Perfect desktop : Debian minimal install + xfce

This guide will show you how to install the Xfce desktop environment on Debian  without getting GNOME in the process. It will also show you how to tweak the Xfce install to become a perfect desktop environment.
The guide will also suggest a list of applications to install in addition to Xfce, to make it a fully functional desktop install.
 Debian will install by default the entire GNOME desktop environment and the X Window System. This means many applications which you may never use will also be installed, so here is a solution in order to get only a basic system and then install only the packages you need.

First download a netinstall ico from debian page.I use for my laptop debian testing and for desktop debian sid.
Proceed with the install as instructed and when the installer reaches the window where it asks what software you want to install (like Desktop Environment, Web Server, Basic System etc.), just de-select the Desktop Environment option using the SPACE key, and also make sure the Basic System option remains selected.
After the installation is over, reboot, logi in ass root and let`s begin.

apt-get update to update APT
Now we'll install the X-server. A login manager. ALSA to get sound working. HAL (for auto mounting CDs) and Xfce. I've also included the 'goodies' and 'mixer' package for Xfce and the archive plugin for Thunar.
apt-get install xserver-xorg-core xorg alsa-base alsa-utils hal udev gdm xfce4 xfce4-goodies xfce4-mixer xfce4-mixer-alsa thunar-archive-plugin
This will give us a minimal, but functional Xfce desktop, but we won't stop here since we're looking for the prefect Xfce install.For  graphic card drivers please look on debian wiki.

Reconfigure your xorg 
dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

and alsa
alsaconf

If all went well you should now get the login manager if you reboot or type gdm .

Suggestions to additional fonts are: ttf-bitstream-vera, ttf-dejavu and msttcorefonts.
apt-get install ttf-bitstream-vera ttf-dejavu msttcorefonts

It seems that Conky is a rather popular system monitor to use with Xfce. If you want Conky then simply install it with
apt-get install conky
Once Conky is installed you need a configuration file for it. The package comes with a sample .conkyrc, so we'll use that. (Do this as your regualr user, not as root)
zcat /usr/share/doc/conky/examples/conkyrc.sample.gz > .conkyrc

And here is a simple conkyrc

alignment bottom_right
background yes
border_width 1
cpu_avg_samples 2
default_color white
default_outline_color white
default_shade_color white
draw_borders no
draw_graph_borders yes
draw_outline no
draw_shades no
font 6x10
gap_x 5
gap_y 10
minimum_size 5 5
net_avg_samples 2
no_buffers yes
out_to_console no
own_window yes
own_window_type desktop
own_window_hints below,skip_taskbar
own_window_transparent yes
double_buffer yes
stippled_borders 0
update_interval 3.0
uppercase no
use_spacer none

TEXT
$nodename - $sysname $kernel on $machine
$hr
${color grey}Uptime:$color $uptime
${color grey}Frequency (in MHz):$color $freq
${color grey}Frequency (in GHz):$color $freq_g
${color grey}RAM Usage:$color $mem/$memmax - $memperc%
${color grey}Swap Usage:$color $swap/$swapmax - $swapperc%
${color grey}CPU Usage:$color $cpu% ${cpubar 4}
${color grey}Processes:$color $processes  ${color grey}Running:$color $running_processes
$hr
${color grey}File systems:
${color grey} /     $color${fs_free /}/${fs_size /} ${fs_bar 6 /}
${color grey} /home $color${fs_free /mnt/spare}/${fs_size /mnt/spare} ${fs_bar 6 /mnt/spare}
${color grey}Networking:
Up:$color ${upspeed eth0} k/s${color grey} - Down:$color ${downspeed eth0} k/s
$hr
${color grey}Cpu/MoBo:$color ${platform w83627hf.656 temp 2}/${platform w83627hf.656 temp 1}
${color grey}/dev/hda;/dev/hdb:$color ${hddtemp /dev/hda};${hddtemp /dev/hdb}
$hr
${color grey}Name                  PID   CPU%   MEM%
${color lightgrey} ${top name 1} ${top pid 1} ${top cpu 1} ${top mem 1}
${color lightgrey} ${top name 2} ${top pid 2} ${top cpu 2} ${top mem 2}
${color lightgrey} ${top name 3} ${top pid 3} ${top cpu 3} ${top mem 3}
${color lightgrey} ${top name 4} ${top pid 4} ${top cpu 4} ${top mem 4}
 

Since Xfce use the GTK+2 toolkit I choose to only install GTK+2 based applications to keep things looking unified. Which applications you install is of course up to you, but here are my suggestions. Your additions to this list are welcome.

Accessories:
Gedit -- Text Editor
Xarchiver -- Archive Manager
Xpad -- Sticky Note Application

Development:
Bluefish Editor -- Advanced Web Editor
Geany -- Integrated Development Environment

Graphics:
Comix -- Comic Book Viewer
Evince -- Document Reader (PDF, etc)
Inkscape -- SVG Vector Illustrator
GIMP -- Image Editor
GQview -- Image Browser

Multimedia:
Audacious -- Audio Player
EasyTAG -- Audio Tag Editor
GnomeBaker -- DVD/CD Writer
Grip -- CD Ripper and Encoder
Smplayer -- Multimedia Player (Video, audio, DVD)
streamtuner -- Stream Directory Browser (Internet radio)

Network:
Freeloader -- Bittorrent Client
Gaim -- Multi-protocol Instant Messenger
gFTP -- FTP Client
Icedove -- E-mail Client
Iceweasel -- Web Browser
Liferea -- Internet Feed Reader
Xchat -- IRC Client

Office:
AbiWord -- Word Processor
gLabels -- Label Designer (CDs, buisiness cards, etc)
Gnumeric -- A Spreadsheet
Orage -- Calendar for Xfce

System:
Synaptic -- Package Manager (Front end to APT)
xscreensaver -- Screensaver