Window Behavior
Keywords: KDE, KControl, actions, window placement, window size

The KDE Control Center
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# 5.2. Window Behavior

In the upper part of this control module you can see three panels: Focus, Actions and Advanced. In the Focus panel you can configure how windows gain or lose focus, i.e. become active or inactive. Using Actions you can configure how windows react to mouse clicks. The Advanced options concern window placement, movement or resizing.

| Please note that the configuration in this module will not take effect if you don't use KDE's native window manager, KWin. If you do use a different window manager, please refer to its documentation for how to customize window behavior.

## 5.2.1. Focus

The "focus", of the desktop refers to the window which the user is currently working on. The window with focus is often referred to as the "active window".

### 5.2.1.1. Focus Policy

There are four methods KDE can use to determine the current focus:

Click to Focus

  With this option, you simply click on the window to make that window active.

  All the other options within this section have no effect when this option is chosen.

Focus follows mouse

  To change the focus of a window, simply place the mouse pointer over the window. If the mouse pointer is then moved to an area of the desktop without another window, the last window retains the focus.

Focus under mouse

  The window under the mouse, has the focus. If, however, the mouse pointer is in an area of the desktop that has no windows, no window will be active.

Focus strictly under mouse

  Similar to Focus under mouse, but even more strict with its interpretation.

Once you have determined the focus policy, there are two more options which you can determine.

By placing a mark in front of Auto Raise, KDE can bring a window to the front if the mouse is over that window for a specified period of time. This is very useful with the Focus follows Mouse option. You can determine the delay by using the slider bar/spin box comination.

| Setting the delay too short, will cause a rapid fire changing of windows, which can be quite distracting. Most people will like a delay of 100-300 ms. This is responsive, but it will let you slide over the corners of a window on your way to your destination without bringing that window to the front.

If you do not use Auto Raise, make sure the Click Raise option has a mark in front of it. You will not be happy with both Auto Raise and Click Raise disabled.

### 5.2.1.2. Keyboard

In the Keyboard frame you can configure the way switching between applications or desktops using Alt+Tab or Ctrl+Tab.

Switching applications using Alt+Tab, i.e. holding down Alt while repeatedly pressing the Tab key, can take place in KDE mode or in CDE mode: in KDE mode you will see a box in the middle of the screen showing you the currently selected application while you are still holding down the Alt key. In CDE mode you don't get any visual feedback.

Finally, there's an option to turn off switching desktops using Ctrl+Tab, i.e. by holding down the Ctrl key while repeatedly pressing the Tab key.

## 5.2.2. Actions

In this panel you can configure what happens to windows when a mouse is clicked on them. This panel is divided into 4 sections.

### 5.2.2.1. Titlebar Doubleclick

This section provides a single dropdown box. You can select either Shade, or Maximize.

Selecting Maximise, causes KDE to maximise the window whenever you doubleclick on the titlebar. Shade, on the other hand, causes the window to be reduced to simply the titlebar. Double clicking on the titlebar again, restores the window to its normal size.

### 5.2.2.2. Titlebar and Frame

This section, allows you to determine what happens when you single click on the titlebar or frame of a window. Notice that you can have different actions associated with the same click depending on whether the window is active or not.

For each combination of mousebuttons and Active/Inactive, you can select the most appropriate choice. The actions are as follows:

Activate

  Make this window active.

Lower

  Will move this window to the bottom of the display. This will get the window out of the way.

Nothing

  Just like it says. Nothing happens.

Operations Menu

  Will bring up a small submenu, where you can choose window related commands (i.e. Maximize, Minimize, Close, etc.).

Raise

  Will bring the window to the top of the display. All other windows which overlap with this one, will be hidden "below" it.

Toggle Raise and Lower

  This will raise windows which are not on top, and lower windows which are already on top.

### 5.2.2.3. Inactive Inner Window

This part of the module, allows you to configure what happens when you click on an inactive window, with any of the three mouse buttons.

Your choices are as follows:

Activate, Raise and pass click

  This makes the clicked window active, raises it to the top of the display, and passes a mouse click to the application within the window.

Activate and pass click

  This makes the clicked window active and passes a mouse click to the application within the window.

Activate

  This simply makes the clicked window active. The mouse click is not passed on to the application within the window.

Activate and Raise

  This makes the clicked window active and raises the window to the top of the display. The mouse click is not passed on to the application within the window.

### 5.2.2.4. Inner Window, titlebar and frame

This bottom section, allows you to configure additional actions, when the Alt key is pressed, and a mouse click is made on a window.

Once again, you can select different actions for Left, Middle and Right button clicks.

Your choices are:

Lower

  Will move this window to the bottom of the display. This will get the window out of the way.

Move

  Allows you to drag the selected window around the desktop.

Nothing

  Just like it says. Nothing happens.

Raise

  Will bring the window to the top of the display. All other windows which overlap with this one, will be hidden "below" it.

Resize

  Allows you to change the size of the selected window.

Toggle Raise and Lower

  This will raise windows which are not on top, and lower windows which are already on top.

## 5.2.3. Advanced

In the Advanced panel you can do more advanced fine tuning to the window behavior.

Display content in moving windows

  When this option is selected, KDE will continue to update the contents of the window as you move it around the screen.

  If this option is not selected, KDE will use show you a rectangle, which will move with your mouse. When the mouse button is released, KDE will restore the contents of the window.

Display content in resizing windows

  When this option is selected, KDE will resize the contents of a window as you change the size. If this option is not selected, then KDE will show a rectangle while you are resizing, and when the mouse button is released, the contents of the window will be resized and appear within the window.

| Both the Display content in moving windows and Display content in resizing windows options, consume significantly more processor resources when enabled, then when disabled. If you find your computer is not as responsive as you would like when moving or resizing windows, disabling one or both of these features will improve the responsiveness of KDE.

Animate window shading

  If this option is enabled, shading a window will happen smoothly. If not, a shaded window will be reduced to its titlebar at once.

Animate minimize and restore

  If this option is enabled, an animation is shown when a window is being minimized or restored, to give you a visual feedback about what happened. If it's disabled, a minimized window will just disappear, a restored window will suddenly appear.

Allow moving and resizing of maximized windows

  When enabled, the borders of maximized windows will stay active, so you can still move them around or resize them. When disabled, maximized windows will be "fixed to the screen borders".

Placement

  The placement policy determines where a new window will appear on the desktop. For now, there are three different policies: Smart will try to achieve a minimum overlap of windows. Cascade will cascade the windows, Random will use a random position.

Shade hover

  If this option is enabled a shaded window will un-shade automatically when the mouse pointer has been over the title bar for some time. Use the slider to configure the delay un-shading.

## 5.2.4. Section Author

This section written by:

Mike McBride `<mpmcbride7@yahoo.com>`

Jost Schenck `<jost@schenck.de>`

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