GNU Emacs Manual - Motif Resources

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## Motif Menu X Resources

If the Emacs installed at your site was built to use the X toolkit with the Motif widgets, then the menu bar is a separate widget and has its own resources. The resource names contain ``pane.menubar'` (following, as always, the name of the Emacs invocation or ``Emacs'` which stands for all Emacs invocations). Specify them like this:

    Emacs.pane.menubar.subwidget.resource:  value

Each individual string in the menu bar is a subwidget; the subwidget's name is the same as the menu item string. For example, the word ``Files'` in the menu bar is part of a subwidget named ``emacs.pane.menubar.Files'`. Most likely, you want to specify the same resources for the whole menu bar. To do this, use ``*'` instead of a specific subwidget name. For example, to specify the font ``8x16'` for the menu-bar items, write this:

    Emacs.pane.menubar.*.fontList:  8x16

This also specifies the resource value for submenus.

Each item in a submenu in the menu bar also has its own name for X resources; for example, the ``Files'` submenu has an item named ``Save Buffer'`. A resource specification for a submenu item looks like this:

    Emacs.pane.menubar.popup_*.menu.item.resource: value

For example, here's how to specify the font for the ``Save Buffer'` item:

    Emacs.pane.menubar.popup_*.Files.Save Buffer.fontList: 8x16

For an item in a second-level submenu, such as ``Check Message'` under ``Spell'` under ``Edit'`, the resource fits this template:

    Emacs.pane.menubar.popup_*.popup_*.menu.resource: value

For example,

    Emacs.pane.menubar.popup_*.popup_*.Spell.Check Message: value

It's impossible to specify a resource for all the menu-bar items without also specifying it for the submenus as well. So if you want the submenu items to look different from the menu bar itself, you must ask for that in two steps. First, specify the resource for all of them; then, override the value for submenus alone. Here is an example:

    Emacs.pane.menubar.*.fontList:  8x16
    Emacs.pane.menubar.popup_*.fontList: 8x16

For toolkit pop-up menus, use ``menu*'` instead of ``pane.menubar'`. For example, to specify the font ``8x16'` for the pop-up menu items, write this:

    Emacs.menu*.fontList:  8x16

@medbreak Here is a list of the specific resources for menu bars and pop-up menus:

`armColor`
  The color to show in an armed button.
`fontList`
  The font to use.
`marginBottom`
`marginHeight`
`marginLeft`
`marginRight`
`marginTop`
`marginWidth`
  Amount of space to leave around the item, within the border.
`borderWidth`
  The width of border around the menu item, on all sides.
`shadowThickness`
  The width of the border shadow.
`bottomShadowColor`
  The color for the border shadow, on the bottom and the right.
`topShadowColor`
  The color for the border shadow, on the top and the left.

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