Re: GNOME FE enhancements

I just found out why it isn't just DEBUG builds after all, so that's no
longer confounding me. Sorry about wasting your time, Martin.

However, should we really implement this without having implemented the
standard new-style toolbars that give a downward arrow to permit the
rest of the toolbar to be seen? Right now it seems a bit nonobvious,
and even users that figure out the gconf thing may not want to reduce
all their other apps (like evolution, which makes somewhat more prudent
use of its screen estate) just for AbiWord's crowded and still
uncustomizable toolbars...
Mind you, I think the gnome-alike move is a Good Thing in general, but
when done by middle road (such as respecting the icon size like other
apps without allowing the toolbar to be 'opened' like other apps), it
can be more confusing to the average user than beneficial. Keep in mind
also that a lot of users and distributors aren't going to be using a
gnome-enhanced build because they use gnome, but because it gives more
streamlined functionality, such as gnomeprint and its print preview. So
respecting the gconf key doesn't do a whole lot for them either, aside
from making most of the toolbar disappear, while it's even less obvious
why and how a gconf key needs to be changed. Yes, I've been running
AbiWord under KDE, and no, you can't make this stuff up (:

Also, Alan (whose mail I just got) makes some good points, though I
think he may know about some extraprofilic way of modifying the toolbars
that I don't. But aside from shortening names or possibly pruning some
of the toolbars with as many as 28 options by default (I actually think
this pruning is a bad idea beyond the permission of the user to
customize his own toolbar), there are two things I believe should be
focused on.
1) Let the toolbar be opened (the little arrow on the right that shows
the icons which got cut off). If this is a one-line change that got
overlooked, fine. If it cannot be done before 2.4, my personal opinion
is that respecting the gconf key should be undone.
2) Use the new toolbar widget code so that the user can (without editing
his .profile) customize his toolbar. This is not as important as (1),
but would be real handy (as has long, long been discussed) to pick up
with 2.6.

Even if names are shortened, we still have lowres and localization to
worry about, so it's still important to allow opening the toolbar. We
can't force the user to change the interface of all his other apps
(believe me, I tried, he didn't like it).

Oh, and yes Roland, "Is it meant to look like this?" was also my
reaction, because that's approximately how things look over here (-: In
GNOME, the size is not worse than, say, evolution's icons, there are
just twice as many icons per toolbar, and the toolbar can't be opened.
In KDE, well, it's very special; even fewer icons fit.

I'm just a user, I don't know why these things are the way they are or
how to fix them. It took me all morning just to figure out how to
change that key from gnome 2.10 without using the gconf editor. Still
working on how to change it from kde without opening up the gconf editor
I know nothing about as a user. I have this same problem in Microsoft
Word, but it lets me open the toolbar with the little arrow on the right
(wee!)

Anyway, thanks for clearing this matter up.

Regards
-MG

On Fri, 2005-07-01 at 15:52 +0100, Roland Kay wrote:
> > Isn't this just Abi respecting the GNOME icon settings?
>
> Yes. Don't worry, I wasn't complaining. I just thought it was a likely
> reason why the UI might be looking extremely strange after doing a CVS
> update.
>
> On my system the space allocated to each button when
> "desktop/gnome/interface/toolbar_style" is set to "both" is very large
> though. So large that most of the buttons are off the edge of the screen.
> Is it meant to look like this? [See attached screenshot]
>
> Best wishes,
>
> R.
>
Received on Fri Jul 1 18:08:19 2005