Auto-hiding gnome panel does no appear when application is on fullscreen

[Martin Emrich]

Binary package hint: gnome-panel

I have set my Gnome panel to auto-hide. When the active application is in fullscreen mode (e.g. Firefox or Terminator), moving the mouse cursor to the screen edge does not show the gnome panel. I have to exit fullscreen mode (F11) or switch to another application to access the panel.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.10
Package: gnome-panel 1:2.30.2-1ubuntu2
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.35-17.23-generic 2.6.35.2
Uname: Linux 2.6.35-17-generic i686
Architecture: i386
Date: Tue Aug 24 07:25:06 2010
EcryptfsInUse: Yes
GConfNonDefault:
 /apps/panel/general/applet_id_list=[notification_area_screen0,fast_user_switch_screen0,applet_2,applet_3]
 /apps/panel/general/object_id_list=[menu_bar_screen0,browser_launcher_screen0,object_0,object_1,object_3]
 /apps/panel/general/toplevel_id_list=[top_panel_screen0]
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu-Netbook 10.04 "Lucid Lynx" - Alpha i386 (20100224.3)
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=de_DE.utf8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: gnome-panel

[Pedro Villavicencio (pedro)]

thanks for the report Martin, i think that's the right behavior, why it should appear when having an application on fullscreen mode? i wouldn't expect that.

[Martin Emrich (emme)]

My netbook has very little screen space (1024x600), so I have to make use of every pixel. So I let my panel hide automatically (gives me ca. 24 pixel) and I use the fullscreen (F11) option e.g. of Firefox to get rid of the title bar.

(Before you mention it: the nebook launcher currently seems to be broken in maverick, and it also is not flexible enough for me)

I see your argument, I would distinguish between a "make-maximal-use-of-the-screen" kind of fullscreen (e.g. Firefox, Terminator) and a "presentational" fullscreen (OOo Impress presentation, video playback, games).

The former should allow display of the panel, the latter should not.

A simple solution would be to add a checkbox to the panel properties, whether to unhide the panel when the currently active application is in fullscreen mode.