terminator/doc/manual/source/layouts.rst

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.. image:: imgs/icon_layout.png
:align: right
:alt: Favourites. Stars or hearts, and hearts won't look good on
the red backbround.
.. _layouts:
===============================
Layouts and the Layout Launcher
===============================
**Layouts** are how Terminator helps you quickly start a given set of
windows with the terminals arranged just how you like, and even
launching unique commands in each one.
You have already seen a glimpse of this in the :ref:`prefs-layouts`
tab of the :ref:`preferences`. Here it is again:
.. image:: imgs/prefs_layouts.png
It's simple to create a new layout. Just launch new windows, add tabs
and splits, arrange them, and customise them to your liking.
Layouts will currently directly detect and save:
- Window sizes and positions as well as the fullscreen or maximised state
- Splitter positions
- Custom window, tab and titlebar names
- The profile of each terminal
- Group setting of each terminal
- The active terminal per window or tab, and the active tab per window if applicable
- The UUID of each terminal
When done, use the :ref:`prefs-layouts` section of the :ref:`preferences`
to keep this layout for future use. You save them by using the **Add**
or **Save** buttons, where *Add* creates a new layout entry and
prompts for a name, and *Save* updates the currently selected layout.
.. warning:: Currently some things are not detected by the code, and
have to be configured in the :ref:`prefs-layouts` tab of
the :ref:`preferences` *after* the layout is saved/added.
This means that if you use the *Save* button in the
:ref:`prefs-layouts` after spending time setting the
items below, you *will* lose these stored values.
- Custom command
- Working directory
First get the layout right, then edit these within the
:ref:`prefs-layouts` tab of the :ref:`preferences`. You
do **not** need to use the *Save* button to keep these
settings.
There is potential to improve this behaviour.
.. _layout-launcher:
-------------------------------
The Layout Launcher
-------------------------------
You can set up an application launcher with the ``-l LAYOUT`` option
which will load the named layout, but what if you have a long list of
layouts, like me? It can be annoying distinguishing between 30 items
with the same icon, waiting for a tool-tip to tell you which one you're
about to launch. No-one has the stamina to draw 30 distinct icons
representing all these layouts either!
.. image:: imgs/layoutlauncher.png
:align: right
Enter the **Layout Launcher**, as shown on the right. This will list
all of your saved layouts in alphabetical order, apart from
*default*, which is always at the top. You can ``double-click`` an
entry, highlight it and select **Launch**, or use the keyboard to move
the highlight, pressing ``Return`` to launch.
The *Layout Launcher* can be opened from a running terminal using a
shortcut, or by running Terminator with the ``-s`` option. This
option could be set in an application launcher, to get to the Layout
Launcher with a single click.
You can have more than one *Layout Launcher* window open, or you could
launch one at the beginning, and pin it to always be on the visible
workspace.
Here's a brief run-down of keyboard and mouse use:
+--------------------------+------------------+---------------------+
| Action | Mouse | Default Shortcut |
+==========================+==================+=====================+
| Open the Layout Launcher | N/A | ``Alt``\ +\ ``L`` |
+--------------------------+------------------+---------------------+
| Move Up/Down list | ``click`` | ``<Up/Down Arrow>`` |
+--------------------------+------------------+---------------------+
| Launch a layout | ``double-click`` | ``Return`` |
+--------------------------+------------------+---------------------+
.. note:: If an instance of Terminator is already running with DBus
active, you must either use the shortcut, or disable DBus
for the instance by also passing ``-u``. This needs to be
fixed.