Translations by Danial Behzadi

Customising Your Computer

This section contains information about changing the look and behaviour of your computer to suit your preference.

Customising Panels

The panels of your Xubuntu desktop are very flexible. Right-clicking them will let you customize their appearance and behaviour. See also <link linkend="xfce-desktop">Xfce Desktop</link>.

The Main Menu

You may change the appearance of the Main Menu (<emphasis>Applications</emphasis>) with the menu editor. Launch it with <menuchoice><guimenu>Applications</guimenu><guisubmenu>Settings</guisubmenu><guimenuitem>Menu Editor</guimenuitem></menuchoice>.

Desktop Effects

What are Desktop Effects?

Xubuntu does not ship a full fledged 3D desktop like Ubuntu. However, hardware supported desktop rendering and some effects like translucent windows and shadows are also available on Xubuntu.

Desktop effects are optional, and it is not necessary to have them turned on. In addition, users of computers with certain graphics cards may find that desktop effects do not work well on their computer, or cause the computer to operate more slowly than it would with the effects turned off.

Activating Desktop Effects

If 3D drivers for your graphics card are properly installed and running, then Xfce's window manager will let you turn on these effects. To enable these effects, navigate to <menuchoice><guimenu>Applications</guimenu><guisubmenu>Settings</guisubmenu><guimenuitem>Window Manager Tweaks</guimenuitem></menuchoice>, and - provided the hardware acceleration was properly detected - you will see a tab called <guibutton>Compositor</guibutton>. Inside this tab, you will find an option to enable the desktop effects, and many other options to customize their behaviour. Your screen may flicker briefly while the effects are being enabled.