GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 96341
The clock applet is too big for vertical panels smaller than "Large"
Last modified: 2004-12-22 21:47:04 UTC
This is related to bug 83686. (I was originally adding a comment and changing fields of that bug, but bugzilla wouldn't let me, so I'm filing a new bug.) Bug 83686 assumes that the user has a horizontal panel, and notes that the clock is too tall for X and XX small panels. A similar (but much worse) problem happens if you are using a normal-sized vertical panel with normal clock settings -- you can't get a panel smaller than "large". I think the following settings are reasonable, and should be fully supported: Verdana 12 application font Vertical medium-sized panel. Clock applet on the panel. Clock format set to 12-hour. ... but even with these settings, the clock is way too big for the panel! (See screenshot.) This is unfortunate. I normally use a vertical panel of size small or medium, but I'm forced to use size LARGE if I want to see the current time. I see two possible solutions: A) Let the user optionally set the clock's font. In the clock preferences box, there could be a checkbox for "use custom font", and a button to pick one. I suggest this because I know that there have been many requests for this feature independently of the size problem, both to suit personal taste and for accessibility (large clock font). By adding this preference, a user could choose a smaller font in order to make the clock fit on the panel. But that might not be the best solution because the user will have to first realize that the clock is the applet forcing the panel to be huge. This isn't obvious by just looking at the panel (see attached screenshot). B) Force the clock to shrink and/or wrap its text if it won't fit. If the user shrinks the panel size, that action really shouldn't be veto'd by the clock (because then you'll have the same size panel, only with a smaller workspace switcher and lots of wasted space). So the clock SHOULD shrink, one way or another. If we're not going to let the user pick a custom font & font size, we need to shrink the clock's size automatically. If the user doesn't like the shrinkage, the user will have to increase the panel's size -- but at least this gives the user the *ability* to use a smaller panel.
Created attachment 11717 [details] Screenshot of a medium vertical panel with a clock on it.
I am making this as a dup of bug 83686, hope its fine. Please revert in case you disagree. Thanks. *** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of 83686 ***
Bug 83686 only covers the minor case of a clock with a specific font on an extra small horizontal panel, where the panel height increases by a few pixels. This bug is about having a normal font with a normal font on a medium-width vertical panel, having a much bigger effect, and is much more significant. Bug 83586 is marked "minor", and nobody is looking at it. In short, I think that there's a big bug out there with the clock, and that bug 83586 is only a tiny part of it. I would be happy marking this bug as a duplicate of that one if: - the summary was changed to "clock doesn't work with vertical panels" instead of "clock doesn't work with XX small and X small panels" - the description described the full problem and not just that one particular minor aspect - it gets the usability keyword - its severity is upgraded from "minor" But I think that it would make more sense to mark that bug as a duplicate of this one, since this is the more general description of the bug. Until then, I'm re-opening this bug.
Michael: right, will mark 83686 the dup of this.
*** Bug 83686 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
It's not usability, it's a bug :) Removing the keyword. Leaving as normal/normal; I'd mark high but there are many other issues that must be resolved before vertical panels are correct.
*** Bug 107853 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Wasn't this fixed in 2.2?
Err, I wouldn't call the current behaviour fixed. On my system, the default panel size when creating a new panel is "medium", and the clock applet shows both the date and time when a new one is added. This results in a readable time, but a rather useless "Sat Ma" on the panel. For this to be called "fixed", at the very least the default needs to work, and ideally the show date option would also work.
*** Bug 122884 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of 131221 ***