[ SOLVED ] Is there a way to reduce desktop icon spacing

[Gemini6]

Thank you very much for the good news!!
If the mod works with the clean installation, all I have to do is re-install!!
And, before starting to configure it, I will do this mod first.
It may take some time, but when I have the result, I will report back to you.

[stevef]

Did a fresh installation of Linux Lite 5.2 using the November 2020 iso file on a test machine.

Did not do any updates or desktop tweaks so it is as 'clean' as I can make it.

Carried out the gtk.css tweak as described in this thread and it worked as expected to bunch the icons up or spread them out according to values of cell spacing and padding options in the file.

The suggestion is that there's something 'wrong' or different with the Thinkpad setup (after the restore) or perhaps different about how the gtk.css mod is being applied.

The gtk.css mod should override or supplement existing desktop settings. Perhaps there is something in your desktop setting which is in conflict.

Not sure what else to try.

[Gemini6]

Thanks.
I was thinking about re-installng just for testing.
By the way, I used linux-lite-5.2-64bit for my installation.
I have another PC (Thinkpad T430s) which has almost the same setup where I installed LL5.2. With this PC, gtk.css has no effect, either. Strange!! I am 100% sure it worked very well the first time I did it with my X230...

[stevef]

You mentioned permissions in an earlier post.  'default' looked unusual so just wanted to confirm it was correct.

If the restore to a clean setup is stopping the gtk.css mod working now, in theory reproducing all the changes since taking that snapshot would get you back to the point where the gtk.css mod would work again.

I can install 5.2 (November 2020) without any updates or tweaks on a test machine and see if the mod works.

[Gemini6]

Thanks.
"default' is my account name I created for the installation of Linux lite, as I prefer using an anonymous name. All of my computers (Windows 7, 10) also use an anonymous name.) Is this a problem?
Anyway, what I don't understand is when I did it the first time, my icons changed or moved, as soon as I typed "pkill xfdesktop", whereas now my icons don't change or move at all. I tried several times...

[stevef]

Maybe the permissions are wrong?

Those files appear to belong to an account called 'default'
Is that your user name on the Linux Lite installation on the Thinkpad or have you anonymised it for the post  ?

[Gemini6]

Thanks.
I am not 100% sure if I understand well, but I started all over again, by following your procedure step by step, after having set the icon size to 50.
Strangely, my desktop icons don't change any more...
When I type.

Code: [Select]

ls -l ~/.config/gtk-3.0/
I get.

Code: [Select]

total 8
-rw-r--r-- 1 default default  20 Jul 23 03:41 bookmarks
-rw-rw-r-- 1 default default 109 Jul 25 13:00 gtk.css
Maybe the permissions are wrong??
Anyway, now by reducing icon size, I can have 8 rows of desktop icons. So, I think I can live with that..

[stevef]

That listing looks fine.
With small Icons, because the default cell padding is small, using a value of zero doesn't actually make a great difference (to my eyes).  Try changing the values to say 50 and applying by resetting the xfdesktop.  This should really spread the icons out.

If it doesn't, then we need to dig deeper.

Also post the result of

Code: [Select]

ls -l ~/.config/gtk-3.0/

[Gemini6]

Thank you.

I got the following.

Quote

XfdesktopIconView.view {
    -XfdesktopIconView-cell-spacing:0;
    -XfdesktopIconView-cell-padding:0;
}

Unquote

[stevef]

But, to my surprise, this time, gkt.css has no effet!!

Please post back the results of

Code: [Select]

cat ~/.config/gtk-3.0/gtk.css

[Gemini6]

I am very sorry to ask you another question!!
Well, with your procedure applied, my desktop icons looked perfect. So, I wanted to back up the system. As I always make a backup of a rather clean installation, I restored my backup of clean setup, and applied your procedure step by step exactly as I did the first time. But, to my surprise, this time, gkt.css has no effet!!
What can be the cause? Maybe the configuration in which it worked had been updated and had some modules installed? And, this is maybe missing, which prevents gkt.css from having its effect??
Do you have some idea?

[Gemini6]

Well, your procedure seemed a little "complicated" at first sight, but it is very well explained and very clear!!

So, I was able to follow the procedure step by step, and it worked perfectly!! Thank you very much for your time and patience!!

PS: In the end, I even put the negative value (-10) and increased the icon size to have 8 rows of desktop icons.

[stevef]

Depends on how you define 'too complicated'

By default, each desktop icon has a small margin around it and the accompanying text. You can set these margins to zero (or any pixel value). To do this you can create (or modify) a Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) file for gtk.

Before starting, set the Icon size to the smallest you are comfortable with.

The CSS file will be edited using terminal commands.
To open a terminal press 'Ctrl' 'Alt' and 'T' keys together.

In the terminal, type or paste in the following command.

Code: [Select]

cp ~/.config/gtk-3.0/gtk.css ~/.config/gtk-3.0/original-gtk.cssfollowed by the Enter key.

If the file already exists, this command will make a backup copy of it.
If the file doesn't exist the command will reply saying 'No such file or directory'

Next, in the terminal, type or paste in the following command

Code: [Select]

nano ~/.config/gtk-3.0/gtk.cssfollowed by the Enter key

This will open a text editor within the terminal showing the contents of the file.  The text editor cursor will be at the beginning of the file.  Copy the following text and insert it at the beginning of the file by right click and paste.

Code: [Select]

XfdesktopIconView.view {
    -XfdesktopIconView-cell-spacing:0;
    -XfdesktopIconView-cell-padding:0;
}


Exit the text editor by pressing Ctrl and X keys together.
The editor will ask 'Save modified buffer?'
Press Y key
The editor will check the file name
Press Enter
The editor will close.

The lines you've added set padding for the icon and associated text.

To observe the effect, position the Terminal window so that you can see the icons on the desktop and apply the changes by
typing or pasting in the following command

Code: [Select]

pkill xfdesktopfollowed by the Enter key

The Icons now have zero spacing.  To revert to default spacing remove the lines from the file.

[Gemini6]

Thank you so much. I reduced the icon size, and now I have 8 rows of desktop icons!!
I had noticed this settings before, but as I did not want to reduce the icon size, I did not even try this.. 
So, this is almost what I wanted, but if it was possible to increase the icon size a little while keeping the 8 rows, that would be easier for my eyes. If that is not too complicated..
Thank you anyway, this is already a great improvement for me!!

[stevef]

Simply reducing the icon size of the icons might do what you want without directly changing the icon spacing (padding).

To adjust the icon size
Click Menu
Begin typing 'Desktop' into the search bar
When you see an entry called 'Desktop' click on it.
Select the Icon tab and adjust the Icon size down to see if you can get the right look.

Post back if it doesn't look right and you want to adjust padding.