You are not logged in.



Is there any way to reduce the width on the sn-button, pulseaudio-plugin, power-manager-plugin, and clipman-plugin without reducing the panel size? I tried a few things like negative margin width and 0 padding width but it did not work on sn-button, power-manager-plugin, and clipman-plugin. Reducing the icon size to 16 pixels using fixed icon size (pixels) does not change the width of the tray/applet.
Current panel height is 40 pixels and icon size is 16 pixels (docklike-plugin uses 32 pixels).
Last edited by w4l_ (2025-11-16 05:04:41)
Offline


Hello and welcome.
The plugins are square, so the dimensions will always be constrained by the size of the panel itself. However, there are two things that you can try to see if it makes a difference: remove padding and use negative margins (hack). Try the following in ~/.config/gtk-3.0/gtk.css (create the file if it doesn't exist):
.xfce4-panel .toggle {padding: 0; margin-left: -5px; margin-right: -5px;}...adjust the -5px to suit. Restart the panel to see the effect:
xfce4-panel -rLet me know if this doesn't effect all the plugins you want, or too many, or not enough, etc....
Mark solved threads as [SOLVED] to make it easier for others to find solutions.
--- How To Ask For Help | FAQ | Developer Wiki | Community | Contribute ---
Offline


Hello and welcome.
The plugins are square, so the dimensions will always be constrained by the size of the panel itself. However, there are two things that you can try to see if it makes a difference: remove padding and use negative margins (hack). Try the following in ~/.config/gtk-3.0/gtk.css (create the file if it doesn't exist):
.xfce4-panel .toggle {padding: 0; margin-left: -5px; margin-right: -5px;}...adjust the -5px to suit. Restart the panel to see the effect:
xfce4-panel -rLet me know if this doesn't effect all the plugins you want, or too many, or not enough, etc....

It ended up overlapping to sn-button, power-manager-plugin,and clipman-plugin. This is exact output when I try it on css before this (to each panel applet only just to not breaking the layout I made on the css).
Is it hardcoded? Pulseaudio-plugin can use the negative margin width, but I want it to affect others too without overlapping.
Offline


The other approach is to only address only those plugins that you want to affect:
#xfce4-power-manager-plugin,
#pulseaudio-button,
#xfce4-clipman-plugin
{padding: 0; margin-left: -5px; margin-right: -5px;}I'm not sure exactly what you mean by "overlapping" (other than the clock).
Mark solved threads as [SOLVED] to make it easier for others to find solutions.
--- How To Ask For Help | FAQ | Developer Wiki | Community | Contribute ---
Offline


The other approach is to only address only those plugins that you want to affect:
#xfce4-power-manager-plugin, #pulseaudio-button, #xfce4-clipman-plugin {padding: 0; margin-left: -5px; margin-right: -5px;}I'm not sure exactly what you mean by "overlapping" (other than the clock).
From what I see from the screens you uploaded, it only affects the pulseaudio-button while others like xfce4-power-manager-plugin dont.
The overlapping I meant is the sn-button on hover state and it overlaps when the side margins are reduced, like this:
Other than that the side borders kinda broken if the margins are reduced:
The hover state should look like this:
Any way to make it show the side borders again if the css side margins are reduced?
Edit: Able to restore the hover state for power-manager-plugin and clipman-plugin, but pulseaudio-button remains broken (like the second image above).
Last edited by w4l_ (2025-11-04 04:23:57)
Offline


Can you share the code you've used so far?
Mark solved threads as [SOLVED] to make it easier for others to find solutions.
--- How To Ask For Help | FAQ | Developer Wiki | Community | Contribute ---
Offline


Can you share the code you've used so far?
Heres the code for that specific applet (its quite a mess lol, scroll down for the margin part):
#xfce4-power-manager-plugin {
color: #ffffff;
border: 1px solid rgba(0,0,0,0);
}
#xfce4-power-manager-plugin:hover {
background-color: transparent;
background-image: linear-gradient(to bottom,
rgba(255,255,255,0.5),
rgba(135,165,202,0));
border: 1px solid rgba(0,0,0,0.5);
border-radius: 3px;
box-shadow: 0 0 0 1px rgba(255,255,255,0.375) inset;
}
#xfce4-power-manager-plugin:checked {
background-color: transparent;
background-image: linear-gradient(to bottom,
rgba(255,255,255,0.625),
rgba(255,255,255,0.165));
border: 1px solid rgba(0,0,0,0.5);
box-shadow: 0 0 0 1px rgba(255,255,255,0.5) inset;
}
#xfce4-clipman-plugin {
border: 1px solid rgba(0,0,0,0);
}
#xfce4-clipman-plugin image {
color: #ffffff;
}
#xfce4-clipman-plugin:hover {
background-color: transparent;
background-image: linear-gradient(to bottom,
rgba(255,255,255,0.5),
rgba(135,165,202,0));
border: 1px solid rgba(0,0,0,0.5);
border-radius: 3px;
box-shadow: 0 0 0 1px rgba(255,255,255,0.375) inset;
}
#xfce4-clipman-plugin:checked {
background-color: transparent;
background-image: linear-gradient(to bottom,
rgba(255,255,255,0.625),
rgba(255,255,255,0.165));
border: 1px solid rgba(0,0,0,0.5);
box-shadow: 0 0 0 1px rgba(255,255,255,0.5) inset;
}
#pulseaudio-button {
border: 1px solid rgba(0,0,0,0);
}
#pulseaudio-button:hover {
background-color: transparent;
background-image: linear-gradient(to bottom,
rgba(255,255,255,0.5),
rgba(135,165,202,0));
border: 1px solid rgba(0,0,0,0.5);
border-radius: 3px;
box-shadow: 0 0 0 1px rgba(255,255,255,0.375) inset;
}
#pulseaudio-button:checked {
background-color: transparent;
background-image: linear-gradient(to bottom,
rgba(255,255,255,0.625),
rgba(255,255,255,0.165));
border: 1px solid rgba(0,0,0,0.5);
box-shadow: 0 0 0 1px rgba(255,255,255,0.5) inset;
}
#xfce4-power-manager-plugin, #xfce4-clipman-plugin, #pulseaudio-button {
padding: 0;
margin-left: -12px;
margin-right: -12px;
}
/* Restores the side borders, pulseaudio-button just broke if added to this. */
#xfce4-power-manager-plugin, #xfce4-clipman-plugin {
margin: 0 10px;
}Offline


Strange, isn't it. This pulseaudio-button tweak gets me into the ballpark:
#pulseaudio-button box {margin-left: -9px; margin-right: -9px}...instead of adding it to the last line.
Mark solved threads as [SOLVED] to make it easier for others to find solutions.
--- How To Ask For Help | FAQ | Developer Wiki | Community | Contribute ---
Offline



It works! Other than pulseaudio-button needs to be in the between of battery and clipman to give an illusion that it is centered, it is looking good!
A bit off topic to this thread, is there any way to make the sn-button arrow color (XfceArrowButton on gtk inspector) to be white? I can't find any documentation to that...
Other than this silly question, it is solved. Thank you!
Last edited by w4l_ (2025-11-05 14:55:25)
Offline


A bit off topic to this thread, is there any way to make the sn-button arrow color (XfceArrowButton on gtk inspector) to be white?
XfceArrowButton is an object name and is not manageable by CSS.
However, yes it is possible, but unfortunately, it in itself doesn't have a unique CSS identifier (at least on xfce4-panel 4.20.5 it doesn't). Basically you would need to:
button {color: white}...but this will change the colour on all GTK button elements.
You could focus it the specific widget ID (which you can get by hovering over the Status Tray Plugin element on the Panel Preferences > Items tab), to get something like:
#systray-7 button {color: white}...but every system or profile might have a different ID.
Or make all xfce4-panel buttons white:
.xfce4-panel button {color: white}...which might negatively affect other panel buttons.
Or maybe try to specify the exact widget path to this element:
.xfce4-panel>widget>box>button {color: white}...and hope that no other panel plugin has the same path or negatively affects the button colour. (Note: if it does, you could further correct it with another tweak to change the colour of other plugins back).
Confusing, I know.
Mark solved threads as [SOLVED] to make it easier for others to find solutions.
--- How To Ask For Help | FAQ | Developer Wiki | Community | Contribute ---
Offline


Is there a reason why these changes don't affect Power Manager and Notifyd?
PS: On Debian 13, PulseAudio doesn't slim down under Xfce 4.20 either, but it does on Arch Xfce 4.20, always using "margin left and right" in gtk.css.
Last edited by simeon9997 (2026-01-29 00:47:42)
Offline


Is there a reason why these changes don't affect Power Manager and Notifyd?
All applets on xfce4 based on my observation usually have squared width and height, and for some reason it can't be tweaked. For pulseaudio plugin, I don't know why the width can be reduced.
In the end, I ended up moving some of my applets to the status tray plugin and unchecked the "Sqaure Items". Power Manager have system icon tray option in the power manager settings, and clipman can be launched to tray, but both power manager and clipman can't be styled and I don't know why... For the notifyd, it can't be helped and I just left it as is.
Here's how my tray look:
Offline


simeon9997 wrote:Is there a reason why these changes don't affect Power Manager and Notifyd?
All applets on xfce4 based on my observation usually have squared width and height, and for some reason it can't be tweaked. For pulseaudio plugin, I don't know why the width can be reduced.
In the end, I ended up moving some of my applets to the status tray plugin and unchecked the "Sqaure Items". Power Manager have system icon tray option in the power manager settings, and clipman can be launched to tray, but both power manager and clipman can't be styled and I don't know why... For the notifyd, it can't be helped and I just left it as is.
Here's how my tray look:
In the case of Power Manager, the system tray icon is discontinued. I used it and encountered the problem that at certain battery percentages, the icon started to look distorted. I reported it here https://gitlab.xfce.org/xfce/xfce4-powe … issues/274 and was informed that it is no longer being maintained and will be removed in future versions. Just like with Notified, we will be forced to use that awkward square button again. PulseAudio also doesn't slim down in Debian 13 and derivatives, even with the same settings applied; I've already tested it. And although it works in other distributions, when the microphone is activated, the button becomes huge again.
I've already raised this issue of slimming down the buttons in the Xfce panel in many places, and the answer is always the same: it won't be considered.
Clipman works correctly in the system tray, and for everything else, I've installed the MATE drum and audio plugins, which also fit perfectly in the system tray. It's not ideal; I love the Xfce ecosystem, but this decision to make the plugins individual, square panels is too inconvenient and annoying. When you design a panel that's more than 40px high and you want it to look uniform, you'll have a major headache.
Offline


In the case of Power Manager, the system tray icon is discontinued. I used it and encountered the problem that at certain battery percentages, the icon started to look distorted. I reported it here https://gitlab.xfce.org/xfce/xfce4-powe … issues/274 and was informed that it is no longer being maintained and will be removed in future versions.
For the power manager, I looked into the alternatives and I found batticonplus since I only need it to display on the panel and AppIndicator/Ayatana support, although I need to tweak the icon theme to support notification icon types so it displayed based on the battery percentage instead of generic full, caution, low, etc. icons which sometimes can be inaccurate.
PulseAudio also doesn't slim down in Debian 13 and derivatives, even with the same settings applied; I've already tested it. And although it works in other distributions, when the microphone is activated, the button becomes huge again.
Sorry, I don't use/daily Debian, so I can't help you with that. But on my setup when the mic is activated, the buttons doesn't became huge. It looked like this: 
I've already raised this issue of slimming down the buttons in the Xfce panel in many places, and the answer is always the same: it won't be considered.
but this decision to make the plugins individual, square panels is too inconvenient and annoying. When you design a panel that's more than 40px high and you want it to look uniform, you'll have a major headache.
It's kinda sad and disappointed for us who uses large panel sizes (>40px) and wanted the tray icons small like Windows. Most XFCE setups I found are using small panel sizes or using another panel or dock, while others who tried to do this setup leave it large or inconsistent with others. Putting it on a system tray like Windows can be useful, but some tray icons are not using AppIndicator/Ayatana, which can messed up the margins and not supporting button state styling (e.g.: hover styles) which is clipman. The only panel plugins that I wanted to move to the tray is the pulseaudio plugin, but I haven't found one that I really need. I tried pasystray, but it looked complicated. I just want a simple volume slider on a panel (AppIndicator/Ayatana tray preferred if available).
Look how inconsistent the spacing is between the battery (batticonplus) and the clipman. The clipman is closer to the battery icon rather than being uniform like blueman and network manager applet which supports AppIndicator/Ayatana.
Same goes for PulseAudio plugin. I can't slim it more than -10px margin.
Offline


Is there any way to reduce the width on the sn-button, pulseaudio-plugin, power-manager-plugin, and clipman-plugin without reducing the panel size? I tried a few things like negative margin width and 0 padding width but it did not work on sn-button, power-manager-plugin, and clipman-plugin. Reducing the icon size to 16 pixels using fixed icon size (pixels) does not change the width of the tray/applet.Current panel height is 40 pixels and icon size is 16 pixels (docklike-plugin uses 32 pixels).
I've recompiled the plugins and now I can confirm: it can be done!
Now for a slightly longer story... Well, I admit I got a little obsessed with this and looked for a way to modify the plugins from the source code. I have very basic programming knowledge (not to mention none at all), however, with the help of Brave's AI, I managed to modify and compile the Notified and Power Manager plugins to my liking. I added parameters to lock the width to 25px and everything works fine. This is so easy to implement! Only now, after achieving this, do I realize the absurd responses I was getting from the developers when I asked them about this. Only ToZ really helped me... reading his responses sparked my curiosity... what if I try this? What if I do that? And that's how I ended up recompiling from the source code with almost no prior knowledge.
This is an image of how it turned out. As you can see, the spacing is almost indistinguishable, and the icons are located within the system tray:
The next step is learning how to package this so I can share it, and that's what I'm working on!
Offline


Cool. I'm curious, what coding changes did you make?
Mark solved threads as [SOLVED] to make it easier for others to find solutions.
--- How To Ask For Help | FAQ | Developer Wiki | Community | Contribute ---
Offline


Cool. I'm curious, what coding changes did you make?
Well, right now I'm not sure exactly which lines, but I modified the "notification-plugin.c" and "power-manager-button.c" files (both from the source code) and then compiled them. Would you like to try it? I'd send you my modified files; you'd have to copy them to the source code and replace the originals, then compile it.
Edit: Link https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ … sp=sharing
Last edited by simeon9997 (2026-04-22 02:21:15)
Offline


I've recompiled the plugins and now I can confirm: it can be done!
Now for a slightly longer story... Well, I admit I got a little obsessed with this and looked for a way to modify the plugins from the source code. I have very basic programming knowledge (not to mention none at all), however, with the help of Brave's AI, I managed to modify and compile the Notified and Power Manager plugins to my liking. I added parameters to lock the width to 25px and everything works fine. This is so easy to implement! Only now, after achieving this, do I realize the absurd responses I was getting from the developers when I asked them about this. Only ToZ really helped me... reading his responses sparked my curiosity... what if I try this? What if I do that? And that's how I ended up recompiling from the source code with almost no prior knowledge.
This is an image of how it turned out. As you can see, the spacing is almost indistinguishable, and the icons are located within the system tray:The next step is learning how to package this so I can share it, and that's what I'm working on!
That's cool! So it's indeed confirmed that the width can be reduced, but the devs chose not to, I guess.
But I prefer using Status Notifier Plugin for these kind of applets, the PulseAudio plugin, NetworkManager, battery (batticonplus), it can be shown or hide easily by configuring the status notifier plugin properties, quite similar like how Windows did. Not to mention that there's no XFCE's network manager applet (according to what I found, maybe I missed something?), and I want the network icon in the middle of the battery and the volume icon, at least that's what I wanted to look like.
The only thing I didn't like with my current setup is the old XEmbed systrays that the width cannot be customizeable using the CSS. I tried pasystray (I know there's the wayland version that didn't use XEmbed) but it didn't match my liking since I just want a volume slider, mute button, and a shortcut to pavucontrol like the equivalent of the Windows' volume icon, on my testing the keyboard volume up and down keys it didn't worked, and the current volume icon I use which is pa-applet is too bare bones for me (still using it due to supporting keyboard volume keys, I know I can bind the keys but I prefer with some visuals/notifications). I also didn't like how the Status Notifier arrow was placed, instead of the left side it's on the right side. Well, it's just my own preferences and the flaws on using these kind of setup, still looks a bit inferior than Windows I think.
Besides that, I just afraid if I used the modified applet it will conflict with the newer version if I want to upgrade my system (I don't know much about linux even with 3-4 years of daily drive it, and I have no experiences on programming, sorry!).
Anyways, it looks cool for your setup! I just lack the motivation to do it myself...
Last edited by w4l_ (2026-04-22 09:56:52)
Offline


That's cool! So it's indeed confirmed that the width can be reduced, but the devs chose not to, I guess.
But I prefer using Status Notifier Plugin for these kind of applets, the PulseAudio plugin, NetworkManager, battery (batticonplus), it can be shown or hide easily by configuring the status notifier plugin properties, quite similar like how Windows did. Not to mention that there's no XFCE's network manager applet (according to what I found, maybe I missed something?), and I want the network icon in the middle of the battery and the volume icon, at least that's what I wanted to look like.
The only thing I didn't like with my current setup is the old XEmbed systrays that the width cannot be customizeable using the CSS. I tried pasystray (I know there's the wayland version that didn't use XEmbed) but it didn't match my liking since I just want a volume slider, mute button, and a shortcut to pavucontrol like the equivalent of the Windows' volume icon, on my testing the keyboard volume up and down keys it didn't worked, and the current volume icon I use which is pa-applet is too bare bones for me (still using it due to supporting keyboard volume keys, I know I can bind the keys but I prefer with some visuals/notifications). I also didn't like how the Status Notifier arrow was placed, instead of the left side it's on the right side. Well, it's just my own preferences and the flaws on using these kind of setup, still looks a bit inferior than Windows I think.
Besides that, I just afraid if I used the modified applet it will conflict with the newer version if I want to upgrade my system (I don't know much about linux even with 3-4 years of daily drive it, and I have no experiences on programming, sorry!).
Anyways, it looks cool for your setup! I just lack the motivation to do it myself...
I understand, the order doesn't really matter to me, as long as the spacing and size of the icons are consistent. I mentioned before that you should try the Mate volume control; it integrates well with XFCE and I think it's what you're looking for, since it appears in the system tray... similar to Passystray, but with a slider to control the volume. It also adds a microphone icon if you're using it. It's really good; you install it with the "mate-media" package. Mate also has a better battery monitor than cbatticon... it's really what I think you're looking for, since it also integrates into the XFCE status tray, so you could place them however you want and in whatever order you like.
For me, these Mate plugins in XFCE worked well and gave me the look I wanted, but I had a nagging feeling that I wasn't actually using native XFCE software, so I looked into modifying the plugin code myself. Finally, if you need help installing these MATE plugins, I suggest using Brave's AI: Leo. It has helped me tremendously and very specifically in modifying plugin code, and I'm a complete novice at this. Other AIs simply don't lead anywhere or tell you it can't be done.
This morning (I live in South America), with Leo's help, I was modifying the Whisker Menu code to force the panel icon to appear larger without blurring it, and I succeeded. Now it looks the same as the Plasma menu.
What I'm practicing now is packaging my own modified panel plugins.
Offline


I understand, the order doesn't really matter to me, as long as the spacing and size of the icons are consistent. I mentioned before that you should try the Mate volume control; it integrates well with XFCE and I think it's what you're looking for, since it appears in the system tray... similar to Passystray, but with a slider to control the volume. It also adds a microphone icon if you're using it. It's really good; you install it with the "mate-media" package. Mate also has a better battery monitor than cbatticon... it's really what I think you're looking for, since it also integrates into the XFCE status tray, so you could place them however you want and in whatever order you like.
I already tried it before and it's XEmbed, and my tray that's not hidden uses AppIndicator... Therefore it creates a separation between XEmbed and AppIndicator (can be seen on Status Notifier properties and looking at the "Status Notifiers" and "Systray Icons" tabs) I would like a volume tray that uses AppIndicator (or wayland support since XEmbed trays won't work on wayland) so the width/spacing can be consistent across AppIndicator trays that I would like to always show and therefore can be rearranged. Kinda sucks that I don't found any proper tray that I liked, asking LLMs only to recommend me using the panel's native pulseaudio applet, and lack of motivation and experiences to make one... :\
For me, these Mate plugins in XFCE worked well and gave me the look I wanted, but I had a nagging feeling that I wasn't actually using native XFCE software, so I looked into modifying the plugin code myself.
I guess it's opposite for me, using these trays makes XFCE's can be modular using other trays as a replacement for the native applets if some of us (like me) didn't like it in some aspects. As long as the function of the tray works as intended, I don't have any issues for that.
Last edited by w4l_ (2026-04-22 13:33:25)
Offline


I'm not really understanding you. It must be because my English isn't very good (I speak Spanish and I use a translator to interact with you). I suppose you're looking for something compatible with Wayland... that's really hard to find.
In that case, I'd also suggest using the PulseAudio plugin native to XFCE, maybe with the modification I made myself to make it thinner. But hey, if you don't think you're ready to do a compilation yourself, that's not possible.
Offline


I'm not really understanding you. It must be because my English isn't very good (I speak Spanish and I use a translator to interact with you). I suppose you're looking for something compatible with Wayland... that's really hard to find.
I myself isn't native English person and neither I getting good grades on English too (that might explain why you didn't understand it)... And yeah, finding one that's compatible with Wayland equivalent of pa-applet or mate-media are hard to none. For now I replaced pa-applet with pasystray-wayland and manage the volume by binding the volume keys using a script from Claude as a temporary replacement.
Here's how it looks like now:
In that case, I'd also suggest using the PulseAudio plugin native to XFCE, maybe with the modification I made myself to make it thinner. But hey, if you don't think you're ready to do a compilation yourself, that's not possible.
Tried that approach using the CSS trick (before you came up with this modded applet thing) but I don't like the result due to how the arrow on the status notifier is on the right instead of left, since the order I want the tray is based on the screenshot above.
Last edited by w4l_ (2026-04-22 15:35:20)
Offline


simeon9997 wrote:I'm not really understanding you. It must be because my English isn't very good (I speak Spanish and I use a translator to interact with you). I suppose you're looking for something compatible with Wayland... that's really hard to find.
I myself isn't native English person and neither I getting good grades on English too (that might explain why you didn't understand it)... And yeah, finding one that's compatible with Wayland equivalent of pa-applet or mate-media are hard to none. For now I replaced pa-applet with pasystray-wayland and manage the volume by binding the volume keys using a script from Claude as a temporary replacement.
Here's how it looks like now:
simeon9997 wrote:In that case, I'd also suggest using the PulseAudio plugin native to XFCE, maybe with the modification I made myself to make it thinner. But hey, if you don't think you're ready to do a compilation yourself, that's not possible.
Tried that approach using the CSS trick (before you came up with this modded applet thing) but I don't like the result due to how the arrow on the status notifier is on the right instead of left, since the order I want the tray is based on the screenshot above.
I've packaged the latest version of PulseAudio for Arch Linux-based distributions (I'm on Cachyos) along with the modifications I made to make the button thinner. If you use Arch Linux, I can send you the .tar.zst file for you to try.
Offline


I've packaged the latest version of PulseAudio for Arch Linux-based distributions (I'm on Cachyos) along with the modifications I made to make the button thinner. If you use Arch Linux, I can send you the .tar.zst file for you to try.
Sure, I want to see if your modified applets fit for my panel.
Offline


simeon9997 wrote:I've packaged the latest version of PulseAudio for Arch Linux-based distributions (I'm on Cachyos) along with the modifications I made to make the button thinner. If you use Arch Linux, I can send you the .tar.zst file for you to try.
Sure, I want to see if your modified applets fit for my panel.
Offline
[ Generated in 0.026 seconds, 9 queries executed - Memory usage: 686.03 KiB (Peak: 751.01 KiB) ]