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RyanScottLewis
Asked: 2010-09-14 08:00:56 +0800 CST

How do I increase the resize margin on windows?

  • 772

It takes me about 5 tries to resize a window on my computer.

Is there a way to increase the resize margin on the edge of windows?

window-manager

12 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    As others have mentioned, it depends on the theme. Try a few out. What I frequently do instead is hold down Alt and middle-click (right-click in some environments) and drag to resize, which works anywhere on the window.

    Note that many themes that seem to have a 1px border (or no border at all) actually do tend to have a generous invisible border just outside the window. You usually don't have to pinpoint a tiny window border to resize.

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  2. To modify Ambiance to have a wider margin, open /usr/share/themes/Ambiance/metacity-1/metacity-theme-1.xml and increase the values of the following properties:

    <distance name="left_width" value="1"/>
<distance name="right_width" value="1"/>
<distance name="bottom_height" value="1"/>

    You may want to back up the original file before modifying, and/or make a duplicate of the entire theme.

    Note that you can also resize windows by pressing Alt + Button2.

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  3. There is also a default keyboard short-cut in gnome -- Alt-F8 -- that is a 'resize window' function.

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  4. The GNOME desktop environment is designed to give priority to usability and simplicity over customizability. Hence, the width of the window border is something that is not easily changeable. In all practical considerations, Jacob's recommendation that you use Alt+middle-click instead of dragging the window borders is likely to be the best solution for most users.

    With that said, the size of the window border does vary between Metacity themes. As a first step, you might try picking a different theme from GNOME-Look.org.

    If you're really determined to adjust just the window border without changing the rest of the theme, it is possible to modify existing themes. Here's a reference to get you started.

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  5. The thickness of the window border is set by the theme you are using.
    So to make the window edges bigger try a different theme.

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  6. It looks like this will be fixed in Natty.

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  7. (This is from my answer to a duplicate question that was closed. )

    It depends on the theme used. You could change your theme, or edit the theme if you really wanted to, but an easier and more consistent way is to hold down Alt and drag with the middle mouse button. You can imagine it as slicing the window into a 3x3 grid, and clicking in any rectangle but the center one will allow you to drag the appropriate side or corner.

    Note that Alt + MiddleButton is the default configuration. To change it (at least in Compiz):

    1. Go to System -> Preferences -> CompizConfig Settings Manager if running classic Gnome, or search for CompizConfig Settings Manager in the Dash if running Unity.
    2. Find the Resize Window plugin; it's under Window Management.
    3. Open it and go to the Bindings tab if you aren't already there.

    The last two settings are called Initiate Window Resize. One of them is the middle click option described above; the other is a similar keyboard binding that allows you to resize with the keyboard arrow keys (as well as the mouse without clicking).

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  8. Right click on the title bar and select Resize from the popup menu.

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  9. Current Solution (2019) for Ubuntu-MATE 16.x, 18.x**

    (possibly more, pls add to comments)

    Yes, those borders are a pain, bordering on –pun intended– masochism...

    enter image description here

    1 create copy of a theme

    Well, ClearLooks is (for some reason) not really a "full theme" to pick on the Theme tab, but rather a "Border Theme" under „customize..“ on the Window Border Tab:

    enter image description here

    Well, never mind, let's create a copy (use rsync or cp as you please):

    (If you are fond of another "border theme" then duplicate that one accordingly. Look it up under customize theme-> Window Border what you are currently using.)

    sudo rsync -vr /usr/share/themes/ClearlooksRe/* /usr/share/themes/ClearlooksReBIGGER

    2 change border width in the xml File

    sudo pluma /usr/share/themes/ClearlooksReBIGGER/metacity-1/metacity-theme-1.xml

    There are actually two places:

    • under <frame_geometry name="normal"...
    • under <frame_geometry name="border"...

    For left, right and bottom I went for a rather generous 12px:

    <distance name="left_width" value="12"/>    <!-- FRANK: was: 4 -->
<distance name="right_width" value="12"/>
<distance name="bottom_height" value="12"/>

    3 pick the new Window Border theme and there you are

    enter image description here

    Some background on metacity themes, if you care.

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  10. Alt+MiddleButton is the right way to resize windows; it's right are your hands, and you don't have to move the pointer to the window edges first.

    However, I still find that the scroll overlay often gets in my hair. So I went for a different approach and disabled the overlays all together! Scroll still works, of course, and the nice orange scroll indicator is still present. On Ubuntu 13.04, I did it like this:

    gsettings set com.canonical.desktop.interface scrollbar-mode 'overlay-touch'

    You can revert it by doing:

    gsettings set com.canonical.desktop.interface scrollbar-mode 'overlay-auto'
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