Is there any way to reduce the size of the default Ubuntu 13.04 window switcher icons, shown when pressing ALT+TAB? Changing Compiz settings (with a text editor, if not in the CCSM GUI) or installing a different window switcher, for example. Thank you for your help, have a good day.
1 Answer
As far as I know...the size of the default "Switcher View (Alt+Tab)" is hardcoded in the Unity source.
You can try to edit the source code to change the size according to your needs.
NOTE: I recommend you to do this in a Virtual Machine or in a Test Machine to see if you get the desired results.
In this example I'm running Ubuntu 13.04 with unity 7.0.0 and I will change the "Switcher View" (icons, tiles, etc.) to the half-size.
1) Make sure you have enable the Source code repository.
- Open the Ubuntu Software Center
- In the Menu Bar choose Edit -> Software Sources. Click to enable "Source code repository". Just in case I use the "Main Server" to Download.
Open a Terminal window Ctrl+Alt+T and type:
sudo apt-get update
2) In the Terminal type the following to install the necessary packages.
sudo apt-get install build-essential python-windowmocker quilt
3) Install build dependencies.
sudo apt-get build-dep unity
4) Create a folder to download the source code.
mkdir ~/Downloads/src
cd ~/Downloads/src
5) Download the source code & Export variables.
apt-get source unity
export QUILT_PATCHES=debian/patches
export EDITOR=gedit
6) Create the patch and Edit the source code.
cd unity-7.0.0daily13.06.19~13.04/
quilt new 99-custon-switcher-size.patch
quilt edit launcher/SwitcherView.cpp
Edit the lines... 46 to 50.
I changed them from:
, border_size(50)
, flat_spacing(20)
, icon_size(128)
, minimum_spacing(10)
, tile_size(150)
To:
, border_size(25)
, flat_spacing(10)
, icon_size(64)
, minimum_spacing(10)
, tile_size(75)
7) Build the deb packages.
quilt refresh
fakeroot dpkg-buildpackage
8) Install the deb packages.
cd ..
sudo dpkg -i *deb
9) Finally you can Restart your machine to see the changes.
Before:
After:
Hope this helps.
-
It's been almost 3 years I've been using Ubuntu. Almost ever since, I wanted to look up how to use the src packages. 3 years I've been procrastinating. Now I have a starting point. Thank you!– DanOct 25, 2013 at 14:09
-
Thank you Roman Raguet. Definitely not an operation for a common user. :-)– AndrewNov 12, 2013 at 16:25
-
2@Andrew...Well I wrote and step by step so a user can follow it. you can give it a try. Nov 12, 2013 at 16:59
-
@Roman: What happens if I do it and then Ubuntu updates are available and I install them? I think I'll have to install the patch again, is it true? And in this case, do you know how much often that/those packages are updated? Thank you very much.– AndrewNov 13, 2013 at 12:25
-
@RomanRaguet Please mention fakeroot dpkg-buildpackage will be run with sudo...– BatakjDec 3, 2013 at 12:17