This is not a definitive document - the tips here have been compiled from many sites. Some are for novices, others are for geeks. Feel free to add to this thread with new ideas, hints, suggestions; but please post
questions to the appropriate forum, not this HOWTO Forum. I may edit this document to add/subtract/edit in future. Keep posted!
Docs: if you are a newbie it is probably a good idea to read the xfce docs (Programs, Help) before trying these hints. Be aware that the docs are for xfce version 4.2.2 and we are using 4.4! But for the most part the docs apply well to the newer version.
Menu: the xfce menu config file resides at ~/.config/xfce4/desktop/menu.xml. This file can be edited by hand (not recommended) or via a GUI app (Programs, Settings, Menu Editor) or right-click on the Programs Launcher and choose "Edit Menu". xfce4 follows the freedesktop specifications (
http://www.freedesktop.org). Thus as long as a newly installed application has a proper .desktop file and it is installed in the correct directory (/usr/share/applications) then a menu item will appear the next time you boot-up xfce. If the item does not appear in the correct menu category you will have to edit its respective .desktop file.
Most of the xfce menu is auto-generated and is contained within the "system" menu (see this with the menu editor (above)). If all .desktop files are as they should be you should not have to touch this but if your really do want to edit this auto-generated part of the xfce menu then read this info:
http://xfce.wikia.com/wiki/Frequently_Asked_Questions#How_to_edit_the_auto_generated_menu_with_the_menu_editor.3FWindow Manager Reload: reload the xfce window manager after you have made menu/package/background changes with the command: Programs, Run Program, xfdesktop -reload .
Mouse Clicking: single-clicking of desktop icons is not yet implemented, but is available in the Thunar file manager. If you hate double-clicking implement all the desktop icons as launchers in the panel instead - they are single-click. To turn off all desktop icons for a nice clean desktop go to Programs, Settings, Desktop Settings, Behaviour, Desktop Icons, None. A middle-click on the desktop pops-up the workspace manager, a right-click pops-up the xfce menu.
Plugins: there are many more cool plugins available for the panel/taskbar: right click on a free area of the taskbar, and choose Add New Item. For extra xfce plugins (eye-candy goodies), including one for weather, go here:
http://goodies.xfce.org/ or here:
https://developer.berlios.de/projects/xfce-goodies/ . Check the VL repository with gslapt first though, because some have already been packaged. Also read the info posted by "blurymind" in this thread:
http://www.vectorlinux.com/forum2/index.php?topic=352.0 .
Screensaver and xflock: Screensavers are environmentally unfriendly when you can put your monitor into suspend and save on electricity costs. The easiest way to do that is to add the following line to the "Section "ServerLayout"" of your /etc/X11/xorg.conf file:
Option "OffTime" "10"
(you can change the minutes to your liking). xfce has xflock which locks your screen with a screensaver and requires your password to get you back in. It must be manually started (there is a plugin for it - see above). You can also use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl-Alt-Del to activate xflock.
Hotkeys: add hotkeys for frequently used applications (e.g. Ctrl-Alt-B for Browser) by going to Programs, Settings, Keyboard Settings, Shortcuts, Add. By the way there are MANY more keyboard shortcuts for xfce than are listed in that panel. All the default window manager keyboard shortcuts are found in Programs, Settings, Window Manager Settings, Keyboard. It is worthwhile learning them; you will save yourself much time. To bind multimedia keys read this thread:
http://www.vectorlinux.com/forum2/index.php?topic=58.0 . To bind the Windows keyboard key to the xfce menu read this tip:
http://forum.xfce.org/index.php?topic=2401.0 .
Kiosk: if you are setting up VL5.8 as a kiosk terminal you can disable the user from changing aspects of xfce with kiosk files. See the documentation here:
http://www.xfce.org/documentation/docs-4.2/xfce4-session.html .
Themes: you change the desktop theme by going to Programs, Settings, Window Manager Settings, Style to change the window decorations, thence to Programs, Settings, User Interface to set the window colouring, shading and icons and thence to Programs, Settings, Desktop Settings to set the background. A bit round-about but this allows for many variations on a theme (pun intended). If none of the many themes/backgrounds/icons included are what you want visit
http://xfce-look.org to find many others. If you have problems installing xfce themes read this:
http://forum.xfce.org/index.php?topic=874.0 .
Splash & Buttons: if you don't like the VL splash go to Programs, Settings, Splash Screen Settings, Configure and change it. If you don't like the VL Programs Button then right click on it, choose Properties and change the "button icon".
Sound: xfce does not have its own sound system for sound effects. If you want login-logout sounds you should edit the file /usr/etc/xdg/xfce4/xinitrc and add the following lines above line 58 and below line 86 (before insertion), respectively:
"play myloginsound.mp3"
"play mylogoutsound.mp3"
I recommend renaming the old file first so you have a backup in case you mess up.
Icons: the easiest way to add desktop icons is to double-click the FileSystem Icon on the desktop, navigate to place where the application/folder/file lies, right click its icon, choose Send To Desktop (create link). The other easy way is to navigate to any current desktop icon, right click, choose Desktop, Create Launcher.
Desktop: the quickest method of making changes to icons and your desktop is to navigate your mouse cursor to any desktop icon, right click on the icon and choose "Desktop". This special context menu has a number of useful features. Try it.
Panels: you are not limited to one panel. The classic "xfce look" is here:
http://www.xfce.org/images/screenshots/snap_VI.jpg . Play with Programs, Settings, Panel Manager and right-click the panels to get the look you want.
Transparency and Compositor: use "mrxvt" to get a nice, fast, multitabbed, low resource transparent terminal. Install "torsmo" to get a windowless system monitor on your background. To get transparent panels and window effects you need to have a video card capable of rendering (check with "glxinfo | grep render"). If that command output says "direct rendering: Yes" you are set to go. Then you edit your /etc/X11/xorg.conf file and add this:
Section "Extensions"
Option "Composite" "Enable"
EndSection
Then add MIGHT want to add this to the "Section "Device"" section (may not be necessary):
Option "AccelMethod" "EXA"
Option "AGPMode" "4"
Option "EnablePageFlip" "true"
Option "DDCMode"
Option "RenderAccel" "true"
Option "SubPixelOrder" "NONE"
Option "ColorTiling" "false"
Then read the thread by hannumizzle here:
http://www.vectorlinux.com/forum2/index.php?topic=502.0 . Then go to Programs, Settings, Window Manager Tweaks, Compositor, and set your transparency effects. You may then want to download a theme that has more transparency effects in it. See "Themes" above.
File Manager: Thunar is the fast, xfce file manager: you can add items to its context (right-click) menu. Do that with Programs, File Manager, Edit, Configure Custom Actions, Add. To add items to the "Send To" panel: for example, say you want to add a new entry to the menu, named Foo, that sends the selected files to the program foo. Just add a new file, named foo.desktop (the entries in the menu are sorted by their filenames), to the directory ~/.local/share/Thunar/sendto/ (just create the directory if it does not already exists), with the following content:
[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Version=1.0
Encoding=UTF-8
Exec=foo %F
Icon=foo
The target will automatically appear in Thunar's Send To menu (Thunar automatically reloads the targets whenever a change on one of the sendto directories is noticed - this idea is from the xfce thunar wiki:
http://thunar.xfce.org/pwiki/ ).
Workspace Hacks: if you want to do cool things with workspace/windows management such as autostarting certain applications within certain workspaces you need to get "Devil's Pie" here:
http://www.burtonini.com/blog/computers/devilspie . It does a lot of other geekie things for you too.
GTK Accelerators: xfce, Thunar and many of the applications provided with VL5.8 Standard use the GTK+ toolkit. With GTK apps you can bind a keyboard accelerator to any of the apps menu items by hovering your mouse cursor over the item and then pressing any typical keyboard accelerator combination (e.g. Ctrl-Shift-I, or whatever).
RAM Issues: if you have a low RAM machine (128MB or less) you should stick to one panel and remove unnecessary panel plug-ins and desktop icons. Some plug-ins consume 16MB of RAM!
Other: you might also want to visit the xfce forum and the xfce wiki for more good hints and tips:
http://www.xfce.org . Also worth reading is "hanumizzle's" review of xfce 4.4 here:
http://turkey.fvdh.net/~hanumizzle/xfce4-review/happy xfce'ing.....
lagagnon
