Isn't there an extension to do this (TopIcons-something-something)? It's kinda pointless trying to fight the GNOME devs on their vision since they seem to have very specific ideas about what they want to do and functionality not part of that vision is delegated to shell extensions.

Quoting: SamsaiIsn't there an extension to do this (TopIcons-something-something)?

Yes, this should do the trick:
https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/495/topicons/

Though I have never tried it, so not sure how good it works.
(I'm fine with the less is more approach of the Gnome developers :))

It's very difficult for me to comment without insulting the GNOME devs, so I'll just advise you with all my good intention not to waste your time.

I've mentioned the extension in the issue description, but the extension is broken every time there's a new GNOME release.

Either they maintain the extension themselves or they don't break the API every 6 months..

Quoting: CreakI've mentioned the extension in the issue description, but the extension is broken every time there's a new GNOME release.

Either they maintain the extension themselves or they don't break the API every 6 months..

Use this one; https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/2311/topicons-plus/ Just install via git.

Quoting: slaapliedjeUse this one; https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/2311/topicons-plus/ Just install via git.

I know, I know. It just doesn't work because the API has been broken.

Anyway the issue has been closed already 🙁

Last edited by Creak on 6 December 2019 at 9:35 pm UTC

I kind of understand the vision that the Gnome team has for tray icons, seeing as the dock ends up fulfilling that role when programs are left open.

Quoting: GustyGhostI kind of understand the vision that the Gnome team has for tray icons, seeing as the dock ends up fulfilling that role when programs are left open.

Yeah, like Steam for example is pretty nice that you can just right click on it's icon in the dock and access everything that is in the systray. Also, the whole 'I closed you, but you go to the systray!' has been an annoying behavior for many years.

Quoting: slaapliedje

Quoting: GustyGhostI kind of understand the vision that the Gnome team has for tray icons, seeing as the dock ends up fulfilling that role when programs are left open.

Yeah, like Steam for example is pretty nice that you can just right click on it's icon in the dock and access everything that is in the systray. Also, the whole 'I closed you, but you go to the systray!' has been an annoying behavior for many years.

But Gnome didn't solve anything. They just created a new one while taking away choice with it. But that seems to be the way Gnome is intended to go, taking away as much choice for the user as possible. Which is, after using it for almost 15 years, finally decided to throw in the towel and switch to something else.

Quoting: slaapliedjeYeah, like Steam for example is pretty nice that you can just right click on it's icon in the dock and access everything that is in the systray. Also, the whole 'I closed you, but you go to the systray!' has been an annoying behavior for many years.

It feels like that's the intended purpose, but the result is far from that in my experience. Whether it's Nextcloud, Steam, Riot, or Teams, when I close them, they stay somewhere in the background, but I can't get them. For instance, since there is a bug in Remmina that kept it from crashing whenever I received a gnome-shell notification, I couldn't close Riot to prevent host-side notifications. The only solution was to kill it through the system monitor. Another example, with Nextcloud, it starts up with my session, apparently in the background. I can close it, but it only closes its window, not the application. Afterwards, I can't get it back. Whenever I click on the Nextcloud icon, nothing happens since it is already considered running. And the list goes on...

Mostly, I would say that the intent is good, but the realization is simply not here (mostly for anything not GNOME).