The Main Menu

The footprint icon seen towards the left end of the example Panel (see Figure 1) and in Figure 4 is the Main Menu (yes, you guessed right, it is the footprint of the gnome). This menu provides access to almost all GNOME features — all the applications, configuration tools, command line prompt, Logout and Lock Screen commands, and much more. To access any of these items, click on the Main Menu button. You should release the mouse after pressing the Main Menu button so that you can take advantage of other mouse-activated features in the Main Menu such as right-click pop-up menus and drag-and-drop from the menu to the desktop or Panel.

Figure 4. The Main Menu Button

You can also access the Main Menu by clicking on the Panel with the right mouse button. If you wish, you can also have several Main Menu buttons on different Panels.

Components of the Main Menu

The primary component of the Main Menu is the Programs submenu, which contains a list of preconfigured submenus and menu items. Here you will find all the GNOME applications, from the Gnumeric spreadsheet to the Free Cell game, as well as quite a few non-GNOME ones, such as the Netscape web browser and the emacs text editor. In addition, the Programs submenu also contains the following commands:

In addition to the Programs submenu, the Main Menu also contains a number of other submenus and useful commands. Depending on your configuration, you may not see all of these. Also, some of them may be shown as submenus, and others included as part of the Main Menu, separated by horizontal lines from the other parts. These additional submenus and commands are:

Configuring the Main Menu

To change the configuration of the Main Menu, right-click on the Main Menu button (shown in Figure 4) and select Properties … from the pop-up menu. This will show the Menu Properties dialog. In this dialog, for each of the submenus of the Main Menu listed above (Programs, Favorites, …) you can choose whether you want it to be shown as part of the Main Menu, as a submenu, or not at all.

WARNING

The Main Menu which you get by right-clicking on the Panel is configured independently from the Main Menu you get by clicking on the foot icon. Configuration of the Main Menu which you get by right-clicking on the Panel (which is the same as the one you get by using keyboard shortcut) is done using the Menu tab in the Global Panel Preferences dialog.

Figure 5. Menu Properties Dialog

You can also edit the contents of the Favorites submenu (or, if you are the system administrator, also of the Programs submenu) using the GNOME Menu Editor. To start it, right-click on the Main Menu button and select Edit Menus …. Alternatively, you can start GNOME Menu Editor by selecting Programs->Settings->Menu editor from the Main Menu itself.

Keyboard Navigation in the Main Menu

If you prefer, you can use the keyboard instead of the mouse to navigate the Main Menu. To activate the Main Menu, press the Menu key on your keyboard (if you are using a standard PC keyboard, this key usually is located to the left of the space bar and labelled with a picture of a menu); you can change the default key for activating the Main Menu in the Miscellaneous tab of the Global Panel Preferences dialog. Use the Up and Down arrow keys to move inside the menu, Right arrow to go to a submenu, and Enter to select an item. To exit the menu, just press the Esc key.