[Glade-users] Spacing widgets on menu bar

[alexey.kurochkin at pathfinderlwd.com (Alexey Kurochkin)]

On Fri, 2007-04-13 at 10:24 -0600, Jeffrey Barish wrote:
> Jeffrey Barish wrote:
>
> > Can someone confirm that the widget at the top of the Gnome desktop is a
> > menu bar?  If it is a menu bar, then it has on it several MenuItems, then
> > some ImageMenuItems, then a long gap before some more ImageMenuItems, and
> > finally some more MenuItems.  I am wondering about that gap.  Is there a
> > way in Glade to specify a gap on a menu bar -- or any sort of spacing, for
> > that matter?  I am using Glade 3.0.2.
>
> I am now using Glade 3.2.0 (Wow! much nicer), but I still don't see a
> solution.  My problem is that I am expecting to see expand, fill, and
> padding options like I see with Box, but those properties apparently do not
> exist for a menu bar.  Accordingly, the limitation seems to be in gtk, not
> Glade.  However, the bar at the top of the Gnome desktop appears to be a
> menu bar and it has a big gap in the middle.  So how was this done?  I am
> thinking of putting a normal menu item on the bar where I want a filler.  I
> will specify a null label so that nothing appears and I will specify a
> handler for the menu bar size request event that allocates a width to the
> filler sufficient to force items to the right of the filler over to the
> right margin.  I can't shake the belief that there's an easier way, though. 
> Since I'm just learning gtk, I sometimes miss the obvious.
The widget at the top of the Gnome desktop is not a menu bar. It is
gnome panel. It is not even a widget, it is whole special application
which can contain launcher icons and applets (and gaps between them if
you like). It also contains an applet with the main system menu widget
which does not have any gaps between menu items. And why would you want
a gap? There is enough of space between menu items so they are easily
distinguishable. Anything else is just a waste of space.