Autohide Top Bar Extension Finally Available For GNOME Shell 3.2 (Bonus: Hamster And Overlay Icons Extensions)

WebUpd8 reader KRK has updated the GNOME Shell Autohide Top Bar extension for GNOME Shell 3.2. The extension, initially created by fpmurphy, lets you hide the GNOME Shell top bar by double clicking it. To disable autohiding, double click the top bar again.

Here's a video I've recorded a while back demoing GNOME Shell Autohide Top Bar extension - it's an old video, but the updated extension works in the same way:

The extension is available in the WebUpd8 GNOME 3 PPA - add the PPA and install it using the commands below:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/gnome3
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install gnome-shell-extensions-autohidetopbar

If you've installed the original Autohide Top Bar extension, remove it before installing this one!

Once installed, reload GNOME Shell and activate the extension using GNOME Tweak Tool.

If toggling autohide on/off doesn't work properly or you just want to change the value, open "extension.js":

gksu gedit /usr/share/gnome-shell/extensions/autohidetopbar2@werewolves.us/extension.js

And increase the "const TIME_DELTA" value to something that works for you.

If you're not using Ubuntu, download the extension from HERE, extract it and place the folder under /usr/share/gnome-shell/extensions (or ~/.local/share/gnome-shell/extensions).

GNOME Shell Window Overlay Icons

Window Overlay Icons is an extension that displays an icon for each window in the activities overview, which makes it easier to distinguish the applications. The extension has been recently updated to work with GNOME Shell 3.2 and is available in the WebUpd8 GNOME 3 PPA.

Note: this extension is incompatible with the native window placement extension.


Add the PPA and install GNOME Shell Window Overlay Icons extension using the commands below:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/gnome3
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install gnome-shell-extensions-windowoverlay-icons

Once installed, reload GNOME Shell and activate the extension using GNOME Tweak Tool.

If you're not using Ubuntu, get the extension via GitHub.

Hamster applet GNOME Shell extension

Hamster (time tracking tool) is available for GNOME Shell. Unfortunately, its functionality is very limited for now (because it's still work in progress): you can only search and see the latest activity on the panel. To add a new activity click "Show Overview".

Install Hamster GNOME Shell extension in Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot using the commands below:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/gnome3
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install gnome-shell-extensions-hamster

If you're not using Ubuntu, get Hamster for GNOME Shell via GitHub (note: you'll also need "hamster-applet").

If you use Unity, there's a Hamster indicator too, see: Install Hamster Indicator (Time Tracking Tool) In Ubuntu



Oh, and today I've also updated 5 of the GNOME Shell extensions available in the WebUpd8 GNOME 3 PPA - see: http://ppa.webupd8.org.


Important: all the extensions available in the GNOME 3 WebUpd8 PPA work with GNOME Shell 3.2.0/3.2.1. If you've upgraded GNOME Shell or GNOME Tweak Tool from some PPA, the extensions may not work!

Thanks to Tonic Artos for the Overlay Icons tip and KRK for porting Autohide Top Bar to GNOME Shell 3.2!

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Install Hamster Indicator (Time Tracking Tool) In Ubuntu

Hamster applet is a tool that helps you keep track on how much time you've spent during various activities. For more information, see the Hamster Project page.

To be able to use Hamster applet in Unity, it had to use an AppIndicator and thanks to Alberto Milone's work, an Hamster Indicator is finally available and comes with a PPA for easy installation.

By default, Hamster Indicator only displays an icon on the Unity panel. If you want to get your current activity label like in my screenshot,  see "Tweaking Hamster Indicator" below.

Install Hamster Indicator in Ubuntu

To add the PPA and install Hamster Indicator in Ubuntu 11.04 or 11.10, use the commands below:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:albertomilone/hamster-indicator
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install hamster-indicator

Once installed run it by pressing ALT + F2 and entering:

hamster-indicator

Tweaking Hamster Indicator

By default, Hamster Indicator won't display any info on the Unity panel. To get it to display the activity label, use the command below:

gconftool-2 --set "/apps/hamster-indicator/show_label" --type bool "true"

To disable this, use the following command:

gconftool-2 --set "/apps/hamster-indicator/show_label" --type bool "false"

Because of the activity label length settings, only the time will be displayed when using the command above. To change the maximum label length and thus display the activity too (you can tweak the value for the command below to whatever you like), use the command below:

gconftool-2 --set "/apps/hamster-indicator/label_length" --type int "20"

Hamster Indicator can also display a glow when an activity is undergoing (this is useful if you don't want Hamster Indicator to display any text on the panel) which you can enable using the command below:

gconftool-2 --set "/apps/hamster-indicator/icon_glow" --type bool "true"

If you change your mind and want to disable the icon glow, use the command below:

gconftool-2 --set "/apps/hamster-indicator/icon_glow" --type bool "false"

And finally: Hamster Indicator is not added automatically to your startup applications so to add it, search for "Startup Applications" in Dash, then click "Add", under "Name" enter "Hamster Indicator" and under "Command" enter "hamster-indicator". That's it!

Many thanks to Alberto Milone for Hamster Indicator and the info!

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