xubuntu collisions?
 

I liked xfce... until the terminal turned from transparent to black on its own (and won't go back), and the menu totally broke. Anyone with decent experience explain to me how this stuff works? it is something to do with Gnome stuff from programs I installed 'covering up' xfce?

wow, got lucky and figured out the black terminal thing real fast- just had to re-click the 'allow xfce to control desktop' in the desktop settings. Still don't have a menu, though.