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Idea #22822: Improve the height of the panel

bug This entry was marked as not being an idea the 5 November 12. If this is a bug report, please use the Ubuntu bug tracker.
Written by ubby the 5 Dec 09 at 10:51. Category: Look and Feel. Related project: Nothing/Others. Status: Not an idea
Rationale
As you can see in the picture below Ubuntu's panel height is 25 px:
http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/2940/panelk.png
The height of the Apple OSX panel is 21 px and let the desktop look smoother.
My idea is to make the Ubuntu panel in the next Ubuntu release 22 px.
Maybe the font also need to be changed to make it look better.
Tags: Ubuntu

-63
votes
closed
Solution #1: Make the height 22 px
Written by ubby the 5 Dec 09 at 10:51.
348
votes
closed
Solution #2: allow panel to be shrunk more
Written by godspeed_72 the 5 Dec 09 at 23:57.
Like Shady3D said in the comments: you can already change the size of the panel, but the minimum is 23px. Regardless of the default size, you should be able to adjust the panel down to at least 21px.
-48
votes
closed
Solution #3: The Major limiting factors - Font size & DPI
Written by DrG the 10 Dec 09 at 07:18.
(Karmic) -
The minimum width of the panel is determined at runtime , considering application font.
So overcome this with

1.A separate font property for panel
2. This should automatically resize on resizing panel
3. Add supports to applets to have a reduced size

----------------------------------------------------
( Temporary workaround based on above observation)

1.Open System > Preferences > Appearance ( or right click on desktop and select 'Change Desktop Background ) select 'Fonts' Tab
2.Change the 'Application font' size to '9' ( setting the font size to 8 can reduce the panel size to 19 )
3.Right click on an existing panel and click 'new panel '
4.Right click on the new panel and set 'Orientation ' to 'Top' and change size to 21 ( Don't check 'Show hide buttons '
5.Now the panel size changes to 21 . Add applets to it


Disadvantages :
1.An existing panel with applets may fail to resize ( so add applets only after resizing ) or panel with the 'Hide' buttons ( Ubuntu had to fix this )
2.The fonts of other application also changed - a side effect. - workaround – Ubuntu had to implement a separate font property for the panel ( eg : inside the panel's property dialogue ) or had to adjust the font size according to panel height automatically .
12
votes
closed
Solution #4: 'Resize' Menu-item for Panel.
Written by DrG the 10 Dec 09 at 07:41.
Make a 'Resize' menu-item for Panel , like that in metacity windows menu ( the menu which appears on right clicking the window list or the title bar ) or a resize grip . This will allow to adjust the size of the panel while seeing , rather than by entering values and trying .
-86
votes
closed
Solution #5: Decrease to 20 pixels
Written by fix98-win the 11 Dec 09 at 14:52.
Decrease the size of the panel to 20 pixels by default. Allow it to be resized, or even moved from top to bottom or the sides, possibly floating window attached to the desktop.

Propose your solution

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Comments
Ricardo Espinel wrote on the 5 Dec 09 at 19:20
I Agree. Ubuntu is in Middle Age when it's about a goodlooking eyecndy image, as it ought be to Knock out the microsoft and apple empires. We need to be gorgeous to win this war for freedom

Shady3D wrote on the 5 Dec 09 at 22:25
just remove the lock on the panel so i can decrease till it reaches 20

BenKlein wrote on the 6 Dec 09 at 01:19
Problem with reducing the size by default is that those who can't read small text (in other words, accessibility).

ubby wrote on the 6 Dec 09 at 15:07
@BenKlein, I understand but Apple OSX users don't have problems with the small size so I don't see a accessibility problem for Ubuntu users.
If the default will be 22 px people can also make it bigger if it is to small.

Dataphile wrote on the 6 Dec 09 at 23:16
I'm a little disappointed with the rationale here. What's wrong with the current size of 25px? Seems to work for me, and the only rationale I see here is that it could be 22px.

Why is 22px good/better/best? Playing devil's advocate here, if "smaller is better" is the rationale, then why don't we shoot for 16px? 12px? 1 px?

Please provide some indication of why you chose 22px and why 25px is not acceptable.

ubby wrote on the 7 Dec 09 at 10:18
@Dataphile
Why does Apple OSX looks better? Because of the details!

The Apple OSX panel is 21 px and the panel look much better than the Ubuntu panel but there a not big differences only the small details.

kenbw2 wrote on the 9 Dec 09 at 02:19
Please stop this OSX rip-off

If it were Windows we were copying there's be evolt, but with OSX its ok somehow :S

ubby wrote on the 9 Dec 09 at 07:53
@kenbw2: This is not a OSX rip-off because 22 px is not the same size as OSX it's panel!
If you think the size is a rip-off Ubuntu can better remove the whole panel because OSX also has a panel on the same place with almost the same options.


Attiliron wrote on the 9 Dec 09 at 21:03
I like the idea of a smaller top panel. On a netbook's screen you need every pixel, so at least the UNR should use a smaller panel.

Verstraete Linard wrote on the 9 Dec 09 at 22:07
Strange that you can't do that in Ubuntu. In Xubuntu (Xfce) you can choose you the height of each panel, ranging from 16px to 128px. :D

saftaplan wrote on the 11 Dec 09 at 09:18
Here the height is 28 pixels and I didn't adjust the height. It depends on the DPI of the screen, mine is 128 DPI.

lavinog wrote on the 23 Dec 09 at 17:57
I think the problem is that the minimum is 23px.

The idea is valid. Users should be free to make their panel as small as they want.

Vahan Harutyunyan (Brainstorm moderator) wrote on the 5 Nov 12 at 16:50
@ solution #1:

1. If the current height of the panel looks bad to you, please file a bug report against Unity for this issue.

@ solution #2:

2. By default you can't customize top panel in Unity (starting from Ubuntu 11.04), and Ubuntu Classic mode (classic gnome) has been replaced with Unity 2D in Ubuntu 11.10

3. You can adjust the panel down to 21px in classic Gnome (checked for Ubuntu 10.04).

Closing in Brainstorm.


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