Xfce Forum

leegold

Member

Registered: 2009-10-21

Posts: 14

Do Not Understand Why Indicator Item For Panel Exists

Hi,

Why is an indicator item needed for the panel? I am locked into having it on my panel if I want to see things like network or sound or battery.

The icons inside the indicator are so tiny I can hardly see them and it screws-up the usability IMO.

Why did Xfce make it? Why can't I have the flexibility not to have it and just have simple standard icons on the panel?

Thanks

ToZ

Administrator

From: Canada

Registered: 2011-06-02

Posts: 11,485

Re: Do Not Understand Why Indicator Item For Panel Exists

The xfce4-indicator-plugin was created to allow ayatana indicators (Ubuntu) to be displayed in the panel. More information here.

The icons inside the indicator are so tiny I can hardly see them and it screws-up the usability IMO.

Can you post a screenshot? And to confirm, you are talking about the "Indicator Plugin" and not the "Notification Area", correct? The notification area has frame and size properties that would affect icon size.

Why can't I have the flexibility not to have it and just have simple standard icons on the panel?

If you don't want it, remove it from your panel. If you still want icons to appear, you'll need some sort of system tray applet to capture them. Plus, depending on the distro you are using, you may need to add/remove some packages to get what you want. For example, for ubuntu-based installs of Xfce, you'll need to remove the associated indicator-* packages and in some cases (e.g. sound) install a sound tray package (xfce4-mixer, pnmixer) to display an icon in the notification tray.

But of course, this all depends on the distro that you are using.

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MountainDewManiac

Member

From: Where Mr. Bankruptcy is Prez

Registered: 2013-03-24

Posts: 1,115

Re: Do Not Understand Why Indicator Item For Panel Exists

IOW, we use the indicator plugin because we choose to use gnome panel applets? Makes sense. I've thought that plugin to be a bit of a bother (right-clicking gives the About and Properties of that indicator plugin instead of the applet(s) that it holds, for example). But it beats not being able to use those applets or having to jump through hoops in order to do so.

Regards,
MDM

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leegold

Member

Registered: 2009-10-21

Posts: 14

Re: Do Not Understand Why Indicator Item For Panel Exists

Now VLC is appearing in the indicator  - why? Why would I want a tiny apparently usless VLC icon in the indicator? It make icons in the panel minisclue (infime), screws up the look of panel and again these are tiny on a hi-res screen. And for important panel items like WIFI and sound volume - I just don't get it...

Last edited by leegold (2015-10-08 22:42:57)

MountainDewManiac

Member

From: Where Mr. Bankruptcy is Prez

Registered: 2013-03-24

Posts: 1,115

Re: Do Not Understand Why Indicator Item For Panel Exists

Now VLC is appearing in the indicator  - why?

I'm going to assume that the unstated part of that question is "while VLC is running." If I'm wrong in my assumption and it's just showing up for no apparent reason, lol, than I have no idea.

Run VLC. Go to Tools / Preferences (or just press CTRL-p), Interface Settings, and disable the "Show systray icon."

Lots of media players have this option. The only time I have ever used it was when I had a video playing fullscreen and had another window (such as a web browser or text editor) maximized on top of it - and had done an "alt horizontal mouse scroll" in order to make that maximized window translucent. IOW, I was watching a video whilst getting some actual work done. In that case, it was convenient to be able to mouse up to make my #2 (the one at the top of my screen) panel appear and use the basic media player controls instead of doing an Alt-Tab, using the media player app directly, and then doing another (or, depending on circumstances, several) Alt-Tab to get my see-through maximized application back on top so I could continue working. <SHRUGS> So some people find a use for the extra set of controls. Occasionally. It's one of those things that are actually GOOD in linux (IMHO) because, instead of forcing everyone to accept it, everyone has the option to have it or not. I'll assume (again) that the reason the option is on as the default choice is because people can't seem to RtFM and that is a way to let people know that the option exists. But that's just a guess, lol - maybe the developer just wanted to annoy you .

Regards,
MDM

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