Floating Mini Panel GNOME Shell extension has added a vertical panel orientation option in its latest update.
For those unfamiliar with this nifty desktop add-on, it turns the GNOME’s top bar into a compact ‘widget’ you can move around your desktop, floating above other windows. A drawer lets you show/hide additional panel applets on demand.
The panel remains fully functional and interactive (with the notification shade, Quick Menu, etc) it’s just in a truncated and less visually dominating form.
Earlier this month, the Floating Mini Panel extension added support for auto-positioning and dynamic corner radius. This weekend, it introduced a vertical panel option (alongside some bug fixes) which has been a common request from users of the add-on.
Personally, I’ve always found vertical panels (on any desktop) to look a bit weird. Perhaps my eyes are too used to horizontal panels – I think it’s the stacked clock/date applets that throw me off.
Yet, most modern monitors are wider than they are tall. Using a vertical panel is a simple way to give a (small) pixel height boost to apps, web-pages and other content. The panel remains easy to glance at, it’s just at the side of the screen.
Want to try it out?
You can install Floating Mini Panel from the GNOME Extensions website (direct, or using the Extensions Manager desktop app). It works on GNOME 46 through 49, so if you’re using Ubuntu 24.04 LTS or later, you’re good to go.
If you already have the extension installed you will receive this update automatically, in the background, and the update will be applied next time you log out.