# SB+: do you care about the menu bar?
**URL:** https://community.silverbullet.md/t/sb-do-you-care-about-the-menu-bar/4385
**Category:** SilverBullet+
**Created:** [September 20, 2026, 3:57pm UTC](https://community.silverbullet.md/t/sb-do-you-care-about-the-menu-bar/4385 "2026-09-20T15:57:51Z")
**Posts on this page:** 11
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@zef](https://community.silverbullet.md/u/zef)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2026, 3:57pm UTC](https://community.silverbullet.md/t/sb-do-you-care-about-the-menu-bar/4385/1 "2026-09-20T15:57:51Z")
One of the things I was able to do in SB+ was actually populate the app’s native menu bar. On macOS this is “free” in terms of screen real estate, on windows and Linux it is not. I notice there’s a trend on windows and Linux for apps not to have traditional menus anymore at all to save visual space. I could do this in SB+ too, and in fact I can then more efficiently use the “top bar” for eg the sync state and forward and backward navigation buttons as I do on macOS already.
My question to Linux and Windows users: do you ever use the native menu bar or would ok with ditching it to get more and better used screen real estate?
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### Author:  [@moshh](https://community.silverbullet.md/u/moshh)
#### Post date: [September 21, 2026, 2:03am UTC](https://community.silverbullet.md/t/sb-do-you-care-about-the-menu-bar/4385/2 "2026-09-21T02:03:34Z")
No, I don't really care about the menu bar, but I also don't feel like I'm in the need for more space. So I'm not sure what getting 'rid' of it would achieve realistically - at least on my screen the bar takes up fairly negligible space.
It might be worth having the menu bar as a toggle, and defaulting to having it off; then see if anyone minds?
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### Author:  [@zef](https://community.silverbullet.md/u/zef)
#### Post date: [September 21, 2026, 6:09am UTC](https://community.silverbullet.md/t/sb-do-you-care-about-the-menu-bar/4385/3 "2026-09-21T06:09:11Z")
Ok, so this is what the top bar looks like on macOS:
Since on macOS native menus are not part of the window Chrome (they're eternally attached to the top of the screen), I can setup a custom top bar chrome UI fully under my control. Right now I combine the close/minimize/maximize buttons with \< and \> navigation buttons, space name, sync indicator and license state.
Here it is on Windows (Linux is similar) (there's no "sync light" here, but I inject that right of the action buttons when it's setup):
Here the native menus are part of the window itself. I can, in principle, take over the top bar too, but then I'd also have to have custom (non-native) implementations of the menu system, which I don't really want to do.
I've noticed that there's a trend on Windows, but I suppose on Linux too is actually not have "traditional" menus anymore at all — here's Chrome:
The "real" menu is then hidden behind a three-dotted menu.
I'm thinking it's not a good idea to "sync up" the mac and Windows/Linux behavior, take ownership of the top chrome and not show "native menus" at all.
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### Author:  [@nighto](https://community.silverbullet.md/u/nighto)
#### Post date: [September 21, 2026, 6:59am UTC](https://community.silverbullet.md/t/sb-do-you-care-about-the-menu-bar/4385/4 "2026-09-21T06:59:35Z")
> but I suppose on Linux too
Yes, GNOME and KDE both don't use traditional menus by default anymore. As long as there isn't any functionality that is accessible only from the menu bar, I would prefer if there was no menu bar.
Electron has been improving nicely on the Linux desktop integration front too. So, I would like it if we got these three on the Linux build:
- Rounded corners: [feat: rounded corners for frameless windows on Linux by mitchchn · Pull Request #51459 · electron/electron · GitHub](https://github.com/electron/electron/pull/51459)
- Shadows: [feat: Shadows and CSD for frameless windows on Wayland by mitchchn · Pull Request #49295 · electron/electron · GitHub](https://github.com/electron/electron/pull/49295)
- (Not in electron natively but possible) Respecting at least the GTK titlebar config: [title\_bar: Respect Linux titlebar config by mufeedali · Pull Request #47506 · zed-industries/zed · GitHub](https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/pull/47506)
But yes, in general, CSDs are the way to go.
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### Author:  [@zef](https://community.silverbullet.md/u/zef)
#### Post date: [September 21, 2026, 1:08pm UTC](https://community.silverbullet.md/t/sb-do-you-care-about-the-menu-bar/4385/5 "2026-09-21T13:08:48Z")
The electron builds now have custom chrome on Linux and Windows as well, with no menu bar: [Electron desktop version: Some testing help](https://community.silverbullet.md/t/electron-desktop-version-some-testing-help/4388/1)
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### Author:  [@dklawren](https://community.silverbullet.md/u/dklawren)
#### Post date: [September 21, 2026, 1:33pm UTC](https://community.silverbullet.md/t/sb-do-you-care-about-the-menu-bar/4385/6 "2026-09-21T13:33:20Z")
What if would appear when pressing the Alt key like other applications like Firefox, etc.? Extra bonus is to have a Hide Menu Bar setting that can be toggled?
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### Author:  [@zef](https://community.silverbullet.md/u/zef)
#### Post date: [September 21, 2026, 2:37pm UTC](https://community.silverbullet.md/t/sb-do-you-care-about-the-menu-bar/4385/7 "2026-09-21T14:37:56Z")
The thing is, if I opt in to handling this top/chrome bar myself, I'd either leave the menu out or have to custom implement a whole menu system. If I opt in to the native window chrome (as I've done so far on Win/Linux) enabling/disabling the menu is trivial. But then having it swap between custom chrome/native chrome by pressing Alt is probably not viable and having a toggle could be ok but honestly now I have two chrome handling cases to maintain.
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### Author:  [@justyns](https://community.silverbullet.md/u/justyns)
#### Post date: [September 21, 2026, 5:14pm UTC](https://community.silverbullet.md/t/sb-do-you-care-about-the-menu-bar/4385/8 "2026-09-21T17:14:59Z")
On linux, I mostly use tiled window managers so I'd be happy w/ getting rid of the menu bar to for more space
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### Author:  [@moshh](https://community.silverbullet.md/u/moshh)
#### Post date: [September 22, 2026, 3:22am UTC](https://community.silverbullet.md/t/sb-do-you-care-about-the-menu-bar/4385/9 "2026-09-22T03:22:43Z")
I've just checked Silverbullet+ on my Mac, and much prefer the lack of menu bar; would like to see that on Linux too.
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### Author:  [@dklawren](https://community.silverbullet.md/u/dklawren)
#### Post date: [September 22, 2026, 6:37pm UTC](https://community.silverbullet.md/t/sb-do-you-care-about-the-menu-bar/4385/10 "2026-09-22T18:37:11Z")
If you try out the new Electron based Linux version the menu bar is gone there as well. I am fine with it as long as everything the menus allowed you to do before, you can still do with the command palette.
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### Author:  [@zef](https://community.silverbullet.md/u/zef)
#### Post date: [September 22, 2026, 6:51pm UTC](https://community.silverbullet.md/t/sb-do-you-care-about-the-menu-bar/4385/11 "2026-09-22T18:51:24Z")
Yes, everything should be available via the command palette (some prefixed with “Desktop:”).