Bug 514579

Summary: Global menu: Make spacing betweem the entries and font size configurable | the global menu is to large on low-res screens
Product: [Plasma] plasmashell Reporter: r.kunschke
Component: Global Menu widgetAssignee: Plasma Bugs List <plasma-bugs-null>
Status: NEEDSINFO WAITINGFORINFO    
Severity: wishlist CC: akselmo, kde, kdedev, mvourlakos, nate, r.kunschke
Priority: NOR Keywords: accessibility, usability
Version First Reported In: 6.5.4   
Target Milestone: 1.0   
Platform: CachyOS   
OS: Linux   
See Also: https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=481631
Latest Commit: Version Fixed/Implemented In:
Sentry Crash Report:
Attachments: Kate's massive global menu on a 768p screen
Task-manager widget's icons get scaled down because of the massive global menu

Description r.kunschke 2026-01-14 10:02:03 UTC
SUMMARY
I have a 768p notebook display. When I use kate the global menu is taking to much space (besides using a minimal size panel). It would be great to have a option to reduce the spacing between the elements and/or to reduce the font size.
Comment 1 r.kunschke 2026-01-14 10:02:54 UTC
Created attachment 188502 [details]
Kate's massive global menu on a 768p screen
Comment 2 TraceyC 2026-01-15 17:16:46 UTC
This would make the widget more friendly on different sized screens, like the smaller SteamDeck display, for sure. It would also improve accessibility for people needing larger text.
Comment 3 Nate Graham 2026-01-16 17:47:34 UTC
A user-facing option isn't necessarily the correct approach here. And also, is there even a problem at all? To be honest, I don't see it. Nothing is cut off, nothing is missing, and there's adequate whitespace to separate items. And this is even with a fairly worst-case scenario situation, with a huge menubar, a crowded panel, and a small screen.

Can you clarify what exactly the problem is?
Comment 4 r.kunschke 2026-01-18 10:00:33 UTC
(In reply to Nate Graham from comment #3)
> A user-facing option isn't necessarily the correct approach here. And also,
> is there even a problem at all? To be honest, I don't see it. Nothing is cut
> off, nothing is missing, and there's adequate whitespace to separate items.
> And this is even with a fairly worst-case scenario situation, with a hugeniche
> menubar, a crowded panel, and a small screen.
> 
> Can you clarify what exactly the problem is?

On my setup just adding a few windows and workspaces (which I add via a dynamic workspaces kwin script) is enough to make the task-manager widget scale it's icon relatively small. It's not a huge problem and my setup is somehow niche.
I've already removed some shortcuts in my panel to reduce the problem. But I understand that the feature would be more of a nice-to-have then a must-have one.
Comment 5 r.kunschke 2026-01-18 10:01:36 UTC
Created attachment 188639 [details]
Task-manager widget's icons get scaled down because of the massive global menu