# Simple Sidebar Modification **URL:** \ **Category:** User Manual\ **Created:** [August 23, 2024, 8:12am UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/simple-sidebar-modification/5922 "2024-08-23T08:12:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![comeng](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/2acd7d/32.png) [@comeng](https://gramps.discourse.group/u/comeng)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2024, 8:12am UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/simple-sidebar-modification/5922/1 "2024-08-23T08:12:57Z")
Is it possible to create a simplified version of the Expander Sidebar currently the contents of my Sidebar are as per image attached ![Sidebar](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/gramps/original/2X/1/1210d032ab9827ba9380e76db62ee3358dd5904f.png) However this involves excessive/unecessary mouse movement opening each group all I want is a simple list as follows ## Grouped People People ## Relationships ## Pedigree Graph View ## Events ## Place Tree Places ## All Known Places All Places Related to Events Place Coordinate Gramplet View ## Sources Citation Tree ## Citations ## Repositories ## Media Notes Any thoughts gratefully received phil GRAMPS: 5.1.6 Python: 3.10.12 (main, Jul 29 2024, 16:56:48) [G… BSDDB: 6.2.9 (5, 3, 28) sqlite: 3.37.2 (2.6.0) LANG: en\_GB.UTF-8 OS: Linux Distribution: 6.8.0-40-generic ---
**Author:** ![kku](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6bbea6/32.png) [@kku](https://gramps.discourse.group/u/kku)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2024, 4:00pm UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/simple-sidebar-modification/5922/2 "2024-08-25T16:00:05Z")
I made a quick experiment. See > **[gramps/addons/SimpleSidebar at master · kkujansuu/gramps](https://github.com/kkujansuu/gramps/tree/master/addons/SimpleSidebar)** > > Contribute to kkujansuu/gramps development by creating an account on GitHub. ---
**Author:** ![emyoulation](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/gramps.discourse.group/emyoulation/32/67_2.png) [@emyoulation](https://gramps.discourse.group/u/emyoulation)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2024, 7:39pm UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/simple-sidebar-modification/5922/3 "2024-08-25T19:39:04Z")
There’s one BIG (literally) problem. The **Show text label beside Navigator buttons** option in the [General](https://gramps-project.org/wiki/index.php/Gramps_5.2_Wiki_Manual_-_Settings#General) tab of Preferences (that make the Navigator usable) grab a crazy amount of screen space. Mostly because of the overly verbose Geography view mode names. ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/gramps/original/2X/8/849bdadaff5cf86a8b400b06adb1e98b11e299fa.png) ---
**Author:** ![kku](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6bbea6/32.png) [@kku](https://gramps.discourse.group/u/kku)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2024, 7:41pm UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/simple-sidebar-modification/5922/4 "2024-08-25T19:41:12Z")
Yes, I know. Maybe they can be shortened or split to several lines. Will investigate. ---
**Author:** ![kku](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6bbea6/32.png) [@kku](https://gramps.discourse.group/u/kku)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2024, 7:51pm UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/simple-sidebar-modification/5922/5 "2024-08-25T19:51:04Z")
How does this look like? ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/gramps/original/2X/a/a5a8d5481ff6bc390b64eb28ee22c9dc5655c9db.png) ---
**Author:** ![emyoulation](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/gramps.discourse.group/emyoulation/32/67_2.png) [@emyoulation](https://gramps.discourse.group/u/emyoulation)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2024, 7:52pm UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/simple-sidebar-modification/5922/6 "2024-08-25T19:52:09Z")
I prefer the Drop-Down navigator (with the text labels disabled in preferences). In the menus, there are still labels and the main category Icon toggles to the most recently used view mode in each category. The larger icons are more touch-screen friendly too. And by disabling all other Navigator modes (by hiding in Plugin Manager Enhanced), you buy back the space stolen by the width of the Navigator mode selector. ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/gramps/original/2X/8/883dad286d043ae4cf050734669923170faac975.png) ---
**Author:** ![emyoulation](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/gramps.discourse.group/emyoulation/32/67_2.png) [@emyoulation](https://gramps.discourse.group/u/emyoulation)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2024, 7:54pm UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/simple-sidebar-modification/5922/7 "2024-08-25T19:54:22Z")
> [@kku](#): > > How does this look like? Can you play with the delay in showing Tooltips for the Navigator splitbar? If it had a fraction of a second delay instead of a 2-second, then the labels might be unnecessary. ---
**Author:** ![kku](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6bbea6/32.png) [@kku](https://gramps.discourse.group/u/kku)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2024, 8:01pm UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/simple-sidebar-modification/5922/8 "2024-08-25T20:01:47Z")
I don’t understand. Where is the two second delay? I get the tooltips almost immediately: ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/gramps/original/2X/8/8c386cfcdeebf63b5d525b9fde6a8e6f0864a313.png) ---
**Author:** ![emyoulation](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/gramps.discourse.group/emyoulation/32/67_2.png) [@emyoulation](https://gramps.discourse.group/u/emyoulation)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2024, 8:13pm UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/simple-sidebar-modification/5922/9 "2024-08-25T20:13:59Z")
There was a delay added to to the interface when rolling the mouse over parts of the GUI caused tooltips to flash annoyingly. So you had to hover/dwell over a GUI element to cause the tooltip to appear. On my fedora, the mouse pointer has to stop moving and dwell for between 1 and 2 seconds before a Tooltip is drawn. ---
**Author:** ![emyoulation](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/gramps.discourse.group/emyoulation/32/67_2.png) [@emyoulation](https://gramps.discourse.group/u/emyoulation)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2024, 8:17pm UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/simple-sidebar-modification/5922/10 "2024-08-25T20:17:42Z")
found: > The tooltip delay in GTK is controlled by a setting called `gtk-tooltip-timeout`. This setting specifies the time, in milliseconds, that the cursor needs to hover over a widget before the tooltip appears. Here are some key points about this setting: > > 1. Default value: The default value for `gtk-tooltip-timeout` is typically 500 milliseconds (half a second) > > - Deprecated setting: As of GTK 3.10, this setting has been deprecated and is now ignored by the toolkit > - This means that in modern GTK versions, you can’t directly control this delay through the `gtk-tooltip-timeout` setting. > - Automatic behavior: In current GTK versions, the tooltip behavior is handled automatically by the toolkit, considering factors like user interaction patterns and system settings. ---
**Author:** ![kku](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6bbea6/32.png) [@kku](https://gramps.discourse.group/u/kku)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2024, 8:30pm UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/simple-sidebar-modification/5922/11 "2024-08-25T20:30:11Z")
OK. So nothing can be done 😁 ---
**Author:** ![emyoulation](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/gramps.discourse.group/emyoulation/32/67_2.png) [@emyoulation](https://gramps.discourse.group/u/emyoulation)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2024, 8:31pm UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/simple-sidebar-modification/5922/12 "2024-08-25T20:31:45Z")
> [@kku](#): > > So nothing can be done 😁 Yeah. Sadly. But I try to admit when I asked for something that isn’t viable too. ---
**Author:** ![DaveSch](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/gramps.discourse.group/davesch/32/40_2.png) [@DaveSch](https://gramps.discourse.group/u/DaveSch)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2024, 11:25pm UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/simple-sidebar-modification/5922/13 "2024-08-25T23:25:36Z")
With the text labels, there is an additional spacing between Categories. Although with no labels, you get larger icons. @comeng if you install this and it meets your needs, you can use the Plugin Manager (menu \>\> Help \>\> Plugin Manager) to Hide the other three sidebar options. This will cause your favored option to be used when launching Gramps… ---
**Author:** ![comeng](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/2acd7d/32.png) [@comeng](https://gramps.discourse.group/u/comeng)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 7:47am UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/simple-sidebar-modification/5922/14 "2024-08-26T07:47:12Z")
Kari, Thanks for that exactly what I wanted as you can see from screen shot ![MySimpleSidebar](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/gramps/original/2X/b/b083b2141f3b05be57e64302ec145ca04ed607fa.png) phil ---
**Author:** ![emyoulation](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/gramps.discourse.group/emyoulation/32/67_2.png) [@emyoulation](https://gramps.discourse.group/u/emyoulation)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2024, 2:38am UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/simple-sidebar-modification/5922/15 "2024-08-27T02:38:36Z")
> [@comeng](#): > > Kari, Thanks for that exactly what I wanted as you can see from screen shot This might be a good plugin to test with the improved support for specifying an icon in the Gramps Plugin Registration (`.gpr.py`). If you find more representative icons for some view modes, you might be able to dispense with the labels. Maybe get the screen space back. ---
**Author:** ![comeng](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/2acd7d/32.png) [@comeng](https://gramps.discourse.group/u/comeng)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2024, 6:29am UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/simple-sidebar-modification/5922/16 "2024-08-27T06:29:14Z")
I am a simple type only do this if you can select Text or Icon I much prefer Text The only ones that are an issue are the Geography ones “All known Places” should be “All Places” “All Places related to Events” should be \*Places with Events" an Extra and more beneficial/useful “Places without Events” “Place Coordinate Gramplet View” should be “Place Coordinates” phil ---
**Author:** ![emyoulation](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/gramps.discourse.group/emyoulation/32/67_2.png) [@emyoulation](https://gramps.discourse.group/u/emyoulation)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2024, 11:06am UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/simple-sidebar-modification/5922/17 "2024-08-27T11:06:13Z")
> [@comeng](#): > > an Extra and more beneficial/useful “Places without Events” This can be done with a custom filter in the Filter Gramps in the All known Places view. Use the Rule: [Places with a reference count\_of \](https://gramps-project.org/wiki/index.php/Gramps_5.2_Wiki_Manual_-_Filters#Places_with_a_reference_count_of_.3Ccount.3E) You might want to limit in combination with an **Enclosed by** place to avoid overloading the view. It might be more actionable to use that filter in the Place views. > [@comeng](#): > > The only ones (text labels) that are an issue are the Geography ones You can hack those text labels for Navigator view modes in the Gramps Plugin Registration (`.gpr.py`) file accompanying the module. There is only one line in each related to how the view is labeled in the interface: the [`name`](https://github.com/gramps-project/addons-source/blob/ef3323b6a6e25c778850c31c5cbb19eb28494027/PlaceCoordinateGramplet/PlaceCoordinateGramplet.gpr.py#L23) (Gramplets have an additional [`gramplet_title`](https://github.com/gramps-project/addons-source/blob/ef3323b6a6e25c778850c31c5cbb19eb28494027/PlaceCoordinateGramplet/PlaceCoordinateGramplet.gpr.py#L51) definition.) As with every “hack”, this modification will be lost when new releases of Gramps are installed. So I recommend putting a dummy person named Gramps into your tree that has a “To do” Note with a list of your hacks. You can link to where the hack is deescribed in this forum or the actual step-by-step instruction. Noting the reasoning for the hack is helpful when years go by between usages. ---
**Author:** ![comeng](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/2acd7d/32.png) [@comeng](https://gramps.discourse.group/u/comeng)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2024, 1:04pm UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/simple-sidebar-modification/5922/18 "2024-08-27T13:04:19Z")
My argument would be that generally Places would have been created as the result of an event however it is quite frequent that you would delete events having proven them incorrect and therefore leave behind a Place without an Event And having “Places without Events” would be more appropriate for quick access no need for a custom filter. In my next round of simplifying GRAMPS interface “Events with Places” will vanish as unnecessary phil ---
**Author:** ![emyoulation](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/gramps.discourse.group/emyoulation/32/67_2.png) [@emyoulation](https://gramps.discourse.group/u/emyoulation)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2024, 1:30pm UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/simple-sidebar-modification/5922/19 "2024-08-27T13:30:22Z")
> [@comeng](#): > > In my next round of simplifying GRAMPS interface “Events with Places” > will vanish as unnecessary Suggesting something doesn’t make it happen, regardless of how well-constructed the logic. (And not everyone will agree with the reasoning or the proposed corrective action.) The change has to be merged into the built-in plug-ins before the sporadic enhancement releases. Add-ons enhancement don’t have the frequency limitations. But you have to convince the Author to merge the change. A proposal to shrink labels on the Geography views before. Things were discussed and agreed upon… but the change was never merged. As an example, I disagree that a separate view for “Places without Events” adds enough value. Particularly when a filter does the task and such a view would only be usable in a small Place Hierarchy. ---
**Author:** ![comeng](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/2acd7d/32.png) [@comeng](https://gramps.discourse.group/u/comeng)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2024, 5:39pm UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/simple-sidebar-modification/5922/20 "2024-08-27T17:39:50Z")
Hi Brian No issues with any or your points so it will just be gone no problem and my version of 5.1.6 will just be a little more customised as I presume is everyone’s phil [Next page](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/simple-sidebar-modification/5922.md?page=2)