Setting Look and Feel Preferences

This section explains how to use the Appearance preference tool to configure the desktop.

Appearance

The Appearance preference tool enables you to configure various aspects of the desktop:

Theme
Desktop Background
Fonts
Visual Effects

Theme Preferences

A theme is a group of coordinated settings that specifies the visual appearance of a part of the Oracle Solaris Desktop. You can choose themes to change the appearance of the Oracle Solaris Desktop. Use the Theme tab to select a theme. You can choose from a list of available themes, which includes several themes for users with accessibility requirements.

A theme contains settings in the Customize Theme window that affect different parts of the Oracle Solaris Desktop, as follows:

Controls – The controls setting in the Controls Tab, determines the visual appearance of windows, panels, and applets. The Controls setting also determines the visual appearance of the interface items that appear on windows, panels, and applets, such as menus, icons, and buttons. Some of the Controls setting options that are available are designed for special accessibility needs. You can choose an option for the controls setting from the Controls tab in the Customize Theme window.
Colors – The color setting in the Colors tabfor a theme determines the color of various user interface elements.

Note - Make sure you choose pairs of colors that have a good contrast with each other, otherwise text might become hard to read.
Window frame – The window frame setting in the Window Border tab determines the appearance of the frames around windows only.
Icons – The icon setting in the Icon tab determines the appearance of the icons on panels and the desktop background.
Pointer - The pointer setting in the Pointer tab determines the appearance of and size of the mouse pointer.

How to Create a Custom Theme

The themes that are listed in the Theme tab are different combinations of controls options, window frame options, and icon options. You can create a custom theme that uses different combinations of controls options, window frame options, and icon options.

Choose System → Preferences → Appearance.
Open the Theme tab.
Select a theme in the list of themes.
Click Customize.
The Customize Theme dialog is displayed.
Select the options that you want to use in the custom theme.
For more information about the options, see Theme Preferences.
Click Close to close the Customize Theme dialog.
In the Appearance preferences tool, click Save As.
The Save Theme As dialog is displayed.
Type a name and a short description for the custom theme in the dialog, and then click Save.
The custom theme now appears in your list of available themes.

How to Install a New Theme

You can add a theme to the list of available themes. The new theme must be an archive file, .tar.gz, that is tarred and zipped.

Choose System → Preferences → Appearance.
Open the Theme tab.
Click Install.
The File Chooser dialog is displayed.
Type the location of the theme archive file in the location entry, or select the theme archive file in the file list. Click Open.
Click Install to install the new theme.

How to Delete a Theme Option

You can delete controls options, window frame options, or icons options.

Choose System → Preferences → Appearance.
Open the Theme tab.
Click Customize.
The Customize Theme dialog is displayed.
Click the tab for the type of option that you want to delete.
Select the theme option you want to delete.
Click Delete to delete the selected option.
Note - You cannot delete system-wide theme options.

Desktop Background Preferences

The desktop background is the image or color that is applied to your desktop. You can open the Background tab in the Appearance preference tool by right-clicking on the desktop and choosing Desktop Appearance, as well as from the System → Preferences menu.

You can customize the desktop background in the following ways:

Select an image for the desktop background. The image is superimposed on the desktop background color. The desktop background color is visible if you select a transparent image, or if the image does not cover the entire desktop.
Select a color for the desktop background. You can select a solid color, or create a gradient effect with two colors. A gradient effect is a visual effect where one color blends gradually into another color.

Note - You can also drag a color or a pattern to the desktop from the Backgrounds and Emblems dialog in the file manager.

The following table lists the background preferences that you can modify.

Table 10-2 Desktop Background Preferences

Dialog Element	Description
Desktop Background	Determines the desktop background. Choose an image from the list, or use the Add button to choose any image on your computer.
Style	Specifies how to display the image: Centered – Displays the image in the middle of the desktop, respecting the image's original size. Fill Screen – Enlarges the image to cover the desktop, altering its proportions if needed. Scaled – Enlarges the image until the image meets the screen edges, and maintains the proportions of the image. Zoom – Enlarges the smaller dimension of the image until it meets the screen edges; the image might be cropped in the other dimension. Tiled – Duplicates the original-sized image as often as necessary and prints the images next to another so they entirely cover the desktop.
Add	Click Add to browse for an image on your computer. Choose the image you want and click Open.
Remove	Choose the image that you want to remove, and then click Remove. This removes the image from the list of available wallpapers; however, it does not delete the image from your computer.
Colors	To specify a color scheme, use the options in the Style drop-down list and the color selector buttons. You can specify the following color schemes: Solid Color specifies a single color for the desktop background. To choose the color, click Color and choose a color, and then click OK. Horizontal gradient creates a gradient effect from the left screen edge to the right screen edge. Click Left Color and choose the color that you want to appear at the left edge. Click Right Color and choose the color that you want to appear at the right edge. Vertical gradient creates a gradient effect from the top screen edge to the bottom screen edge. Click Top Color and choose the color that you want to appear at the top edge. Click Bottom Color and choose the color that you want to appear at the bottom edge.

Font Preferences

Use the Fonts tab in the Appearance preference tool to choose which fonts are used in different parts of the desktop, and the way in which fonts are displayed on the screen.

You can choose fonts for the following parts of the desktop:

Application font – Used in the menus, toolbars, and dialog boxes of applications.
Document font – Used to display documents in applications.

Note - In some applications, you can override this choice in the application's preferences dialog.
Desktop font – Used in icon labels on the desktop.
Window title font – Used in the titlebars of windows.
Fixed width font – Used in the Terminal application and in applications related to programming.

How to Choose Fonts

The font selector button shows the name of the font and its point size. The name is also shown in bold, italic, or regular type.

Choose System → Preferences → Appearance.
Click the Fonts tab.
Click Font Selector.
The Font Picker dialog is displayed.
Select the font family, style, and point size from the lists.
The preview area shows your current choice.
Click OK to accept the change and update the desktop.

Font Rendering

You can set the following options relating to how fonts are displayed on the screen:

Rendering – Specifies how to render fonts on your screen:
- Monochrome – Renders fonts in black and white only. The edges of characters might appear jagged in some cases because the characters are not antialiased. (Antialiasing is an effect that is applied to the edges of characters to make the characters look smoother.)
- Best shapes – Antialiases fonts where possible. Use this option for standard Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) monitors.
- Best contrast – Adjusts fonts to give the sharpest possible contrast, and also antialiases fonts, so that characters have smooth edges. This option might enhance the accessibility of the Oracle Solaris Desktop for users with visual impairments.
- Subpixel smoothing (LCDs) – Uses techniques that exploit the shape of individual Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) pixels to render fonts. Use this option for LCD or flat-screen displays.
Details – Determines how to render fonts on the screen:
- Resolution (dots per inch) – Specifies the resolution to use when your screen renders fonts.
- Smoothing – Specifies how to antialias fonts.
- Hinting – This is font-rendering technique that improves the quality of fonts at small sizes and an at low screen resolutions. Select one of the options to specify how to apply hinting to your fonts.
- Subpixel order - Specifies the subpixel color order for your fonts. Use this option for LCD or flat-screen displays.

Visual Effects

The Visual Effects tab of the Appearance preference tool enables you to control the type of animations, translucency, and other effects that you see as you interact with windows, menus, and workspaces. These effects can enhance the functionality and visual appearance of the desktop. However, some effects require a graphics card that supports hardware acceleration.

You can choose from the following preset levels of visual effects:

None – No special visual effects are enabled. This option is the default if your graphics card does not support hardware acceleration and uses the Metacity window manager.
Normal – A small selection of visual effects are enabled. This option is the default if your graphics card supports hardware acceleration and uses the Compiz window manager.
Extra – A larger selection of visual effects are enabled. When this option is selected, the Compiz window manager is used.

Note - While using the Visual Effects tab, if you select an effect which your graphics card does not support, the previous settings for the effect are restored.

How to Enable and Configure a Customized Set of Visual Effects

Select the Custom button, and then click Preferences.
The Compiz Settings Manager dialog is displayed.
In the Compiz Settings Manager dialog, select or deselect the boxes that you want to enable or disable, and then click the name of an effect to change its settings.
Click Close to save your changes.

Show Icons in Menus

This option displays an icon beside items in application menus and the panel menu. Not all menu items have an icon.

Editable Menu Shortcut Keys

This option enables you to define new keyboard shortcuts for menu items. To change an application shortcut key, open the menu, and with the mouse pointer on the menu item you want to change, press the new combination of keys. To remove a shortcut key, press Backspace or Del.

Note - When using this feature, you will not be warned if assigning a new shortcut key to a command also removes it from another command.

You cannot restore the original, default keyboard shortcut for a command.

This feature does not maintain shortcuts that are common to all applications, such as Ctrl+C for Copy to avoid inconsistencies in your applications.

Toolbar Button Labels

The following Toolbar button labels specify what to display on the toolbars in your applications:

Text Below Icons – Displays toolbars with text as well as an icon on each button.
Text Beside Icons – Displays toolbars with only an icon on each button, and with text on the most important buttons.
Icons Only – Select this option to display toolbars with an icon only on each button.
Text Only – Displays toolbars with only text on each button.

Windows

Use the Windows preference tool to customize window behavior for the Oracle Solaris Desktop.

The following table lists the windows preferences that you can modify.

Table 10-3 Windows Preferences

Dialog Element	Description
Select windows when the mouse moves over them	Gives focus to a window when you point to the window. The window retains focus until you point to another window.
Raise selected windows after an interval	Raises windows a short time after the window receives focus.
Interval before raising	Specifies the interval to wait before raising a window that has received focus.
Double-click titlebar to perform this action	Determines the behavior that occurs when you double-click a window titlebar. Select one of the following options: Maximize – Maximizes the window. Maximize Vertically – Maximizes the window vertically without changing its width. Maximize Horizontally – Maximizes the window horizontally without changing its height. Minimize – Minimizes the window. Roll up – Rolls up the window so that only the titlebar is displayed. None – Does nothing. If a window is already maximized or rolled up, double-clicking on the titlebar will return it to its normal state.
To move a window, press and hold this key then grab the window	Specifies the key to press and hold when you drag a window to move the window.

Note - You can modify the position of the Control, Alt, and Super keys on the keyboard in the Keyboard Layout Options dialog. For more information, see Keyboard Layout Options.

Screensaver

A screensaver is an application that replaces the image on a screen when the screen is not in use. The screensaver application for the Oracle Solaris Desktop is XScreenSaver. The following sections describe how to set preferences for the XScreenSaver application, and how to modify displays that are available for the screensaver.

This section describes how to set preferences for the screensaver. This section also provides information about how to modify the displays that are available for the screensaver.

Setting Screensaver Preferences

The default screensaver preferences are stored in the /usr/share/X11/app-defaults/XScreenSaver file. To start the Screensaver preference tool, run the xscreensaver-demo command from the /usr/bin/ directory. To start the Screensaver preference tool from System menu, choose System → Preferences → Screensaver.

Setting Default Screensaver Preferences for All Users

To set default screensaver preferences for all users, modify the XScreenSaver file. Or, you can use the XScreenSaver dialog to create a $HOME/.xscreensaver file, then copy the file to the location of the XScreenSaver file.

Restoring Default Screensaver Settings for a User

To restore the default settings for a user, delete the $HOME/.xscreensaver file from the user's home directory. If no $HOME/.xscreensaver file is present, the system uses the default preferences in the XScreenSaver file.

Note - The default display behavior of the XScreenSaver application is to display a blank screen.

To activate changes to the screensaver preferences, use the following command to reload the screensaver preferences:

# xscreensaver-command -restart

Modifying Screensaver Preferences

To modify screensaver application preferences, you can use the Screensaver preference tool. When you modify the screensaver preferences, the preferences are stored in the user's home directory, in the $HOME/.xscreensaver file.

Modifying Look and Feel of Your Screensaver

The screensaver displays are listed in the XScreenSaver file and in the $HOME/.xscreensaver file. The screensaver application allows users to choose one or more screensaver displays.

How to Add a Screensaver Display

Copy the executable file for the display to the /usr/lib/xscreensaver/hacks/ directory.
Add the command for the screensaver display to the XScreenSaver file or the $HOME/.xscreensaver file.
To run the screensaver display on the whole screen rather than in a window, include appropriate arguments. For example, you might want to include the -root option to display the screensaver display on the whole screen.

Disabling a Screensaver Display

To disable the screensaver displays for all users on a Sun Ray client, type the following command:

# pkg uninstall 'desktop/xscreensaver/hacks*'

Note - The Pluggable Authentication Modules (PAM) service name for the XScreenSaver application is dtsession. This name is used for compatibility with previous applications.

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