SOLVED - Scrollbar width

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woodsman

SOLVED - Scrollbar width

Post by woodsman »

Is there a way to change the scrollbar width in Cinnamon? I have several older users and they are struggling with the skinny scroll bars.

In Mate I can use a gtkrc file, but that does not seem to succeed with gtk3.

Thanks. :)
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 2 times in total.
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JosephM
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Re: Scrollbar width

Post by JosephM »

Yes you can. What your looking or is the -GtkRange-slider-width property in /usr/share/themes/Mint-X/gtk3.0/gtk-widget.css. That will control the width in gtk3 apps. That setting in the gtkrc file will control the scrollbar width in gtk2 apps.
When I give opinions, they are my own. Not necessarily those of any other Linux Mint developer or the Linux Mint project as a whole.
woodsman

Re: Scrollbar width

Post by woodsman »

Thanks.

I am not sure we are discussing the same thing (but I could be confused --- nothing new there!). I want to widen all scrollbars in Cinammon, not GTK2 apps that run in Cinnamon. For example, the Nemo scrollbar is way too skinny for our users.
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austin.texas
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Re: Scrollbar width

Post by austin.texas »

woodsman wrote:I am not sure we are discussing the same thing (but I could be confused --- nothing new there!). I want to widen all scrollbars in Cinammon, not GTK2 apps that run in Cinnamon. For example, the Nemo scrollbar is way too skinny for our users.
The instruction given by JosephM will work to accomplish what you want for Nemo, and other programs.
For gtk3, "the -GtkRange-slider-width property in /usr/share/themes/Mint-X/gtk3.0/gtk-widget.css"
For gtk2, "That setting in the gtkrc file"

He used Mint-X as an example. You may be using a different "Controls" theme, so you would edit that one.
The scroll bar in the Main Menu is controlled by editing the cinnamon.css file for the theme you are using.
Mint 18.2 Cinnamon, Quad core AMD A8-3870 with Radeon HD Graphics 6550D, 8GB DDR3, Ralink RT2561/RT61 802.11g PCI
Linux Linx 2018
woodsman

Re: Scrollbar width

Post by woodsman »

Thank you. Those changes do indeed succeed. Here is what I changed:

* Fix GTK3 scrollbar slider behavior
/etc/gtk-3.0/settings.ini
[Settings]
gtk-primary-button-warps-slider=0

* Fix GTK3 scrollbar slider width
/usr/share/themes/Mint-X/gtk-3.0/gtk-widgets.css: default -GtkRange-slider-width: 19px

* Fix Cinnamon menu scrollbar width
/usr/share/themes/$THEME/cinnamon/cinnamon.css: StScrollView STScrollBar min-width: 19px

The primary challenge with this solution is the next Update Pack with Cinnamon 2.2 will erase/overwrite the changes. Another challenge is the changes affect only one theme and if the user downloads new themes the changes have no effect.

A GUI method would be well received to change these options such that the changes are saved in the user's profile. I am new to LMDE so what is the appropriate way to ask/recommend these GUI controls?

I emphasize the word recommend because the users I am installing this system are retired folks. The LMDE defaults are way too small and tiny for older eyes. I don't mind customizing but GUI controls wold save muuch time for everybody. :)
JosephM
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Re: SOLVED - Scrollbar width

Post by JosephM »

Gui controls for this might come in handy but I'm not sure how practical they would be to implement. One solution would be to make a copy of the original themes under a new name and make your changes to the copies. That would keep things from getting overwritten by an update. You could also inform your users that you have customized the themes for usability purposes and what changing them will do.
When I give opinions, they are my own. Not necessarily those of any other Linux Mint developer or the Linux Mint project as a whole.
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austin.texas
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Re: SOLVED - Scrollbar width

Post by austin.texas »

JosephM is exactly correct - your solution would be to copy and rename the theme (creating your own theme).
Then you can post your theme online for anyone with the same needs, with no need to worry about your updates.
It is easy to post your theme here - http://gnome-look.org/content/show.php?content=163192
or here - http://cinnamon-spices.linuxmint.com/themes/view/296

Themes posted on cinnamon-spices.linuxmint.com will appear in the System Settings > Themes > Get More Online tab, making the installation to various computers incredibly easy.

You can see here what can be done to expand the size and legibility of the calendar -
http://gnome-look.org/content/preview.p ... 7283fb3490
this is the date title in the calendar (cinnamon.css)
.datemenu-date-label {
padding: .2em 2.75em .2em 2.75em;
font-size: 1.4em; - 2em is HUGE, and expands the width of the Calendar.
font-weight: bold;
color: green;
text-align: center;
}
Last edited by austin.texas on Mon Apr 28, 2014 10:50 am, edited 5 times in total.
Mint 18.2 Cinnamon, Quad core AMD A8-3870 with Radeon HD Graphics 6550D, 8GB DDR3, Ralink RT2561/RT61 802.11g PCI
Linux Linx 2018
eanfrid

Re: SOLVED - Scrollbar width

Post by eanfrid »

If you want to use personal themes or modify system-wide existing ones, the right way is to copy them into your own personal themes folder and apply the changes you want, which will automagically override the system-wide settings. This personal (hidden) folder is "~/.themes" (where "~" stands for the path to your own home folder). Doing otherwise is making unstable system-wide changes ignored by further system updates...
woodsman

Re: SOLVED - Scrollbar width

Post by woodsman »

Yes I know how to make user settings override system settings. The challenge here is the system defaults are wrong and I need to administer these changes for more than one person. I should be able to insert global system override changes somewhere in /etc. That way I don't need to worry about Update Packs and users can still override my changes if they want.
cedbled

Re: Scrollbar width

Post by cedbled »

woodsman wrote:Thank you. Those changes do indeed succeed. Here is what I changed:

* Fix GTK3 scrollbar slider behavior
/etc/gtk-3.0/settings.ini
[Settings]
gtk-primary-button-warps-slider=0

* Fix GTK3 scrollbar slider width
/usr/share/themes/Mint-X/gtk-3.0/gtk-widgets.css: default -GtkRange-slider-width: 19px

* Fix Cinnamon menu scrollbar width
/usr/share/themes/$THEME/cinnamon/cinnamon.css: StScrollView STScrollBar min-width: 19px

The primary challenge with this solution is the next Update Pack with Cinnamon 2.2 will erase/overwrite the changes. Another challenge is the changes affect only one theme and if the user downloads new themes the changes have no effect.

A GUI method would be well received to change these options such that the changes are saved in the user's profile. I am new to LMDE so what is the appropriate way to ask/recommend these GUI controls?

I emphasize the word recommend because the users I am installing this system are retired folks. The LMDE defaults are way too small and tiny for older eyes. I don't mind customizing but GUI controls wold save muuch time for everybody. :)
Hey, my only problem is locating the theme folder for a theme i'm using named "Void".....i cannot locate it in the folder structure I bolded....could it be because I'm running cinnamon 2.4, and the theme was designed for cinn 1.8? are there any alternate theme folder locations, where I should be looking?

The theme does install, and work great BTW, so I know it's there somewhere, I just can't find it.... I've done searches of the entire File System, but I'm missing something
JosephM
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Re: SOLVED - Scrollbar width

Post by JosephM »

When you install themes from the Cinnamon Spices site they are placed in the .themes directory in your home folder.
When I give opinions, they are my own. Not necessarily those of any other Linux Mint developer or the Linux Mint project as a whole.
cedbled

Re: SOLVED - Scrollbar width

Post by cedbled »

JosephM wrote:When you install themes from the Cinnamon Spices site they are placed in the .themes directory in your home folder.
which explains why I haven't seen it thus far.....sneeeeaky........

Well, are the rules the same for modding the spice themes? are the config files layed out the same way?
Bernie222

Re: SOLVED - Scrollbar width

Post by Bernie222 »

I also changed the css.files, full-plane windows like foirefox or office-writer still have the too-small scroll bars whereas other windows now show my preferred size.
There are young, blind and semi-blind useres. Belonging to the last grout mint must have a simple way to adapt settings like the width of scrollbars or the transparency of windows (like that of opened nemo).
This should be possible without to become a gksudo-terminal-specialist changing the inwards of css-files.
This was also recommended above and my hope is that the developers will set this to one of their priorities. Beside this mint is great.
***Guten Rutsch (meaning good scroll to the new year) and happy new year**** Bernie
http://forums.linuxmint.com/posting.php ... 8&t=166000#
supercoolgirl

Re: SOLVED - Scrollbar width

Post by supercoolgirl »

It didn't work for me at all
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Moem
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Re: SOLVED - Scrollbar width

Post by Moem »

Hi Supercoolgirl,
Can you please start a new thread? It's easier to read that way. I'm sure someone will be able to help you with your question if you give us enough information, most importantly: which version of Mint are you using?
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If your issue is solved, kindly indicate that by editing the first post in the topic, and adding [SOLVED] to the title. Thanks!
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Re: SOLVED - Scrollbar width

Post by Grenny »

I know this is an old topic, but this might help someone in the future.
I had the same problem with Linux Mint Tessa 19.1 Cinnamon and tried some of the other excellent suggestions, but the following worked for me, based on JosephM's message:

Copying the code from the
/usr/share/themes/Mint-X/gtk-3.0/gtk-widgets.css
file, I inserted into the file:

/home/USER/.config/gtk-3.0/gtk.css, the following:

Code: Select all

scrollbar {
    -GtkScrollbar-has-backward-stepper: 1;
    -GtkScrollbar-has-forward-stepper: 1;
}
scrollbar slider {min-width: 10px;}
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