4.1 What are those files inside my ~/GNUstep directory?

~/GNUstep/WindowMaker/WindowMaker
~/GNUstep/WindowMaker/WMWindowAttributes
~/GNUstep/Defaults/WMState
~/GNUstep/Defaults/WMRootMenu
~/GNUstep/Library/WindowMaker/menu


4.2 How do I enable the normal X sloppy focus mode?

In the ~/GNUstep/Defaults/WindowMaker, change the following:

FocusMode = sloppy;


4.3 How do I get my auto-arrange icons to work?

In ~/GNUstep/Defaults/WindowMaker set AutoArrangeIcons=Yes; and the icons should now auto-arrange.


4.4 How do I get my Meta-Tab to cycle through windows correctly?

Make sure that these settings are true in your ~/GNUstep/Defaults/WindowMaker file:

CirculateRaise = Yes;
RaiseDelay = 1;

This will not give you MS Windows(tm) style application switching where alt-tab is changes context.

Paul Warren <<pdw@ferret.lmh.ox.ac.uk>> has released a patch that will give this style of Context Switching to Window Maker.

It is availible from http://www.warrenx.demon.co.uk/patches


4.5 How can I define my own Icon for a program? (instead of the Icon the Application Supplies?)

You can right click on the titlebar of the running app and choose the "Attributes..." option, then click on the "Ignore client supplied icon" checkbox. Click "Apply", "Save" and close the Attributes Editor.

Another method is to edit ~/GNUstep/Defaults/WMWindowAttributes by hand and use the AlwaysUserIcon=YES; option for the app. For example:

xmcd = { Icon = "Radio.xpm";
AlwaysUserIcon=Yes;
};


4.6 How do I get a Tile background for my AppIcons (those things in the dock)?

You need to change 1 line to your ~/GNUstep/Defaults/WindowMakerfile.

IconBack = (spixmap, tile.black.xpm, white);
or
IconBack = (tpixmap, tile.black.xpm, white);

spixmap will scale the pixmap to fit the tile, tpixmap will tile it as is.

As Random@efnet says, The last parameter is the color that fills in any transparent parts of your icon.


4.7 How do you dock <insert program here> that doesn't have an appicon in the new version of Window Maker?

There is now an option available to emulate appicons so that Window Maker can dock just about anything now.

To dock a misbehaving application, right click on the title bar and select the attributes menu. Next, select the pull down menu's "Advanced Options" item. Under the ``Advanced Options'' menu, select the ``Emulate Application Icon'' Option then Save, Apply and close the dialog.

This should allow you do dock the program normally.


4.8 How do I get x11amp to not have a title bar? (or any other program for that matter?)

Right Click on the title bar and choose "Attributes". Click on Panel 2 and click the the "Disable titlebar" and "Disable resizebar" options. Click "Save", "Apply" and then close the Attributes panel.

By Default, to get back to the attributes menu once you've removed the titlebar, hit the key F10 while the window is focused.

Here is an example entry in ~/GNUstep/WMWindowAttributes for x11amp.

x11amp={
Icon="x11amp.xpm";
NoTitlebar=Yes;
NoResizebar=Yes;
NoAppIcon=Yes;
};


4.9 How do I set a pixmap background?

Here is the in depth explanation straight from the NEWS file:

wmsetbg now accepts the following options:
usage: wmsetbg [-options] image
options:
-d dither image
-m match colors
-t tile image
-s scale image (default)
-u update Window Maker domain database
-D <domain> update <domain> database
-c <cpc> colors per channel to use


By default, it will try to guess if dithering is needed or not and proceed accordingly.
Using -d or -m will force it to dither or match colors.

Dithering for more than 15bpp is generally not needed, and will only result in a slower processing.
Don't use dithering except when needed, because it is slower. Else rely on wmsetbg which will detect if dithering is needed and use it.

-u will update the WorkspaceBack in the default database domain file in ~/GNUstep/Defaults/WindowMaker, and let Window Maker refresh the screen. Please note that this option only works under Window Maker, and will have no effect under other window managers, since it rely on Window Maker to update the image after it reads the updated defaults database.
-D <domain> is same as above, but will update the domain <domain> instead of the default Window Maker domain.
-c <cpc> will set the color per channel to use. Only needed for PseudoColor visuals. Window Maker will automatically pass the value read from the Window Maker domain database.


The following line is straight from your WindowMaker-0.15.x ~/GNUstep/Library/WindowMaker/menu file and should all be on one line.

"Images" OPEN_MENU BACKGROUNDS_DIR ~/GNUstep/Library/WindowMaker/Backgrounds WITH wmsetbg -u -t

This should give you an idea on how to add other entries for different image directories. See the help info at the top of the ~/GNUstep/Library/WindowMaker/menu file for more information.

If you for some reason would like to set your background image with XV, for instance to use an image format not yet supported by wmsetbg or to use one of XV's special modes, edit the file ~/GNUstep/Library/WindowMaker/autostart and insert the line

xv -root -quit -maxpect ~/background.jpg
or
xv -root -quit -max ~/background.jpg

you can also try variations of this to get different tiling and other effects (where X is a number 1-9 I believe):
'xv -root -quit -rmodeX ~/background.jpg'

If you would like xv functionality in your menu, heres a nice little tip from Alfredo:

Add the following line to your ~/GNUstep/Library/WindowMaker/menu file. (all on one line)

"More Backgrounds" OPEN_MENU /home/whoever/backgrounds xv -root -maxpect -quit


4.10 Can I put pixmaps in my root menu and title bars?

With the release of WindowMaker-0.14.1, you can now put pixmaps anywhere you would have either a gradient or a color. This means now that

MenuTextBack=(tpixmap, foo.xpm, acolor);

in ~/GNUstep/Defaults/WindowMaker will put the correct pixmap tiled in your menu.

FTitleBack = (spixmap, foo.xpm, black);

Would have the effect of streching a pixmap to fit the titlebar of the active window.
You can use png, gif, ppm, tiff, jpeg and xpm images interchangeably in Window Maker if you have compiled in support for those formats.


4.11 How do I get my Minimize Icon to look like the triangle I see in screenshots?

This involves a minor source tweak. Instructions are available here. Example screenshot here.


4.12 How do I get superfluous bells and whistles working?

Add Superfluous=YES; to your ~/GNUstep/Defaults/Windowmaker file.

This option was added as a runtime option in Window Maker >= 0.16.1.


4.13 How do I get the classic NeXT(tm)-like style back?

Add NewStyle=NO; to your ~/GNUstep/Defaults/Windowmaker file.

This option was added as a runtime option in Window Maker >= 0.16.1


4.14 How do I get the window menu with only a two button mouse?

Jim Noble <jmknoble@ntrnet.net> writes:

If you've got a two-button mouse under some versions of Solaris x86, there's no way (that i'm aware of) to emulate a 3-button mouse. The right button can be either MB2 or MB3, but chording doesn't work. 

ApplicationMenuMouseButton = Left;
and 
WindowListMouseButton = Right;
in ~/GNUstep/Defaults/WindowMaker ought to allow the left button to activate the root menu, and the right button (as MB2) to activate the windows menu.


4.15 How do I edit my root menu?

You can now use WPrefs.app if you have the new PropList style menu, or you can manually edit the oldstyle menu file 

~/GNUstep/Library/WindowMaker/menu
(or you can also manually edit the newstyle menu file) 

~/GNUstep/Defaults/WMRootMenu
and save your changes. Window Maker should detect the change and automatically update. If you are having a problem getting it to reload the menu, try 

touch ~/GNUstep/Library/WindowMaker/menu
(or 'touch ~/GNUstep/Defaults/WMRootMenu' for the newstyle menu)
to force the modification time into the future.