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s.k
Asked: 2022-01-06 01:21:17 +0800 CST

Merge an application menu bar with the GNOME desktop top bar

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How to merge these two bars, e.g. the menu bar of any application (here Firefox) with the desktop top bar (I don't know if it has some kind of official name) on GNOME (42.0), into only one bar in order to save vertical space on a laptop screen:

enter image description here
Fig.1: The top row of pixels of this screenshot correspond to the top row of pixels of the monitor.

System info:

OS: Ubuntu 22.04 jammy
Kernel: x86_64 Linux 5.15.0-25-generic
Shell: bash 5.1.16
DE: GNOME 42.0
WM: Mutter
WM Theme: Adwaita
GTK Theme: Yaru [GTK2/3]
Icon Theme: Yaru
gnome

2 Answers

  1. This is difficult to globally support in the diverse Linux ecosystem. An nice attempt to have a global menu, i.e., a menu that for any window is displayed on the top bar, combined with a HUD, is implemented through the Fildem project. A HUD is a way to search a menu for commands.

    Linux Uprising has a post on Fildem. Due to the diversity of the Linux ecosystem, such attempts have limitations:

    • It won't work for Gnome applications such as Files, Gedit, that do not have a traditional menu in the first place.
    • It won't work for Firefox or Thunderbird, but screen estate can be saved by disabling the menu bar and using the hamburger menu ≡ instead.

    Other ways to save vertical screen real estate

    • Hide the top bar (extensions: Hide Panel Lite by fthx, Hide Panel by fthx, Hide Top Bar by tuxor1337)

    • Merge panel and legacy title bar (extension: Unite by hardpixel)

    • At the application level: turn the legacy title bar in Firefox browser or Thunderbird off, maximize the application (Super+Up, command line options to have them start full screen)

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  2. https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/1287/unite/ found this came across a few other's just forget the names. have not found an app it won't work with yet

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