The Main Menu
The footprint icon seen towards the left end of the example Panel (see Figure 1 in the section called Introduction to Panel Objects) and in Figure 4 is the Main Menu (yes, you guessed right, it is the footprint of the gnome). This menu provides access to almost all GNOME features — all the applications, configuration tools, command line prompt, Logout and Lock Screen commands, and much more. To access any of these items, click on the Main Menu button. You should release the mouse after pressing the Main Menu button so that you can take advantage of other mouse-activated features in the Main Menu such as right-click pop-up menus and drag-and-drop from the menu to the desktop or Panel.
You can have several Main Menu buttons on different Panels; all of them can be configured independently.
Global menu
In addition to the Main Menu which you get by clicking on the foot icon, GNOME also provides a Global Menu, which contains the same commands but is not linked to any button. To access the Global Menu, right-click on any empty place on the Panel. You can also access the Global Menu by pressing Alt+F1. (You can change the default key for activating the Global Menu in the Miscellaneous tab of the Global Panel Preferences dialog.)
Note that the Global Menu is configured independently from the Main Menu, by using the Menu tab in the Global Panel Preferences dialog.
Components of the Main Menu
The primary component of the Main Menu is the Programs submenu, which contains a list of preconfigured submenus and menu items. Here you will find all the GNOME applications, from the