Using the Unity Desktop in Ubuntu

Standard Desktop View

Standard Desktop View

Notice two panels

Top panel

• Contains program menu bar on left side

• Right side has clock and essential functions– Mail

– Battery life

– Account/shutdown menu

– Volume control

Unity bar on left (default desktop style is called Unity)

• Can save applications to open quickly

• Shows open applications

Unity Dashboard

Unity Dashboard

From clicking the “Dash Home” button

Top of Unity bar (has circle of friends icon)

Dash Home shows recent files and downloads

Can move between menus at bottom of dash

Home

Applications

Files and Folders

Music

Videos

Dashboard Menus

Dashboard Menus

Search bar at top used to find files

Subcategories in each menu can be expanded by clicking “See xx more results”

Dashboard Menus

Dashboard Menus

Each menu has its own search filtering options

Can be toggled by clicking “Filter results”

Command Launcher

Command Launcher

Press Alt while at the desktop to open

Can type commands and hit Enter to execute

Commands suggested from a drop-down list when something is typed

File Browser

File Browser

Hit Alt + Home or go to Go → Home on the menu bar to open up the Home Folder in the file browser Nautilus and search manually through the system

Custom Desktop Apps

Notice on earlier screenshots of the desktop that there is a navigator applet at the bottom of the screen

Customizable applications such as Avant Window Navigator can be downloaded and installed to the system and used in addition to default Ubuntu packages