Don't show application names in Alt+Tab switcher

palacs · 2020-04-29 00:09:20

I've recently upgraded to Xfce 4.10 to 4.12 (Debian Jessie LTS -> Stretch upgrade) and noticed that the behavior of the Xfce Alt+Tab app switcher behavior has changed.

Xfce 4.12 displays application names under their icons.

The original behavior (of Xfce 4.10) displays only the window title at the bottom and application name on the top.

I would like to restore the original behavior. Displaying application names is annoying and most of the time the application name just doesn't fit so it looks unprofessional either. I tried to find the right option for it in xfconf editor as well as under Application menu -> Settings -> Window Manager Tweaks. Both without success.

Please help me turn off displaying application name under icons in Alt+Tab switcher. If it's not possible, please help me find which commit changed the behavior, I would like to revert it then build a new deb package locally after an apt-get source.

It would also be good to restore the bold text with window title to the top of the Alt+Tab bar but that's not really important.

Also there are lot of horizontal and vertical space is wasted due to padding between icons. It would also be good to get rid of that padding.

Last edited by palacs (2020-04-29 00:11:44)

ToZ · 2020-04-29 02:24:26

I'm not sure where the code changed between 4.10 and 4.12 that caused this change.

You could try to work around this in 4.12 by using something like the following in ~/.gtkrc-2.0:

style "tabwin-label" {
   fg[ACTIVE] = "#5F799A"
   fg[SELECTED] = "#5F799A" 
   fg[INSENSITIVE] = "#5F799A"
   fg[PRELIGHT] = "#5F799A"
}
widget "xfwm4-tabwin*" style "tabwin-label"

...and try to match the text color (#5F799A) with the background of the widget (which depends on the theme you are using).

It's much easier in Xfce 4.14 (which is GTK3-based) by using the following directive in ~/.config/gtk-3.0/gtk.css. This will hide (make transparent) the label:

#xfwm-tabwin button label { color: transparent; }

palacs · 2020-04-29 08:08:30

Well the problem is that the rectangular shaped selection around the active (switched to) icon doesn't have solid color in most themes but a gradient fill, so it would be visible anyways with a solid background/foreground color. Also, there will be an unproportional bottom padding of each icon if the label text is still there but not visible. So thanks for the hint but this is not a real solution for me.

I've cloned xfwm4 git repository and now I'm reviewing the differences by doing a

git diff xfwm4-4.12.0 xfwm4-4.10.1 src/tabwin.c

Lot of things have changed and I don't really see how I could restore only the look to the old behavior.

I know it's open source and kind of "do whatever you want" thing but why is it so hard for developers to include a single option into xfconf or some RC file if they change something you see and work with every day?

ToZ · 2020-04-29 11:01:10

You could also create a bug report/enhancement request against xfwm4 and see if the developer is willing to entertain adding an option to restore previous functionality.

Not sure if it will help, but you can change the default tabwin view to a list (no previews) via Settings Manager > Window Manager Tweaks > Cycling Tab > Cycle Windows Through a list. With this view you get only one instance of the Window title being displayed.

palacs · 2020-04-30 12:02:10

Thanks, I also tried the tabwin list option. I don't really like it either.

Posted the original concept as an enhancement request.
https://bugzilla.xfce.org/show_bug.cgi?id=16780

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#1 2020-04-29 00:09:20

Don't show application names in Alt+Tab switcher

#2 2020-04-29 02:24:26

Re: Don't show application names in Alt+Tab switcher

#3 2020-04-29 08:08:30

Re: Don't show application names in Alt+Tab switcher

#4 2020-04-29 11:01:10

Re: Don't show application names in Alt+Tab switcher

#5 2020-04-30 12:02:10

Re: Don't show application names in Alt+Tab switcher

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