Top panel icons spaced too far apart

[Karlton Douglas]

In Mint 12 RC the top panel icons are spaced too far apart. There is nearly a half-inch between them, and the update notification icon is huge compared to the other icons. This is a constant problem.

[Brian Bentsen (bimsebasse)]

This is a shell theme specific "issue" and the solution is to lower the panel button natural-hpadding value in the Mint-Z gnome-shell.css file (and simultaneously increase the panel border-right value as lower hpadding pushes the username button to the right).

This is how the icon area looks with natural-hpadding set to 6 (instead of 12) and border-right set to 6 (instead of 0): http://i.imgur.com/03gpn.png

And this is with default settings: http://i.imgur.com/HSryz.png
http://i.imgur.com/HSryz.png

[Karlton Douglas (youngeagle)]

Thanks, but are there instructions anywhere as to how to change that.
I can find the Mint-Z gnome-shell.css file and see the settings, but
when I change them there is no save option and ctrl-s does not save
it. When I close the window it asks me to save, but when I do it says
it is a read-only file, and that I do not have permission to change
it. It should not be this hard to fix, I'm having trouble fixing it
and new users would be totally lost. No other desktop comes default
with nearly a half-inch of space between the icons, and the icons and
text terribly small, but with the update notifier icon terribly large.
I don't want to sound like a complainer, but Mint is known for looking
good, and to try and figure out how to edit these files is much to ask
for a newbie. I'm not a newbie and I would like to adjust these
settings if there is a somewhat simple step-by-step way to do it.
Better still would be to have this set up better in the final release
version and with an update to the Mint 12 RC version.
Thank you!
Karlton Douglas

On 11/13/11, Brian Bentsen <email address hidden> wrote:
> This is a shell theme specific "issue" and the solution is to lower the
> panel button natural-hpadding value in the Mint-Z gnome-shell.css file
> (and simultaneously increase the panel border-right value as lower
> hpadding pushes the username button to the right).
>
> This is how the icon area looks with natural-hpadding set to 6 (instead
> of 12) and border-right set to 6 (instead of 0):
> http://i.imgur.com/03gpn.png
>
> And this is with default settings: http://i.imgur.com/HSryz.png
> http://i.imgur.com/HSryz.png
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to the bug
> report.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/889667
>
> Title:
> Top panel icons spaced too far apart
>
> Status in The Linux Mint Distribution:
> New
>
> Bug description:
> In Mint 12 RC the top panel icons are spaced too far apart. There is
> nearly a half-inch between them, and the update notification icon is
> huge compared to the other icons. This is a constant problem.
>
> To manage notifications about this bug go to:
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/linuxmint/+bug/889667/+subscriptions
>

[Karlton Douglas (youngeagle)]

OK, using the "gksu nautilus" command in the terminal I was able to
finally track down that file and change the settings as you suggested.
I also increased the font size to 10 so the text in the panel is
readable. I still suggest this be done on the default install of Mint
12 as newbies will not likely be able to edit these files.
Thanks again!
Karlton

On 11/13/11, Brian Bentsen <email address hidden> wrote:
> This is a shell theme specific "issue" and the solution is to lower the
> panel button natural-hpadding value in the Mint-Z gnome-shell.css file
> (and simultaneously increase the panel border-right value as lower
> hpadding pushes the username button to the right).
>
> This is how the icon area looks with natural-hpadding set to 6 (instead
> of 12) and border-right set to 6 (instead of 0):
> http://i.imgur.com/03gpn.png
>
> And this is with default settings: http://i.imgur.com/HSryz.png
> http://i.imgur.com/HSryz.png
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to the bug
> report.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/889667
>
> Title:
> Top panel icons spaced too far apart
>
> Status in The Linux Mint Distribution:
> New
>
> Bug description:
> In Mint 12 RC the top panel icons are spaced too far apart. There is
> nearly a half-inch between them, and the update notification icon is
> huge compared to the other icons. This is a constant problem.
>
> To manage notifications about this bug go to:
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/linuxmint/+bug/889667/+subscriptions
>