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lemmy - Link to source

GNOME Desktop top bar - waste of space?

Hi,

I used to be a big fan of GNOME the way it got out of my way when I didn’t need it and no icons in the bottom to take up desktop space. But the top bar just seems so… useless. It holds a few useful icons in the right side (and you can get extensions to add more) but other than this, it’s just taking up space. After a trip past Xfce I’m now on KDE with the bar in the top.

Have I missed anything about the top bar in GNOME Desktop?

in reply to vandsjov

friendica (DFRN) - Link to source

Nanook

@vandsjov Personally, I use Mate, similar to the way the old Gnome-2 worked, and easier to add/delete things to the bars. On mine, top bar has the old style menu, a forced quit, a network monitor, a CPU monitor, a language select, a multi-indicator with sound among other things, and a Calendar. The bottom has applications, workspace switcher, and trash can.
in reply to vandsjov

lemmy - Link to source

Dave

Install an extension to hide it, I just tried this and it works for me: extensions.gnome.org/extension…

You can install extensions by searching for it in the GNOME extensions manager. Once installed, you can edit the settings in the same place (I found I had to move off the window to another application before hiding was applied).

Hide Top Bar - GNOME Shell Extensions

extensions.gnome.org
in reply to vandsjov

lemmy - Link to source

RotatingParts

If the top bar is set up as a menu bar, it could save space on the screen when multiple horizontally placed windows (without individual menu bars) are on the screen. Other than that, I think the general top bar stuff can just be in the bottom bar.
in reply to vandsjov

lemmy - Link to source

Brickfrog

When I first started using GNOME the top bar was a bit off-putting but I got used to it TBH. It's not something I think about much nowadays.

However, you actually can move it to the side or to the bottom, and/or change it in other ways, with the dash-to-panel extension so definitely check that out if the top bar is bugging you extensions.gnome.org/extension…

Dash to Panel - GNOME Shell Extensions

extensions.gnome.org
This entry was edited (Tuesday, November 18, 2025, 3:41 PM)
in reply to vandsjov

lemmy - Link to source

frongt

Gnome is designed to mimic MacOS, and the top bar is a fixture there. KDE is designed to mimic Windows, but also lets you configure way more than Windows ever did. You can put it on top in KDE and tell it to hide when not in use, if you want.
This entry was edited (Tuesday, November 18, 2025, 12:30 AM)
in reply to vandsjov

lemmy - Link to source

eta

I use an Extension that can show the output of shell scripts in the bar to monitor different things about my system like CPU/RAM/Swap/Network usage and some more things I just want to keep an eye on like distrobox status.

I also used the OpenBar extension to move the bar to the bottom and do color customisations for the system and notification menus.

in reply to vandsjov

lemmy - Link to source

mko

One solution is to replace the panel and dock with something like the Dash to Panel extension. It consolidates both into a single bar/dock/panel, is highly configurable and works very well. I wanted to get rid of the top panel for your reason as well as my muscle memory wanting the window controls of maximized windows to be on the top of my screen, not below a what essentially is a menu bar.
in reply to vandsjov

lemmy - Link to source

Ulrich

The top bar shows you:

  1. Date and time
  2. What workspace you're in
  3. What apps you're actively running
  4. Internet connection
  5. If Caffeine is running

These are all important information to have at a glance, in my opinion. If you don't think so, you can remove it. Simple as.

in reply to vandsjov

lemmy - Link to source

Atahualpa

I guess it depends on your use, for me it's sometimes too small. I use it for
- workspaces
- ram + cpu + network speed monitoring
- clipboard manager icon
- music controls
- all background running apps (nextcloud, keepass, ...)

Know that you can make the panel thinner or remove it completely with the extension "Just perfection". I highly recommend it as it does a ton of useful stuff and is always updated on time with new Gnome versions.

I had to use my old .ml account because of the Cloudflare outage. Shame on Dessalines, fascist tankie.

in reply to mitrosus

lemmy - Link to source

BanksOfTheLee

I might be misunderstanding you, but dragging down from the top bar in GNOME while a window is maximized results in the same behaviour as grabbing the window's toolbar. So you can still move the window around when dragging down from the top bar. This has been the default behaviour for a long time (maybe since GNOME 3? unsure)
in reply to vandsjov

lemmy - Link to source

Jiří Král

I just use the "Just perfection" extension to hide to top bar and only make it visible in overview. It may sound annoying to have to use overwiew each time you want to see or interact with the top bar, but honestly for me it's not that often to make that 1 or 2 extra keypresses annoying. When you get used to it it saves a lot of space.
This entry was edited (Wednesday, November 19, 2025, 11:47 PM)

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