Resize start menu button

Taskbar start buttons are automatically resized by the Windows OS. Start buttons are PNG files so you can have transparent space in the file. If you want to shift your start button right or left, you can add transparent space to the right or left. You can also add transparent space at the top and bottom to center the button in the taskbar, or make it smaller.

I like to use the dimensions 40 pixels x120 pixels, so that the buttons are 40 x 40 pixels.

Download a few different taskbar buttons from WinCustomize and open them in a image editor to see how they are constructed.

https://www.wincustomize.com/explore/start_menu_buttons

There is also a start button creation tool offered by Stardock at

https://support.stardock.com/space/SHC/1430192142/Start+button+creation+tool

I've been testing with that, but there is something coded into Start11 that is overriding size for some icons.

If you pick image, and select DefaultMedium.png while it is in the Start11 default folder (C:\Program Files (x86)\Stardock\Start11\StartButtons), it will appear as a fairly small button (and not the correct color, meaning it is possibly not even loading that exact file but something coded into Start11)

If you copy DefaultMedium.png to any other folder it will load as a large icon taking up all the space of the start button area.

I was not able to create significant empty space or resize the icon with any amount of tinkering with the spacing of the icons from each other or amount of empty/transparent space around the icons. even tried filling in a faint area around the icon that is slightly translucent and Start11 still resizes it to ignore that area.

Update: If i make the icon absurdly small (20px) then I can pad it with space and it behaves as expected, but it looks terrible at that resolution.

Download a few different taskbar buttons from WinCustomize and open them in a image editor to see how they are constructed.

https://www.wincustomize.com/explore/start_menu_buttons

pelaird I've been doing that, my point is if you try to apply white space to pad the icon or make it smaller, Start11 ignores it and resizes the icon to take up maximum space.

Here is an example of a start button shifted to the left. The blue & white squares represent transparent areas. You can't add white space. It need to be transparent. This is Vampothika's Piano Black, and I added the transparent space on the right.

https://www.wincustomize.com/explore/start_menu_buttons/18/

Normal                               Shifted to the left

Hello,
Sorry to hear you are having issues. Maybe you can share your start button file so we can actually see the issue and also post what you get on your system with that Start button applied to your system.

Thank you.
Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant.

This is what I am seeing. There is some sort of a formula being applied to the resizing, and knowing that instead of having to play around with the spacing until it looks almost right would be helpful. I'm looking for input from the dev team on how the icon file is being evaluated.

My goal is to have the icon appear smaller, but no amount of playing with the icon spacing or empty space from the icon to the edge of the image made as much progress as reducing the size of the icons. at 25px though it is very pixelated so that is not ideal.

Look like you're using dual row taskbar size, yes? As a test, if you change to single taskbar row does the start button look better?

Thank you,

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant

No, slightly cuts off the top and bottom of the icon in single row. The default win11 icon has no issue staying the same size when the taskbar is resized, there should be a documented and supported way to emulate that.

This issue needs dev input from stardock, at the very least, guidance on size limitations and how the icon is evaluated by start11.

Need to know, you on Windows 10 or 11? And Its Full version and OS Build number. Please use Winver.exe.

Thank you,

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant

Download this start button and see if it gets you the size you want. If it does, open it in your image editor and use it as a template.

Here is the link to the file on my OneDrive.

WindowsBlue.png

basj, win11 24H2, 26100.2314

pelaird, yes that is closer to what I was looking for, but any amount of rearranging the icon spacing in the png file results in larger icons. would be nice to know how the file is being evaluated by start11.

If you open "Start8 Logo Large" in a good graphics editor you will notice it is at 96 x 240 pixel. Which mean, your template should be 96x80 per image. If you start from that and create a Start button from this size. You could get something like this.

And on your Taskbar should look something like this.

Thank you,

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant

Start11 looks at the png file and divides the height into three equal sections, and then displays them in order. The top section is the normal button, the middle section is the hover button, and the bottom section is the open button. If you change the position of the image in any section, the three images will not line up as one button as you hover and click the button.

As I said before, Windows 11 will attempt to resize the button to fit the space on the taskbar.

You have to make sure the image is in the same orientation vertically of each equal section of the png file. If not, you will get unexpected results in the taskbar.

I have come to the conclusion that the icon cannot be made smaller by adding empty space around it, but must be sized smaller which sacrifices resolution of the icon. I want the icon to appear about 40px square on my 2880x1800 screen, however the icon in the file needs to be sized to about 20px square to achieve this.

What image editor are you using?