Common Desktop Features

Common Desktop Features

Common Desktop Features, Although every desktop has its own special features, most desktops have many things in common. This is especially true in the Linux world as KDE and GNOME converge more and more. In this section we will cover the features that are common to most desktops and are more important to the user's experience.

Desktop

The most noticeable difference between a desktop environment and a window manager is the active nature of the desktop background. Whereas most window managers treat their background as simply area that does not include a window, desktop environments allow you to use the background as if it were a globally available directory (in fact, it is usually implemented as a directory).

Desktop

In a desktop environment, you can copy files, directories, shortcuts, and other objects directly to the desktop for quick access. These element are available regardless of which virtual desktop you're viewing (see the following section, "pager," for more information on virtual desktops). This is incredibly useful for providing quick access to your most used files and directories.

Shortcuts

In an environment such as MacOS, where all applications know how to interact with the desktop, shortcuts are little more than symbolic links. In environments with a command-line heritage, such as Microsoft Windows and any UNIX desktop, shortcuts need much more information to be useful.

In KDE and GNOME, shortcuts are files that reference other files, applications, directories, or even desktop-specific features such as services or MIME types. They provide information about which icon to use, what application is used for this file, how to mount or unmount a device, the name of the application in numerous language, and much more. Shortcuts can be placed on the desktop, the panel, a menu, or in other locations that the desktop uses for configuration.

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File Association

If you have ever clicked a file's icon in MacOS or Microsoft Windows and had your machine automatically launch the correct application, you've used file associations. In Linux desktops, file associations match files to applications by their filenames or by fingerprints within the file. This allows files to display the correct icon and automatically launch the correct application.

Panel

Linux desktops generally have a panel that includes shortcut buttons, menus, and applets (small, embedded applications). Generally the panel is a bar across the button of your screen, but it can almost always be moved to one of the other edges of the screen.

The  panel is one of the most useful parts of the desktop environment because it provides quick access to your most needed functions. shortcuts quickly launch your most used application, menus give access to lesser-used applications, applets such as a pager (see the following section), battery monitor, or clock provide extra functionality or monitoring. Panel is usually extremely configurable to your preferences and work style.