GEOMETRY SPECIFICATIONS

One of the advantages of using window systems instead of hardwired terminals is that applications don't have to be restricted to a particular size or location on the screen. Although the layout of windows on a display is controlled by the window manager that the user is running (described below), most X programs accept a command line argument of the form

-geometry WIDTHxHEIGHT+XOFF+YOFF

(where WIDTH, HEIGHT, XOFF, and YOFF are numbers) for specifying a preerred size and location for this application's main window. The WIDTH and HEIGHT parts of the geometry specification are usually measured in either pixels or characters, depending on the application.

The XOFF and YOFF parts are measured in pixels and are used to specify the distance of the window from the left or right and top and bottom edges of thescreen, respectively. Both types of offsets are measured from the indicated edge of the screen to the corresponding edge of the window. The X offset may be specified in the following ways:

+XOFF

The left edge of the window is to be placed XOFF pixels in from the left edge of the screen (i.e. the X coordinate of the window's origin will be XOFF).  XOFF may be negative, in which case the window's left edge will be off the screen.

-XOFF

The right edge of the window is to be placed XOFF pixels in from the right edge of the screen. XOFF may be negative, in which case the window's right edge will be off the screen. The Y offset has similar meanings:

+YOFF

The top edge of the window is to be YOFF pixels below the top edge of the screen (i.e. the Y coordiate of the window's origin will be YOFF).  YOFF may be negative, in which case the window's top edge will be off the screen.

-YOFF

The bottom edge of the window is to be YOFF pixels above the bottom edge of the screen. YOFF may be negative, in which case the window's bottom edge will be off the screen. Offsets must be given as pairs; in other words, in order to specify either XOFF or YOFF both must be present.

Windows can be placed in the four corners of the screen using the following specifications:

+0+0 upper left hand corner
-0+0 upper right hand corner
0-0 lower right hand corner
+0-0 lower left hand corner

In the following examples, a terminal emulator will be placed in roughly the center of the screen and a load averge monitor, mailbox, and clock will be placed in the upper right hand corner:

xterm -fn 6x10 -geometry 80x24+30+200 & xclock -geometry 48x48-0+0 & xload -geometry 48x48-96+0 & xbiff -geometry 48x48-48+0 &