Congratulations to whoever designed the left vertical panel in MX Linux!

[Wirtualny]

This is not a request to solve any problem. This is an expression of my great appreciation . I am a huge fan of the vertical panel on the left and the decision to make this the default solution. Congratulations to whoever designed this panel in MX Linux with XFCE !

I can't imagine using anything with a horizontal panel. Given that monitors available at normal prices usually have a 16:9 aspect ratio, and anything with a different aspect ratio is much more expensive, I can't imagine continuing to lose horizontal space.

[MadMax]

I put my panels horizontal to the top on all my PCs for ergonomical reasons. Most programs have their UI and most of their options in the top bar, so that just makes sense to me.

MX's vertical default is pretty nice, too, though. Poor Windows 11 users don't even get to choose anymore by default

[Stevo]

That was Jerry3904's idea and design from the very first MX 14 release.

I'm sure he appreciates the compliment!

[Jerry3904]

It was, I do.

[jonnken]

Agreed, it seems a much more natural movement of the hand/mouse...to the left and right(to/from the panel), than up and down.

[user101]

I can't imagine using anything with a horizontal panel.

I have had the opposite experience. I can't imagine ever going vertical.

Panel > Add New Items...
I tried to add Network Monitor to a vertical panel. and the results were not satisfactory compared to the horizontal panel. Similar story with some others. It's easier to run out of icon space quicker when vertical too (shorter dimension). My conclusion was that Information is not shown as well vertically. I moved to horizontal soon after. I spent ages (days) trying to work out how to make a bottom horizontal bar, but the details escape me now. All I remember is the friendlyness of the customisation procedure could be drastically improved (all I wanted was a bottom horizontal bar, and it was unnecessarily difficult).

I think if MX-Linux ever made horizontal the default, it would satisfy more users, more of the time.

[AVLinux]

I think if MX-Linux ever made horizontal the default, it would satisfy more users, more of the time.

Lol, them's fightin' words!



The thing is, there is such strong logic for almost any layout that debating it is pretty much futile.. I've tried vertical left, wasn't my thing but I agree with the logic. I find being right-handed that a bottom panel and right side Dock feels natural but certainly not 'better' than anything else..

[Adrian]

I used to have title of the application on the icon in the panel, that would not work with the vertical panel, in the meantime I mostly switched to only icons so the reason keeping me from using the vertical panel disappeared.

I put my panels horizontal to the top on all my PCs for ergonomical reasons. Most programs have their UI and most of their options in the top bar, so that just makes sense to me.

That would *definitely* not work for me. I have my browser tabs on the top, when I move the mouse quickly to the top it goes and rests right on the tab, if there was another menu there I would need to hunt for the tab. Basically now I just move the mouse all the way up and then left-right to select a tab, if there was another menu on top I would have to hunt for vertical location of the tabs too, there's nothing ergonomical about that.

[m_pav]

I spent ages (days) trying to work out how to make a bottom horizontal bar

@user101 No doubt you learned a heap, that's a good thing to learn, but ......

I hope you've discovered since then that we have a homegrown tool built for that very purpose, and we provide a direct link to it for all first-time account logins. It's called the the Welcome screen and the 2 bottom items would have nearly taken you directly to the very thing you needed which only requires a few clicks to make it happen

[asqwerth]

.... I moved to horizontal soon after. I spent ages (days) trying to work out how to make a bottom horizontal bar, but the details escape me now. All I remember is the friendlyness of the customisation procedure could be drastically improved (all I wanted was a bottom horizontal bar, and it was unnecessarily difficult).

I think if MX-Linux ever made horizontal the default, it would satisfy more users, more of the time.

The Tool is MX-Tweak. You can choose to switch between horiz and vert panel with 2 clicks. Not difficult at all.

As m_pav has said, the Welcome Screen shows you how.

Also, the MX FAQ shortcut that is ON YOUR DESKTOP will have the answer.