HiDPI setup issue, how to adjust title bar and icons on panel?

dealy663 · 2015-07-12 19:26:36

I'm running XUbuntu 15.04 on a new Lenovo y50 at 3840x2160. I've got almost all of my HiDPI issues resolved. But a few stragglers remain.

First I'm not running the HiDPI theme. It is pretty ugly IMO and I'd like to just get my current theme working properly.

I'm including a screenshot of my desktop. Probably the most important thing that needs to be fixed is the size of the titlebar and especially its icons. They are very small and hard to manipulate. Does anyone know of a way to make these scale up properly?

Second is the icons in the panel at the top of the screen, the whisker menu and in Thunar the navigation buttons and file icons. What controls the size of these icons?

It would be nice also if there was a way to make the mouse pointer larger when in apps and not over the desktop. The cursor is pretty small.

Suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Derek

link to screenshot

Not sure why I can't embed the image. Go to http://www.zimagez.com/zimage/screensho … -22-16.php to see it.

Last edited by dealy663 (2015-07-12 19:46:02)

ToZ · 2015-07-12 23:48:07

Welcome.

dealy663 wrote:

I'm including a screenshot of my desktop. Probably the most important thing that needs to be fixed is

.

the size of the titlebar and especially its icons. They are very small and hard to manipulate. Does anyone know of a way to make these scale up properly?

If you look at either of the HiDPI themes, in the xfwm4 folder, you'll see that the icons have been resized. You'll need to manually resize these icons for the theme that you are using.

Second is the icons in the panel at the top of the screen,

Change the Panel Row Size to a larger number.

the whisker menu

Right-click the icon and select Properties. There you can change the size of the icons.

and in Thunar the navigation buttons and file icons. What controls the size of these icons?

GTK2. My understanding is that GTK3 allows HiDPI icon sizing, but not in GTK2.

It would be nice also if there was a way to make the mouse pointer larger when in apps and not over the desktop. The cursor is pretty small.

Have a look at Settings Manager >> Mouse and Touchpad >> Theme. There is an option to set icon size there.

Not sure why I can't embed the image. Go to http://www.zimagez.com/zimage/screensho … -22-16.php to see it.

Embed img tags within the url tag. Example (remove spaces):
[ u r l=.....][ i m g ].....[/ i m g ][ / u r l ]

dealy663 · 2015-07-13 01:28:48

Hey thanks for the tip on resizing the icons in the theme's xfwm4 directory. I've got my title bar working properly now.

I wasn't able to make any other corrections based on your suggestions.

Changing the row size doesn't have an effect on running applications icon sizes in the panel. The panel gets larger or eventually mulitple rows but the icons are the same. The icons for launching applications do get bigger though.

There is no ability to right-click on icons in the whisker menu.

As far as GTK2 vs GTK3 is concerned, is there a way for me to switch XFCE over to GTK3?/

Thanks once again, Derek

Last edited by dealy663 (2015-07-13 01:35:24)

ToZ · 2015-07-13 01:39:53

dealy663 wrote:

Changing the row size doesn't have an effect on icon sizes in the panel. The panel gets larger or eventually mulitple rows but the icons are the same.

You must mean the window buttons icons then. Those won't change - I believe there is a bug report about it. It you remove the labels, then they will resize.

There is no ability to right-click on icons in the whisker menu.

You need to right click the main whisker icon - the one on the panel.

As far as GTK2 vs GTK3 is concerned, is there a way for me to switch XFCE over to GTK3?

Its currently in progress. See: https://wiki.xfce.org/releng/4.14/roadmap.

sixsixfive · 2015-07-13 14:46:04

ToZ wrote:

GTK2. My understanding is that GTK3 allows HiDPI icon sizing, but not in GTK2.

nope, currently you cant customize the icon size in gtk3 but you can do it for gtk2

eg:

xfconf-query -c xsettings -p /Gtk/IconSizes -s "gtk-large-toolbar=48,48:gtk-small-toolbar=48,48"

see also the gtk2 doc: https://developer.gnome.org/gtk2/stable … icon-sizes

Last edited by sixsixfive (2015-07-13 14:47:43)

ToZ · 2015-07-13 18:11:49

Oops. (GTK2 toolbar scaling)

You can scale GTK3 elements using the "GDK_SCALE" and "GDK_DPI_SCALE" environment variables. source. (But that seems to scale everything).

askari01 · 2015-09-15 20:04:54

If you look at either of the HiDPI themes, in the xfwm4 folder, you'll see that the icons have been resized. You'll need to manually resize these icons for the theme that you are using.

and in Thunar the navigation buttons and file icons. What controls the size of these icons?

GTK2. My understanding is that GTK3 allows HiDPI icon sizing, but not in GTK2.

can you please explain these two steps in detail;
i am newbe

askari01 · 2015-09-15 20:30:39

my desktop
following the thread i ended up like this...
https://www.dropbox.com/s/xttawqas6kxrb … 1.png?dl=0

Last edited by askari01 (2015-09-15 20:31:04)

ToZ · 2015-09-15 20:58:59

Suggestions:
1. Try setting your Window Manager Theme (Settings Manager > Window Manager > Style tab) to "Default-hdpi" or "Default-xhdpi".

2. Increase the size of your Window Manager Title Font (Settings Manager > Window Manager > Style tab)

3. Increase GTK2 Toolbar Icon size:

xfconf-query -c xsettings -p /Gtk/IconSizes -s "gtk-large-toolbar=48,48:gtk-small-toolbar=48,48"

4. Increase the row size of your panel so the plugins fit better.

5. What is that app on the right with the enormous menu text? If its a GTK3 app, try decreasing the value of "GDK_DPI_SCALE"

askari01 · 2015-09-16 13:20:30

after turning off the custom dpi everthing else is good just the taskbar(panel), menubar and icons are not scaling rest is good
that editor got set as i turned off the custom dpi
https://www.dropbox.com/s/uajowzbl95mpy … 1.png?dl=0

Last edited by askari01 (2015-09-16 13:23:56)

sixsixfive · 2015-09-16 16:06:28

hm whats your default dpi?

here are the default gtk icon sizes for a 96dpi desktop:

xfconf-query -c xsettings -p /Gtk/IconSizes -s "gtk-large-toolbar=22,22:gtk-small-toolbar=16,16:gtk-menu=16,16:gtk-dialog=48,48:gtk-button=22,22:gtk-dnd=32,32"

large toolbars are main toolbars, small are secondary toolbars, buttons are buttons(eg the xfce panel uses buttons), menu are menus, and dnd are the icons displayed if you drag and drop a file or a folder, dialogs are dialog icons

you can change them to any size as long your icon theme supports it

also you probably need another panel since xfce panel buttons are limited to a maximum of 32pixels --> replace xfce panel with tint2 or another one

Last edited by sixsixfive (2015-09-16 16:09:35)

amnesiac · 2016-07-11 19:51:20

Very helpful thread, thanks so much! Here in summary how I got my HiDPI (retina display, 3200x1800, Dell XPS 13 9530) running Xfce 4.12.2 (Xubuntu 16.04 LTS) ... and the last issue not resolved. Not sure whether all of the following changes are needed in the end:

>>> WHAT I DID

Settings > Window Manager > Style > Theme: Default-xhdpi (or switching the WM dpi to 220)

Settings Editor > xfce4-desktop > icon-size: 48 -> 72

Settings Editor > xsettings > CursorThemeSize: 24 -> 48

Settings Editor > xsettings > IconSize: gtk-button=16,16 -> gtk-button=32,32

Settings Editor > xfce4-panel > size: 44

Settings Editor > plugin-4 (sytray) > size-max: 21 -> 60

xfconf-query -c xsettings -p /Gtk/IconSizes -s "gtk-large-toolbar=72,72:gtk-small-toolbar=72,72:gtk-menu=32,32:gtk-dialog=72,72:gtk-button=32,32:gtk-dnd=32,32:panel-applications-menu=32,32:panel-directory-menu=32,32"

/usr/share/themes/Greybird/gtk-2.0/gtkrc > GtkCheckButton: 3 -> 30 (didn't change anything ...)
/usr/share/themes/Greybird/gtk-2.0/gtkrc > GtkProgressBar::min-vertical-bar-width: 10->20
/usr/share/themes/Greybird/gtk-2.0/gtkrc > GtkScrollbar::slider-width: 9->20

File Manager > Edit > Perferences > Side Pane > Icon Size (2x): Normal or Larger

>>> STILL NOT WORKING

The only thing that still does not work are the icon sizes on the panel (not the Xfce icon, that size I could change). I was able to increase the height of the panel. Font size is also good. Only icons are just tiny. None of the suggestions I found here or elsewhere did the job. Any idea?

Last edited by amnesiac (2016-07-11 19:58:37)

cli_user · 2016-11-04 16:09:55

Amnesiac, I used your settings to get the desktop on my new laptop up. Thanks.
The tasklist plugin is hard-coded to use mini-icons when displaying labels.
I had to patch it and recompile to get regular icons.
There is a bug report (can't find #), but since it was designed that way, it's not really a bug, and probably won't get fixed.

nick_wilkin · 2017-02-08 16:22:35

Tried setting GDK_SCALE and GDK_DPI_SCALE as environment variable in $HOME .bashrc and .profile, but GTK3 still is showing small icons, I know the GTK3 theme that I am using supports scaled icons but just can't seem to get it to set the variable.

Any thoughts guys?

sixsixfive · 2017-02-08 18:39:18

HiDPI just sucks(don't use it just will give you a headache), the better way is to use XRANDR scaling, this will work on all toolkits and includes icons, text, works with xfwm etc.

also have a look at this great howto at the linux mint forums: https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?t=159064

Last edited by sixsixfive (2017-02-08 18:43:17)

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#1 2015-07-12 19:26:36

HiDPI setup issue, how to adjust title bar and icons on panel?

#2 2015-07-12 23:48:07

Re: HiDPI setup issue, how to adjust title bar and icons on panel?

#3 2015-07-13 01:28:48

Re: HiDPI setup issue, how to adjust title bar and icons on panel?

#4 2015-07-13 01:39:53

Re: HiDPI setup issue, how to adjust title bar and icons on panel?

#5 2015-07-13 14:46:04

Re: HiDPI setup issue, how to adjust title bar and icons on panel?

#6 2015-07-13 18:11:49

Re: HiDPI setup issue, how to adjust title bar and icons on panel?

#7 2015-09-15 20:04:54

Re: HiDPI setup issue, how to adjust title bar and icons on panel?

#8 2015-09-15 20:30:39

Re: HiDPI setup issue, how to adjust title bar and icons on panel?

#9 2015-09-15 20:58:59

Re: HiDPI setup issue, how to adjust title bar and icons on panel?

#10 2015-09-16 13:20:30

Re: HiDPI setup issue, how to adjust title bar and icons on panel?

#11 2015-09-16 16:06:28

Re: HiDPI setup issue, how to adjust title bar and icons on panel?

#12 2016-07-11 19:51:20

Re: HiDPI setup issue, how to adjust title bar and icons on panel?

#13 2016-11-04 16:09:55

Re: HiDPI setup issue, how to adjust title bar and icons on panel?

#14 2017-02-08 16:22:35

Re: HiDPI setup issue, how to adjust title bar and icons on panel?

#15 2017-02-08 18:39:18

Re: HiDPI setup issue, how to adjust title bar and icons on panel?

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