How to maximize usage of the screen resolution (in Linux)

Hi, here are some small tips on ways to use more of the screen for content and less for decorations (as the AA1 screen resolution is quite small, after all).

General tips:

• Run programs in maximized mode: Alt+F5[/*:m:367z6jfj]
• Run programs in maximized mode without borders and with no taskbar: Alt+F11 (by annafil)[/*:m:367z6jfj]
• Press the little arrow in the bottom left corner to hide the taskbar.[/*:m:367z6jfj]
• Choose small fonts in all applications (where possible). Kind of obvious, I know [/*:m:367z6jfj]

Xfce, the window manager:
From the Advanced menu, select Settings->Window Manager and the the Style Tab
Choose the style "smallscreen" (there are other small ones, but I found that one to be the best) and set "Title font" to Sans Bold 9

Terminal:

• In the View menu: uncheck all but "Show Menubar".[/*:m:367z6jfj]
• From the Edit menu, select Preferences and then Appearance.
  Set Font to MiscFixed 11 (or smaller if you can live with it).
  Under "Opening New Windows: uncheck all but "Display menubar...".
  (I actually also have unchecked the menubar. In combination with Alt+F11 and a smaller font this gives me a terminal with 143x42 characters How clean and minimalistic it looks!)[/*:m:367z6jfj]

Emacs:
Remove the toolbar and the menu if you don't use them.

Firefox & Thunderbird:
Choose text only toolbars in View->Toolbars->Customize.

Firefox:

• Change theme to a more compact one. I use miniFox.[/*:m:367z6jfj]
• Install Adblock Plus so the screen isn't full of adverts (by lotus49)[/*:m:367z6jfj]
• Install Tiny Menu and move all the controls that were on the navigation toolbar next to the single menu item (by lotus49)[/*:m:367z6jfj]
• Install Fission (show the progress loading a page in the URL line like Safari) and turn off the status bar. (by lotus49)[/*:m:367z6jfj]

Thunderbird:
I find View->Layout->Wide View to work quite well.

Compiz: (by jaek)
If you are running compiz, mapping the fullscreen action to a key helps. It maximizes the window and removes the title bar and borders and just shows you the bare-bones application.
To use this feature of compiz, you must enable Extra WM Actions -> General -> Toggle Fullscreen and map it to a key you don't use (I'm using F12).

Another great thing you can do with compiz is make windows open by default maximized and without title bars.
Place Windows -> Placement Mode -> Maximize
Window Decoration -> Decoration Windows -> !(type=Normal)
(I am now using Debian Sid with latest compiz so the above options might be organized in other places in CCSM.)

Opera: (by 4jazz)
I recommend Opera as browser. You can easily increase and decrease the browser window by using + and - .
In combination with F11 it is fantastic.

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Please feel free to suggest more ways, and I'll add them to this guide (and start using them myself!)

 

Re: How to maximize usage of the screen resolution

Thanks, useful.

 

If you are running compiz, mapping the fullscreen action to a key helps. It maximizes the window and removes the title bar and borders and just shows you the bare-bones application.

To use this feature of compiz, you must enable Extra WM Actions -> General -> Toggle Fullscreen and map it to a key you don't use (I'm using F12).

 

If you don't need window borders in maximised mode, press Alt+F11 instead of Alt+F

 

Thanks jaek and annafil! I'll add that now.

Alt+F11 is wonderful.

 

snowlord:

 

My tips for Firefox are...

install Adblock Plus so the screen isn't full of adverts
install Tiny Menu and move all the controls that were on the navigation toolbar next to the single menu item
install Fission (show the progress loading a page in the URL line like Safari) and turn off the status bar.

 

Perfect. Will add it immediately.

 

Another great thing you can do with compiz is make windows open by default maximized and without title bars. Here is a screenshot of what it looks like:



To do this:

Place Windows -> Placement Mode -> Maximize
Window Decoration -> Decoration Windows -> !(type=Normal)

I am now using Debian Sid with latest compiz so the above options might be organized in other places in CCSM.

 

Thanks! Added.

 

I recommend Opera as browser. You can easily increase and decrease the browser window by using + and - .

In combination with F11 it is fantastic.

 

Thanks!

 

In firefox you can rearrange the button layout.
View>toolbars>Customize
Move address bar and google search up beside the "file edit.." menus. Then move the bookmarks tab beside the forward back refresh etc buttons. Then View>toolbars>uncheck bookmarks toolbar. This works beautifully with minifox and will save an entire toolbar of space.

 

In my notes from a Debian - Lenny install on the One and translating back to english:

menu -> system -> preferences -> appearence -> fonts -> details

brought me to a place where everyting could be made as small as I wanted.

$( whoami )

 

"Install Tiny Menu and move all the controls that were on the navigation toolbar next to the single menu item "

It wasn't very clear how to do this. I struggled with this for a while until I finally had to look up how it's done.
For anyone else that experienced difficulties, here is how it's done step-by-step:
http://lifehacker.com/software/firefox/ ... 209634.php

 

This is my firefox setup. LOTS of tweaks and styles. I wont post everything, just the needed to get the screen useful.

Add-ons:
- All-In-One Sidebar
- Fission
- Locationbar 2
- Menu Icon Plus
- New Tab Button on Tab Right
- Personal Menu
- Scroll Search Engines
- Tagmarks
- Undo Close Tabs Button
- Yet Another Smooth Scrolling

Stylish styles:
- FireFox 3.0 - Hide Search and Go Buttons (tweaked)
- Combine Stop/Reload buttons (tweaked)
- Compress Separator Between URL Bar and SearchBar (tweaked)
- Fission + Locationbar² - Color Active Link URL (tweaked)
- IE7-style Menubar
- MBlue Combine Nav-Buttons Vista (tweaked)
- Menubar menu horizontal spacing
- Native-looking progress meter for Fission ext
- Reorder statusbar panels and icons
- Small Statusbar
- smaller addressbar items (Fx3)
- Smartly show Stop and Reload buttons (tweaked)
- Tab: Close Button - Mac OS X Panther Style
- Throbber instead of favicon in URL bar

I really enjoyed making this customization, because my girlfriend never used a small screen besides her 20" LCD, but now it looks really solid and works really well.

Could someone help me turning all the styles into just one?

 

Thanks for all the cool input!

@Deoki: Are you running Firefox 2 or 3? EDIT: Stupid question, you *are* mentioning FF3

 

I added TinyMenu and was hoping it would compress the system menu so that it would be sharing the same line as the main navigation bar. But I have TinyMenu on it's own taking up a whole toolbar vertical space, so it's not saving me anything. How can I squeeze it onto the left side of the navigation bar?

 

Is there any way to reduce the fonts used in the programs such as messenger for the menus?

 

I am using Personal Menu instead, and it works like a charm. As you can see in my screenshot above, I have the main menu right next to the navigation buttons.

I think I will make a post just for this customization, like a how-to.