Changing settings in Ubuntu

The new Ubuntu 10.04 window button layout was a surprising and unexpected change. Thanks to howtogeek for helpful instructions - and only the second hit on a Google search for: "ubuntu 10.04 close button".

To summarize (without all the nice screenshots):

The Problem

Ubuntu 10.04 window buttons (close, minimize, maximize, etc) are on the left by default.

A Solution

Make configuration changes to move the buttons around:

1. Open the gconf-editor
   
   1. ALT+F2 - open the Run Application window
   2. enter gconf-editor
   3. press Run
2. Expand Applications > metacity > general
3. Double-click button_layout - edit the button order
4. Enter menu:minimize,maximize,close or :minimize,maximize,close - change the order of the buttons as desired.

Button Layout Syntax - An Aside

You can place different buttons in different places, as determined by their relative order and a couple of syntactical symbols:

: (colon) is like the 'middle' of the window bar. Anything to the left of the colon will be on the left-hand side. Anything to the right will be on the right-hand side. So what if you want to put something in the middle of the window? Dig deeper!

, (comma) is the separator between elements that you want displayed.

menu is the menu button. It has functions that can also be performed by right-clicking on a window's bar, things like "minimize" and "move"

minimize is the one-click button that minimizes the window it's associated with.

maximize is the one-click button that maximizes the window it's associated with.

close is the one-click button that closes the window it's associated with.

Here endith the aside.

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In order of preference (pun intended):

menu:minimize,maximize,close

:minimize,maximize,close

minimize,maximize:close

maximize,minimize:close