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Idea #1906: Optimize gnome panel for vertical use

Written by klingonfc the 29 Feb 08 at 22:39. Category: Look and Feel. Related project: Nothing/Others. Status: New
Rationale
For those of us with wide screen monitors, it would be great if we could have a panel that works well in the vertical position. We have additional space for a wide vertical panel on the right or left side of our monitor.

There are several bugs/problems when using the panel vertically.

1. Window List is broken and unusable when used vertically. The text stays horizontal without wrapping, making it completely unreadable. In my opinion, the text should just stay vertical like the "Menu Bar" and clock. There is also an odd expansion problem. Vertically the Window List is set to fixed size and won't expand to fit the free space of the panel. See:

2. When aligned on the left, the submenu arrows point the wrong way when navigating menus.

3. Notification Area icons don't scale. Either the notification icons should scale properly to the size of the panel, or they should re-align into a grid. This is true for both vertical and horizontal panel use. Launchers should be able to be set in a grid as well.


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Solution #1: Auto-generated solution of idea #1906
Written by klingonfc the 29 Feb 08 at 22:39.
Ubuntu Brainstorm was updated in January 2009. Since the idea #1906 was submitted before this update, its rationale and solution are not separated. Please vote accordingly, and if you have the necessary rights, please separate the rationale from the solution. Thanks!
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Solution #2: The new "User Switcher" applet should be displayed vertically
Written by aliam13_2 the 16 Mar 09 at 15:39.
When the panel is vertical the new "User Switcher" applet should be displayed vertically. Currently the text is displayed vertically but the power icon / status icon is still to the right, thus you can not see the icon nor read the text. The icon should simply be put above or below the already vertical text. This would make the "User Switcher" applet behave in a usable manor when used on a vertical panel.

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heavyal wrote on the 29 Feb 08 at 22:47
This would be nice to see. Both my desktop and laptop are wide screen and I love having widgets and such in a side bar but like you mention text wrapping gets screwed up and icons dont scale right. It would add polish overall to the new breed of machines that are available these days that all seem to take advantage of wide screen one way or another.

ethana2 wrote on the 2 Mar 08 at 09:10
When the screen is wide enough, all should be at the top. We have two panels to work with small screens. I always put everything in one at the top of the screen when I have the available width to do so.

..but flexibility is good. *votes up*

brokencrystal wrote on the 29 Mar 08 at 17:58
Remove that arrow that is over the icon on the main menu in Gnome, or ad an option in Gnome configuration editor. When I try to customize my "Menu" button, it looks funky (not the good funky) because that arrow covers the letters on my custom graphic and it's not legible.

For example:
Jason wants to make his friends Ubuntu desktop look a little like Windows so he can feel more at home during his transition to Ubuntu. He creates a picture of a little button that says "Start" on it. It is covered by an arrow and looks funny.

Joe's friend Mike happens to be a graphics artist. He asks Mike if he will make a really nice graphic to use for his menu. After weeks of hard work, Mike gives Joe his file. Mike had shown his artistic abilities and Joe loves it. Joe adds his new graphic as the main menu icon, only to discover that it is covered by a dumb little arrow that he cannot disable.


alexk wrote on the 7 May 08 at 02:21
Below is a collection of related upstream bugs.

General:
http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=428943

Window List applet:
http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=86382
http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=521478

Notification Area applet:
http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=531371

Quick Lounge applet:
http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=531358
http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=531360

alexk wrote on the 7 May 08 at 02:24
Vertical layout works beautifully in KDE, Windows XP and Windows Vista. Gnome seems to be the only exception.

Please vote for the idea to help deliver this message to Gnome developers!

Richard.Kolodziej wrote on the 22 Jun 08 at 21:31
Very good idea! I'm really annoyed of the current vertical panel behaviour.

captainmish wrote on the 23 Jul 08 at 08:48
This used to work fine, then broke and was forgotten about. Its still broken in 8.10 alphas. Another launchpad link:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-panel/+bug/187540

tstclair wrote on the 2 Dec 08 at 14:59
One feature that would add a lot to the functionality of a vertical panel would be to have an applet that would behave similar to the drawer applet, and essentially embed a horizontal panel into a vertical panel. That way, we could have things such as rows of quick launch icons, other applets, or even a properly functioning notification area (given that our panel was wide enough).

Overall i would love to see better vertical panel support.

cb474 wrote on the 10 Dec 08 at 09:27
Yes, please fix this. Although there are related upstream bugs, the bug reports have existed in Gnome since 2002. That's six years with nothing done. For all intents and purposes, Gnome has abandoned this problem. If Ubuntu fixed it that would make Ubuntu's version of Gnome so much better.

RomanIvanov wrote on the 16 Dec 08 at 15:31
I like Xubuntu 8.10 view of vertical panel (but it is not ideal too).

I use vertical panel only due to the fact that I have wide screen and for me vertical size of screen is more necessary.

positivek wrote on the 30 Jul 09 at 18:28
The gnome panel seems to be just a vertical or horizontal "container" for the applets. It seems to tell its applets which of the N, S, E, W orientation they should be and at what size.

In this way, gnome panel is simple and decentralized, so that no applet needs to know about what other applets are doing. Each applet also does not need to retain its own orientation preferences (Although I assume that they could).

A key point is that certain preferred behavior seems to be particular to "wide" vertical panel versus "narrow" vertical panel. See "tstclair wrote on the 2 Dec 08 at 14:59" for this same important qualification on their preferred behavior.

An example difficult question: Should the Window List applet change the way it displays its window buttons based on the width it is given by its host panel?

This is a classic case of "just working" vs. "working the way I want it", and where providing sensible defaults is best, with the options to customize as necessary.


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