Any suggestion on panel(taskbar)?

I'm using bblean and systembarex in my windows machine, so I tried blackbox related window manager in FreeBSD first. Fluxbox have some problem with Chinese fonts, then I found Openbox just work perfectly out of box.
Now the problem is to find a panel. I tried most popular panels but didn't find a perfect one.
pypanel have some display problem, some images were overlapped and there is little document except the rc file comment.
LXpanel works, but the workspace label(pager) is too big, and the launch area and pager will expand with less tasks -- really weird behavior.
fbpanel works better, however I think to add programs to launch area by editting rc file is not efficient.
xfcepanel need lots of dependencies, and it is not the best looking one.
At last I have to use gnome panel, although I would like to try some other one with less resource need.
 
You mention the word "taskbar", so I want to say that I was looking for a good autohiding taskbar some 2.5 years ago. I found something lacking with all the *box window managers as well as fbpanel. Eventually I settled for IceWM, whose taskbar could be be configured to my taste.

I don't know if IceWM will fit your requirements, but it might be worth a try. For my own part, I have a hunch that I might reach some other conclusion if I tried out the latest versions of these window managers today.
 
dracodoc said:
I found Openbox just work perfectly out of box.
(...)
fbpanel works better, however I think to add programs to launch area by editting rc file is not efficient.

But doing the same for OpenBox menu is ok? :)

Imho write a parser that will convert automatically pypanel/gnome-panel menu entries to fbpanel menu config.

Ther is also bmpanel, but I dunno if someon used it on FreeBSD, perlpanel maybe?
 
vermaden said:
But doing the same for OpenBox menu is ok? :)

Imho write a parser that will convert automatically pypanel/gnome-panel menu entries to fbpanel menu config.

Ther is also bmpanel, but I dunno if someon used it on FreeBSD, perlpanel maybe?

Yes, to edit and update Openbox menu is tedious, even with menumaker, openbox menu editor. But I don't use Openbox menu much actually :P I will use alt-F2 to bring out Gnome Run dialog, or gnome menu from the gnome panel. Anyway, my laptop screen is not big so my applications will be maximized in most time, that makes openbox Menu not as useful as the menu from panel -- of course I can bind some hot key, but that means switch between keyboard and mouse.

I'm pretty satisfied with the systembarEx plugin of bblean in my windows machine, which can be configured in almost every element by right button menu. You can edit the rc file too. You can customrize the layout, appearance, mouse button behavior, popup menu, everything you can imagine.
 

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dracodoc said:
I will use alt-F2 to bring out Gnome Run dialog, or gnome menu from the gnome panel.

Imho dmenu works a lot better here, use it like that:
Code:
freebsd# $( dmenu_path | dmenu)

... and start typing app you want to launch.
 
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