Control Center

What it is

Control CenterThe panel behind the icon at the top right of the menu bar: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Focus, brightness, sound and quick switches. is the panel that opens from the icon with four small squares near the right end of the menu barThe strip across the top of the screen: the menus of the app in front on the left, status icons, Control Center and the clock on the right.. It holds the switches you reach for many times a day, so you do not have to open System Settings for them: the network, Bluetooth, Do Not Disturb, Dark Mode, the brightness of the screen, the volume, the music that is playing, and a grid of tilesA square button in Control Center that turns one thing on or off, such as Dark Mode or Stay Awake..

Why WolOS does it this way

Small changes should take one click, like the light switches by the door. Everything in Control Center is also in System Settings with all its options; Control Center has only the part you change often. It opens at once and closes with Escape or a click anywhere else.

How

Open and close it

Click the Control Center icon in the menu bar. Press Escape or click the icon again to close it.

What each part does

The numbers match the picture above.

1. Wi-Fi shows the network you are on. Click the round icon to turn Wi-Fi on or off (this may ask for an administrator's password); click the name for the list of networks.
2. Bluetooth shows whether it is on. Click the icon to turn it on or off; click the name for your paired BluetoothA short-range radio for wireless headphones, mice, keyboards and phones. devices.
3. Focus keeps notification banners quiet; click it to choose for how long. See below.
4. Dark Mode switches the whole desktop and your apps between light and dark. See Dark Mode.
5. Display: drag the slider to make the screen brighter or darker.
6. The arrow at the end of the Display slider opens the Display page: Night Shift, Screen Mirroring and the keyboard light.
7. Sound: drag the slider for the volume. The number above it is the volume in percent; 100% is the speaker's normal full level.
8. The arrow at the end of the Sound slider opens the Sound page, where you choose the speakers, headphones and microphone.
9. Now Playing shows the song or video that is playing, in any app, with buttons for back, play or pause, and next.
10. The tiles, one switch each: the battery (with its charge), Screen Mirroring, Night Shift, Screenshot, Record (the screen as a video), and Stay Awake. Click a tile to switch it; a tile that is on is filled with the accent colourThe one colour WolOS uses for what is selected or switched on: buttons, switches, highlights. You pick it in Settings > Appearance..

Join a Wi-Fi network

Click the name next to Wi-Fi (1). The Networks page lists the network you are on (with Connected) and those nearby; a lock means it needs a password.

1. Click a network. If it has a lock, you see "Join “…”" with a Password field.
2. Type the password and click Join.
3. For a network that hides its name, click Other Network…, type its Network name and password, and click Join.

Wi-Fi Settings… at the bottom opens System Settings > Wi-Fi, where you can forget a network.

Choose where sound plays

Click the arrow at the end of the Sound slider (8). The page lists Output (speakers, headphones, a TV) and Input (microphones), each with its own slider and mute button. Click a device to use it; the tick moves. Wireless headphones show the way their sound is sent (the codecThe way sound or video is packed into a file or sent to a device. A player needs the right codec to play a file.) under their name.

Brightness, Night Shift and a second screen

Click the arrow at the end of the Display slider (6). The page has Brightness, Keyboard Brightness (on laptops with a lit keyboard), Night Shift and Screen Mirroring. Screen Mirroring shows the same picture on a second screen or projector; with only one screen connected it says "No other display".

Quiet for a while: Focus

Click Focus (3). Choose Do Not Disturb and how long: For 1 hour or Until tomorrow morning. While it is on, banners stay away and wait in Notification CenterThe list of notifications you have not cleared yet. Click the clock in the menu bar to open it.; a moon appears in the menu bar. Click Off to end it early. See Notifications.

Pair a Bluetooth device

Click the name next to Bluetooth (2) for Devices: the devices you paired before, with Connected next to the one in use. Click one to connect it. To pair a new one, put it in pairing mode (see its manual) and open System Settings > Bluetooth. See Sharing and devices.

Choose what Control Center shows

System Settings > Control Center. Always Shown lists Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Focus, Dark Mode, Display and Sound. Under it, each other part has a switch: Now Playing, Battery, Keyboard Brightness, Accessibility Shortcuts and the rest.

PluginsA small add-on for the desktop: a menu bar item, a widget, a search result or a theme. It runs in a sandbox. can add tiles of their own. A plugin tile that runs something does so only after you allowed it; see Plugins.

The same switches on the keyboard

A worked example

Alice arrives at a café. She clicks Control Center, clicks Wi-Fi, picks "Café Hatter", types the password from the menu card and clicks Join. She plugs in her headphones, clicks the arrow at the end of the Sound slider and ticks them. Then she clicks Focus > Do Not Disturb > For 1 hour, so nothing interrupts her while she writes. When she leaves, the hour has passed and banners show again on their own.

If something goes wrong