Deskbar panel expands off screen

df · 2026-05-14 14:27:49

Having looked through the docs and menus I can't resolve this issue, but perhaps I missed something.

With a landscape screen like a small notebook, it's nice to make a main panel that is a vertical Deskbar on the left-hand side (some people might prefer right) to give more vertical space for applications.

However if the panel includes items that have variable length (height in this case) like Dock-like Taskbar or Status Tray Plugin, those items can expand arbitrarily, making items at the bottom of the panel inaccessible. Is this meant to happen, or how can it be stopped?

If a user has configured an item at the bottom of the Deskbar the item should surely remain accessible.

If a Deskbar should be able to expand beyond the display, one might expect that a scrollbar would be shown: an easy but unattractive solution.

Otherwise, there should be some GUI device to abbreviate a variable length item that would otherwise overflow the space available in the panel. I think we're all familiar with examples like the Windows tray, the macOS dock, the Firefox tab-bar, where this happens. Perhaps the plugin API needs a way for the panel to tell a plugin when it needs to abbreviate its display, or something similar.

ToZ · 2026-05-15 09:54:39

Is your X screen larger than your current display size? What is the output of the following commands?

xrandr
xdpyinfo | grep -A10 "screen #0"
xfconf-query -c displays -lv

Edit: looks like a bug report already exists for this.

Last edited by ToZ (2026-05-15 10:01:55)

df · 2026-05-15 11:59:36

Thanks for responding: here you go:

$ xrandr
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1366 x 768, maximum 16384 x 16384
eDP-1 connected 1366x768+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 256mm x 144mm
   1366x768      60.07*+  40.05  
   1280x720      60.00    59.99    59.86    59.74  
   1024x768      60.04    60.00  
   960x720       60.00  
   928x696       60.05  
   896x672       60.01  
   1024x576      59.95    59.96    59.90    59.82  
   960x600       59.93    60.00  
   960x540       59.96    59.99    59.63    59.82  
   800x600       60.00    60.32    56.25  
   840x525       60.01    59.88  
   864x486       59.92    59.57  
   700x525       59.98  
   800x450       59.95    59.82  
   640x512       60.02  
   700x450       59.96    59.88  
   640x480       60.00    59.94  
   720x405       59.51    58.99  
   684x384       59.88    59.85  
   640x400       59.88    59.98  
   640x360       59.86    59.83    59.84    59.32  
   512x384       60.00  
   512x288       60.00    59.92  
   480x270       59.63    59.82  
   400x300       60.32    56.34  
   432x243       59.92    59.57  
   320x240       60.05  
   360x202       59.51    59.13  
   320x180       59.84    59.32  
VGA-1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP-1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
HDMI-1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
$ xdpyinfo | grep -A10 "screen #0"
screen #0:
  dimensions:    1366x768 pixels (362x204 millimeters)
  resolution:    96x96 dots per inch
  depths (7):    24, 1, 4, 8, 15, 16, 32
  root window id:    0x3e7
  depth of root window:    24 planes
  number of colormaps:    minimum 1, maximum 1
  default colormap:    0x20
  default number of colormap cells:    256
  preallocated pixels:    black 0, white 16777215
  options:    backing-store WHEN MAPPED, save-unders NO
$ xfconf-query -c displays -lv
/ActiveProfile                Default
/AutoEnableProfiles           3
/Default/AutoEnableProfiles   true
/Default/HDMI-1               AOC International 22"
/Default/HDMI-1/Active        true
/Default/HDMI-1/EDID          b0f9a8ad1dbe495a05c9736441028cbaaf76b389
/Default/HDMI-1/Position/X    0
/Default/HDMI-1/Position/Y    0
/Default/HDMI-1/Primary       false
/Default/HDMI-1/Reflection    0
/Default/HDMI-1/RefreshRate   60.000000
/Default/HDMI-1/Resolution    1920x1080
/Default/HDMI-1/Rotation      0
/Default/HDMI-1/Scale/X       1.000000
/Default/HDMI-1/Scale/Y       1.000000
/Default/Notify               true
/Default/eDP-1                Laptop
/Default/eDP-1/Active         true
/Default/eDP-1/EDID           5486af67dc5eff83c3e477ff3113a9f4529ded91
/Default/eDP-1/Position/X     0
/Default/eDP-1/Position/Y     0
/Default/eDP-1/Primary        false
/Default/eDP-1/Reflection     0
/Default/eDP-1/RefreshRate    60.069527
/Default/eDP-1/Resolution     1366x768
/Default/eDP-1/Rotation       0
/Default/eDP-1/Scale/X        1.000000
/Default/eDP-1/Scale/Y        1.000000
/Fallback/HDMI-1              AOC International 22"
/Fallback/HDMI-1/Active       true
/Fallback/HDMI-1/EDID         b0f9a8ad1dbe495a05c9736441028cbaaf76b389
/Fallback/HDMI-1/Position/X   0
/Fallback/HDMI-1/Position/Y   0
/Fallback/HDMI-1/Primary      false
/Fallback/HDMI-1/Reflection   0
/Fallback/HDMI-1/RefreshRate  60.000000
/Fallback/HDMI-1/Resolution   1920x1080
/Fallback/HDMI-1/Rotation     0
/Fallback/HDMI-1/Scale/X      1.000000
/Fallback/HDMI-1/Scale/Y      1.000000
/Fallback/eDP-1               Laptop
/Fallback/eDP-1/Active        true
/Fallback/eDP-1/EDID          5486af67dc5eff83c3e477ff3113a9f4529ded91
/Fallback/eDP-1/Position/X    0
/Fallback/eDP-1/Position/Y    0
/Fallback/eDP-1/Primary       false
/Fallback/eDP-1/Reflection    0
/Fallback/eDP-1/RefreshRate   60.069527
/Fallback/eDP-1/Resolution    1366x768
/Fallback/eDP-1/Rotation      0
/Fallback/eDP-1/Scale/X       1.000000
/Fallback/eDP-1/Scale/Y       1.000000
/Notify                       1
$

The Deskbar items:

Action Buttons
Show Desktop
Clock
PulseAudio Plugin
Docklike Taskbar
Separator (expandable)
Launcher (SeaMonkey mail/browser)
Launcher (Firefox)
Separator (fixed)
Power Manager Plugin
Status Tray Plugin
Workspace Switcher (2 workspaces)
System Load Monitor (CPU+memory+swap)
Whisker Menu

Last edited by df (2026-05-15 12:02:35)

ToZ · 2026-05-15 15:28:54

Settings look fine. I think you are experiencing the bug I linked to.

df · 2026-05-15 16:53:40

Agreed. Seems my analysis was close to the mark: https://gitlab.xfce.org/panel-plugins/x … ote_118404

Xfce Forum

Sub domains

#1 2026-05-14 14:27:49

Deskbar panel expands off screen

#2 2026-05-15 09:54:39

Re: Deskbar panel expands off screen

#3 2026-05-15 11:59:36

Re: Deskbar panel expands off screen

#4 2026-05-15 15:28:54

Re: Deskbar panel expands off screen

#5 2026-05-15 16:53:40

Re: Deskbar panel expands off screen

Board footer