3 <!DOCTYPE chapter PUBLIC "-//KDE//DTD DocBook XML V4.2-Based Variant V1.1//EN"
9 <chapter id="windowmanager">
10 <title>The window manager</title>
12 <para>The default window manager provided by &kde; is the K Window
13 Manager (&kwin;). Please read <quote>The
14 K Window Manager Handbook</quote> (which should be accessible from the
15 <application>&kde; Help Center</application>) for usage information.</para>
20 <para>Are there keyboard shortcuts for &kwin; operations?</para>
23 <para>Yes. Please refer to "The K Window Manager Handbook" for the
24 list of shortcuts available.</para>
30 <para>Can I define my own set of keyboard shortcuts?</para>
34 <application>&kde; Control Center</application> and select
35 <menuchoice><guimenu>Regional & Accessibility</guimenu><guimenuitem>Keyboard Shortcuts</guimenuitem></menuchoice> to
36 configure window manager bindings like maximizing windows, &etc;.
43 <para>When I "iconify" a window, it disappears. Where does it
47 <para>With many &X-Window; &GUI;s, the minimize button (a little dot) will
48 erase the window that the program is running in and create, instead,
49 an icon on the desktop. &kde; does not do this. Instead, when a
50 window is iconified it is simply hidden (but the program is still
52 <para>There are a few ways to access <quote>disappeared</quote> windows:</para>
55 <para>If you are running the taskbar part of &kicker;,
56 you can choose to have a list of tasks displayed on your desktop.
57 Iconified tasks will have their names displayed in gray.</para>
60 <para>If you click the &MMB; on the root window (&ie;,
61 the background of the desktop), &kwin; will give you a list
62 of all available tasks.</para>
70 <para>How do I maximize windows only vertically or horizontally?</para>
73 <para>Provided your window is not already maximized, clicking on the
74 maximize button with the &LMB;/&MMB;/&RMB; will
75 maximize fully/vertically/horizontally respectively.</para>
81 <para>What is <quote>shading</quote> a window?</para>
84 <para>By <quote>shading</quote> a window we mean <quote>rolling up</quote> the window leaving just
85 the title bar visible. You can do this by double clicking on the
86 window title bar.</para>
90 <!-- This is kinda covered in desktop.docbook, but the question here -->
91 <!-- is different, even if the answer is nearly the same -->
94 <para>How can I start an application with special window options, like
95 maximized/minimized/to stay on top?</para>
98 <para>Use the <command>kstart</command> command. As an example, to
99 open &kcalc; with the <quote>Stay on Top</quote> option, use:
100 <screen><prompt>%</prompt> <userinput><command>kstart</command> <option>--ontop</option> <option>kcalc</option></userinput></screen>
102 <para>For maximized windows, use the <option>--maximize</option>
103 option, for minimized windows, use <option>--iconify</option>. You can
104 see a full list of <command>kstart</command> options with
105 <userinput><command>kstart</command>
106 <option>--help-all</option></userinput>.</para>
108 <warning><para>If you're using <command>kstart</command> to start
109 applications at &kde; startup, you should use the
110 <option>--window</option> option. See the &kde; User Guide, section
111 <quote>Advanced Window Management</quote> for more information about
118 <!-- Not sure this is still applicable
121 <para>Is it possible to have FVWM2-like shadow frameworks for the
122 placement of windows?</para>
125 <para>Yes. Run <application>&kde; Control Center</application> and select <guimenu>Look and Feel</guimenu>
126 followed by <guisubmenu>Window Behavior</guisubmenu> and finally
127 <guimenuitem>Advanced</guimenuitem>. There is a dialog option that
128 allows you to set the placement policy you want.</para>