panel settings, especially taskbar

[dhdurgee]

I tend to keep a fair number of things open at once and find that my panel, and the taskbar in particular, could use some tweaking.

When I have enough things open the time, which is at the far right of the panel, is pushed off the screen. I also find that the right end of the taskbar overlays on the left portion of my Multi-Core System Monitor area.

Looking in the taskbar there is a lot of blank space, perhaps 30-40% of each cell, that is to the right of each icon. If there were a way to resize those cells such that the blank space on the right matched that on the left of the icon I suspect my problem would be solved.

In case this is specific to the environment, I am running 18.3 Cinnamon x64 here.

Dave

[Moem]

I tend to keep a fair number of things open at once and find that my panel, and the taskbar in particular, could use some tweaking.

Sorry, this is confusing... what are you calling a taskbar and what are you calling a panel? In Linux Mint, the bar at (most often) the bottom of the screen is as a whole called the panel. The word taskbar is not really used as far as I know, except by those who are freshly switched over from Windows. Can you elaborate on how you are using these words?

[Hoser Rob]

If your panel app icons are getting crowded I suggest using multiple virtual desktops/workspaces. Newer users tend to not use them so much, I guess they're just more used to Windows. But if there's one thing Linux has that I coouldn't ive without it's multiple workspaces. They definitely unclutter things. ANd setting them up with a switcher is a hell of a lot easier than trying to hack the icons themselves.

[gm10]

Looking in the taskbar there is a lot of blank space, perhaps 30-40% of each cell, that is to the right of each icon. If there were a way to resize those cells such that the blank space on the right matched that on the left of the icon I suspect my problem would be solved.

In case this is specific to the environment, I am running 18.3 Cinnamon x64 here.

Blank space is controlled by your desktop theme. Yes, this is specific to your environment.

For the MATE panel you can also enable grouping same as on Windows, but I don't know if the Cinnamon panel supports this.

[dhdurgee]

So where specifically are the settings for the taskbar accessible? Looking at a less used system I see that there is actually text following the icons in the taskbar of that system. Can this be disable and only the icon shown? Which settings in the theme are used by the taskbar?

Dave

[smurphos]

So where specifically are the settings for the taskbar accessible?

Via right click on any applet (the individual panel items) or via the Applets settings app accessible from the menu. Panel settings in general via right click on empty panel space or via the Panel settings app.

The Applet settings app also allows you to download alternative applets. For your use case i would suggest the replacing the default Windows-List applet with either Icing Task Manager or CobiWindowList. Both have way more configuration options, both support App grouping and both can be configured as label-less.

Which settings in the theme are used by the taskbar?

The look of the window-list - spacing, font size, highlighting scheme etc.

[dhdurgee]

So where specifically are the settings for the taskbar accessible?

Via right click on any applet (the individual panel items) or via the Applets settings app accessible from the menu. Panel settings in general via right click on empty panel space or via the Panel settings app.

The Applet settings app also allows you to download alternative applets. For your use case i would suggest the replacing the default Windows-List applet with either Icing Task Manager or CobiWindowList. Both have way more configuration options, both support App grouping and both can be configured as label-less.

Which settings in the theme are used by the taskbar?

The look of the window-list - spacing, font size, highlighting scheme etc.

Thank you for your suggestions. I believe Icing Task Manager or CobiWindowList will do the trick. They seem to operate in a similar manner, but right now I have Icing installed as the CobiWindowList adds icons to the left for "files" and "FireFox" and as I have shortcuts on the panel already for my favorites I have no need for these and don't see a way to take them off in its configuration.

Dave

[smurphos]

CobiWindowList adds icons to the left for "files" and "FireFox" and as I have shortcuts on the panel already for my favorites

You can right click on any pinned app in Cobi and uncheck pin to this workspace. Both Icing and Cobi have this feature, albeit with a different implementation, which basically combines the panel-launcher and window-list functions.

Both applets work well, and have ongoing support from their respective authors so either is a good choice.

[Moem]

So where specifically are the settings for the taskbar accessible?

I'm still wondering what you mean when you say task bar.... is it the system tray?

[smurphos]

I'm still wondering what you mean when you say task bar.... is it the system tray?

I believe the OP is referring to the window-list applet in this context Moem.

[Moem]

*sigh* You may be right, you may be wrong. Maybe I'm a stick in the mud... but it might be helpful if we'd all use the same words.

OP, please confirm or deny, so I'll be able to sleep at night. Do you mean the windows list?

[dhdurgee]

*sigh* You may be right, you may be wrong. Maybe I'm a stick in the mud... but it might be helpful if we'd all use the same words.

OP, please confirm or deny, so I'll be able to sleep at night. Do you mean the windows list?

Yes, it was the window list applet I was mainly concerned with. The Icing Task Manager appears to be the answer to my issues with its grouping of windows by application. I am still tweaking the settings and getting used to it, but even with default settings it is a vast improvement in my situation.

Dave

[Moem]

Yes, it was the window list applet I was mainly concerned with.

Thanks! Glad to see you found a solution.

[dhdurgee]

CobiWindowList adds icons to the left for "files" and "FireFox" and as I have shortcuts on the panel already for my favorites

You can right click on any pinned app in Cobi and uncheck pin to this workspace. Both Icing and Cobi have this feature, albeit with a different implementation, which basically combines the panel-launcher and window-list functions.

Both applets work well, and have ongoing support from their respective authors so either is a good choice.

Could you please clarify how I can use Icing to replace the panel launcher? Dcoumentation on how to use these applets seems a bit sparse.

At present I have eight items in my panel launcher, including the "show desktop", "terminal" and "files" as well as my most commonly used applications.

Dave

[rickNS]

Dave hi,
I see your kind-of solved.
A couple other ideas for giving you some more room down there.
1) you could remove the clock from the far right, I mean who don't know the time.
2) you can remove the word "menu" from the menu launcher.
3) instead of having 8 launchers on your pannel, you could add another panel on the left side for example, and put your favorite launchers there a dozen or more if you like, and maybe make that one auto hide. so not to take away from desktop space. (NOTE; anyone using compiz do NOT auto hide a side panel)
4) in case you've not already done so, resizing the panel smaller to 22 pixels I think, give a quite a bit more room.

I know nothing about Icing. But those things would gain considerable more room to the native panel.

[smurphos]

Could you please clarify how I can use Icing to replace the panel launcher? Dcoumentation on how to use these applets seems a bit sparse.

At present I have eight items in my panel launcher, including the "show desktop", "terminal" and "files" as well as my most commonly used applications.

Hi,

The easiest way is to open the app(s) in question then right click the icon in Icing task manager and click pin to panel in the context menu. The icon will then remain on the panel acting as a launcher once the application is closed. You need to have Pinned apps enables in the preferences (2nd tab - Panel)

You can also in Icing Task Manager preferences in the first tab check the 'Use System favorites for pinned apps' option. This will result in your favourites in the menu being added automatically as pinned apps in Icing Task Manager.

You can freely drag around the icons in Icing Task Manager to rearrange them as you like.

The Show Desktop item is a seperate applet in it's own right. I'm pretty sure it could be integrated into Icing Task manager somehow as a custom launcher. I'll have a think....

[dhdurgee]

I am using Icing now with a few minor issues. I submitted these on the github issues list and as 18.3 is running cinnamon 3.6.7 not 3.8.x they have been closed. Is a cinnamon upgrade supported on 18.3 or am I on my own if I do so?

The issues I am seeing are:

Midnight Commander open window shows as a terminal window, probably as it is running in a terminal window, not with its pinned application

An application running in wine shows two windows when only one is open

x3270 window shows on it own, not associated with its pinned application

All of these are minor and can be lived with, but perhaps they can be addressed if a cinnamon upgrade is supported.

Dave

[smurphos]

Yep ITM is much more polished in Cinnamon 19. Unfortunately you won't be able to upgrade to current cinnamon in 18.3. There are ways and means of trying but I think you'll break your system if you did.

[dhdurgee]

Any idea if tha author of CobiWindowList is supporting Cinnamon 3.6.7 now? The author of Icing refuses to do so and closes any issues unless they can be recreated in the 3.8.x version.

Dave

[smurphos]

Perhaps a way around is to outline the issue here and see if any 19 users of ITM are suffering from it. Or install Mint 19 in a Virtualbox to check yourself.

To be fair to the developer in question he also takes the lead in curating and fixing many other authors spices and is knee deep in a panel redesign for Cinnamon 4 at the moment so I can understand his reticence.

To get a take on Cobi's support you can review the current open and closed issues - https://github.com/linuxmint/cinnamon-s ... cobinja.de+