I recently upgraded from MATE Desktop 20.04 to 22.04.5. I now find strange behavior in the “Indicator Applet”: the icons are (mostly) very dim, almost impossible to easily read. They remain fully functional: it’s just the unreadability. I can find no help anywhere, but hope someone here can think of a fix.
(If any further information is needed, just ask me.)
Here is a screencap that shows what I mean. Note that it is not the whole Indicator that is affected (the battery percentage is normal brightness, as are the CopyQ icon and the Radiotray-NG icon).
The rest of the top bar is just fine. (Also: trying “Indicator Applet Complete” gives the same result.)
Any ideas?
1 Like
This could be a theming-related issue. Here’s something to try.
- Right-click on the MATE top panel and select Properties from the pop-up menu.
- In the Properties dialog, select the Background tab.
- Click the Solid Color option, and pick an intermediate color, somewhere between very light and very dark, just to see whether that helps the icons (which look dark in your screenshot) become more visible.
And then please let us know if that makes the icons more visible.
Yes, it certainly does. It seems that the icons the Indicator is using are all black (except those set by an actual app, such as CopyQ or Radiotray-NG). Is there any known way to change the icons the Indicator uses by default? A lighter panel color looks OK in that Indicator, but fairly awful for the rest of the (long) top bar.
Thanks for the tip. At least I now know the problem.
Ubuntu MATE 22.04 reached end of life in April 2025
Please refer to this info > Before asking a question > Currently supported
1 Like
I have Ubuntu Pro. If I understand that correctly, it extends that cutoff by several years.
The relationship between Ubuntu Pro, Ubuntu flavours and the Support area of discourse.ubuntu.com is difficult to follow and, for me, even more difficult to explain succinctly.
Ubuntu flavours are maintained by the community whereas Ubuntu Pro is a Canonical product.
This seems to be the key point?
More light reading here and here
1 Like
The essence of my inquiry at this point is where and how the applets included in “Indicator Applet” get their icons. It is my understanding–perhaps erroneous–that if I can determine the icon name, I can put a substitute under that name in .local/icons/ and have it replace the original. I have spent many an hour asking Mr. Google how the applets shown in “Indicator Applet” are controlled, and whether one can add to or subtract from those. So far, it all remains quite mysterious to me.
Pro extends the life of some packages in the repositories, including additional years of security updates. So if your system is working, it will keep working longer.
It does not extend Community Support from your fellow users (that’s us).
Sorry.
3 Likes