Tell me more ×
Unix & Linux Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for users of Linux, FreeBSD and other Un*x-like operating systems.. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 3 down vote favorite

I am new to XFCE so forgive me if I am missing something dead simple, but...

Let's say I have an icon on desktop "personal folder". What I actually see is the icon and "perso..." -- so the question is how to display full name, no matter how long it is. No shortening, however line breaks are fine (so for example it would be displayed in two lines "personal" and second "folder").

share|improve this question

1 Answer

up vote 3 down vote accepted

Have a look at the HIDDEN CUSTOMIZATIONS mentioned in xfdesktop's README:

If you're using the icon view, and would like to change how the text looks, you have three things you can change: the opacity (transparency) of the rounded text background, the color of the rounded text background, and the color of the text itself.

You'd want to add something like this to your ~/.gtkrc-2.0 file:

style "xfdesktop-icon-view" {
    XfdesktopIconView::label-alpha = 75
    XfdesktopIconView::selected-label-alpha = 100
    XfdesktopIconView::ellipsize-icon-labels = 1
    XfdesktopIconView::tooltip-size = 128

    XfdesktopIconView::shadow-x-offset = 1
    XfdesktopIconView::shadow-y-offset = 1
    XfdesktopIconView::shadow-color = "#ff0000"
    XfdesktopIconView::selected-shadow-x-offset = 2
    XfdesktopIconView::selected-shadow-y-offset = 2
    XfdesktopIconView::selected-shadow-color = "#00ff00"

    XfdesktopIconView::cell-spacing = 6
    XfdesktopIconView::cell-padding = 6
    XfdesktopIconView::cell-text-width-proportion = 2.5

    base[NORMAL] = "#00ff00"
    base[SELECTED] = "#5050ff"
    base[ACTIVE] = "#0000ff"

    fg[NORMAL] = "#ff0000"
    fg[SELECTED] = "#ff0000"
    fg[ACTIVE] = "#ff0000"
}
widget_class "*XfdesktopIconView*" style "xfdesktop-icon-view"

According to this XFCE forum post, 

XfdesktopIconView::cell-text-width-proportion = 2.5

should be what you're looking for (try a higher value).

Edit Reading more of the thread I linked, I gather that

XfdesktopIconView::ellipsize-icon-labels = 0

should do a better job (that's already in the README excerpt... well, I didn't notice it).

share|improve this answer
Many thanks! In my case, it has to be just this line inside, because when I pasted everything, I got RGB components in label shifted. However the problem is now this -- it is done in expense of the grid size, every cell is huge, so I can have ~12 icons on the screen. – greenoldman Mar 7 '12 at 15:32
Does fiddling with the other cell-* values help, i.e. reducing the spacing and padding? – sr_ Mar 7 '12 at 15:52
Yes, but it is only padding. The main problem is, XFCE set the size of the cell according to longest visible text (in case you use those settings). So it could work, if I could get rid of grid (for example). – greenoldman Mar 7 '12 at 16:04
1  
@macias could you try what I edited? :) – sr_ Mar 7 '12 at 16:15
You are great! Thank you, it solves the problem. – greenoldman Mar 7 '12 at 19:47

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.