Close / minimize / maximize buttons tiny in some applications (eg pamac)

[womanjar0]

In some applications the icons in the title bar are tiny. Fonts and height of the title bar match, but the buttons are really small. One of those applications is the software center (pamac). Here you can see it with at the right a window of Kate with correct scaling.

I scaled everything to 150% and I don´t see a HiDPI setting in the system settings.

Running KDE plasma.

 inxi -Gxxx                                                 
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel TigerLake-LP GT2 [Iris Xe Graphics] vendor: ASUSTeK
    driver: i915 v: kernel arch: Gen-12.1 ports: active: eDP-1
    empty: DP-1,DP-2,HDMI-A-1 bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:9a49
    class-ID: 0300
  Device-2: NVIDIA GA107M [GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile] vendor: ASUSTeK
    driver: nvidia v: 525.60.11 arch: Ampere pcie: speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 4
    bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:25a2 class-ID: 0302
  Device-3: IMC Networks USB2.0 HD UVC WebCam type: USB driver: uvcvideo
    bus-ID: 3-6:3 chip-ID: 13d3:5458 class-ID: fe01 serial: 0x0001
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.4 compositor: kwin_x11 driver: X:
    loaded: modesetting,nvidia unloaded: nouveau alternate: fbdev,nv,vesa
    dri: iris gpu: i915 display-ID: :0 screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 2560x1600 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 677x423mm (26.65x16.65")
    s-diag: 798mm (31.43")
  Monitor-1: eDP-1 model: AU Optronics 0xe495 res: 2560x1600 dpi: 189
    size: 344x215mm (13.54x8.46") diag: 406mm (16") modes: 2560x1600
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6 Mesa 22.2.4 renderer: Mesa Intel Xe Graphics (TGL GT2)
    direct render: Yes

I also looked at this HiDPI - ArchWiki but I don´t seem to have the file ~/.Xresources I guess it has something to do with GTK, but the only issue is really the size of buttons/icons in the title bar. Fonts are fine, height of the title bar as well.

PS: I have not installed any additional themes or tinkered theme settings. So just using the standard ones that came with the installation.

[linux-aarhus]

pamac is a gtk application and if you use fractional scaling on plasma this won’t work with gtk as gnome does not support - as least not very well - fractional scaling.

So yes - it is expected.

[womanjar0]

ok, too bad, but thanks for your reply… Was hoping that these could be made larger somehow. Guess I will have to use keyboard shortcuts a bit more then

[winnie]

You could start a GTK application to use its own scaling, for example:

env GDK_DPI_SCALE=1.50 pamac-tray-plasma

However, while it will scale the buttons and controls of Pamac, it will not affect the window controls, perhaps because this application uses CSD (client-side decorations).

---

For this to work with Pamac in particular, you must completely quit the application by right-clicking it in the tray. (Changes won’t take affect until Pamac’s next launch, and since it lives in the tray it must first be exited completely.)

Then either start pamac-tray-plasma with the above environment variable, or create/override its Exec= command in the respective .desktop / autostart file.

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Scaling individual applications in KDE Plasma

For GTK3 applications: env GDK_DPI_SCALE=1.25 somegtkapp For Qt5 applications: env QT_SCALE_FACTOR=1.25 someqtapp Replace 1.25 with your preferred scaling. I believe there’s a different variable used for “fonts only”, however. (But the above should do what you’re looking for.) I also believe you might introduce glitches if you veer away from 25% increments. So these work best: .5, .75, 1, 1.25, 1.5, 1.75, 2, etc… If you’re happy with it, make a custom shortcut or .desktop entry, and repl…

[womanjar0]

Thanks. I tried env GDK_DPI_SCALE=1.50 pamac-tray-plasma, but that has indeed not the desired effect. It makes the fonts larger and also the height of the titlebar. Both are already scaled as you would expect. The buttons in the titlebar remain as small as they were before.

I will dive into GTK and CSD. Would be nice if a system wide setting would be possible, but probably not.

[robin0800]

You can remove csd using gtk3-nocsd-git from the Aur and then a reboot.
This might be enough to fix your problem? I use this in cinnamon.

[womanjar0]

Now you mention it, I also use that on my old laptop with Linux mint xfce. However, according this this topic nocsd and pamac are not a working combination with KDE.

Also:

Pamac's new look

@medmedin most likely you open an Issue so we can track your complaint. Pamac is Gnome adaptive application now, we will port to GTK4. Currently we are in progress to make Pamac ready for the Mobile Phones, like the Pinephone. Therefore we introduced libhandy and libadwaita for the GTK4 Port. We are currently concentrating on Gnome and XFCE edition first, to get Pamac ready. Also we don’t support gtk3-nocsd or gtk3-classic, as libhandy and libadwaita only works with CSD enabled. Our focus on …

[Ben]

You were also saying you need to learn to use KEYBOARD shortcuts - which is actually not correct (though you should be aware of them).

We click targets when we’re using a mouse - and I’m lazy to click targets.

With KDE we have custom shortcuts where you can set Mouse Gestures.

Make a new folder in there for ‘Windows’
Entries for ‘Close Tab’ as well as ‘Close’ and also ‘Kill’ is useful…
Close tab - gesture L - action ‘ctrl+w’
Close - gesture x (drawn like an alpha) - Alt+F4
Kill - gesture like a ‘k’ - meta+ctrl+esc (gives a skull cursor to kill an app).

I find it much more convenient to draw an x to close a window than I do to click an ‘x’ target - no matter how huge or tiny it is.

Be creative - open tabs, close tabs, reopen last closed tab, maximise, maximise vertical, maximise horizontal, toggle tiling, open a terminal…

And probably my favourite - when I am copying and pasting:

Opens ‘Klipper’ at my cursor.

[womanjar0]

Didn´t know about this possibility, but I have to be careful because of RSI. In general I prefer working with keyboard shortcuts also for that reason. I´d rather press alt+F4 instead of drawing an X.