Display Setup Handbook: Background
Description: kcmkdisplay help doc
Keywords: kde kcontrol kdisplay

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### 3. Background

The Background setup dialog is comprised of four sections:

1. Desktop selection and Name.
2. The background Preview Monitor.
3. The background Color.
4. The background Wallpaper.

At the bottom of the screen the selection Dock into the panel allows you to select whether an icon for the Background Display Setting dialog is docked into the Panel (this provides quick access to the Display Settings menu, and also allows stepping through changing background sequences when the "Random" background mode is selected).

Also at the bottom of the screen is a slider allowing the memory Cache size used by the display to be adjusted.

### 3.1 Name

The top left Desktop box lists the currently-configured desktops by their assigned names. Click on a name to select the corresponding desktop to be configured. Click on Rename to change the assigned name which appears on the Panel's desktop selection buttons.

If you wish to configure a common background for all Desktops, make the Common Background selection.

### 3.2 Preview Monitor

This is a minature representation of your display background, using the current settings. To apply these settings to your display, press the Apply button to continue using the KDE display setup utility, or the Ok button to apply your changes and quit.

Note: Pressing Ok or Apply applies changes made in all of the display setup modules.

### 3.3 Background Color

The display background can be filled with a single color or with a color gradient.

Click the One Color button to fill the background with a single color. The background color can be changed by clicking on the colored box which shows the currently-selected color. This will display a color selection dialog from which you may select a new background color.

When you are happy with your color selection, press Ok in the color selection dialog. The color will be updated in the colored box (and in the Preview Monitor, provided no Wallpaper is selected).

To fill the background with a color gradient or pattern, click the Two Color button. A second colored box will appear. Click on this box to select the second color. Now click on the Setup button to choose how to blend the two colors. A dialog and Preview box will appear. You may choose to progressively blend the colors from top to bottom of the screen, from right to left, or in a pattern selected from the list shown. You will see a preview of the choice you make before you apply it. Click OK or Cancel to leave this dialog.

A blend of the two colors uses only 8 colors, leaving plenty free for other applications. However, it requires an image the size of your display to be maintained in memory.

### 3.4 Wallpaper

The wallpaper is an image displayed in the background (root window) of your display. To change the wallpaper displayed, select one from the list or click the Browse button and select an image. If wish to use a One Color or Two Color background, choose `No Wallpaper`.

Choose from the Arrangement list to select how the wallpaper image is applied to the desktop: various tiling, mirroring, or scaling schemes are possible, and their effects may be seen in the Preview box.

You may also select Random which causes a random sequence of backgrounds to be displayed, changing after a specified time interval. Click on the Setup button to select the sequence of backgrounds that are chosen from. The sequence will be sampled randomly, unless you make the selection that the sequence is sampled in order. The Timer Delay box allows you to set the interval in seconds between changes. If the icon for the background display settings is docked in the Panel, and Random is selected, you can click on the icon to cause the next scheduled background change to occur immediately.

If the option Pick files from directory is selected, the backgrounds wil be chosen from the set of wallpaper files in the selected directory entered in the box that opens. If this option is not selected, they will be chosen from a user-created sequence of backgrounds listed in the main box.

- To add an entry to this user-created sequence, click on Add; this will add a highlighted `No Wallpaper` entry for the currently-selected Color background from the main Background Display settings screen to the sequence. Click on an item in the sequence to highlight it. To replace this highlighted entry, go back to the main Background Display settings screen (without closing the Random mode setup screen) and deselect Random. Whatever Wallpaper (including `No Wallpaper`) you now select will replace the highlighted entry in the Random Mode background sequence. Click on Delete to remove the highlighted item from the Random Mode backgrounds sequence. In this way, you can construct any sequence of backgrounds you wish. Click on OK when you are satisfied with it. Don't forget to reselect Random in the main Background Display Setting screen to activate your Random Mode backgrounds.

Displaying wallpaper requires that the image be kept in memory. If you are low on memory, using a small, tiled image or none at all is recommended. Note that scaling or centering a small image still requires an image the size of your display to be maintained in memory.

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