Customizing Specific Components of the Desktop

This section describes how to customize specific components of the Oracle Solaris Desktop.

To Customize the Desktop Background

To customize the desktop background:

1. Choose System -> Preferences -> Appearance
2. Select the Background tab.

   If no background is chosen, the first entry listed might be used.

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   Note - The themes do not affect the desktop background.

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To Set the Background to a Solid or Gradated Color

1. Choose the first item from the list of backgrounds, which has the tooltip "No Desktop Background".
2. From the Colors drop-down list, choose Solid Color, Horizontal Gradient or Vertical Gradient, as required.
3. Click on the color picker buttons provided to choose either one solid color, or two gradient colors for the desktop background.

To Set the Background to a Picture

1. Choose the picture from the list of backgrounds.

   If the picture you want to use does not appear in the list, either click the Add button to select it, or drag it into the list from the File Manager application.

2. From the Style drop-down list, choose how you want the picture to be placed on the background.

   If the picture does not fill the entire screen, the border will be filled using the colors specified by the Colors drop-down list and the color picker buttons.

To Customize Desktop Background Objects

The size of the icons that are displayed on the desktop background is controlled by the File Management preference tool.

To change the size of the icons:

1. In the File Manager window, choose Edit -> Preferences.
2. Select the Views tabbed section.
3. In the Icon View Defaults group, select the zoom level that you require in the Default Zoom Level drop-down list.

Customizing Fonts

This section describes how to customize the font settings for the desktop and frequently used applications.

If you have difficulty with the default font type and font size that is used on the desktop and desktop background, you can customize the font settings.

You can specify individual font settings for the following desktop components and applications:

• Entire desktop (excluding the desktop background)

• Desktop background only

• Terminal

• Text editor

• Help

• Web Browser

• Email (Thunderbird or Evolution)

Customizing the Desktop Fonts

The Appearance preference tool enables you to specify the default fonts for the desktop.

To start the Appearance preference tool, choose System -> Preferences -> Appearance.

The Fonts tab contains the following options:

Application font

Sets the default font to use for the text that is displayed on the desktop, including the text displayed on the windows and dialog boxes associated with GNOME-compliant applications and panel applications.

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Note - If you use a predefined theme and you click Apply Font, the font associated with the theme overrides the font selected from the Appearance preference tool.

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Document font

Sets the font to use for displaying documents.

Desktop font

Sets the font to use for the text displayed on the desktop background only.

Window title font

Sets the font to use for the text that is displayed in the title-bars of your windows.

Fixed width font

Click this button to select a font to use when an application such as a terminal or text editor wants to display text in a nonproportional font.

Font rendering

To specify how to render fonts on the desktop, select one of the following options:

• Monochrome

• Best shapes

• Best contrast

• Subpixel smoothing

Customizing Application Fonts

By default, the applications use the default font specified in the Appearances preference tool. The following applications allow the default font to be customized:

• Help Browser

• Text Editor

• Terminal

• Web Browser

• Email (Thunderbird or Evolution)