Adjusting the Menu Bar
Reposition those icons appropriately
In the Unity layout, relocating the status icons and session controls to the right side is straightforward. Modifying Xfce panels is quite simple. Select the panel you’d like to edit, locate an empty section of the panel, and right-click. Access the Panel submenu, then click on Panel preferences. In the Panel Preferences dialog, the initial two options are a backup button and a dropdown to select the panel you wish to modify. Below that, you’ll find three tabs: Display, Appearance, and Items. Click on the last tab, Items. This tab displays all the plugins present in the panel, and to the right, there are buttons with up and down arrows to rearrange their order.
To adjust the Unity panel, we need to insert a separator in the top panel, right after the appmenu, and configure it to be Transparent and Expand. Therefore, click the +Add button at the bottom and select “Separator”. Use the “up” button to move it up the list until it is directly after “AppMenu Plugin (external)”. (Use the down arrow if you go too far.) To modify the separator’s settings, click the wrench icon located below the list – right after +Add and -Remove. Set its Style to Transparent and check the Expand box. This pushes all status icons, the clock, and others to the right edge of the panel, which is where we expect them to be.
Eliminate that Mac aesthetic
For the “Cupertino” style, the adjustment for the oddly positioned menu is even easier. Access the preferences for the top panel and navigate to the Items tab. Locate the AppMenu plugin. Click the settings button (with the spanner) at the bottom and uncheck “Expand”. That’s all that’s required. For a more Mac-like appearance, we also prefer to hide the label on the Whisker menu: right-click the menu button itself and select “Properties”. Go to the second tab labeled “Appearance”, and under “Panel Button”, the first option should be “Display”. This will provide a list with three choices: “Icon”, “Title”, and “Icon and title.” Change it from “Icon and title” to “Icon” only, and then click the Close button. Task completed.
Creating an Improved Dock
App-switcher issues
Both layouts utilize Xfce’s default “Window Buttons” app-switcher in the second, dock-style panel. It lacks the ability to pin apps, necessitating separate launchers. This can result in duplicated app icons: one for launching the app, and another indicating whether it’s open, which is redundant. The macOS method is more efficient: it keeps pinned app icons available, with an indicator next to each icon to show if there are any open windows.
Install the Docklike Taskbar plugin
The Docklike Taskbar plugin merges pinned launchers with indicators for running apps. First, install it:
sudo apt install -y xfce4-docklike-pluginThen, add it to the panel: right-click the dock-style panel containing the app icons. Navigate to Panel -> Panel Preferences -> Items. Remove the Window Buttons plugin, then add the new “Docklike Taskbar” plugin from the list. Use the up-arrow button to the right of the list to position Docklike Taskbar accordingly.
The Docklike Taskbar does exactly what its name implies. It fuses app launchers and running windows within a single icon strip. You can pin app icons to the taskbar, and they will remain fixed regardless of whether the app is active. If an app is active, it indicates this with a colored bar next to the icon. We prefer using dashes or macOS-style dots next to the icon instead, which is configurable in the plugin’s preferences. Optionally, it can display preview thumbnails for windows. To add apps to the dock, launch them in your preferred manner, then right-click the icon and ensure “Pinned to dock” is selected. To delete an icon, right-click it and uncheck the option. Reordering icons involves a modifier key: hold Ctrl, then left-click and drag an icon to change its position.
Consider alternatives
There are alternatives available – for instance, Debian also includes at least two options. On the smaller end, there’s the straightforward Plank, which occupies about 3.5 MB. For something flashier, there’s the sophisticated animated Cairo dock, which consumes around 200 MB but can utilize OpenGL-accelerated visual effects and more. (If that’s your desire, Xfce may not be the right desktop for you, but we won’t judge.) What we appreciate about the Docklike Taskbar plugin is that it’s a native Xfce utility: it’s as lightweight as the rest of Xfce, and its configuration aligns with the other components of the desktop.
Ensuring the Global Menu Justifies its Space on the Panel
You will soon realize that most applications do not utilize the global menu, and even if they do, it often duplicates within the application’s own window, wasting valuable screen real estate. Configuring applications to use the global menu necessitates additional settings. Some instructions are found on the Vala panel appmenu project page on GitLab. The guidance is divided into two sections, beginning with the main README. Look for the Xfce segment. Here, it instructs you to input the following in a terminal window:
xfconf-query -c xsettings -p /Gtk/ShellShowsMenubar -n -t bool -s true
xfconf-query -c xsettings -p /Gtk/ShellShowsAppmenu -n -t bool -s trueSubsequently, there are additional instructions on the AppMenu Gtk Module subpage. Under Xfce, it indicates to open a terminal window and type:
xfconf-query -c xsettings -p /Gtk/Modules -n -t string -s "appmenu-gtk-module"For the sake of completeness, we also created the two recommended config files (and rebooted), but the third xconf-query command was the one that enabled it all to function correctly for us. After implementing these modifications, all the bundled applications we tested that had menu bars utilized the global menu. Certain applications do not, such as the Task Manager. During the period when Ubuntu defaulted to Unity, Mozilla Firefox supported Unity’s global menus, but that is no longer the case. However, Waterfox still does.
Conclusion: You Can Guide a Horse to Water, But You Can’t Force it to Adore Xfce
In our quest to shape Xfce into a Mac or Unity lookalike, we’ve encountered various quirks. Whether you’re adjusting menus or fine-tuning docks, there’s a unique method to bring it all together. Just don’t let it frustrate you!
