Hi everyone,
I’m running Arch with the latest Plasma 6 and I’m trying to fine-tune a custom, minimalist panel layout.
Currently, I have a single bottom panel (height 32) with the following widget order from left to right: kMenu > System Tray 1 (System Controls) > Spacer > Custom Digital Clock > Spacer > System Tray 2 (Background Apps) > Show Desktop
The Goal: I want to use a dynamic panel length (“Fit Content”) so it grows and shrinks as an unbroken, cohesive “pill” based on the number of active icons in my System Trays. However, I also need my Clock widget to remain absolutely centered on the screen at all times.
The Problem: I can’t seem to achieve both a dynamic panel size and a centered clock simultaneously. Here is what happens depending on how I configure the panel and spacers:
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Fixed Panel Length + Expanding Spacers (My current workaround): The clock stays perfectly centered because the expanding spacers absorb the width changes when tray icons appear or disappear. However, this forces me to use a fixed-width panel, which ruins the clean, dynamic “pill” look when tray icons are sparse.
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Dynamic Panel Length (“Fit Content”) + Fixed Spacers: The panel successfully dynamically hugs the widgets. But, when a new icon spawns in one of the System Trays, that side of the panel becomes wider. Because the Qt layout simply packs the items, the Clock gets pushed slightly left or right of the screen’s true center to compensate.
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Dynamic Panel Length (“Fit Content”) + Expanding Spacers: The expanding spacers push the panel to its maximum possible width, forcing it to span my entire screen instead of acting as a compact pill.
I am currently working around this by using a fixed-width panel with expanding spacers on both sides of the clock to absorb the changes, but it limits how cleanly the panel frames my widgets when tray icons are sparse.
Why I’m not using multiple panels: I want to preemptively mention that I’m looking strictly for a single-panel solution. I know I could technically create three separate panels (Left, Center, Right), but since panels anchor to the screen edges and not to each other, they would either overlap my clock or create awkward gaps when the system trays expand. I need this to remain one continuous, attached panel.
My Question: Is there a way to anchor a widget to the absolute center of the screen within a dynamic panel, regardless of the widths of its sibling widgets? For example, is there a way to force the panel to expand symmetrically on both sides to maintain the center anchor, even if only one side gained a new tray icon?
Any insights or alternative approaches to achieve this single-panel look would be hugely appreciated!
Screenshot for reference.
