Feature request: Decreasing toolbar size and option for turning off menu bar

[gerazov]

Spyder 5 looks really slick 😎

This is nothing urgent, but the new toolbar seems to have a large margin around the icons. It would be nice if this could be reduced to use screen real-estate better. Maybe have a slim option in the settings?

It would also be nice to be able to take out the menu bar, through the settings and maybe with shortcut, e.g. Ctrl + M.

[ccordoba12]

Spyder 5 looks really slick 😎

Thanks!

This is nothing urgent, but the new toolbar seems to have a large margin around the icons

That was done by design, i.e. to make all our toolbars accessible. @isabela-pf can explain you more about that, but for now please take a look at issue #28.

It would be nice if this could be reduced to use screen real-estate better. Maybe have a slim option in the settings?

We understand, but that would defeat the purpose of making things accessible. @isabela-pf, what do you think?

It would also be nice to be able to take out the menu bar, through the settings and maybe with shortcut, e.g. Ctrl + M.

Sure, we could consider this option. Thoughts @isabela-pf?

[gerazov]

I see. I agree - accessibility is very important! 👍 And as I said it also looks cool 😎

On the other hand, it would be nice to have a slimmer version of the toolbars as optional, or even better - a way to turn on and off the main toolbars and menu bar via shortcuts 🤟

For me seeing more of the code is important and I rarely use the menu bar or the toolbar (besides for starting preferences 🙃 ) - there are good keybindings for all of the actions. In Spyder 4 it was less of an issue as it was more compact, but now it is quite larger.

[isabela-pf]

Hi @gerazov, thanks for your kind words!

To elaborate on what Carlos said, we resized the toolbar based on accessibility recommendations for minimal clickable area (about 44x44 pixels with non-clickable space between buttons) and to allow for more breathing room visually since Spyder has lots of features with lots of UI to keep track of. That being said, as long as the toolbars remain this size for the default (since software needs to be accessible in its default modes at the very least), we can have an option to have a slimmer toolbar.

I feel similarly about being able to remove the the menu bar with a shortcut. With this, though, I think there are a few more details. Since the menu bar holds so much information, I would want to be sure that users have a way to find out how to bring it back without shortcuts in case they remove it by accident or forget the shortcut. Ctrl +M is not a bad suggestion, but I do worry if it might be too easy to do by accident. Would you be opposed to Ctrl + Shift +M?

[gerazov]

Ok awesome - on both accounts 👍 👍

Ctrl + M is used in KDE Plasma applications and Ctrl + Shift + M is used in the terminal emulator Konsole, that's why I suggested it. Having it more difficult to accidentally hit makes sense!

Maybe there could be a Show menu button in the toolbar as well if it's easy to add.

And vice versa - an option to turn off the toolbar in the View menu.

[isabela-pf]

@gerazov I don't have the time to mock it up at the moment, but that's pretty much what I was thinking. Having a shortcut and an option in Viewwould be my choice as well!

Since between your request and spyder #15287 it seems like there might be an interest in more than just a show/hide option but also a "slim" version of the toolbars, it might also make sense to have this in the preferences. I think it could fit as its own section under appearance if we keep have specifications than a single toggleable menu item can handle.

[benswolo]

Any progress toward on this? The bulky UI makes it a bit difficult to use on smaller screens, and the font on the tabs and the editor are also different and look jarring. As always, thank you for the amazing program!