2.3. What about the GUI?
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## 2.3. What about the GUI?

The GUI needs GTK+ 2 (it isn't fully GTK, but the panels are), so `GTK` (and the devel stuff, usually called `gtk-dev`) has to be installed. You can build it by specifying `--enable-gui` during `./configure`. Then, to turn on GUI mode, you have to execute the gmplayer binary.

In order to use the GUI in a comfortable way and as intended, you are strongly advised to install a skin. See Skins at the download page. A skin should be extracted to the usual system-wide directory `$PREFIX/share/mplayer/skins` or to the user specific directory `$HOME/.mplayer/skins` and resides as a subdirectory there. MPlayer by default first looks in the user specific directory, then the system-wide directory for a subdirectory named `default` (which simply can be a link to your favourite skin) to load the skin, but you can use the `-skin `myskin`` option, or the `skin=myskin` or `gui_skin=myskin` config file directives, or the skin browser to use a different skin from the `skins` directories.

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