KDE Control Center - KWM: Configuring Window Management Options.
Description: KDE Control Center - KWM
Keywords: KDE,KControl,Window manager,KWM,Windows,Titlebar

Next PreviousTable of Contents

### 1. Configuring Window Management Options.

The Window Manager Options screen allows configuration of three distinct properties:

1. Appearance of Windows while being moved or resized.
2. Window Placement Policy.
3. Window Focus policy.

### 1.1 Appearance of moving and resizing Windows

If Vertical maximization only by default is selected, windows will expand vertically to the full height of the screen if the maximization button is clicked, but their width will not change. (If this option is not selected, the width will also expand to fill the screen).

If Display content in moving windows is selected, the content of a moving window will move as the window is moved ("opaque" motion). If this option is not selected, only an empty "wireframe" representation of the window will be seen moving; the content of the window will remain at the original location until the motion is finished, at which time it will suddenly jump to its new location ("transparent" motion).

The Display content in resizing windows is similar to the previous option: if selected, a window will behave in an "opaque" manner while being resized; otherwise, it will behave in a "transparent" manner.

The Resize animation slider controls whether, and how fast, an animated representation of the window expands or contracts when a window maximization of minimization button is clicked. If the slider control is set to its leftmost postion, the size change will be instantaneous; otherwise, the slider controls the speed of the change.

### 1.2 Window Placement Policy.

Any of five different Window placement policies may be selected from the list box. These determine where a new window will be placed on the desktop when it is first opened.

- The "smart" placement policy allows a minimal cluttering of the desktop. It's also acting independently on each desk. Try it. You'll be amazed how fast the brain will learn to anticipate the position of the new window to be created. You'll become able to place the mouse pointer in that region before the window appears :-)
- The "random" placement policy places newly-created windows at a random place on the desktop.
- The "cascade" placement acts somewhat similar to the "random" placement, but it is more consistent in the choice of the window position and keeps track of available "cascaded" positions for each desktop separately.
- The "manual" placement creates a window that moves with the mouse pointer until placed down by clicking a mouse button.
- The "interactive" placement policy is a cross between the "smart" and the "manual" policies: in this case the window placement is automatic if the windows can be placed without overlapping each other "too much", otherwise the placement policy becomes manual. The "allowed overlap" is set in the box that opens when this selection is made.

### 1.3 Window Focus policy.

The window that is "in focus" receives keyboard input and has the active titlebar appearance (usually colored instead of gray). The focus can be switched to another window with the keyboard (Alt+Tab) or the mouse. The Focus policy determines which window is in focus at a given time. When the focus policy follows the KDE style, the Alt+Tab key combination allows the focus to be transferred between windows on a graphical listing of the open windows.

- If click to focus (KDE style) is selected, the user must click the mouse inside a window to raise it to the front and give it the focus.
- If Focus follows mouse (KDE style) is selected, the focus switches to a window as soon as the pointer enters it. This makes focus switching without raising a window easier, but with the disadvantage that the position of the pointer is important even when the pointer isn't being used. The window remains in focus until the mouse pointer enters another window, to which focus then passes, so some window is always in focus.
- The Classic sloppy focus policy is similar to the "Focus follows mouse" policy, except that the action of the Alt+Tab key combination switches the focus directly between windows in the CDE desktop style, rather than in the graphical KDE style.
- The Classic focus follows mouse policy is a similar CDE-style policy, except that the window loses focus as soon as the mouse pointer leaves it. If the mouse pointer is not in any window, (for example, is on the desktop background or Panel), no window is in focus.

Selection of the Auto Raise feature serves to raise a window to the front (top) when it gets the focus. If a delay in milliseconds is set using the slider control, the window is only raised if the mouse is still inside the window after a period equal to this delay has elapsed since focus passed to it. (This does not apply when the "click to focus" policy is in force).

Selection of the Click Raise feature allows a window to be raised to the front by clicking the mouse anywhere inside it. If this feature is not selected, only a click on a window's titlebar will raise it to the front. (This does not apply when the "click to focus" policy is in force).

Next PreviousTable of Contents