4.1 Customization Options

There are a number of methods to enable you to customize the appearance of the Java Desktop System to suit your specific needs, as follows:

Themes

Themes are the most effective way to change the appearance of the desktop in a consistent manner. See 4.2 Using Themes to Customize the Desktop for more information about themes and how to use themes to achieve the type of desktop environment that you require.

Desktop and application-specific configuration settings

You can customize different components of the desktop individually to achieve the display settings that you require. You can configure the desktop and applications in addition to using themes or as an alternative to using themes. See 4.3 Customizing Specific Components of the Desktop for more information.

The following table summarizes the changes that you can make to the Java Desktop System and where you can make the changes. This guide does not provide detailed instructions about how to customize the desktop. For detailed instructions about how to use the customization tools that the desktop provides, refer to the Help for each tool or to the Java Desktop System Release 3 User Guide.

Table 4–1 Quick Reference to Customizing the Appearance of the Desktop

To change the...	Use...
Overall appearance of the desktop to use high contrast colors, low contrast colors, or large print.	The Theme preference tool.
Appearance of the desktop background only.	The Desktop Background preference tool and the file manager Backgrounds and Emblems menu item.
Font displayed on the desktop background and in all desktop applications.	The Font preference tool.
Default font settings of the Text Editor or Terminal application. By default, these applications use the default application font that is specified in the Font preference tool.	The Preferences dialog for the application.