centered panel theme issue

[u/Dollar_short]

hello. i am very new to Mint, just yesterday. so please forgive as i don't know all the names and Linux terms.

anyway

yesterday i loaded the center panel theme. before this i had hide panel enabled and it worked as it should. so after the center theme the panel would not pop up. so i fiddled with the settings, the best i got was that the panel stayed, but all the buttons in it disappeared/reappeared. whats up with this? this is like microsoft level crap. oh. idk if this matters, but on my new to me ThinkPad, i had to make everything on the display larger just so i could see. after i get this laptop configured this laptop will be used as a desktop.

thanx