I'm running Slackware-Current and am experimenting using XFCE instead of KDE5. I have screens arranged as shown in the attachment.

I have the screen "2060W" (middle/bottom) marked as the primary display, but all the desktop icons and launch panel appear on the screen to the left (Teleliasion). How do I get this stuff on the 2060W screen?

While I'm asking ... how to I log out of the XFCE session? There appears to be no option in the launcher and right-clicking on the desktop does not give me a "leave" selection like KDE.

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1) second question first: right-click/applications/logout
2) screen layout; well you might want to experiment a bit (applications/settings/display), but I had to get my screen on the left set up as if it was to the right to keep my stuff on the main screen and that was only with one extra monitor. Somebody else with more nous on this might give better pointers..

hth

OK, that works. Not obvious, but it works.
Well, everything was OK until I actually marked that center screen as "primary". Then it shifted to the left screen. XFCE seems like a bit of a mature product for these kinds of bugs to still be in there. OK - I'll experiment and post back.

I use XFCE4 all the time (albeit with Debian), and when I want a panel on a particular screen, I just drag it there and it works. I like to leave my panels locked, so I have to open the panel prefs and unlock the panel first if I want to move it. This makes the dragable moving things appear at the tips of the panel.

I don't tend to use desktop icons much, but I do find that dragging them where I want works.

I usually only use one panel, btw (the default is two panels - one at the top and one at the bottom).

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I add the Actions Buttons plugin to the panel (Panel > Preferences > Items).

Then go to its properties and change Session Menu to Action Buttons, uncheck all entries except "Log out..." Doing it this way also gives you the option to Shutdown, Restart and more.

There's also the Whisker menu plugin, which you might prefer instead of the standard Xfce applications menu.

After too many years I finally have Xfce looking and behaving very nearly the way I want it, without having to resort to kwin as window manager, wmctrl to set up snapping and tiling, tint2 for decent panels, and without having to hack those ludicrous gtk3 css files.

It's worth sticking with Xfce, even though the changes with Gtk (outside their control) can be infuriating.

If you're curious, I use a deskbar on the left (the only sensible option with a widescreen display, but perhaps not for you with multiple displays), another panel along the top with clock, weather, volume control, and a few other useful shortcuts. I use the bluebird theme for both gtk and xfwm, and the DejaVu Sans Condensed 8 font. Icon theme is Mint-Y-Grey.

The clock font (Hack Mono, so much easier for my rapidly ageing, diabetic eyes to see) I achieved using inline tags (Clock properties > Custom settings):

I'm embarrassed to say it never occurred to me to use a vertical main panel, but now that I do, it seems absurd to use anything else with today's widescreen monitors. And with a background instead of the theme colour, the panels have turned out very satisfactory indeed. Items on the panel itself more or less clearly delineated, and the panel clearly set apart from maximised windows. Screenshot attached.

I created custom keyboard shortcuts as follows:

Ctrl Shft 1 = tile window to bottom left
Ctrl Shft 2 =
Ctrl Shft 3 = tile window to bottom right
Ctrl Shft 4 = tile window to left
Ctrl Shft 5 = move window
Ctrl Shft 6 = tile window to right
Ctrl Shft 7 = tile window to top left
Ctrl Shft 8 = maximise window vertically
Ctrl Shft 9 = tile window to top right

Ctrl F8 = resize window

Ctrl Alt D = show/hide desktop

Ctrl Alt Down arrow/Up arrow = cycle through desktops (use right and left arrow if your workspace switcher is on a horizontal panel)

Ctrl Alt Home/End = move window to next/previous desktop

Alt insert = Add workspace

Alt Delete = Delete active workspace

Just some tips you might find useful ; sorry I have no answer to your first question. I did come across this problem at work about two years ago and futzed around until I solved it but I can't remember now.

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I generally use a single panel on the left, and the way XFCE4 rotates text sideways is the "killer feature" that keeps me with XFCE4 compared to the alternatives. Sideways text is good for the clock, and it's GREAT for window switcher buttons.

I really like having text on the window switcher buttons because that way I can directly click on the window button I want, rather than hovering or popping up previews or whatever.

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The panel you use must be quite wide then? Can you post a screenshot?

I have some screenshots here:

https://pluspora.com/posts/e5093d302...99005056264835

I usually have a panel width of 32 pixels, but I may alter that to as little as 24 pixels or as much as 36 pixels depending on the screen resolution and pixel density. I don't think this is particularly wide? I usually just leave it at the default.

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Thank you. I thought you meant rotating text the other way -- horizontal text with a vertical panel.

As far as I know, that's what everything else does (including, FWIW, Microsoft Windows). It makes vertical panels pretty crummy for me. Apparently, what everyone else does is just get rid of text entirely on their vertical panels. So you end up with a bunch of generic web browser icons and have to just guess which one is the right one. Or hover over it. Or whatever. Yeah, I'm glad everyone else loves taking longer to switch to the desired window. But I don't. So I stick with XFCE4.

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It's like ... Apple decided to make a hybrid launcher/window switcher with only icons and no text, which consumed extra space for no reason (well, other than the fact that Apple never had a good way to switch between windows anyway).

And then everyone else lost their collective marbles and thought THAT! I NEED TO COPY THAT!

Which was absolutely bonkers because everyone else (including MS Windows) already had superior ways to switch to the desired window without all the extra clicks and/or hovering and puny little dots or triangles or whatever shape they technically were to show whether there was already a launched window of the application or if it was just a launcher icon ... bleh. The Mac UI was good for a 1984 single tasking computer, but the sad truth is that window switcher buttons were vastly better for a multi-tasking system and if you associate that negatively with Microsoft Windows 95 then that's your problem. They're good. They're better than the garbage Apple keeps coming up with out of spite and contrariness and the need to be superior or something.

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As a Windows refugee I thought this way too. But this vertical taskbar with no text at all works great for me ; not sure why, since that was totally anathema with a horizontal menu. I think it's because I put some time into learning all the Xfce keyboard shortcuts, so now I'm a lot less dependent on the mouse, especially with Vivaldi and sites like Fastmail and their excellent keyboard shortcut support.

Apologies to OP. I opened up the thread to give you some encouragement with Xfce and to show it is malleable. Not as much as Plasma but possibly good enough?

You could try to set the monitors with xrandr script.
Probe all monitors then set the order you want, I think it is possible.

I've been trying this out with the task buttons and to my surprise it works well, although my clock is on the top panel. Xfce is rather clever the way it does it -- vertical panel, with text on task button at 90 degrees to the panel but task icon oriented properly.

After a good bit of work and digging around I think I now have the perfect desktop with Xfce, and the way Xfce handles panels is by far the best of them all. Important for me, since the panel is the only part of the desktop I see and care about once I open apps, almost all of them full screen on separate workspaces.

Thanks for the tip. Never would have tried it but for your suggestion.