This is a screenshot of the default Window Maker desktop. The graphical
appearance is very similar to that of a
NEXTSTEP
[tm] desktop.
In the upper left is the Clip,
which serves as a multi-purpose workspace changer (using the arrows) and
Dock extender. Essentially, you can use it to add an infinite number of
launchable appicons and keep track of your workspaces, although it has
additional uses. Beside the Clip, we see an xterm window that has been
window shaded. This is accomplished by double-clicking the window
titlebar, and double-clicking the titlebar again will unshade the window.
Directly below is the all powerful
WPrefs configuration
utility. It can control most aspects of Window Maker's behavior and
appearance.
In the lower left, we have more appicons. Application Icons (hence
appicons) represent an application that is currently running. These
icons can be used to create a visual shortcut on the desktop, via the Dock
or Clip. Not displayed here are their counter-parts, called
mini-windows. The difference between an appicon and a mini-window is
that mini-window icons represent each window that is displayed on the
screen, instead of the application as a whole (e.g. if you have several
instances of Netscape running, you will have a mini-window for each of
them). The mini-window is identified by a miniature titlebar that has the
same title as the parent window, and each mini-window can be used to control
its parent. It is possible to configure Window Maker so that all similar
windows can be consolidated to a single mini-window. Of course, it is also
possible to disable appicons and mini-windows altogether (useful with the
GNOME panel, for instance).
In the upper right corner, we have the
Dock, along with several
appicons (note the three dots in the lower left corner of each, indicating
that they are "launchable"). The Dock is generally used as a custom
application launcher and dockapp
holder. Below the dock is the menu system.
Each subsection of the menu (in this shot, the subsections are appearance,
workspaces, and background) can be pinned to the desktop and will
remain visible until the [X] is pressed. And finally, we see the Info Panel
at the bottom. This is just a little item in the menu that, when launched,
displays quick and useful information about your running X and Window Maker
configuration. Currently it displays X color depth and the various types of
support that are compiled into Window Maker.
Unfortunately, screenshots fall short of demonstrating the more functional
aspects of Window Maker. Please continue below for an indepth explanation
of its various components.
know it
