How do I resize GNOME shell top bar

Question

I am on Ubuntu 12.04 and installed gnome-shell, but I found the top bar is larger than it normally is, how can I change its size?

Answer 1

1. Hold both "[Windows] key + [Alt]"
2. "Right-click" the bar
3. Click "Properties".

In the "General Tab", simply resize the bar.

Answer 2

Find the file /usr/share/gnome-shell/theme/gnome-shell.css

open it for editing by running the command

sudo gedit /usr/share/gnome-shell/theme/gnome-shell.css

then in that file right in the begining you'll see

/* default text style */
stage {
    font-family: cantarell, sans-serif;
    font-size: 11pt; 
    color: white;
}

no change font-size: 11pt to font-size: 9pt

and save the file, now you have changed the font size for the shell which will resize the top bar too, but now you need to restart the theme to load this file

so press alt + F2 and enter r and press enter

It shall work I'm not using ubuntu but it works for me on fedora