GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 127973
autohidden panel is not completely hidden
Last modified: 2020-11-07 12:15:46 UTC
Description of Problem: I have an autohide panel at the bottom of the screen. The panel is not completely hidden as it should be. I can see the top 4-5 pixes of the panel, including all icons!!! It makes things look very ugly, and destroys the look of the desktop background image. Steps to reproduce the problem: 1. Create a panel at the bottom of the screen 2. Add several icons/buttons 3. Enable auto-hide and let it dissapear Actual Results: The panel is not completely hidden. The top 4-5 pixes show on top of the desktop. Expected Results: The panel should be completely hidden. How often does this happen? Always. Additional Information: Running Fedora Core 1, custom installation.
Created attachment 21827 [details] Screenshot of a hidden panel which is not completely hidden
This is not a bug. If the panel was totally hidden, you would not be able to bring it back. You can change the number of pixels shown by changing the /apps/panel/profiles/default/toplevels/panel_x/auto_hide_size gconf key (where panel_x is the panel you're configuring). Set this key to 1, e.g.
I'm sorry to say but what you say doesn't make any sense. If its hidden then it should be completely hidden. If you wanted it half-hidden then you should renamed this feature to half-hidden panel. I dont mean this as an attack on you, but i've been using many operating systems, and when we mean hidden, we mean completely hidden. I also don't see how this relates to been able to unhide the panel if its completely hidden. You should be able to detect if the mouse in at the edge of the screen and then display the panel. I dont see why you have to make it half-hidden. Kinda looses its purpose right? I also tried to change the pixels. '0' doesn't work and '1' still displays the top pixel and makes things as ugly as before by showing white lines at the bottom of the screen from white buttons.
0 doesn't work because i would mean 'totally hidden' and you would not be able to bring the panel back on screen. I'm not sure it'd be possible/reasonable to detect when the mouse is on the edge of the screen. Mark: can you answer to this?
I can move desktops by moving the mouse to the edge of the screen.Thus its possible to detect when the mouse is in the correct possition. Maybe that will help?
So, have the window manager emit a "Mouse at edge of screen" signal that the panel will catch, and the panel then decides if there's a panel on that edge, and if there is, and it's hidden, show it? Currently it's "on mouseover, expand." Or we could relabel the option as "Shrink panel." My guess is that this is theoretically possible to fix, but that the benefit does not justify the amount of work it would take (especially making it work across wm's). Marking as enhancement/low priority. This could probably be WONTFIX, but I do recognize that it may in fact be worth fixing to someone. As a workaround, try using a panel color that is the same as your desktop background-- or an image where the edge N pixels of the panel match the background. That way it will *look* hidden.
aaron, i appriciate your responce. indeed the problem is exactly as you described, so i'll keep quiet and wait to see if anyone bothers to fix the code for me. your solution is indeed a possibility, though i can't keep modifying icons all the time, so its not worth in the long term. i think i've gone way further with this than if i was trying to ask for a similar update in Windows. thank you.
Also known at: https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=112469
I suggest to set the default auto_hide_size to 1. https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=112469
I've done that. But on a dark background, i still see an ugly colorful lines of 1 pixel at the bottom :( One solution is to modify all icons by hand and erase the top 1 pixel, but that is not a real solution. I've tested KDE and it seems they've got real hidden panels, so in terms of practice, it can be done. Anyway, not a real bug, but if its fixed at some point in the future, then we'll all be happy campers. PS: It would also be better if the animation was set to fast and the delay to appear is set to 0, otherwise the overal effect is that gnome runs 'slow' degrading the overal user experience. Thank you for your feedback.
Dimitrios, when the gnome-panel background is set to color or image, there is still an ugly colorful line of 1 pixel visible. When the gnome-panel background is set to none, then the visible line has 1 color, which looks quite acceptable. So I think that changing the auto_hide_size from 6 to 1 is not a full solution to the problem, but just "less bad". I agree that the full solution would be to hide the gnome-panel completely.
Well, my first suggestion (a total hack): Is it be possible to make the outermost pixel of a panel transparent? It would still catch a mouseover event, but not be displayed? My next suggestion is, even if it's too much work to allow a zero-pixel hidden panel, can we please at least add "auto hide size" to the panel properties page? I'd like to be able to configure this without using gconf. Thanks...
The transparency hack sounds like a great idea!
*** Bug 132315 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** Bug 309923 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
I second pjack's approach of making the topmost line of the panel transparent when hidden. This would catch a mouseover event and it would keep the desktop clean. As it is now, the hide feature is worthless because it just makes the system look broken.
I also agree, transparent pixels may solve the problem, if there is no issue with performance. Every desktop can completely hide its bars, why not gnome? :]
The option to add a single transparent line to discussed in the previous comments sounds like a good workaround to me.
Any luck implementing this please?
I'm looking forward to a fix for this too. It's been 3 years since this bug was opened. Is it not possible to add a transparent line of border pixels to the panel? Btw, I do appreciate the work on gnome. Thanks a bunch guys :)
I believe the same thing counts here like it always does on open source projects. It will be done if a developer personaly cares about it. Otherwise you'll get the usual "do it yourself, thats why its open source".
Hiding the panel completely would be bad for usability, because users would more easily forget that the panel is there and be surprised when it pops up after they move the mouse there. On the other hand, if a part of it is visible, it is clear that there is more visual content off the edge of the screen. This is also more consistent than a magical hiding and unhiding. Also, the partially visible icons indicate where you want the mouse when you want to use an applet or invoke a program. Usability is more important than aesthetics or the several pixels-wide of real estate used up. Please do not make the panel hide completely by default when in "autohide" mode.
>>> Hiding the panel completely would be bad for usability, >>> because users would more easily forget that the panel >>> is there and be surprised when it pops up after they >>> move the mouse there. I don't think usability is an issue here since auto-hide is not ON by default. If the user chooses auto-hide then, then they are expected to have some clue what the option does. And the animation that shows the panel sliding down should clue them in as well. I agree that the immediate workaround should be taken to change the default auto_hide_size to 1 pixel. And then work should be started to make it hide completely. Honestly it seems a bit ridiculous to me that this still isn't supported after four years.
Agreed with John Huss. 5 years now and still counting. Someone who reads this and can do it should be ashamed. Default value should be the lowest one, and that should be 0. The option is autohide, not auto cut off. Maaan. Sorry, but... I mean, really. Do it!
It does not matter that it is not on by default - hiding it completely will make it less usable for most users who choose to enable hiding. The user should still have a reminder that the panel exists and of its location.
I had problem with this too so right now I have my configurations set to: animation speed: fast auto_hide_size: 0 (although I believe there's no difference between 1 and 0) and my results were pretty good, check out the screenshots.
Created attachment 125613 [details] Hidden panel you can actually see a small line at the bottom of the screen but it does not bother me, at least.
Created attachment 125614 [details] Line in the background small line to the left of my cursor.
(In reply to comment #25) > It does not matter that it is not on by default - hiding it completely will > make it less usable for most users who choose to enable hiding. The user should > still have a reminder that the panel exists and of its location. > I understand that this "reminder" is useful to casual users. But I think that there should be the _possibility_ to really hide the panel, e.g. by manually setting the auto_hide_size to zero. I really like Gnome, so there is no way for me using another desktop enviroment, and I would _really_ appreciate to see this feature in Gnome!
Agreed with Jan Krieg, "I'll forget I have it if it's not there" is a mere excuse.
I agree too. It's a little hard to forget the existence of two panels that you use everyday. From the field, what I always hear is users complaining that they miss KDE or Windows that could leave the screen clean. To not leave this as [citation needed]: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=756588 http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=482285 http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=72818 http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=170864 http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=91762
I agree that there should be a way to configure the panel to hide completely, but it should be in a config file. But this is already possible, according to the threads linked from the previous comment (#31). There is an established principle of human-computer interaction that comes from knowledge of human cognition. It is: "out of sight means out of mind". Luka, I think it is rude to insinuate that the people maintaining Gnome Panel are looking for excuses not to implement what needs to be implemented. I am not one of those people, but I do want to improve Gnome. Mateus, that some users are asking for behavior they have seen before does not mean that it is the better behavior. Will the users who are not used to a completely hidden panel be confused if they had to deal with it? Also, users who are happy with the panel that does not hide completely are not voicing their liking for it now, but that does not mean that a completely hidden panel would be more popular.
Not, it is not possible. The threads I linked just teach how to set auto_hide_size to 1 pixel, which is just an ugly hack and not the same as completely hiding. Philip, I think you're in a difficult position here. Almost everyone that gets here is people that are pissed of enough by this behaviour to file a bug against it. And yes, I reckon that people who like the current behaviour are unlikely to voice it. Well, what to do about it? A poll in ubuntuforums, perhaps? If this behaviour is "better" or "worse" I'm not gonna discuss. This is subjective. There's people who like a clean screen, there's people who find it confusing. I think the panel is best left forgotten until you need it. But that's not important. The hard facts we have are: 1) There's a lot of users that would like the panel to completely hide. 2) Most users don't have a clue what to do with a configuration file (or gconf-editor, for that matter). This alone shows the necessity of an easy way to configure the behaviour.
(In reply to comment #32) > I agree that there should be a way to configure the panel to hide completely, > but it should be in a config file. But this is already possible, according to > the threads linked from the previous comment (#31). ... ... > Mateus, that some users are asking for behavior they have seen before does not > mean that it is the better behavior. Will the users who are not used to a > completely hidden panel be confused if they had to deal with it? Also, users > who are happy with the panel that does not hide completely are not voicing > their liking for it now, but that does not mean that a completely hidden panel > would be more popular. The problem is just that it is not even possible to set the panel to size 0. I agree that hiding the panel completely is not better or worse, but since it is just personal liking, that doesn't matter at all! All I ask for is the possibility to activate full auto_hiding. I do not mind setting this through gconf, so that 'casual' users who could 'forget' their panel won't activate this behaviour. I wonder why there is no solution after even 5 years. I understand that this is just a minor issue, but a statement from a gnome developer would be nice. Perhaps a workaround for those who do not mind editing conf-files? Greets, Jan
I'm guessing that simply "transparent pixels" won't completely eliminate the effect on-screen from decorators. For example, I currently have the auto-hide width set to 0 (which seems to act like 1), and a "dropshadow"-like effect from compiz makes it visible over other windows for about 6 pixels after that. Using a transparent pixel would probably leave the dropshadow effect.. just something to consider
I have this same problem, but transparent pixels wouldn't fix this for me. I hide the top panel, and my main problem with this bug is that I'm unable to quickly close a window by throwing the cursor into the top right corner, as the top 1 pixel or so is actually the hidden panel. Any progress with this? Thanks.
I had the same problem as the previous commenter. I'd like to have a small, non expanded panel in the top left corner, and be able to close windows by moving the mouse to the top right corner. I patched panel-toplevel to allow the strut to be 0, while leaving the panel's size alone.
Created attachment 140628 [details] [review] Allow the strut to be 0 when auto_hide_size is set to 0 Patch, see previous comment
Philip, if I am wrong, I'm sorry. But frankly, I don't think I am. What else is it then? It'll be exactly 6 years this month. Had it been not possible to do it, the bug would've been marked WONTFIX. After 5 years from when the bug has been posted, I think we have a right to doubt the dev's elan. I'm not trying to insult anyone, but the bug bugs me, and 5 years of politeness seemed to fail. I don't see any other way to infuse the motivation.
bugzilla.gnome.org is being replaced by gitlab.gnome.org. We are closing all old feature requests in Bugzilla which have not seen updates for many years. If you still use gnome-panel and if you are still requesting this feature in a currently supported version of GNOME (currently that would be 3.38), then please feel free to report it at https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-panel/-/issues/ Thank you for reporting this issue and we are sorry it could not be implemented.