Sometimes people use GTKeyboard primarily to type into an rxvt, or
for some other task that does not require showing all of the different
screen elements on the screen. For this, in the Options menu, there
is a Looks submenu, where you can choose from options having to do
with the main text box, the status box, the keyboard itself, the
toolbar, the bottom row of buttons, and a few other things. All you
have to do to customize the layout of the screen is choose the element
of your choice in the Options
Looks menu. Each item on
the screen is represented by a toggle button in the menu. When the
toggle button is depressed, the item will be shown. When it is up,
the item will be hidden.
For convenience, items have been added to the Options menu to include the ability to hide everything, and also to show everything. This way you can toggle back and forth between using GTKeyboard primarily as a tool to insert text into other windows and using it as a simple text editor.
Currently, there are options to show or hide the following GTKeyboard screen elements: The keyboard itself, (which provides the ability to hide/show the cursor keys, the f-keys, the number pad, and the main keyboard independantly) the toolbar, the bottom row of buttons, the text area where normal buttonpresses go, and the status area that tells you what is going on with the application. Using these, you can make GTKeyboard as small as you like. Note that when you hide the output text area, the bottom row of buttons is automatically hidden with it.
Once you've found a screen layout that you like, you can click on
the ``Save Layout'' item underneath the Options
Layout
menu. A file called /.gtkeyboard-layout will be saved that
will be used to determine your keyboard layout for subsequent runs of the
program. Important Note: When you use this feature, it creates
a file in your home directory called /.gtkeyboard-layout. It
contains statements on how the application should be laid out. This
file is read and used each time the application starts up, overriding any layout statements you may have in your
/.gtkeyboardrc. To avoid this behavior, use the IGNORE_LAYOUT_FILE option, described in the configuration section.
Also, if you wish for the application to stop using your layout
settings permanently, you can use the ``Forget Layout Settings''
located just under the ``Save Layout Settings'' menu item in the Options
Looks menu.
In recent releases of GTKeyboard, a directory called ``CONFIG'' has appeared in the source distribution - it holds several different configuration files for GTKeyboard that seem to be used the most by various people. It has one file that enables all of GTKeyboard's features, one that makes the program appear only as a menu system and a small keyboard, and others. Please check those files out for different styles of layout to use the program with.