Xfce settings dialogues UIs are inconsistent when executed from Settings Manager dialogue and when executed directly

Hello!

I'm using xfce4-settings-manager 4.14.3 (Xfce 4.14) on Ubuntu 20.04.1. LTS.

Currently, we can execute various xfce settings dialogues from

  1. Settings Manager dialogue or
  2. execute directly (via whisker menu or commandline)

I found that the UIs for the same xfce setting dialogue are different depending on how user started it. This makes for an inconsistent UI.

E.g. Here is the Settings Editor started from whisker menu settings-editor

And this is the Settings Editor started from Settings Manager settings-manager-editor

Differences (common to all xfce settings dialogues):

  1. Help button in Settings Editor started from Settings Manager is grayed out while in Settings Editor executed directly it points to correct online help page
  2. There is a grayed-out search box in Settings Editor started from Settings Manager
  3. There is "All Settings" back-button in Settings Editor started from Settings Manager
  4. Help button and Close button widths are unequal

Differences (specific to Settings Editor dialogue)

  1. In Settings Editor started directly, subtext is "Customize settings stored by Xfconf" while in Settings Editor started from Settings Manager, subtext is "Graphical settings editor for Xfconf"
  2. In Settings Editor started directly, the first channel entry is selected already. While in Settings Editor started from Settings Manager no entry is selected on startup
  3. For Settings Editor started directly
$ xprop | grep TYPE
_NET_WM_WINDOW_TYPE(ATOM) = _NET_WM_WINDOW_TYPE_NORMAL

While for Settings Editor started from Settings Manager

$ xprop | grep TYPE
_NET_WM_WINDOW_TYPE(ATOM) = _NET_WM_WINDOW_TYPE_DIALOG

What should happen:
The UI for a particular xfce settings dialogue started directly and for that same dialogue started from Settings Manager should be exactly same.

Edited by Avinash Sonawane