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I am new to lubuntu and trying to optimize a couple of relatively minor items.

Right now I am trying to increase the width of the area one can use to grab the window to resize it (from the sides or the corners). It only seems to be a single pixel wide all around in my case which makes it extremely hard to use. The answer here applies to gnome. How can I do this in lubuntu (default install)?

Community
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Juan Antonio
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2 Answers2

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You need to edit a file called themerc. This file will be in /usr/share/themes/ThemeName/openbox-3 or in ~/.themes/ThemeName/openbox-3 where ThemeName is the name of the theme you've chosen. If you haven't switched themes and are using a default Lubuntu as you've stated, your themerc would be /usr/share/themes/Lubuntu-default/openbox-3/themerc.

The first few lines of the themerc hold the answer:

Default Lubuntu theme for Openbox, GPL2 / Open Source
By Rafael Laguna, Lubuntu Artwork Team

border.color: #808080
border.width: 1
menu.items.active.bg: Solid Flat
menu.items.active.bg.color: #8FB2CF
menu.items.active.disabled.text.color: #AFAFAF

After making a copy of the original themerc for safety, you'll need sudo to edit the file to increase border.width from 1 to whatever you're comfortable with. Run openbox --reconfigure to make the change effective (after you've edited and saved themerc.) Any window you open after this will have the new, thicker, border width. No need to log out, reboot, etc.

Another route

If you are happy using the mouse, you can resize a window from within its corners somewhat easily.
If you move your mouse cursor from within the window towards any corner, you'll notice it changes appearance to a right-angle with an arrow inside.
At this time, you can press the left mouse button and drag the modified cursor to resize the window anyway you like.
This works even when the window borders are hard to grab from the sides or top or bottom.

DK Bose
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    thank you! That worked. Although it changes the aesthetics of the theme quite significantly. BTW: approaching the corner from the inside is a good solution too. However, I still find that the grab area was too small. I increased it two 2 pixels and approach it by the corner and it is all good now. – Juan Antonio Oct 07 '16 at 14:02
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Without changing your current theme; https://app.box.com/s/7gk3pwdn5onj5q5b9eowa2315qy8pcy3 (zip file) extract to ~ .themes. Then change your current theme to "borders" (This should keep your current theme but apply the larger borders) instructions: https://mxlinux.org/wiki/xfce/changing-border-size-with-xfce4-window-manager/ This should work in lubuntu as well although details may be different? Definitely works on Xubuntu 20.04 for those interested. Yes, I realize those links may change, but as of July 2021 they work.

fixitmanarizona
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  • The link to the box.com account possibly may disappear over time? Could this be hosted on a public platform such as gitlab/github? – fossfreedom Jul 13 '21 at 13:28