Wish to tweak corner-grabbing and edge-grabbing accuracy

rafo · 2011-07-14 13:06:08

I recently started to use XFCE (4.8) and mostly I find everything very usable.

One question though, when you resize a window with the mouse you have to place the cursor at an edge (or corner), press the "select" button, drag and release. I find that the required accuracy when placing the cursor is too high for my liking; it is easy to miss an edge if your hand (or the mouse) is ever so little shaky.

Is there a way that this required accuracy can be relaxed? I looked in Settings/Desktop and Settings/Accessibility but I did not find anything.

stqn · 2011-07-15 01:35:08

I believe it depends on your Gtk (xfwm) theme... And yes it's only one pixel wide here, which makes it very difficult to grab a window.

rafo · 2011-07-17 13:31:37

There are some config files in /etc/xdg/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml/, but none of them seem to hold mouse-related settings. But maybe I am looking in the wrong place?

ToZ · 2011-07-17 14:59:17

I believe the file/setting you are looking for is ~/.gtkrc-2.0

The contents of my file is:

style "default-style"
{
        GtkWindow::resize-grip-height = 4
        GtkWindow::resize-grip-width = 4
}
class "GtkWidget" style "default-style"

Which gives me a smaller grip area. Increasing that number should give you a larger grip area.
You will need to reload the theme for the setting to take effect.

stqn · 2011-07-19 21:35:34

The simplest way is to change your Xfwm theme by going to Settings -> Window Manager. Some have thin borders, others larger ones.

After looking in /usr/share/themes/Default/xfwm4/, it looks like the border's width is determined by the pictures because there's nothing about it in the themerc file.

Last edited by stqn (2011-07-19 21:37:20)

angstrom · 2011-08-13 04:15:22

I confirm : it is from the pictures that determine the borders of your Window Manager theme.
I edit those file to get bigger grip, thus have bigger border :-(
I copy the theme files from /usr/share/themes/Sonar/xfwm4/ to ~/.theme/mySonar/xfwm4/ . Then edit images in there and set my Window Manager theme to mySonar

Last edited by angstrom (2011-08-13 04:16:27)

ali · 2012-07-25 15:50:02

I copy the theme files from /usr/share/themes/Sonar/xfwm4/ to ~/.theme/mySonar/xfwm4/

Just installed LM 13 Xfce and changed Settings [Fensterverwaltung] -> Window Manager from Mint-X to Kokodi (much better now).
But I can't find Sonar in file system, look

I looked in synaptic and software center > None.

Last edited by ali (2012-10-25 15:55:38)

angstrom · 2012-07-26 09:48:33

Sonar is a theme in OpenSuse distribution. I mentioned it as an example of what you can do to personalize a theme.

user999 · 2012-10-24 19:57:23

ToZ wrote:

I believe the file/setting you are looking for is ~/.gtkrc-2.0
The contents of my file is:
style "default-style"
{
        GtkWindow::resize-grip-height = 4
        GtkWindow::resize-grip-width = 4
}
class "GtkWidget" style "default-style"
Which gives me a smaller grip area. Increasing that number should give you a larger grip area.
You will need to reload the theme for the setting to take effect.

I tried this method and could not observe any improvement sad

I would prefer thin window borders with broad "invisible" grab area.
Would that require changing the source?

mdlueck · 2012-12-24 17:15:31

I created an account to this forum first to post feedback about this observation! With the default theme/skin which ships with Xubuntu 12.04, the corner resize is EXTREMELY hard to obtain. Usually I end up needing to perform the resize one side at a time in order to resize in both X/Y directions.

One window (I forget where) had a "resize blob" in the lower/right corner which I could click in order to perform the corner resize operation. Only that one window had such, and I forget where I saw it.

So, +1 from me to globally make corner resize easier to perform.

Nick · 2012-12-25 08:50:33

There is an xfwm4 shortcut (alt+f8 by default) to start a window resize.

mdlueck · 2012-12-27 01:29:01

Thank you, Nick.

I would prefer just the corner be more accessible without any keystrokes necessary. I tried anyway, and it only makes the Terminal window as tall as the screen / does nothing to the width.

What about the suggestions on this thread to adjust resize-grip-* properties. Would that work, or not with all skins, or...??? I would just like to have it that "near the corner" would act like the extreme corner. Perhaps 10px then?

(Off to look up which theme my system is currently set to...)

Aaahhh, much better. I adjusted the Xubuntu 12.04 Settings \ Session Manager \ Window Manager \ Style to the Default theme, and the corner is much easier to find now.

ortho_pierogi · 2013-01-13 20:26:00

I just put Xubuntu 12.04 on my old laptop and was liking everything about it except this. It was really bugging me a lot because I did not want to have to use a theme with thick borders but I could not grab the corners on the thin-border themes. I also did not want to use the hold alt+right click method. I wanted something completely mouse based.

My solutions was to install xautomation and xbindkeys.

I then decided that since I never really click with the scroll wheel so I decided that using the scroll wheel button to allow me to resize windows was the right move. Additionally, if you only have a two button mouse, or touch pad it automatically did the thing that clicking the two buttons of a 2 button device acted like a third button, and let me resize.

for me i had to edit my .xbindkeysrc file in my Home folder and added the following lines

#click with scroll wheel to grab lower right corner and resize window
"xte 'keydown Alt_L' 'key space' 'keyup Alt_L' 'usleep 80000' 'key r'"
b:2 + Release

for me b:2 is the middle mouse button

you can figure your mouse buttons by opening terminal and running xev.
I would do that because I accidentally assigned this to b:1 once, and therefore could not left click and fortunately was able to edit the file by opening a terminal using keyboard shortcuts and restart my machine.

I included "Release on the last line because if I just left it as b:2 it would sporadically not work.

Lastly the 'usleep 80000' value is something you may have to play with. just go into the terminal and run:
xte 'keydown Alt_L' 'key space' 'keyup Alt_L' 'usleep 80000' 'key r'

and see which value for usleep lets you consistently resize the window. if the value is too small it will sometimes just end up opening the window menu and typing "r" on one of the terminal lines, and will not work.

lastly, i found i had to reboot for changes to take effect, but in other forums some people were able to get changes in their .xbindkeysrc file to work without rebooting, by running some commands in the terminal. i'm not including them because they did not work for me, so I'm not sure which ones to use

also, another good idea if this is on a desktop and you have a five button mouse would be to use one of the two side keys (which can also be identified using xev). However, for a laptop with a touchpad I like using the middle button method because of the touchpad simultaneous click middle button emulation that is present on my Xubuntu install so if I have no mouse, it's still easy to do.

Hope this helps some people.

PeterPablo · 2013-01-22 15:37:33

I am also experiencing difficulties in resizing windows with the style "Default" on xfce 4.10.
Thank you for considering an improvement.

AdamMil · 2013-12-23 04:47:48

user999 wrote:

I would prefer thin window borders with broad "invisible" grab area.
Would that require changing the source?

You should be able to use stqn's idea of editing the theme files. If you want an invisible grab area, you should be able to make part of the image transparent. For instance, replace the one-pixel-wide image with a 4-pixel-wide image where 3 of the columns are transparent.

WinRiddance · 2013-12-26 19:47:35

user999 wrote:

ToZ wrote:
I believe the file/setting you are looking for is ~/.gtkrc-2.0
style "default-style"
{
        GtkWindow::resize-grip-height = 4
        GtkWindow::resize-grip-width = 4
}
class "GtkWidget" style "default-style"
I would prefer thin window borders with broad "invisible" grab area.
Would that require changing the source?

Oh, how I feel your pain! I love thin window borders too as opposed to really thick ones or none at all. I've been with computers over 20 years and even with all of my experience that 1 px size grab area seems nothing short of absurd. I have really good vision and still that 1 px grab area can be very trying at times, especially when I try to resize a window horizontally only. Back in my Windoze days I had a tweaker that allowed changes to the grab area. I had everything set to 5 px back then and that worked perfectly (invisible/transparent area of course). An XFCE tweak like that would be awesome !!!

.

ToZ · 2013-12-27 00:52:32

Have you tried the Alt+Right-click+drag trick? Hold down the Alt key, press and hold the right mouse button, and then move the mouse in the direction of the resize.

WinRiddance · 2013-12-27 19:59:11

Hah, that's pretty sweet. Learn something new every day ... (LOL)

.

kjertil · 2014-05-19 09:17:23

Hi!
I just wanted to say that this thing with resizing is really a big issue for some one who is a not a die hard Linux/xfce user. It would be a much better user experience if there was some kind of "10 pixel snap" around the edges instead of the 1 pixel grab area. That doesn't even make any sense. And no, a short cut command is not enough smile
Keep up the good work!
Thanks

JRG · 2014-06-28 23:41:04

Nick wrote:

There is an xfwm4 shortcut (alt+f8 by default) to start a window resize.

Thank you. I wanted a wider, but invisible border to grab, but this solves my problem nicely.

johnywhy · 2015-04-22 02:30:02

kjertil wrote:

Hi!
I just wanted to say that this thing with resizing is really a big issue for some one who is a not a die hard Linux/xfce user.

it makes no sense for any kind of user. Can't believe this is still not configurable!
thx

ToZ · 2015-04-22 03:05:22

An interesting discussion on the rationale for border widths for the Greybird and Numix themes. It really is a theme issue.

Here is a method for making the Greybird theme borders thicker with relatively little work.

lmerc · 2015-04-22 07:26:40

But as i can understand there still no solution to expand invisible grip area without increasing size of borders?

ToZ · 2015-04-22 13:02:05

https://bugzilla.xfce.org/show_bug.cgi?id=11808

If you have any GTK 3 apps installed and are running GTK 3.14 or greater, you'll notice that the resize area around windows has been increased to allow for easier gripping. However, this is a GTK3 enhancement. As far as I can tell, similar functionality does not exist in GTK2 for GTK2 apps.

I don't know how feasible it is to expect xfwm4 to provide this. It will be interesting to see where the above-mentioned bug report leads. However, also have a read through https://bugzilla.xfce.org/show_bug.cgi?id=11439, a similar bug report that was marked as "Won't Fix".

Donny Bahama · 2015-08-11 17:42:39

What happened to alt+right-click (and drag) to resize windows? (It was there in Mint 16 but seems to be gone after I upgraded to 17.1. I'm upgrading to 17.2 now - hopefully it's back.) This is a great feature - one in which the Linux world definitely one-upped the M$ world. Seems to me it's the simplest possible solution to the OP's issue.

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#1 2011-07-14 13:06:08

Wish to tweak corner-grabbing and edge-grabbing accuracy

#2 2011-07-15 01:35:08

Re: Wish to tweak corner-grabbing and edge-grabbing accuracy

#3 2011-07-17 13:31:37

Re: Wish to tweak corner-grabbing and edge-grabbing accuracy

#4 2011-07-17 14:59:17

Re: Wish to tweak corner-grabbing and edge-grabbing accuracy

#5 2011-07-19 21:35:34

Re: Wish to tweak corner-grabbing and edge-grabbing accuracy

#6 2011-08-13 04:15:22

Re: Wish to tweak corner-grabbing and edge-grabbing accuracy

#7 2012-07-25 15:50:02

Re: Wish to tweak corner-grabbing and edge-grabbing accuracy

#8 2012-07-26 09:48:33

Re: Wish to tweak corner-grabbing and edge-grabbing accuracy

#9 2012-10-24 19:57:23

Re: Wish to tweak corner-grabbing and edge-grabbing accuracy

#10 2012-12-24 17:15:31

Re: Wish to tweak corner-grabbing and edge-grabbing accuracy

#11 2012-12-25 08:50:33

Re: Wish to tweak corner-grabbing and edge-grabbing accuracy

#12 2012-12-27 01:29:01

Re: Wish to tweak corner-grabbing and edge-grabbing accuracy

#13 2013-01-13 20:26:00

Re: Wish to tweak corner-grabbing and edge-grabbing accuracy

#14 2013-01-22 15:37:33

Re: Wish to tweak corner-grabbing and edge-grabbing accuracy

#15 2013-12-23 04:47:48

Re: Wish to tweak corner-grabbing and edge-grabbing accuracy

#16 2013-12-26 19:47:35

Re: Wish to tweak corner-grabbing and edge-grabbing accuracy

#17 2013-12-27 00:52:32

Re: Wish to tweak corner-grabbing and edge-grabbing accuracy

#18 2013-12-27 19:59:11

Re: Wish to tweak corner-grabbing and edge-grabbing accuracy

#19 2014-05-19 09:17:23

Re: Wish to tweak corner-grabbing and edge-grabbing accuracy

#20 2014-06-28 23:41:04

Re: Wish to tweak corner-grabbing and edge-grabbing accuracy

#21 2015-04-22 02:30:02

Re: Wish to tweak corner-grabbing and edge-grabbing accuracy

#22 2015-04-22 03:05:22

Re: Wish to tweak corner-grabbing and edge-grabbing accuracy

#23 2015-04-22 07:26:40

Re: Wish to tweak corner-grabbing and edge-grabbing accuracy

#24 2015-04-22 13:02:05

Re: Wish to tweak corner-grabbing and edge-grabbing accuracy

#25 2015-08-11 17:42:39

Re: Wish to tweak corner-grabbing and edge-grabbing accuracy

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