window-maker.github.io/docs/guidedtour/win.html

---
layout: default
title: Guided Tour - Windows
---
<h1>
<center>Windows</center>
</h1>

<center><a href="index.html">Back
to Index</a>
</center>

<ul>

  <li><a href="#desc">Description</a></li>
  <li><a href="#focus">Focusing</a></li>
  <li><a href="#order">Reordering</a></li>
  <li><a href="#move">Moving</a></li>
  <li><a href="#max">Maximizing</a></li>
  <li><a href="#mini">Miniturizing</a></li>
  <li><a href="#size">Resizing</a></li>
  <li><a href="#shade">Shading</a></li>
  <li><a href="#hide">Hiding</a></li>
  <li><a href="#close">Closing</a></li>
  <li><a href="#menu">Commands menu</a></li>
</ul>

<h2><a id="desc">Description</a></h2>

<p>General layout of a window:</p>

<ul>

  <li>
    <p><em>Titlebar</em>: Gives the name of the application, document
or window. It's color (usually) indicates the focus state (active or
inactive window). I say (usually) because some styles and themes do not
provide different colors for focused or unfocused windows - although
this is rare (and, I might add, cruel!).</p>
  </li>
  <li>
    <p><em>Miniaturize button</em>:
Clicking on the left button of the titlebar iconifies the window.</p>
  </li>
  <li>
    <p><em>Close button</em>:
Clicking on the right button of the titlebar closes the window or kills
the application.</p>
  </li>
  <li>
    <p><em>Resizebar</em>:
The bottom part of the window. Dragging the resizebar with the mouse
resizes the window.</p>
  </li>
  <li><em>Client area</em>:
The window content. It can be an application, some text, a picture... </li>
</ul>

<h2><a id="focus">Focusing</a></h2>

<p>A window can be in two states: focused or unfocused. The focused
window is the active window, the one receiving keystrokes. It's
titlebar has a differentiated color (usually!). Dialog windows or
panels opened
from a main window, automatically get the focus. As soon as they are
closed, the main window gets the focus back.</p>

<p>Two modes are available to focus a window:</p>

<ul>

  <li>
    <p><em>Click to focus mode</em>: clicking on any part of the window
activates it.</p>
  </li>
  <li>
    <p><em>Focus follows mouse mode</em>: moving the mouse pointer over
the window activates it. </p>
  </li>
</ul>

<h2><a id="order">Reordering</a></h2>

<p>Windows can overlap other windows, in which case some will hide all
or part of others. Clicking on the titlebar or resizebar with the left
mouse button brings a window to the "front" (gives that window focus).
Selecting a window from the window list menu does the same.</p>

<p>Some key bindings are provided and are very useful when a window is
hidden behind others.</p>

<ul>

  <li>
    <p><em>Meta key + click on the titlebar with left mouse button</em>-<br>
sends the window to the back and gives focus to the topmost window.</p>
  </li>
  <li>
    <p><em>Meta key + click on the client area with left mouse button</em>-<br>
brings the window to the front and focuses it.</p>
  </li>
  <li>
    <p><em>Meta key + Up Arrow key</em>-<br>
brings the current focused window to the front.</p>
  </li>
  <li>
    <p><em>Meta key + Down Arrow key</em>-<br>
sends the current focused window to the back.</p>
  </li>
</ul>

<p>Many window attributes can be modified from the attributes panel in
the window commands menu (clicking the right mouse button on the
titlebar). From version 0.62.0, window cycling was changed to Windows
style (Alt-Tab).</p>

<h2><a id="move">Moving</a></h2>

<p>Clicking on the titlebar of a window and dragging it with the left
mouse button pressed moves the window.
The little box in the middle indicates the current position in pixels
relative to the top left corner of the screen (+0 +0).
Extra key bindings give more flexibility.
- Dragging the titlebar with middle mouse button: moves the window
without changing it's stacking order.
- Dragging the titlebar + Ctrl key: moves the window without focusing
it.
- Dragging the client area or the resizebar + Meta key: moves the
window.</p>

<h2><a id="max">Maximizing</a></h2>

<p>Double-clicking the titlebar while holding the Ctrl key resizes the
window's height to full screen.</p>

<p>Double-clicking the titlebar while holding the Shift key resizes the
window's width to full screen.</p>

<p>Double-clicking the titlebar while holding both Ctrl and Shift keys
resizes the window's height and width to full screen.
Double-clicking the titlebar while holding Ctrl or Shift key restores
the initial size of the window.</p>

<p>To prevent a maximized window from covering the dock, the "Keep on
top" option must be selected from the dock menu.</p>

<h2><a id="mini">Miniaturizing</a></h2>

<p>Clicking the miniaturize button (the left one on the titlebar)
shrinks the window into a miniwindow with an icon and a title and
places it at the bottom of the screen. Hitting the assigned shortcut
does the same. (Default is Meta + m.)</p>

<p>The miniwindow is different from the application icon in that the
miniwindow cannot be docked.</p>

<p>Double-clicking in the miniwindow restores a miniaturized window.
Double-clicking in an application icon with the middle mouse button
restores all miniaturized and hidden windows of this application.</p>

<h2><a id="size">Resizing</a></h2>

<p>The resizebar, at the bottom of the window, is divided into three
regions: left end region, middle region and right end region.</p>

<p>Depending upon the region you click, the resize operation is
constrained to one direction. </p>

<p>Clicking in the middle region of the resizebar and dragging it
vertically changes the window's height.</p>

<p>Clicking in either the left or right region of the resizebar and
dragging it horizontally changes the window's width. </p>

<p>Dragging with Shift key pressed gives the same result. Clicking in
either end region of the resizebar and dragging it diagonally changes
both height and width.</p>

<p>Key bindings give more options.</p>

<ul>

  <li>
    <p>Dragging the window in the client area with the right mouse
button + Meta key resizes the window.</p>
  </li>
  <li>
    <p>Dragging the resizebar with the middle mouse button resizes the
window without bringing it to the front.</p>
  </li>
  <li>
    <p>Dragging the resizebar + Ctrl key resizes the window without
focusing it.</p>
  </li>
</ul>

<h2><a id="shade">Shading</a></h2>

<p>Double-clicking on the titlebar of a window shades it.
This means the window rolls up to it's titlebar. A shaded window has
almost the same properties as a normal window. It can be miniaturized
or closed.</p>

<p>From version 0.80.0, you can shade/unshade a window using a mouse
wheel on its titlebar. This of course, assumes your system is able to
manage a mouse wheel. The WMGLOBAL file in you $HOME/GNUstep/Defaults
should contain two new directives : MouseWheelUp and MouseWheelDown.</p>

<h2><a id="hide">Hiding</a></h2>

<p>Clicking the the miniaturize button (the left one on the titlebar)
with the right mouse button hides the application.
Using the middle mouse button unhides the application, simultaneously
opening the windows list menu and selecting the hidden application.
(Pressing both buttons at once with a two buttons mouse does the same
on some OSes.) If this doesn't work, use the F11 key binding (the
default) to open the windows list menu.</p>

<h2><a id="close">Closing</a></h2>

<p>Clicking the close button (the right one on the titlebar) closes the
window. When the close button has a different form (not an X), it means
an application is running in that window.
Double-clicking in this close button kills the application. This can be
done too with <em>Ctrl key + clicking the close button</em>.</p>

<p>Usually, it's much better to exit an application from inside
(through it's menu, for instance).</p>

<h2><a id="menu">Commands menu</a></h2>

<p>Clicking on the titlebar of a window with the right mouse button
opens a menu containing commands applying to this window. The keyboard
shortcut Ctrl + Esc can replace the click on the titlebar. Esc closes
this menu.</p>

<p><strong>List of Commands Menu commands:</strong></p>

<p><em>Maximize/Unmaximize</em>:<br>
Either maximizes or returns the window to it's initial state.</p>

<p><em>Miniaturize</em>:<br>
Miniaturizes the window (miniwindow). The keyboard shortcut is Meta + m.</p>

<p><em>Shade/Unshade</em>: Shades (or unshades) the window.</p>

<p><em>Hide</em>:<br>
Hides all windows of the application. Clicking on the application icon
unhides the windows.</p>

<p><em>Hide Others</em>:<br>
From version 0.80.1 it is possible to hide all others windows. The
window list menu allows to unhide selecting the window to redisplay.</p>

<p><em>Resize/Move</em>:<br>
When this menu option is selected, the window is ready to be moved or
resized (the little box with coordinates is displayed inside the
window). Clicking on the titlebar deselects the option.</p>

<p><em>Select</em>:<br>
Obviously selects the window which then can be moved or resized...
Reselecting this option deselects the window.</p>

<p><em>Move to</em>:<br>
Allows to move the window to another workspace (if existing!).</p>

<p><em>Attributes</em>:<br>
Opens the attributes panel to edit attributes and options for the
window.</p>

<p>Five options are available in this panel: Window specification,
Window attributes, Advanced options, Icon and initial workspace and
application specific.</p>

<ul>

  <li>Window specification: Defines that the configuration will apply
to windows having their WM_CLASS property set to the selected name.
This is because windows can have different names.
From version 0.65.0, you can select the window to get the right
specification.</li>
  <li>
    <p>Window attributes: selecting the corresponding checkbox allows
to: </p>
    <ul>
      <li>disable titlebar</li>
      <li>disable resizebar</li>
      <li>disable close button</li>
      <li>disable miniaturize button</li>
      <li>disable border</li>
      <li>keep on top</li>
      <li>keep at bottom</li>
      <li>omnipresent</li>
      <li>start miniaturized</li>
      <li>start maximized</li>
      <li>full screen maximization</li>
    </ul>
  </li>
  <li>
    <p>Advanced options: selecting the corresponding checkbox allows
to: </p>
    <ul>
      <li>don't bind keyboard shortcuts</li>
      <li>don't bind mouse clicks</li>
      <li>don't show in the window list</li>
      <li>don't let the window take focus</li>
      <li>keep inside screen</li>
      <li>ignore "Hide others"</li>
      <li>ignore "Save session"</li>
      <li>emulate application icon</li>
    </ul>
  </li>
  <li>
    <p>Icon and initial workspace: allow to </p>
    <ul>
      <li>choose an icon browsing directories</li>
      <li>ignore client supplied icon when selecting the checkbox</li>
      <li>define initial workspace</li>
    </ul>
  </li>
  <li>
    <p>Application specific: selecting checkboxes allows to:</p>
    <ul>
      <li>start hidden or with no application icon</li>
      <li>collapse application icons (from version 0.65.0)</li>
    </ul>
  </li>
  <li>
    <p>From version 0.80.0 a new checkbox is available : "Shared
application icon". It replaces the "Collapse application icon"
checkbox. That is, you can have many open windows from the same
application with only one appicon. This feature is on by default except
for some incompatible applications. This behavior can be defined for
all windows in the Window Specification inspector selecting the
Defaults for all windows checkbox.</p>
  </li>
</ul>

<p>You can revert to the old behavior changing SharedAppIcon to "No" in
the WMWindowAttributes file, either in the global domain or in the
local domain : $HOME/GNUstep/Defaults.</p>

<p><em>Options</em>:</p>

<p>Submenu options allow to:</p>

<ul>

  <li>to keep the window on top</li>
  <li>to keep the window at bottom</li>
  <li>to keep the window omnipresent</li>
  <li>to set shortcuts for the window</li>
</ul>

<p>Ten shortcuts are available as soon as they have been set in the
keyboard shortcut dialog. The shortcuts to define are those named
"Shortcut for window + figure". Then, using the defined shortcut gives
the focus to the window.</p>

<p><em>Close</em>:<br>
Closes the window</p>

<p><em>Kill</em>:<br>
Kills the application.
Usually, an application must be closed from inside (menu or other
  means). This option is especially reserved for "emergency" cases.</p>