Unable to establish old fashioned/classic Scrollbars

[Buggy_Bison]

Dear experts

I know this question has been asked before, but none of the usual solutions is working for me.

I have installed Ubuntu 16.04 on a Thinkpad Carbon X1. I have also installed gnome-panel, gnome-flashback and gnome-session-flashback, and I am currently using the Gnome (Metacity) desktop rather than unity.

I am trying to replace the thin overlay scrollbars that appear along the right edges of windows, with the old classic scrollbars that look like a solid bar with rounded ends. This is a matter of accessibility because some of us can't see well enough to cope with the overlay scroll bars.

I have tried the following and, for example, on my terminal, I am still getting a thin orange strip that appears when I mouse over it, rather than a nice chunky scroll bar:

export GTK_OVERLAY_SCROLLING=0 # also this is added to /etc/environment

dconf-editor and un-ticking “ubuntu-overlay-scrollbars” from org -> gnome -> desktop -> interface

unsettings and turning overlay scrollbars off

I tried unity-tweak-tool but it would not let me choose legacy in the scrolling tab (grayed out)

sudo apt-get remove overlay*I added gtk-primary-button-warps-slider = false to /etc/gtk-3.0/settings.ini

None of these has modified the appearance of my scrollbars from that of the original install.

Clearly, this is not as simple as described in the "How to restore the classic scroll bar" titled web pages.

Thank you very much for any advice on what I am doing wrong and on how to restore those old 1990's scroll bars!

Buggy

[TheFu]

Don't know how to do what you want, but perhaps running fvwm would work? Then everything controlled by the WM is in your control. Width, color; all under your control with a normal .rc file.

Is 1995 "old-school?"

[vasa1]

..
export GTK_OVERLAY_SCROLLING=0 # also this is added to /etc/environment

dconf-editor and un-ticking “ubuntu-overlay-scrollbars” from org -> gnome -> desktop -> interface

unsettings and turning overlay scrollbars off

I tried unity-tweak-tool but it would not let me choose legacy in the scrolling tab (grayed out)

sudo apt-get remove overlay*I added gtk-primary-button-warps-slider = false to /etc/gtk-3.0/settings.ini

None of these has modified the appearance of my scrollbars from that of the original install.

Clearly, this is not as simple as described in the "How to restore the classic scroll bar" titled web pages.

Thank you very much for any advice on what I am doing wrong and on how to restore those old 1990's scroll bars!

Buggy
Re. I added gtk-primary-button-warps-slider = false to /etc/gtk-3.0/settings.ini, also add it to ~/.config/gtk-3.0/settings.ini. FWIW, I don't use spaces on either side of "=" in "gtk-primary-button-warps-slider = false".

[CantankRus]

This thin line scrollbar which expands when hovered seems to be set in the theme and I can't find an
easy way to disable it other than use a different theme or edit the theme.

eg: to edit the default Ambiance theme...
I'm going to use "gksudo gedit" here which requires the installation of gksu.
Alternatively you can use "sudoedit /usr/share/themes/Ambiance/gtk-3.0/gtk-widgets.css" which will use the default editor(nano)

gksudo gedit /usr/share/themes/Ambiance/gtk-3.0/gtk-widgets.css

Hit ctrl+f and type in "scrollbar" followed by a space.
Should take you to the section as in pic.
271487

Scroll down to line 1236 and change the three instances of 7px to 0px
as highlighted below.
(Note: you can also set the scrollbar width with GtkRange-slider-width)

/*************
* scrollbar *
*************/
.scrollbar {
-GtkScrollbar-has-backward-stepper: 0;
-GtkScrollbar-has-forward-stepper: 0;
-GtkScrollbar-trough-border: 0;
-GtkScrollbar-min-slider-length: 31;
-GtkRange-slider-width: 12;

background-color: @scrollbar_track_color;
background-image: none;
background-size: 0;
border: none;
border-radius: 0;
}

.scrollbar.overlay-indicator {
background-color: transparent;
}

.scrollbar:hover,
.scrollbar.dragging {
background-color: @scrollbar_track_color;
}

.scrollbar:hover:backdrop,
.scrollbar.dragging:backdrop {
background-color: @backdrop_selected_bg_color;
}

/* Adding margins, so actual visible size is: -GtkRange-slider-width - margin
* this allows to keep the slider smaller, but keeping few threshold pixels
*/
.scrollbar.vertical:hover:dir(ltr),
.scrollbar.vertical.dragging:dir(ltr) {
margin-left: 2px;
}

.scrollbar.vertical:hover:dir(rtl),
.scrollbar.vertical.dragging:dir(rtl) {
margin-right: 2px;
}

.scrollbar.horizontal:hover,
.scrollbar.horizontal.dragging,
.scrollbar.horizontal.slider:hover,
.scrollbar.horizontal.slider.dragging {
margin-top: 2px;
}

.scrollbar.slider {
background-color: alpha(@selected_bg_color, 0.8);
border-radius: 3px;
}

.scrollbar.slider.hovering,
.scrollbar.slider.dragging {
border-radius: 2px;
margin: 0;
}

/* Adding margins, so actual visible size is: -GtkRange-slider-width - margin
* this allows to define some kind of proximity effect also on mouse-enter
*/
.scrollbar.slider.vertical:dir(ltr):not(:hover):no t(.dragging) {
margin-left: 7px;
}

.scrollbar.slider.vertical:dir(rtl):not(:hover):no t(.dragging) {
margin-right: 7px;
}

.scrollbar.slider.horizontal:not(:hover):not(.drag ging) {
margin-top: 7px;
}
Save and close.
271488
May have to log out and back in or use a tweak tool to change themes then back to Ambiance.

[TheFu]

setenv EDITOR={whatever you like}
Then use sudoedit. Much safer.

EDITOR has been around since the beginning.

[CantankRus]

setenv EDITOR={whatever you like}
Then use sudoedit. Much safer.

EDITOR has been around since the beginning.
Thanks, that's better than using gksu in forums....

EDITOR=gedit sudoedit /path/to/file

[Buggy_Bison]

CantankRus's suggestion of editing a theme has worked - I now have permanent scrollbars of any thickness I might want.

I have migrated to Ubuntu from Linux Mint, which tended to make these tweaks simpler.

Thank you very much CantankRus.

@TheFu 1995 is "old school" - when I have more time, I may try getting back total control over the WM

[TheFu]

If you put export EDITOR=gedit into your ~/.bashrc file, then you don't need to deal with it again ... provided that program exists on the system AND there is a working X/Server. Personally, I think that is a mistake (never assume everyone runs a desktop distro), but if you run a desktop with gedit, it will be fine. If gedit isn't installed (and it isn't always), then someone new will just be confused and isn't that the point here - to avoid confusion for new people while being technically correct? That is why nano is the default today - works on desktops and servers.

Any program that uses/needs an editor should honor the EDITOR environment variable. It has been around and used at least 35 years - perhaps 45 years.

[vasa1]

jerboa2 has a thread here: https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2343900

jerboa2's post and its responses have now been merged into that thread.