The Desktop

Background

The background is the total space on the desktop. It is a special form of a container but follows all basic rules for a folder. It has a context menu which is activated using mouse button 2. Not all of the background may be visible.

Size

The desktop allows you to organize (or disorganize) documents and files the way you would on a real desktop. It cannot be smaller than the physical screen. This desktop concept helps the user to organize things and thereby focus on specific groups of objects.

Enlarging the Desktop

The size of the desktop starts out as large as the screen. When more objects are put on the desktop than the basic size can hold the desktop will be extended automatically. Scroll bars are added to the desktop if objects are put beyond the edges of the screen.

Changing the Background

The Workplace Shell allows the user to specify a color or a bitmap to use for the desktop background. Individual colors or bitmaps may also be chosen for any folder in the system.

The desktop background is specified from the Background page of the desktop Settings view. The user may specify one of the following:

An image uses a single bitmap to cover the entire desktop. The user has the option to display:

A normal image, where the bitmap is displayed at its normal size, centered on the desktop or folder
A tiled image, where the bitmap is repeated many times to cover the entire desktop or folder
A scaled image, where the bitmap is stretched to cover the entire desktop or folder.

color

A bitmap may be designed using various graphics packages, or may be standard bitmap-format files obtained from other sources. A number of public bulletin board services contain repositories of such bitmaps.

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