By default, the window manager places icons in the lower left corner of the workspace. Successive icons are placed in a row proceeding toward the right. Icons are prevented from overlapping by resource specification. An icon is placed in the position it last occupied if no icon is already there. If that position is taken, the icon is placed at the next free location.
The iconAutoPlace resource indicates whether the window manager arranges icons in a particular area of the screen or places each icon at the window location when it is iconified. The value True indicates that icons are arranged in a particular area of the screen, determined by the iconPlacement resource. The value False indicates that an icon is placed at the location of the window when it is iconified. The default is True.
The iconPlacement resource is available only when
iconAutoPlace has the value True. The iconPlacement
resource specifies the arrangement scheme the window manager uses when placing
icons on the workspace. The default value is left bottom (see Table
5-13).
Table 21. Icon Placement Values
| If you want this icon placement... | Choose this option... |
|---|---|
| From left to right across the top of the screen, new rows below | left top |
| From right to left across the top of the screen, new rows below | right top |
| From left to right across the bottom of the screen, new rows above | left bottom |
| From right to left across the bottom of the screen, new rows above | right bottom |
| From bottom to top along the left of the screen, new columns to the right | bottom left |
| From bottom to top along the right of the screen, new columns to the left | bottom right |
| From top to bottom along the left of the screen, new columns to the right | top left |
| From top to bottom along the right of the screen, new columns to the left | top right |
The iconPlacementMargin resource specifies the distance between the edge of the screen and the icons. The default value is equal to the default space between icons.
The resources that place icons use the following format:
Mwm* resource: value
For example, if you want automatic placement of icons starting at the top of the screen and proceeding down the right side, use the following specifications in a resource file:
Mwm*iconPlacement: top right Mwm*iconAutoPlace: True
The Motif Window Manager allows you to use an icon box to display icons in a separate mwm window. The icon box is a scrollable window that displays icons in rows and columns. The useIconBox resource enables the window manager's icon box facility. The value of True places icons in an icon box. The default value of False places icons on the root window.
The icon box is displayed in a standard window management client frame. Client-specific resources for the icon box can be specified by using iconbox as the client name.
Resources for icon boxes have the following format:
Mwm*iconbox* resource: value
Resources that can be used with the icon box are clientDecoration, windowMenu, and all window resources dealing with color, shadow, and matte.
The iconBoxGeometry resource sets the initial size and placement of the icon box. If the iconBoxGeometry resource is set, the largest dimension of the size determines whether the icons are placed in a row or a column. The default policy is to place icons in rows going from left to right, top to bottom. The value of this resource is a standard window geometry string with the following syntax:
<width>
x
<height>{+-}
<xoffset>{+-}
<yoffset>
For example, use the following specification in your .Xdefaults file for an icon box 3 icons wide and 2 icons high:
Mwm*iconBoxGeometry: 3x2
The actual size of the icon box window depends on the iconImageMaximum and iconDecoration resources. By default, mwm places the icon box in the lower left corner with space for six icons in a single row.
Every client window that can be iconified has an icon in the icon box, even when the window is in the normal state. The icon for a client is put into the icon box when the client becomes managed by the window manager, and is removed from the icon box when the client withdraws from being managed.
Icons for windows in the normal state are visually distinct from icons for windows that are iconified. Icons for windows that are iconified look like standalone icons. Icons for windows that are in the normal state appear flat and are optionally grayed out. The value of True for the fadeNormalIcon resource grays out icons for normalized windows. The default value is False.
The text and image attributes of icons in icon boxes are determined in the same way as for standalone icons; that is, by using the iconDecoration resource.