Openbox

Wiki

Introduction
Screen Shots
Contributors
Platforms
Mailing Lists
Downloads
Bug Reports

Changelogs

Stable
Testing

Documentation

Whats new
Using Openbox

F.A.Q.
Openbox Features
Epist Features
Docker
The RC File
Menu File

Submitting a patch
What to do about a bug

Openbox Features

Anti Aliased Fonts
Openbox makes use of the XFree86 Xft extension to anti-alias fonts. This feature is optional--it can be turned off in the rc file. Both Xft and non-Xft font directives are supported, and non-Xft fonts are appropriately fallen back to when Xft is not available. Anti-aliased fonts screen shots can be seen here.

NetWM Support
Openbox has fairly complete support for the NetWM X11 Spec. Openbox is therefore compatible with any NetWM tools or desktop environments, such as KDE 3 and Gnome 2.

Highly Configurable NetWM Keygrabber
More info on Epistrophy, the official Openbox keygrabber, can be found here.

Window-to-Window and Window-to-Edge snapping
Openbox windows can snap to each other and the workspace edge. Two types of snapping is supported: classic snapping, where windows are snapped when they are brought within a certain distance of each other or the workspace edge, and resistance, where windows are pushed against each other (or the edge) and resist being pushed over each other for a certain threshold. The threshold in both cases is customizable.

Xinerama Support
Openbox can optionally be built with support for the Xinerama extension. The Xinerama extension allows you to join multiple monitors into a single logical monitor. As you can imagine this can be a pain when the window manager starts placing new windows halfway between monitors, or maximizing a window across them all.

When you compile in Xinerama support, a new menu will appear in the main configuration menu with Xinerama specific options. Openbox can be made Xinerama-aware in a number of ways. It can be made to snap windows against boundaries between monitors, it can be made to place windows with monitor boundaries in mind, and it can be set up to only maximize windows on a single monitor at a time.

Several Window Placement Options
Openbox supports the following placement options:
  • Smart - sporting a new and improved algorithm
  • Cascade
  • Under Mouse - windows are placed under the mouse cursor
  • Click Mouse - windows are placed under the mouse after a position is chosen by the user and the mouse is clicked
This is configurable in real time, in the configuration menu. Openbox can also be configured so that window placement ignores shaded and/or fully maximized windows.

Workspace Warping
Windows can be moved from one workspace to another by moving the window over the workspace edge until the mouse pointer hits the edge.

Configurable Mouse Buttons
Mouse buttons can be reconfigured to open different menus. This is desirable for apps which steal middle and/or right button clicks, so you can configure Openbox to open the root menu by left-clicking the desktop, for example. See the rc file here and here.

Use of Mouse Wheel
The mouse wheel can be used to shade and unshade windows (by rolling the wheel anywhere on the title bar) and to change workspaces (by rolling the wheel anywhere on the root window). See the rc file.

Highly Customizable Style Engine
Openbox has a fast gradient engine--all pixmaps (with a few exceptions) are created on the fly, using color and gradient type directives in style files. Since it is hard to specify a sane pixmap pattern for buttons in the style file, Openbox supports XBM files for its four title bar buttons. The XBM's can be created separately, (in Gimp, maybe) and the paths to the files are specified in the Openbox style.

Windowmaker Dock App Support
The slit is a location on the desktop where Windowmaker dock apps can be placed. The slit's location, direction and auto-hide property are customizable in real time.

Toolbar
The toolbar is a very basic tool (included in Openbox) which offers the most basic functionality, in case the user does not have a keygrabber. The toolbar allows the user to cycle workspaces and windows using the mouse, and holds the current window's title, current workspace name, and a customizable clock.

If the toolbar is not desired (when running KDE, for example), it can be completely removed from the screen, in the main configuration menu.