Menus and .desktop files

The name for an application in the menu is defined in a file with a .desktop extension. The format of the file is as follows:
	  [Desktop Entry]
	  Name=Dia
	  Name[ja]=Dia
	  Name[no]=Dia
	  Name[pl]=Dia
	  Name[fr]=Dia
	  Comment=A Diagram Editor
	  Comment[ja]=¥À¥¤¥ä¥°¥é¥à¥¨¥Ç¥£¥¿
	  Comment[no]=Diagramredigering
	  Comment[pl]=Edytor diagramów w Gtk+ 
	  Comment[fr]=Un éditeur de diagrammes
	  Exec=dia
	  Icon=dia_gnome_icon.png
	  Terminal=0
	  Type=Application
	
The first line is the name of the application in english and the following lines have the different translations, where the language is specified by [XX] where XX is the language code. The comment line is similar, and the text in this line shows up if you add a launcher for the program on the panel and position the pointer over the icon. Just like a tooltip for a button in a program.

The names for the menus themselves are defined in files with a .directory extension. These are found in the gnome-core module in the directory desktop-links. Here you will also find .desktop files for some standard applications on a Unix machine, such as emacs, netscape, rxvt etc. The format is the same for the .directory files as for the .desktop ones.