6    Customizing the Window Manager

This chapter describes how to use the Workspace Options submenu to change your window manager features. It also includes information about advanced window manager customization options.

By using the window manager customization options, you can change the way your windows look and behave. The window manager provides a customization submenu that lets you customize the following window features:

• Workspace

• Border

• Border colors

• Icons

• Icon colors

• Matte

Although the procedures in this chapter describe how to use the window manager Options submenu from the Workspace menu, you can access the same options submenu from every application's Window menu. See Section 3.2.6.

To display the window manager Options submenu, from the Window menu:

1. Choose Workspace from an application's Window Menu.

   The window manager displays the Workspace submenu:

   

2. Choose the options submenu from the Workspace submenu.

To change colors on a monochrome monitor, you might need to modify pixmap resources. Use the file /usr/lib/app-defaults/Mwm_bw as a reference. See Chapter 9 for more information about changing resource settings.

6.1    Customizing Your Workspace

You can change when and how a window becomes active and other Workspace features by changing your Workspace settings.

To change your Workspace settings, choose Workspace... from the Workspace Options submenu. The window manager displays the Workspace Options dialog box:

Click on the settings in the dialog box to customize the features you want to change. Use the first options menu in the dialog box to change the way a window is activated. By default, windows use explicit focus to activate a window. That is, you must point to the window and click a mouse button. You can change the explicit focus to pointer focus. With pointer focus enabled, windows are activated as soon as you move the pointer into a window.

Changing the Moving a Window setting from outline to entire window is recommended only on higher performance workstations.

To improve performance when moving and sizing windows, disable the Show feedback setting.

If you enable the Alt+Space setting, you can use compose sequences only on keyboards that have both Alt and Compose Character keys.

6.2    Customizing Your Window Borders

To change your window borders, choose Border... from the Workspace Options submenu. The window manager displays the Border Options dialog box:

From the Customize Border dialog box, you can change the following settings:

Border decorations

Click on a border decoration to add or remove it from all your window frames.

Resize border size

The resize border is the border around the window that you drag to resize a window. To change the size of the border, choose one of the default sizes from the options menu, or choose the Other menu item to enter your own border size.

Other resize border size

If you choose the Other menu item from the Resize Border Size Options menu, the Other Resize Border Size text-entry box receives input focus. Enter a value in this box to define your own border size.

Double click on window menu to close window

Click on this setting to enable or disable the Close menu item when you double click on the Window menu.

6.3    Customizing Your Window Border Colors

To change your window border colors, choose Border Colors... from the Workspace Options submenu. The window manager displays the Border Color Options dialog box.

Pick colors that make it easy to distinguish between active and inactive windows. DECwindows displays the Workspace: Border Color Options dialog box, which lets you choose the border background color you want.

From the Workspace: Border Color Options dialog box, you can change the following settings for active or inactive windows:

Foreground

The color of the title.

Background

The color behind the title.

Top and Bottom Shadows

Shadow colors help present the three-dimensional look of DECwindows Motif and must be well-matched. The top shadow colors are on the top and left sides of the border. The bottom shadow colors are on the bottom and right sides of the border. DECwindows automatically determines top and bottom shadow border colors when you change the background color.

To choose your own shadow colors, disable the Automatic shadow setting.

6.4    Customizing Icon Appearance

To customize the appearance and placement of your icons on the workspace, choose Icons... from the Workspace Options submenu. The window manager displays the Workspace: Icon Options dialog box.

From the Workspace: Icon Options dialog box, you can change the following settings:

• Display an icon box

• Icon placement

• Icon size

• Icon decorations

To customize the position and size of the icon box, move and resize the icon box, then select Apply Current Settings from the Workspace menu to restart the window manager.

6.4.1    Customizing Icon Colors

To change your icon colors, choose Icon Colors... from the Workspace Options submenu. The window manager displays the Workspace: Icon Color Options dialog box.

From the Workspace: Icon Color Options dialog box, you can change the following icon image and icon box color settings:

Foreground

To change the icon foreground color, click on the Foreground button. DECwindows displays the Workspace: Color Options dialog box, which lets you select the icon foreground color.

Background

To change the icon background color, click on the Background button. DECwindows displays the Workspace: Color Options dialog box, which lets you select the icon background color.

Top and Bottom Shadows

Shadow colors help present the three-dimensional look of DECwindows Motif and must be well-matched. The top shadow colors are on the top and left sides of the icon. The bottom shadow colors are on the bottom and right sides of the icon. DECwindows automatically determines top and bottom shadow colors when you change the background color.

To choose your own shadow colors, disable the Automatic shadow setting and click on the Top Shadow or Bottom Shadow button. DECwindows displays the Workspace: Color Options dialog box, which lets you select the icon shadow color.

Icon Box Colors

To change the Icon Box Background Color, click on the Automatic color button. Click on the Background button. DECwindows displays the Workspace: Color options dialog box, which lets you select the icon background color.

6.5    Customizing the Matte

To change your matte features, choose Matte... from the Workspace Options submenu. The window manager displays the Matte Options dialog box.

From the Matte Options dialog box, you can change your matte size and color settings.

For more information about adding and removing items from your automatic startup list, see Chapter 7.

6.6    Saving Your New Settings

You can save the changes you make or reinstate other settings as follows:

Choose	To
Apply Current Settings	Save the settings you just changed and restart the window manager.
Reset to Last Saved Settings	Reinstate the last settings you saved. Choose this menu item if you want to reset any attributes that you changed temporarily but did not save.
Reset to Default	Reinstate the default settings.

6.7    Advanced Customization

In addition to the menu items available from the Customize submenu, you can change the appearance and behavior of windows by specifying values for elements, known as resources in resource configuration files. The window manager gets information from these files each time you start a session, an application, or the window manager.

For information about modifying resource files, see Chapter 9, the appendixes in this guide, and the OSF/Motif Programmer's Guide.