MATE Indicator Applet 1.24 - How do I change spacing of icons?

Does anyone know how I can modify the spacing between the icons on MATE indicator applet (1.24)? It's spaced a little too far apart for my liking and wish to reduce it.

Running on Ubuntu MATE 20.04

Solution 1:

This is possible by using CSS file:

mkdir -p ~/.config/gtk-3.0/
cat << EOF >> ~/.config/gtk-3.0/gtk.css

#fast-user-switch-applet * {
 padding: 0 1px 0 1px;
}
EOF

It will change the default

to

You can adjust the values to which you like.

Solution 2:

I can't comment below the above answer to say thanks (so THANKS!), but I wanted to share what I did for those who may want to have the indicator even more compact. Obviously I'm just replacing the 1px to 0px, but since there was a marked difference in doing that, I thought I'd share a comparison pic showing default spacing, 1px and 0px.

As you can see, while setting the spacing to 1px frees up the space of maybe 1.5 indicators, setting it to 0px frees up the space of at least 3, which means more space for your panel launchers. I personally prefer that, but if it appears too cramped for you, then stick with 1px.

Since most will already have the gtk-3.0 folder, and probably the gtk.css file:

gedit ~/.config/gtk-3.0/gtk.css

And add to the end:

#fast-user-switch-applet * {
 padding: 0 0px 0 0px;
}
EOF

Save the file, then run:

mate-panel --replace

... if running via Alt+F2, or if via terminal:

mate-panel --replace &

Hope that helps someone. Cheers.