[SOLVED] Crowding of windows on vertical panel (because "nobody does that"?)

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randomguy

[SOLVED] Crowding of windows on vertical panel (because "nobody does that"?)

Post by randomguy »

I use vertical panels and as you can see from the attachment (or https://imgur.com/a/7y6yY), I have a bunch of shortcut icons followed by a "windows tabs" strip.

Now, I can't seem to tell it to use more space, and on top of that it appears it does some weird math so with plenty of space left above it, it inexplicably compresses each window to just few pixels, which makes it impossible to use.

It seems I'm the only person in the world using vertical panels for this kind of stuff...
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Re: Crowding of windows on vertical panel (because "nobody does that"?)

Post by Hoser Rob »

I've been using vertical side panels for ages, I just don't put that many apps on them.

What DE do you use?
For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong - H. L. Mencken
randomguy

Re: Crowding of windows on vertical panel (because "nobody does that"?)

Post by randomguy »

I use MATE (that's why I posted here) on 18.3.

I should add that this problem seems to manifest more easily by using two monitors of unequal resolution:
a) With only external (high res) display active, open 8 windows with only higher resolution monitor active
b) Suspend notebook
c) Resume without external monitor connected

Now at this point it seems this applet recalculates height of these things and squeezes the hell out of it.

But it's still extreme - on the large monitor, my panel window icons fairly normal (like program shortcut icons, almost square in shape) but when they get squeezed on a 30% smaller (in terms of vertical resolution) monitor, they seem to lose 70-80% of their height. On my large monitor vertical resolution is 1080 and on notebook it's 768 pixels.
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Re: Crowding of windows on vertical panel (because "nobody does that"?)

Post by Superannuated »

Is Window List the panel app that is causing the compaction problem? If so, you can remove it and add in its place Window Selector. When you click on the Window Selector icon a pop up window appears that lists the open windows. Then click on the one you want to activate. Window Selector isn't as nice as Window List (when it works) and it takes an extra click, but at least you would have something legible to select.

Another solution is to add another panel (horizontal or vertical) and split off some items so things aren't so crowded. I run one horizontal panel and one vertical. The larger panel includes Window List.
randomguy

Re: Crowding of windows on vertical panel (because "nobody does that"?)

Post by randomguy »

Superannuated wrote:Is Window List the panel app that is causing the compaction problem? If so, you can remove it and add in its place Window Selector. When you click on the Window Selector icon a pop up window appears that lists the open windows. Then click on the one you want to activate. Window Selector isn't as nice as Window List (when it works) and it takes an extra click, but at least you would have something legible to select.

Another solution is to add another panel (horizontal or vertical) and split off some items so things aren't so crowded. I run one horizontal panel and one vertical. The larger panel includes Window List.
I did try Window Selector and it was funny - the same problem, but worse because it's smaller to begin with. I'd have a few pixels of space on my menu panel, where I'd have to click and that make like 20 tabs spring out of that tiny space. I think the problem is that both of them adjust according to dimensions of the large monitor and then get squeezed if you unplug it.

I'll consider the second approach you mention. I've been using vertical panel for menu for many years, don't like to change so I'll endure this for few more weeks to see if some update will fix it.
randomguy

Re: Crowding of windows on vertical panel (because "nobody does that"?)

Post by randomguy »

Like with my other problem (URL below) I managed to make progress by dragging my vertical panel to a horizontal position, troubleshooting there, and then pulling it back.

The problem was the damn divider at the "right" corder (in my vertical panel, "bottom") of the panel - it serves to separate tabs on panel from system icons (volume & other stuff). I noticed it once I moved the panel to a horizontal position. Then I removed the damn thing and dragged the panel back. Now my tabs aren't compressed like before.

viewtopic.php?f=206&t=260688
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Re: [SOLVED] Crowding of windows on vertical panel (because "nobody does that"?)

Post by Superannuated »

The problem with the panel divider in Mate and Xfce (I don't know about Cinnamon) is that it is too faint. It is difficult to see and what you can't see you can't modify.

Don't forget to lock all your panel items once you get them where you want them. I like Mate for a lot of reasons, but I don't like having to lock each icon individually. In Xfce you lock the whole panel with one click. [Please correct me if I am missing something.]
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