Desktop: gDesklets

Lesson 8/ Lesson 10

gDesklets is a application for the GNOME desktop environment and has been included by default with the Fedora 11 release. The basic function of gDesklets is to provide an architecture for small applets, better known as desktop widgets, which are placed around your GNOME desktop. the idea behind gDesklets is to provide the user with a quick way to get sought after information like wheather, scores, and more without getting in the way of normal desktop use. gDesklets works because small Python applets called desklets are loaded into the gDesklets daemon. A few desklets available include clocks, calendars, RSS feed aggregators, animated toolbars, and much more. Lets look at how to setup gDesklets on the Fedora desktop.

On the Fedora main menu click Applications --- Accessories --- gDesklets. On the gDesklets Shekll window you'll notice categories on the left and desklets in those categories displayed on the right. double click on the desklet you want to add to your desktop and wait for it to appear on the desktop. Move your mouse where you want the desklet and click. I double clicked on the Calendar desklet inside the Date/Time category. Once the desklet appears on your desktop you can access controls for it by right clicking on it and viewing the men. This menu allows you to configure, move, restart, remove, view source or info about the desklet. Each configuration window is different depending on the desklet it belongs to. Some desklets have more features and options to customize than others.

Here is the result of my Fedora desktop look after my experience with gDesklets. I've added an analog clock, calendar, weather, and quote of the day desklets.