Show Icon instead of text for the gnome menus?

Is it possible to use icons instead of text for the menus in the top pannel (shown above)? If so, How can we do that?

I've tryed gconf-editor setting the Key:
/desktop/interface/toolbar_style
with the value of "Icons" but nothing happens.

No, this is not possible.

However, you can try out the compact Main Menu applet, which has only one icon in the panel. To add it,

1. Right-click on free space in the panel,
2. Choose Add to Panel...,
3. Select the Main Menu applet,
4. Click Add, and
5. finally Close:

Cardapio is another solution you might want to consider.

It provides a bit more functionality than the standard menus (it has a lot of gnome-do-style features for quick-launching things) and it's a million times more customisable.

Here's how I have mine set up:

And yes, I'm a filthy ex-Windows user who still prefers one panel at the bottom.