---
title: "Appearance"
description: "Visual behavior, layout density, folder layout, animation, and per-display indicator placement."
url: "https://docs.closex.org/launchnext/settings/appearance.html"
markdown_url: "https://docs.closex.org/launchnext/settings/appearance.md"
site: "CloseX Docs"
product: "LaunchNext"
language: "en"
last_updated: "2026-09-06T14:50:57.000Z"
alternates:
  en: "https://docs.closex.org/launchnext/settings/appearance.md"
  zh-Hans: "https://docs.closex.org/zh/launchnext/settings/appearance.md"
  ja: "https://docs.closex.org/ja/launchnext/settings/appearance.md"
---

# Appearance

`Appearance` controls how LaunchNext looks, moves, and feels in daily use.

![Appearance](https://ucarecdn.com/1b113129-9598-4d53-a5e5-a95bc8446143/palette.webp)

## Tune in this order

1. Set structure first: `Icons per row`, `Rows per page`, and `Folder Layout`
2. Set readability: `Icon size`, `Label font size`, and label weight
3. Set spacing: horizontal and vertical spacing
4. Set motion: animation duration and scroll sensitivity
5. Set finishing details: folder window size, indicator position, and mask style

## Behavior toggles

- `Classic Launchpad (Fullscreen)`
- `Show labels under icons`
- `Use localized app names`
- `Predict drop position`
- `Enable slide animation`
- `Follow-scroll paging`
- `Hide Dock`
- `Hide menu bar in fullscreen`
- `Remember last opened page`
- `Hover magnification`
- `Press feedback`
- `High-resolution folder previews`
- `Folder Quick Launch`
- `Use image background`
- `Window open/close animation`
- `Background mask`

Notes:

- `Predict drop position` and `Follow-scroll paging` are disabled when the Core Animation renderer is active.
- `Slide animation duration` is disabled if animations are off or if the Core Animation renderer is active.
- `Folder Quick Launch` is available only while the Core Animation renderer is on. The Compatibility Engine forces that renderer off.
- `Hide menu bar in fullscreen` is only available in fullscreen mode.
- When `Hide menu bar in fullscreen` is active, LaunchNext also hides the Dock because macOS requires the Dock to be hidden when the menu bar is hidden.

## Background and theme

- Choose `Background style`: `Blur` or `Liquid glass`
- Enable `Background mask` and configure separate Light/Dark colors with opacity

## Image background

`Use image background` puts a picture behind the grid instead of the blurred desktop. `Background source` decides where that picture comes from.

- `Desktop wallpaper`: LaunchNext follows the wallpaper of the display it opens on. A static wallpaper is captured once and reused on later opens; dynamic and aerial wallpapers are re-captured each time. Changing your wallpaper produces a new capture automatically.
- `Custom image`: pick a file with `Choose Image…`, and replace it later with `Change…`.

If a custom image is moved, renamed, or deleted, the row shows `Image unavailable`. Pick the file again to restore it.

Photos with detail behind the icon labels are the main reason to also turn on `Background mask` — the mask is what keeps labels readable.

## Layout and readability controls

- `Icon size`
- `Icons per row`
- `Rows per page`
- `Horizontal spacing`
- `Vertical spacing`
- `Label font size`
- `Icon label weight`

Changing grid dimensions can reposition icons. This is expected.

## Folder controls

## Folder layout

`Folder Layout` controls how apps are displayed after opening a folder.

- `Paged`: folder contents use pages and a page indicator, matching the main Launchpad feel.
- `Vertical Scroll`: folder contents scroll vertically, and the folder title scrolls/fades with the content so large folders stay compact.

When the Core Animation renderer is active, folder grids also use Core Animation for smoother paging, scrolling, drag reorder, and drag-out behavior.

## Folder window width/height

These controls are for compact mode. Classic fullscreen uses a fixed folder window shape.

## Folder drop zone size

Smaller values reduce accidental folder creation while dragging icons.

## Folder Quick Launch

`Folder Quick Launch` starts an app inside a folder without opening the folder first. Right-click a folder and its apps are listed in the context menu directly.

- Off by default.
- Requires the Core Animation renderer. The toggle is greyed out whenever that renderer is off, and switching to the Compatibility Engine turns it off automatically.
- Inside a folder, right-click an app to pin it to the top of that folder's quick-launch list. Pinned apps are grouped above the rest.
- A pin belongs to one folder, not to the app. Moving the app to another folder, hiding it, or uninstalling it clears the pin.
- LaunchNext records no launch counts, open times, or usage history. Order comes from your layout and your pins, nothing else.
- Pins are saved as part of the folder layout, so they survive backups and JSON import/export.

## Motion controls

- `Slide animation duration`: paging animation inside the grid, `0.10s` to `1.00s`
- `Window animation duration`: how long LaunchNext takes to appear and disappear, `0.10s` to `0.50s`, default `0.25s`
- `Scrolling sensitivity`
- `Hover magnification scale` (only when hover magnification is enabled)
- `Press scale` (only when press feedback is enabled)

The two durations are different things: `Slide animation duration` is paging inside LaunchNext, `Window animation duration` is the window itself. The window one is disabled when `Window open/close animation` is off.

## Page indicator placement

Global controls:

- `Page indicator spacing`
- `Page indicator top padding`

Per-display mode:

- Enable `Per-display indicator position`
- Set different values for each connected display
- Re-apply defaults for the current display if needed

## Practical preset suggestions

## Dense laptop setup

- Higher icons-per-row
- Medium icon size
- Tighter spacing
- `Paged` folders for predictable keyboard and page navigation

## Comfort desktop setup

- Medium icons-per-row
- Larger icon size
- More spacing
- `Vertical Scroll` folders if you keep many apps in the same folder