There are many window decorations for KWin, including the default Oxygen, Microsoft Windows-like Redmond, and Keramik. IceWM themes can also be used with it, provided the kdeartwork package is installed.
Compositing
Currently available compositing backends include XRender, OpenGL 1.x, OpenGL 2.x, and OpenGL ES 2.0.[3]
Included effects
Screenshot showing the cover switch effect in KWin for KDE 4.1.
As of KDE 4.3 the following effects are built-in:
Accessibility
Name
Description
Invert
Inverts the color of the desktop and windows
Looking glass
A screen magnifier that looks like a fish eye lens
Magnifier
Magnify the section of the screen that is near the mouse cursor
Sharpen
Makes the entire desktop look sharper
Snap Helper
Helps locate the centre of the screen when moving a window
Track mouse
Display a mouse cursor locating effect when activated
Zoom
Magnify the entire desktop
Appearance
Name
Description
Explosion
Make windows explode when they are closed
Fade
Make windows smoothly fade in and out when they are shown or hidden
Fade Desktop
Fade between virtual desktops when switching between them
Fall apart
Close windows fall into pieces
Highlight Windows
Highlight the appropriate window when hovering over taskbar entries
Login
Smoothly fade to the desktop when logging in
Logout
Desaturate the desktop when displaying the logout dialog
Magic Lamp
Simulate a magic lamp when minimizing windows
Minimize animation
Animate the minimizing of windows
Mouse mark
Allows you to draw lines over your desktop
Scale In
Animate the appearance of windows
Sheet
Make modal dialogues smoothly fly in and out when shown or hidden
Slide
Slide windows across the screen when switching virtual desktops
Sliding popups
Sliding animation for Plasma Popups
Taskbar Thumbnails
Display window thumbnails when hovering over taskbar entries
Thumbnail aside
Display window thumbnails on the edge of the screen
Translucency
Make windows translucent under different conditions
Wobbly windows
Deform windows while they are moving
Candy
Name
Description
Snow
Simulate snow falling on the desktop
Focus
Name
Description
Dialog parent
Darkens the parent windows of the currently active dialogue
Dim Inactive
Darken inactive windows
Dim screen for administrator mode
Darkens the entire screen when requesting root privileges
Slide Back
Slide back windows losing focus
Tools
Name
Description
Show FPS
Show kwins performance in the corner of the screen
Show Paint
Highlight areas of the desktop that have been recently updated
Window management
Name
Description
Box switch
Display thumbnails of windows in the alt+tab window switcher
Cover switch
Display a Cover Flow effect for the alt+tab window switcher
Desktop cube
Display each of the desktops on a slice of a cube
Desktop Cube Animation
Animate desktop switching with a cube
Desktop grid
Zoom out so all desktops are displayed side-by-side in a grid
Flip switch
Flip through windows that are in a stack for the alt+tab window switcher
Present windows
Zoom out until open windows can be displayed side by side
Resize Window
Effect to outline geometry while resizeing a window
