<chapter id="first-impressions">
<title>First Impressions </title>

<epigraph>
<attribution>Origin unknown</attribution>
<para>You see to sea to see all that you can see is sea</para>
</epigraph>

<para>First impressions are so important -- this is not only true for
Agatha Christie's famous thriller <quote>The Mousetrap</quote> -- but
also for &kde;. As we mentioned before, &kde; is supposed to be the
most intuitive, easy to learn user interface available. In fact, we
will have reached our goal when users no longer need this book in
order to work with &kde;, causing the authors to lose their (unpaid
and voluntary) jobs as documenters. </para>

<sect1 id="starting-kde">
<title>Starting &kde; </title>

<para>When you boot a &UNIX; system, one of three things should happen (that
is, if the system works correctly; everything else is an undocumented fourth
case).  Either you stay in text mode and get a login prompt, you are logged
into your &GUI; of choice automatically, or you are presented with a
graphical login window.  In the first case, you must log into your system
and type: </para>

<screen>  
<command>startx</command>  
</screen>

<para>If the installation was successful, the &kde; desktop should appear
after a few seconds of initialization. </para>

<para>If a graphical login window is presented, then all that should be
required is your login name and password.  Assuming the &kde; installation
was successful, &kde; should start without further intervention. </para>

<para>If you have not done so already, we recommend changing your X
display manager from <application>xdm</application> to &kdm;, which
includes the same functionality, but with the advanced features of the
K Desktop Environment. </para>

<para>If your system is configured to automatically log you into a &GUI; you
will need to consult your operating system manuals or support forums for
instructions how to have &kde; be that &GUI;.</para>

</sect1>

<sect1 id="desktop-components">
<title>Desktop Components </title>

<para>After everything has come up, take some time to explore the new
environment.  If you have already worked with
<emphasis>&Windows;</emphasis>, <emphasis>OS/2</emphasis> or
<emphasis>&MacOS;</emphasis>, many things should look familiar to you.
The main visible parts of &kde; that you will see are the desktop
itself, and the panel.</para>


<sect2 id="kde-logout">
<title>Panel </title>

<para>When you start &kde; for the first time, the panel is situated
at the bottom of the screen. From here, you will start your programs
and switch between the virtual screens. </para>

<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term>&kicon; button</term>
<listitem><para>The &kicon; button is one of the most important
places on your &kde; desktop. From here, you can start all &kde; applications
installed. Later, when you learn how to use <link linkend="adding-programs">the
K Menu Editor</link>, you can also add other programs here as well. To start a
program, just click on the button. You will see a list of different categories,
plus some special entries. Whenever you move your mouse over an entry that has
an arrow to the right, a new menu will appear. When you find the program you
want to start, just click on it with the <mousebutton>left</mousebutton> mouse
button.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term>Virtual Desktop buttons</term>
<listitem><para>When you start &kde; for the first time, note the four buttons
labeled, appropriately enough, <guilabel>1</guilabel>, <guilabel>2</guilabel>,
<guilabel>3</guilabel> and <guilabel>4</guilabel>.  These
represent your four <emphasis>desktops</emphasis>.  Just click one of them.
Don't worry; though they have <quote>disappeared</quote>, any open windows are still active
(just take a look at the task list!).  Using multiple desktops is one of the
most powerful features of &kde; and the &X-Window;. Instead of placing one
window over another, as you would when using &Windows; or OS/2, you can say <quote>Well,
on the first desktop, I will write the &kde; User Guide.  On the second desktop
I'll run the <command>meinproc</command> documentation compiler and see my results while
compiling my &Linux; kernel on the third desktop, and reading my email on the
fourth.</quote> </para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>Icon bar</term>
<listitem>
<para>Some people are so lazy that they consider even the two or three  
motions through the application's menu to be too much (me included).  For them,
additional buttons can be placed next to the desktop buttons; for example, 
shortcuts to your home folder, to your trashcan, to the
<application>Konsole</application> terminal  
emulator and to the documents you use often. For information on how to add  
icons to the taskbar, read <link linkend="icons-add">Adding icons to your
taskbar</link>. </para>
<para>&kde; by default installs several commonly used buttons, including links to
&khelpcenter;, &kwrite; and &kcontrol;.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>Time and date</term>
<listitem><para>At the far right end of the &kde; panel, you can always see  
the time and date.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>The task list</term>
<listitem>
<para>In another section of the panel, find a button for each open window. Just
click on the button corresponding to the windows you want to open.  Another
click will minimize the window.  A <mousebutton>right</mousebutton> mouse button
click will give you a menu allowing you to move the window to another desktop,
manipulate it's size, or close the application.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>

</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Using Windows </title>

<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term>Window menu</term>
<listitem>
<para><mousebutton>Right</mousebutton> mouse button clicking in the title bar of
the window (where you see the application's name), you can see a window manipulation 
icon. This is the same menu you see if you <mousebutton>right</mousebutton>
click on an application's icon in the panel taskbar.  When you click on it, a
context menu containing commands to manipulate the window is
presented. The available commands are as follows:</para>

<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term><guimenuitem>Move</guimenuitem></term>
<listitem><para>Lets you move the window with your mouse. Click on the
<mousebutton>left</mousebutton> mouse button when you have the window where you
want it to be.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><guimenuitem>Resize</guimenuitem></term>
<listitem><para>Enables you to make the window smaller or larger. Move your
mouse around and click when you are satisfied with the new
size.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><guimenuitem>Minimize</guimenuitem></term>
<listitem><para>Hides the window, leaving only an icon in the
taskbar.  Notice that the window title in this icon is now shown in
(parentheses).  To bring the window to the desktop again, click the
icon.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><guimenuitem>Maximize</guimenuitem></term>
<listitem><para>This will expand the window to the largest size possible. Note
that &kde; will take the size of your <emphasis>virtual desktop</emphasis>, which
means that the window could be bigger than your screen. </para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><guimenuitem>Shade</guimenuitem></term>
<listitem><para><quote>Roll</quote> up the window, leaving only the titlebar visible. You can
achieve the same effect by double clicking in the titlebar.  To display the
entire window again, select <guimenuitem>Shade</guimenuitem> again, or double
click in the titlebar.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><guisubmenu>Advanced</guisubmenu></term>
<listitem><para>Here you can find menu options that allow you to
manipulate how windows may cover each other up, and more:</para>

<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term><guimenuitem>Keep Above Others</guimenuitem></term>
<listitem><para>Selecting this will keep this window on top of all other
applications, even when it does not have the focus.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><guimenuitem>Keep Below Others</guimenuitem></term>
<listitem><para>Selecting this will keep this window below all others,
even when it does have the focus.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><guimenuitem>Fullscreen</guimenuitem></term>
<listitem><para>Selecting this makes the window take up the entire
screen, similar to maximizing, however, there are no window
decorations showing.  To switch to other applications, you may need
to use the keybindings.  For instance <keycombo
action="simul">&Alt;&Tab;</keycombo> to switch to another window or
<keycombo action="simul">&Ctrl;&Tab;</keycombo> to switch to another
virtual desktop.</para>
<para>To revert from fullscreen mode, you can use the <keycombo
action="simul">&Alt;<keycap>F3</keycap></keycombo> shortcut to show
the window operations menu and deselect
<menuchoice><guisubmenu>Advanced</guisubmenu><guimenuitem>Fullscreen</guimenuitem>
</menuchoice>.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><guimenuitem>No Border</guimenuitem></term>
<listitem>
<para>Remove the window decoration and border from this window.  This
is useful for <quote>monitor</quote> type applications, such as
&kpager; which you keep on screen all the time and will never need the
window decorations for.  Many people also like to use this for
<application>xterm</application> and &konsole; windows.</para>
<para>To revert from no border mode, you can use the <keycombo
action="simul">&Alt;<keycap>F3</keycap></keycombo> shortcut to show
the window operations menu and deselect
<menuchoice><guisubmenu>Advanced</guisubmenu><guimenuitem>No
Border</guimenuitem> </menuchoice>.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term><guimenuitem>Store Window Settings</guimenuitem></term>
<listitem><para>Stored the current settings for this window (position, size,
whether it should always stay on top of all other windows &etc;.). This
configuration will then be loaded the next time the window gets opened.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><guimenuitem>To Desktop</guimenuitem></term>
<listitem><para>Enables you to send a window to another desktop. Choose the
desktop where you want the window to be. The window will disappear at once. To
see your window again, select the appropriate <guiicon>Desktop Button</guiicon>
on the &kde; <application>Panel</application>.  Selecting <guimenuitem>All
Desktops</guimenuitem> will make the window <quote>sticky</quote> - it will display on all
desktops at once, so you can alway see this window.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><guimenuitem>Configure Window Behavior...</guimenuitem></term>
<listitem><para>Allows you to change the look and feel, of all the windows in
&kde;. This changes the window decoration widgets, including the
titlebar buttons, but also including things such as checkboxes and
buttons within dialogs, scrollbars, and the titlebar itself. The
default is <guilabel>Keramik</guilabel>.</para>
<para>You can further customize nearly everything about the window
manager itself, including how windows behave when moved, what
different mouse button clicks will do in different parts of the
window, and how to decide which windows have focus.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><guimenuitem>Close</guimenuitem></term>
<listitem><para>This will close the window. Sometimes the application will allow
you to save your work, but in some cases (&eg;, old X11
applications) this does not work. It is best to close an application with its
own commands, using this menu item only as a last
resort.</para>
<para>If the application itself is experiencing a problem that doesn't
allow you to close it normally, using this menu item, or the window
decoration close button will offer you the chance to
<quote>kill</quote> it as gracefully as possible. Note that this may
still leave the application open in the background but not showing any
windows.  Allowing the application to be killed in this manner will
most likely allow you back into the desktop however, so you can check
in a terminal window and clean up any remaining processes.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>

<variablelist>
<title>Window Decoration Buttons</title>
<varlistentry>
<term>Sticky button</term>
<listitem><para>This button looks like a plus symbol in the default
window decoration (Keramik) and may look like a thumb tack in others.
It performs the same operation as selecting <menuchoice><guimenu>To
Desktop</guimenu><guimenuitem>All Desktops</guimenuitem> </menuchoice>
in the <guimenu>Window Menu</guimenu>, but requires fewer steps to
invoke.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>Title bar</term>
<listitem><para>The title bar containing the name of the window can be
double-clicked in order to shade it. Use the <mousebutton>right</mousebutton>
mouse button: The <guimenu>Window menu</guimenu> will reappear, allowing you to
(un)maximize, iconify, move, resize, (un)sticky the window, to move it to
another desktop (this works faster than the method with the sticky button).
When a program does not react anymore, you can close (which will sometimes give
you the opportunity to save your work) it. </para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><guibutton>Minimize</guibutton>, <guibutton>Maximize</guibutton> and
<guibutton>Close</guibutton> Buttons</term>
<listitem><para>To the right of the title bar, there are two buttons that can
also be used to iconify or maximize the window (this is faster than using the  
window manipulation menu). Iconified windows can be brought back with a click on
the taskbar. </para>
<para>At the far left of the titlebar (with the default window decoration) is a
button to close the window.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>

<para>To move a window, place the cursor on the title bar and hold
down the &LMB;.  Without releasing the mouse button, move the window
to the location of your choice, then release the mouse button. If you
want to resize a window, move the mouse cursor to the window border
you wish to change.  Once you have reached the correct spot, the
cursor will change from an arrow to a bracket and an arrow.  Hold down
the &LMB; and drag the side in question to the location you wish, then
release the button.  Note that you may drag sides or corners (which
will adjust the size in two dimensions at once.)</para>

<para>Using the menu bar of each &kde; window is easy. Just click on what
 you want to do, and it will be done.</para>

<para>Below the menu bar, there is a set of tool symbols you can use to
execute commands. Whenever you move over them, an active picture will be
marked.  But the menu bar can do even more for you. Notice the textured
stripe on the left of the menu and icon bars? Depress your
<mousebutton>right</mousebutton> mouse button and a context menu will
appear, allowing you to put the menu bar on the
<guimenuitem>top</guimenuitem>, <guimenuitem>left</guimenuitem>,
<guimenuitem>right</guimenuitem>, or <guimenuitem>bottom</guimenuitem>
of the window. You can also hide the menubar by selecting
<guimenuitem>Flat</guimenuitem></para>

</sect2>

<sect2>
<title>Getting Help </title>

<para>Help is available basically everywhere: On the desktop, just use
the <mousebutton>right</mousebutton> mouse button and choose
<menuchoice><guisubmenu>Help</guisubmenu><guimenuitem>KDesktop Handbook</guimenuitem></menuchoice>. On the &kde; panel, open
the application menu and choose <guimenu>Help</guimenu>. Every &kde;
program has a help menu.</para>

</sect2>
</sect1>
</chapter>
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