Taskbar Height issue...

I'm using TLB on WinXP with the "Classic" Windows theme.

When TLB is not running the taskbar height is 28 pixels.

With TLB running the taskbar height jumps to 30 pixels.

Is there a way to force the taskbar to stay at 28 pixels?

An animated screenshot of this issue is below.

Thanks for any insights on this.

-tvu

Hmm... You need to read help file for True Launch Bar, section Troubleshooting:

Taskbar becomes more in height after opening True Launch Bar
Open True Launch Bar settings dialog box, then go to Metrics tab and reduce the Button margins values (height). Your taskbar do not change its height you can change taskbar height manually.

Wow.. someone as picky as me...

I'm going to take a wild stab in the dark with this suggestion, but here it is: Right click on any icon in your TLB and select TLB Settings. Go to the Metrics tab and try altering the Width and Height values under Button margins and see if that helps. I believe these number represent the padding between the icons and the outside of whatever graphic it's using for the buttons.

If that doesn't get you where you want to be, I think we'll need a bit more information. Are you using any TLB skins? Some skins have larger button margins and override TLB's settings. Do you have any TLB plugins on your toolbar? Some plugins have their own skins and can also override the defaults (winamp control and weather monitor come to mind). I'm assuming your icons are set to 16x16 (small). Is that correct?

Hope this helps...

Thanks for the replys.

Yuri, I've read the help topic and tried your suggestion and no luck. Even if i set all margins to 0 the problem is still there.

shapeshifter, yes i know it's being picky! I'm using the default skin, no plugins, and icons are set to 16x16 (if i set icons smaller the icons get smaller but problem remains).

Thanks again for the feedback, anything else i could try?

Even if i set all margins to 0 the problem is still there.

After changing margins you, probably, need change the taskbar height manually. Also try to close TLB and open again. This method must work in your case. If again no results please post screenshot of your TLB with changed margins and make one of buttons active (move mouse pointer over it).

After changing margins you, probably, need change the taskbar height manually. Also try to close TLB and open again.

Thanks Yuri, you are correct, clicking "Apply" was not enough. After clicking "Apply" I had to either manually lower the taskbar or restart TLB and then it snapped to the new size.

For the record, anytime the "Button Margin" Height is lowered the taskbar must be manually lowered or TLB restarted for it to take effect. When it's raised, these steps are not needed.

Well, it leads to another issue....

The setting for "Button Margins" (under Metrics Tab) has a default value of Height = 6. If I set this to = 4 then the taskbar drops the 2 extra pixels to the proper height (from 30 to 28 pixels).

However, doing this leads to a problem in the icon hover image appearance. It is now 2 pixels too small. An image demonstrating this is below.

Thus, when I fix the taskbar height issue it leads to a icon hover appearance issue. What I'm after is a 28 pixel height taskbar and a proper icon hover image appearance (just as the standard Windows quicklaunch). At the moment with TLB I can have either one or the other, but not both.

Any ideas towards a solution would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Adjust the buton margin width to 4 as well. This will give the hover image that nice square look.

Thanks shapeshifter, I really appreciate the feedback. Yes, using 4 as the width does make it square - but overall it's too small.

The problem here is that in terms of the hover image, 4 is too small a value for the height (or width) but 4 is also the largest height value possible without making the taskbar taller.

All I'm looking for visually is exactly like the Windows Quicklaunch hover image... without any extra taskbar height. Is this too much to ask for TLB?

Thanks again and if there's any more ideas out there I'd love to hear them.

Hmm.. I dunno.. I've never paid that close attention.
It might be possible to achieve the affect you want with a custom skin. You can view the specifications for making one here.

Maybe I'll try my hand at making one for you if I get time.