The ‘Keyboard’ configuration module consists of four tabs. The ‘Keyboard’ tab determines key repeats and cursor blinking. Keyboard layouts can be configured in the second tab, specifying the keyboard model and the localized keyboard layout. ‘Layout Options’ can be used to activate special keyboard features like Win keys. Typing breaks can be configured in the fourth tab (‘Typing Break’). With this, the screen is shut down after a certain time to force you to take breaks from screen work. Exit the ‘Keyboard’ module with ‘Close’ or go the accessibility module with ‘Accessibility’. The functionality of this module is described in Section 3.2.8, “Accessibility”.

The mouse configuration consists of three tabs: ‘Buttons’, ‘Cursor’, and ‘Motion’. The configuration options of the ‘Buttons’ tab refer to the ‘Mouse Orientation’. Left-handed users should activate ‘Left-handed mouse’ to swap the right and left mouse buttons. Use the slider to determine the maximum delay (in seconds) between two clicks that the system should interpret as a double-click.

The appearance and size of the cursor can be changed under the ‘Cursor’ tab. Three different settings are available. Changes are not activated until the next login. Under ‘Locate Pointer’, activate an option that causes the cursor to be highlighted when you press Ctrl, making it easier to find. Under ‘Motion’, set the acceleration and sensitivity of the screen cursor and the drag and drop threshold.

The settings in this module affect the menus and toolbars of all GNOME-compatible applications. Select for toolbar icons to be displayed as ‘Text Only’, ‘Icons Only’, ‘Text Beside Icons’, or ‘Text Below Icons’. The default setting is ‘Text below icons’.

Activate ‘Detachable toolbars’ to allow the detachment of the toolbar from all other window elements and allow its free positioning on the desktop. This makes a grabbing area appear on the left side of the toolbar. Clicking and holding this area relocates the toolbar.

Every menu entry in any application menu can be displayed with the corresponding icon. Activating ‘Show icons in menus’ tests the settings with the provided example menu.

This module controls the behavior of application windows. Determine how the window should react to contact with the mouse pointer or to double-clicks on its title and define the key to hold for moving an application window.

When several application windows populate the desktop, the active one, by default, is the one last clicked. Change this behavior by activating ‘Select windows when the mouse moves over them’. If desired, activate ‘Raise selected window after an interval’ and adjust the latency time with the slider. This activates a window only when the cursor was placed within the window for a time exceeding the set latency.

Application windows can be rolled up by double-clicking the title bar, leaving only the title bar visible. This saves space on the desktop and is the default behavior. It is alternatively possible to set windows to maximize when the title bar is double-clicked.

With the radio buttons, select the modifier key to press for moving a window. The possible choices are Ctrl, Alt, and the Windows key.

Determine a background for your desktop. By default, the changes made here are applied to all virtual desktops. If you do not want any background picture, click ‘No Wallpaper’ and define a background style. The drop-down menu offers a horizontal gradient, a vertical gradient, or no gradient at all. Use ‘Desktop Colors’ to define the desired colors in the color editor.

To use an image file as a background picture, drag it from the file manager and drop it in the ‘Desktop Wallpaper’ window. Alternatively, click ‘Add Wallpaper’ to open a dialog in which to select the desired image.

‘Style’ determines what processing steps should be applied to the selected image to adapt it optimally to the current screen resolution. The options are ‘Centered’, ‘Fill Screen’, ‘Scaled’, and ‘Tiled’.

This module determines the font to use for the desktop. In a second step, enable optional effects for the improvement of the font quality. The upper part of the dialog window shows the fonts selected for ‘Application font’, ‘Desktop font’, ‘Window title font’, and ‘Terminal font’. Click one of the buttons to open a selection dialog in which to set the font family, style, and size. The options for ‘Font Rendering’ and the additional configuration options accessible through ‘Details’ are set to optimal values by default.

The style for all control elements on the desktop and of GNOME applications is set here. Choose from various preinstalled themes. Selecting a style in the list overview applies it automatically. ‘ Theme Details’ opens another dialog in which to customize the style of single desktop elements, like window controls, window borders, and icons. Making changes and leaving the dialog with ‘Close’ switches the theme to ‘Custom theme’. Click ‘Save theme’ to save your modified theme under a custom name. The Internet and other sources provide many additional themes for GNOME as .tar.gz files. Install these with ‘Install theme’. New themes can simply be dragged and dropped into the ‘Theme Preferences’ window.

The settings of this module facilitate the use of the keyboard for users with motion impairments. The module consists of the three tabs ‘Basic’, ‘Filters’, and ‘Mouse Keys’. Before modifying settings, activate ‘Enable keyboard accessibility features’.

Use this module to manage global keyboard combinations. It is possible to determine the keyboard combinations to use during text input and those for objects on the desktop.

The list overview window displays a list of all currently available actions along with their keyboard shortcuts. Deactivate or change a keyboard shortcut by clicking the corresponding shortcut entry. Then enter a new shortcut or delete the current one with Backspace. All changes take effect immediately. Restore the current keyboard shortcut by clicking its entry and leaving the dialog with ‘Close’.

Use this module to activate and configure active technology support for disabled users. First, globally activate this support via ‘Enable assistive technologies’. Because this affects various settings of your entire desktop, such as mouse and keyboard behavior or font sizes, these changes do not take effect until the next time you log in. Select the type of support you need. Choose from ‘Screenreader’, ‘Magnifier’, and ‘On-Screen keyboard’. More information about this topic can be found in Section 3.5, “Assistive Technology Support”.

This module allows the association of certain system events and application alerts with characteristic audio signals. The dialog box consists of three tabs (‘General’, ‘Sound Events’, and ‘System Bell’). The two check boxes in the ‘General’ tab must be activated to use audio signals for certain desktop events.

In ‘Sound Events’, determine which events and application alerts should be associated with which sounds. All sound associations already defined for applications are listed. Test a sound by first selecting the corresponding notice in the ‘Event’ column then clicking ‘Play’. Change the sound by clicking ‘Event’ then ‘Browse’. The dialog that appears provides a list of files from which to choose. Close it with ‘OK’.

In the ‘System Bell’ tab, determine whether an audible bell should be activated for all kinds of system events and whether to have visual feedback as well. Visual feedback could consist of a flashing window title bar or the entire screen flashing.

To improve the interoperability of your GNOME desktop, configure the default Web browser, mail reader, and terminal applications that should be launched whenever another GNOME application needs these functionalities. Select the application's name and customize its command if necessary. If you, for example, set your default browser to ‘Firefox’, this application is started when you click a link in an e-mail. These settings only apply to GNOME applications, however.

The ‘Sessions’ dialog enables you to control the behavior of your desktop right from the login. In the ‘Session Options’ tab, determine whether you want to see the GNOME splash screen while the desktop is loading after login. If ‘Prompt on logout’ is checked, a confirmation dialog appears at the end of a session, asking you to confirm the logout action. Check ‘Automatically save changes to session’ if you want to have the exact state of a session restored for the subsequent login. With ‘Startup Programs’, configure any additional programs that should be started on login (certain applets or terminals, for example). The ‘Current Session’ tab lists all programs that are currently started once a session begins. Remove applications or change the order in which they are started as desired.