Ubuntu
gnome-shell-extension-ubuntu-dock package

Small icons in app grid of Activities Overview

Bug #1969577 reported by Hartono
146
This bug affects 32 people
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
GNOME Shell
New
Unknown
gnome-shell (Ubuntu)
Triaged
Medium
Unassigned
gnome-shell-extension-ubuntu-dock (Ubuntu)
Opinion
Medium
Unassigned

Bug Description

I just installed Ubuntu 22.04 LTS. As soon as I installed, I noticed that the icons present in "Show Applications" are smaller than expected (i.e. smaller than that used to be in other versions). So here it is:
https://i.postimg.cc/2jn4xVh3/Screenshot-from-2022-04-20-13-36-48.png

issue went gone when i disable ubuntu dock extension

https://i.postimg.cc/cJd7KZr6/Screenshot-from-2022-04-20-13-35-44.png

Here is my system information:
$sudo lshw -short
H/W path Device Class Description
===========================================================
                                 system 81WA (LENOVO_MT_81WA_BU_idea_FM_
/0 bus LNVNB161216
/0/0 memory 128KiB BIOS
/0/4 processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-10110U CPU
/0/4/5 memory 128KiB L1 cache
/0/4/6 memory 512KiB L2 cache
/0/4/7 memory 4MiB L3 cache
/0/24 memory 4GiB System Memory
/0/24/0 memory 4GiB Row of chips DDR4 Synchrono
/0/24/1 memory [empty]
/0/100 bridge Intel Corporation
/0/100/2 /dev/fb0 display CometLake-U GT2 [UHD Graphics]
/0/100/4 generic Xeon E3-1200 v5/E3-1500 v5/6th G
/0/100/8 generic Xeon E3-1200 v5/v6 / E3-1500 v5
/0/100/12 generic Comet Lake Thermal Subsytem
/0/100/14 bus Comet Lake PCH-LP USB 3.1 xHCI H
/0/100/14/0 usb1 bus xHCI Host Controller
/0/100/14/0/3 input10 input Microsoft Microsoft Nano Transce
/0/100/14/0/7 input16 multimedia Integrated Camera: Integrated C
/0/100/14/0/a communication Bluetooth 9460/9560 Jefferson Pe
/0/100/14/1 usb2 bus xHCI Host Controller
/0/100/14.2 memory RAM memory
/0/100/14.3 wlp0s20f3 network Comet Lake PCH-LP CNVi WiFi
/0/100/15 bus Serial IO I2C Host Controller
/0/100/16 communication Comet Lake Management Engine Int
/0/100/17 storage Comet Lake SATA AHCI Controller
/0/100/19 bus Comet Lake Serial IO I2C Host Co
/0/100/19.2 communication Intel Corporation
/0/100/1d bridge Comet Lake PCI Express Root Port
/0/100/1d/0 /dev/nvme0 storage KBG40ZNT256G TOSHIBA MEMORY
/0/100/1d/0/0 hwmon2 disk NVMe disk
/0/100/1d/0/2 /dev/ng0n1 disk NVMe disk
/0/100/1d/0/1 /dev/nvme0n1 disk 256GB NVMe disk
/0/100/1d/0/1/1 volume 1023MiB Windows FAT volume
/0/100/1d/0/1/2 /dev/nvme0n1p2 volume 2047MiB Linux swap volume
/0/100/1d/0/1/3 /dev/nvme0n1p3 volume 59GiB EFI partition
/0/100/1d/0/1/4 /dev/nvme0n1p4 volume 175GiB EFI partition
/0/100/1f bridge Comet Lake PCH-LP LPC Premium Co
/0/100/1f/0 system PnP device PNP0c02
/0/100/1f/1 system PnP device PNP0c02
/0/100/1f/2 system PnP device PNP0c02
/0/100/1f/3 system PnP device PNP0c02
/0/100/1f/4 generic PnP device INT3f0d
/0/100/1f/5 input PnP device PNP0303
/0/100/1f/6 system PnP device PNP0c02
/0/100/1f/7 system PnP device PNP0c02
/0/100/1f/8 input12 input Ideapad extra buttons
/0/100/1f.3 card0 multimedia Comet Lake PCH-LP cAVS
/0/100/1f.3/0 input18 input HDA Intel PCH Mic
/0/100/1f.3/1 input19 input HDA Intel PCH Headphone
/0/100/1f.3/2 input20 input HDA Intel PCH HDMI/DP,pcm=3
/0/100/1f.3/3 input21 input HDA Intel PCH HDMI/DP,pcm=7
/0/100/1f.3/4 input22 input HDA Intel PCH HDMI/DP,pcm=8
/0/100/1f.3/5 input23 input HDA Intel PCH HDMI/DP,pcm=9
/0/100/1f.3/6 input24 input HDA Intel PCH HDMI/DP,pcm=10
/0/100/1f.4 bus Comet Lake PCH-LP SMBus Host Con
/0/100/1f.5 bus Comet Lake SPI (flash) Controlle
/1 power CRB Battery 0
/2 power OEM Define 5
/3 input0 input Lid Switch
/4 input1 input Power Button
/5 input13 input MSFT0001:01 04F3:31BE Mouse
/6 input15 input MSFT0001:01 04F3:31BE Touchpad
/7 input17 input Video Bus
/8 input2 input Power Button
/9 input3 input AT Translated Set 2 keyboard

See original description
Tags: jammy
Hartono (cimot)
description: updated
Revision history for this message
Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote :

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

Changed in gnome-shell (Ubuntu):
status: New → Confirmed
Changed in gnome-shell-extension-ubuntu-dock (Ubuntu):
status: New → Confirmed
Revision history for this message
Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt) wrote (last edit ):

Thanks for the bug report. I was wondering how many complaints this issue would get but you seem to be the first Ubuntu user to notice it.

Although removing ubuntu-dock is a workaround, I think the issue is fundamentally bad logic in gnome-shell, and it has become more pronounced in GNOME 42.

The problem also happens on some narrower aspect ratio screens even without ubuntu-dock, so the problem seems to be that the icon grid is only designed for 16:9 and only when there's no dock on the side :(

Changed in gnome-shell-extension-ubuntu-dock (Ubuntu):
status: Confirmed → Opinion
Changed in gnome-shell (Ubuntu):
importance: Undecided → Medium
Changed in gnome-shell-extension-ubuntu-dock (Ubuntu):
importance: Undecided → Medium
Changed in gnome-shell (Ubuntu):
status: Confirmed → Triaged
tags: added: jammy
Revision history for this message
Duke (duke1995) wrote :

I tried out Ubuntu 22.04 today, and I came across the same issue. The app icons in the app grid are very small and the app names very short (I know the full name is shown when you hover over an app icon, but I don't think that makes this issue less important). I'm going to attach a screenshot too. FYI: My screen resolution is 1366 x 768 (16:9).

I don't have this issue in Ubuntu 20.04, but I know the Gnome activities overview has been redesigned since Gnome 40.

On a side note, the order of the app icons in the app grid seems to be random. I know the icons can be rearranged manually, but I think it would be better if the icons were sorted alphabetically by default. However I suppose it will be better to create a separate bug report for that issue (if one doesn't exist yet).

Revision history for this message
Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt) wrote :

The problem with app names is different (bug 968213), but admittedly happens at the same time as this bug.

Duke (duke1995)
summary: - Small icon in Activity Overview
+ Small icons in app grid of Activities Overview
Revision history for this message
Duke (duke1995) wrote :

The icons have the right size when the dock is disabled (as mentioned in the original bug description), but also when the dock is moved to the bottom (see the attached screenshot). However I prefer the dock to be on the left, so for me this is not really a solution either.

Revision history for this message
Shayak Banerjee (shayak-banerjee) wrote :

I was also facing the same issue on my new installation of Ubuntu 22.04

I'm using a 1366x768 display, and it is probably something to do with the scaling.

I found this post on Ask Ubuntu, that suggests a temporary workaround
https://askubuntu.com/questions/1404384/how-to-change-app-icon-size-for-ubuntu-22-04-lts

Revision history for this message
Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt) wrote :

gnome-shell 42.1 will bring an improvement:
https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-shell/-/commit/8e664a8cbe

Revision history for this message
Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt) wrote :

Depending on how Hartono and others feel, we might be able to declare this fixed in 42.1, but still keep the upstream bug open for the more extreme cases.

Revision history for this message
damián (1damian) wrote :

Good afternoon, Gnome 42.1 was already released and the error was not resolved, I am using a 1366x768 resolution screen. Thank you very much!
Greetings.

Revision history for this message
Joseph Mei (ubuntu-candy) wrote :

Gnome 42.1 haven't resolved the icon size issue. Hope to get an update soon. Thank you!

Revision history for this message
Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt) wrote :

Yes we know it's not fixed for everyone. That's why the bug is still open here and upstream in https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-shell/-/issues/2173

If however the original OP is satisfied with the changes in 42.1 then this bug should close and the remaining issues only tracked in the upstream bug that's still open.

Revision history for this message
damián (1damian) wrote :

When at a 1366X768 screen resolution we remove Ubuntu dock and replace it with the Cosmic dock extension the bug is resolved. Ubuntu dock seems to be part of the problem.
Greetings.

Revision history for this message
Duke (duke1995) wrote :

In addition to comment #13 by damián above: attached is a screenshot of the app grid in Ubuntu 22.04 with the Dash to Dock for COSMIC extension enabled (and the default Ubuntu Dock disabled); the screen resolution is 1366x768 (16:9).

Revision history for this message
Duke (duke1995) wrote :

For comparison with the screenshot in the previous comment #14: attached is a screenshot of the app grid in Ubuntu 22.04 with the default Ubuntu Dock enabled; the screen resolution is the same.

Revision history for this message
Duke (duke1995) wrote :

With regard to the difference between the app grid when using the default Ubuntu Dock extension and the Dash to Dock for COSMIC extension, it looks like:
* in the case of the default Ubuntu Dock extension, the elements of the app grid are centered horizontally relative to the app grid, not including the dock (and their size is calculated based on the available width); this is why the app icons are smaller, but the elements in the app grid are centered correctly relative to the app grid (the left and right margins have the same width)
* in the case of the Dash to Dock for COSMIC extension, the elements of the app grid are centered horizontally relative to the screen, including the dock (and their size is calculated based on the available width); this is why the app icons are bigger, but the elements in the app grid are not centered correctly relative to the app grid (the left margin is smaller than the right margin)

Bug Watch Updater (bug-watch-updater)
Changed in gnome-shell:
status: Unknown → New
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