True. I hate this padding so much I get rid of most of it with this ~&#x2F;.config&#x2F;gtk-3.0&#x2F;gtk.css :<p><pre><code>    GtkToolbar {padding: 1px;}
    GtkButton {padding: 4px;}
    GtkComboBox GtkToggleButton {padding: 2px;}
</code></pre>
On this side, it feels like the GNOME folks are just trying to shoehorn a start of tablet-friendliness (&quot;two button apps&quot; with huge padding). I wish they had instead a &quot;Tablet&quot; on&#x2F;off switch that would increase&#x2F;decrease padding.