received some sample scripts written in Perl that interface to E
1237 through eesh showing how you can externally script E to do more things outside
1238 E's base functionality. Expect the IPC to flesh out even more in future
1242 To exit eesh, hit CTRL + D (EOF)
1247 <refsect2 id="editmenus"><title>Editing E16's Menus</title>
1249 The first time you run E16 as a user after you've installed it, it
1250 should create a directory under your home directory called .e16/menus. In
1251 this directory, there will be a file called "file.menu" - this file controls
1252 the contents of your left-mouse button <link linkend="rootmenu">Menu</link>. The very first line
1253 of this file contains the title for the menu, and the remainder of the file
1254 looks something like this:
1256 <font face="Vera/10" color="#112222"/>
1258 "Eterm" NULL exec "Eterm"
1260 <font face="Vera/11" color="#ffffff"/>
1262 Where each column represents:
1264 <font face="Vera/10" color="#112222"/>
1266 Entry title, graphic for menu (or NULL), exec "commandline"
1268 <font face="Vera/11" color="#ffffff"/>
1270 You may have several files in here, including a KDE menu and a Gnome menu if
1271 E16 has detected their presence during installation. If
1272 detected, your primary apps will be located in another file called
1273 user_apps.menu. Each of these files is for you to edit as desired.
1278 <refsect2 id="editkeys"><title>Editing Your Keybindings</title>
1280 To set your own keybindings, all you have to do is find the bindings.cfg
1281 file that was installed with E16, and make a copy in your
1282 ~/.e16 directory. This file shouldn't be too difficult to edit.
1283 Be careful! The keybindings in this file will override ALL
1284 the default keybindings, as long as this file exists, so edit this file with
1285 extreme caution (unless you know what you're doing).
1288 To reset your keybindings back to the default, simply remove this file from
1289 your ~/.e16 directory. The next time you restart E16
1290 it should reload the default keybindings into memory.
1295 <refsect2 id="themes"><title>E16 and Themes</title>
1297 One of the strong points of E16, of course, is that you can change
1298 around the complete look and feel of your desktop whenever you want to.
1299 Included with the 0.16.8 release are a few themes, to show off a little bit of
1300 this configurability. You can select them by using the middle mouse button
1301 <link linkend="rootmenu">menu</link>, going to the "Themes" selector, and then choosing a new
1302 theme. Of course, there are plenty more themes for E16 than come
1303 with it by default. You can find more by going to:
1309 and searching around until you find something you like.
1312 To install a new theme
1313 is simple: all you need to do is take the bleh.etheme file and drop it into
1314 your ~/.e16/themes directory. Once you've restarted E16,
1315 it will automatically show up in your Themes <link linkend="rootmenu">menu</link>, and you can
1316 choose it just like any other theme.
1321 <refsect2 id="eyecandy"><title>E16's Eyecandy Features</title>
1323 Of course, E16 wouldn't be complete without just a few bits of
1324 eyecandy to play with.
1327 On the "Special FX" <link linkend="settings">settings</link> dialog you can chose two toys:
1330 The ripples effect - this causes little ripplets of water to reflect on the
1331 bottom of your screen.
1334 The waves effect - similar to ripples, but this one waves up and down as
1335 opposed to side-to-side
1338 On the "Desktop Background" <link linkend="settings">settings</link> dialog you can enable "Theme
1339 Transparecy". A slider controls the opacity of the window borders, etc. with
1340 respect to the desktop background.
1345 <refsect2 id="maint"><title>Included Maintenance Scripts</title>
1346 <img src="E_maint_menu.png" x="265" y="60"/>
1348 E16 comes with several scripts that are executable out of the middle
1349 mouse button <link linkend="rootmenu">menu</link> - these scripts can perform all sorts of
1350 maintenance on the files that E16 creates automatically for you.
1351 When you select "Maintenance" you should get a menu that looks something like
1352 the one above-right. You can also rebuild the menus from here.
1355 As a warning, when you purge configuration information, the next time you
1356 restart E16 it will take longer to load. You can monitor
1357 E16's usage using the query tools provided. If you change themes a
1358 lot you will probably want to purge the config file cache after you've settled
1359 on a theme. This will help keep your disk usage by E16 down.
1364 <refsect2 id="faq"><title>Frequently Asked Questions</title>
1366 <link linkend="faq2">I can't find my iconbox or change its settings.</link>
1369 <link linkend="faq2">I can't seem to find my left mouse menu.</link>
1372 <link linkend="faq3">All my settings are mangled and I can't fix it.</link>
1375 <link linkend="faq3">I upgraded a theme but the new one isn't being used.</link>
1378 <link linkend="faq4">I set my window to borderless and can't set it back.</link>
1381 <link linkend="faq4">How can I move or resize the iconbox?</link>
1384 <link linkend="faq4">How can I disable that annoying desktop tooltip?</link>
1387 <link linkend="faq5">How can I set up E16 to work with GNOME?</link>
1390 <link linkend="faq5">How can I set up E16 to work with KDE?</link>
1393 <link linkend="faqend">These docs didn't help, where can I get more help?</link>
1398 <refsect2 id="faq2"><title>Frequently Asked Questions: Page 1</title>
1400 Q: I can't find my <link linkend="iconbox">Iconbox</link> or change its settings.
1403 A: There are two possibilities here.
1406 1. You don't have an Iconbox on your desktop right now. Just middle-click and
1407 select Desktop/Create new iconbox
1410 2. Your Iconbox is transparent and borderless. Iconify a window and see if
1411 your icon appears. If so, rightclick on it to reconfigure your Iconbox.
1415 Q: I Can't Seem To Find My Left Mouse Menu
1418 A: Your menu files may be destroyed. Try rerunning the program that initially
1419 generated them. First you'll want to remove the ~/.e16/menus/*.menu files.
1420 Rebuild them using the <link linkend="maint">Maintenance</link> menu.
1425 <refsect2 id="faq3"><title>Frequently Asked Questions: Page 2</title>
1427 Q: All My Settings Are Mangled And I Can't Fix It
1430 A: Well, if things get really messed up, you can always remove all of
1431 E16's automatically saved files. Go into ~/.e16, and
1432 remove the e_config* files, and then blow away the cached directory.
1433 The next time you start E16 it should reset everything to the default.
1437 Q: I Upgraded My Theme, But The New One Isn't Being Used
1440 A: When you upgrade a theme that does not come with E16, when you go
1441 into your ~/.e16/themes directory, be sure to delete the unpacked
1442 directory version of your theme that should be sitting next to the theme, if it
1443 is there. Otherwise when E16 attempts to start the new version it
1444 will use the old files, which causes this problem.
1449 <refsect2 id="faq4"><title>Frequently Asked Questions: Page 3</title>
1451 Q: I set my window to borderless and can't set it back or move it.
1454 A: ALT + Right mouse button when pressed anywhere in the window will give you
1455 the <link linkend="windowops">Window Operations</link> menu. ALT + Left mouse button will move the
1456 window and ALT + Middle mouse button will resize the window.
1459 Q: How can I move or resize the iconbox?
1462 A: As described above, ALT + Right mouse button will give you the
1463 <link linkend="windowops">Window Operations</link> menu, ALT + Middle mouse button will resize the
1464 iconbox and ALT+left mouse button will move it. See the <link linkend="iconbox">Iconbox</link>
1465 documentation for more help
1468 Q: How can I disable that annoying desktop tooltip?
1471 A: There is a special config option for it under the <link linkend="tooltips">tooltip</link>
1472 <link linkend="settings">settings</link> menu.
1477 <refsect2 id="faq5"><title>Frequently Asked Questions: Page 4</title>
1479 Q: How do I set up E16 to work with GNOME?
1482 A: Start your GNOME session with
1485 <member>export WINDOW_MANAGER=e16</member>
1486 <member>exec gnome-session</member>
1487 </simplelist></para>
1490 Q: How do I set up E16 to work with KDE?
1493 A: Start your KDE session with
1496 <member>export KDEWM=e16</member>
1497 <member>exec startkde</member>
1498 </simplelist></para>
1502 <refsect2 id="faqend"><title>Frequently Asked Questions: Page 5</title>
1504 Q: These Docs Didn't Help, Where Can I Get More Help?
1507 A: Well, we obviously can't answer all of your questions just by predicting
1508 them, so I would try the <link linkend="res">website</link> as well as looking at the
1509 <link linkend="res">mailing lists</link>, especially the mail archives. Chances are that someone
1510 else has probably had the same problem that you have. And if all that still
1511 fails, you might try someone on the <link linkend="res">irc</link> channel
1517 <refsect1 id='for_more_information'><title>FOR MORE INFORMATION</title>
1519 <indexterm><primary>Header</primary><secondary>FOR MORE INFORMATION</secondary></indexterm>
1520 Please see our web site at <ulink url='http://www.enlightenment.org'>http://www.enlightenment.org</ulink>