u/OkCounter6169

I've been working on a Windows XP mode for Simple Taskbar and it's finally at a point where I wanted to show it.

The goal was to go a bit further than just an XP colour scheme, so the mode changes the taskbar, Start button, window buttons, notification area and parts of Quick Settings to make everything feel like it belongs together.

Here's a video of it running on GNOME.

If you spot anything that doesn't quite look or feel like XP, let me know. I've probably spent too long looking at old XP screenshots to notice anymore.

GNOME Extensions: https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/10448/simple-taskbar/

2ND EDIT: Extension is now approved and on https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/10448/simple-taskbar/

I’ve been working on a GNOME Shell extension called Simple Taskbar. It turns GNOME’s native panel into a persistent application taskbar while retaining Activities, the clock, Quick Settings and extension indicators.

Dash to Panel is an excellent and highly configurable extension. Simple Taskbar takes a slightly different approach: it aims to provide a clean, cohesive design immediately after installation, without requiring users to configure numerous appearance options first.

By default, it provides a compact panel with centered application icons, subtle running indicators, glass-style focused and hover states, transparency, live previews and an integrated Start Menu.

Some features include:

• Pinned and running application icons
• Smooth animations when applications enter or leave the taskbar
• Live previews with controls for activating and closing windows
• Overview spreading for applications with multiple windows
• Drag-and-drop ordering shared with GNOME favourites
• Panels on multiple monitors
• Top or bottom panel placement
• Adjustable height, icon size, spacing and transparency
• Light, dark and system-following themes
• Auto-hide and workspace scrolling
• An optional Eleven-style Start Menu with search, pinned apps and recommendations
• An optional folder menu for quickly opening files

There are two different modes you can use:

1. A Default GNOME Panel mode that restores the original Overview Dash while providing native-style panels on multiple monitors
2. Simple Taskbar is intended for people who want a familiar desktop taskbar while still keeping the parts of GNOME Shell they enjoy. It offers plenty of customization, but its default configuration is designed to feel complete and visually consistent from the start.

The extension currently supports GNOME Shell 50. It is not on the GNOME Extensions website yet (will be soon), but the source and installable package are available at my github repo

If you would like to try it, go to the Releases page and download the latest version. Extract the ZIP file, then copy the extracted folder to:

~/.local/share/gnome-shell/extensions

Log out and sign back in before trying to enable the extension.

This is my first release, so feedback and testing would be greatly appreciated, particularly across different distributions, Shell themes and multi-monitor arrangements.

Let me know what you think. If you encounter any bugs, please let me know. Thanks!

Edit: The “Follow system theme” option will only work if GNOME Shell itself switches to a light theme when dark mode is disabled in the Control Center. Ubuntu works well because it includes and uses a light Shell theme by default. Stock GNOME, as used by distributions such as Fedora, keeps the Shell dark regardless of whether applications are set to light or dark mode. So to use the light theme in stock gnome you can manually select it in the extension’s settings.