Re: [gedit-list] Re: A newcomer to gEdit:

[Paolo Borelli <pborelli katamail com>]

On Sun, 2004-09-12 at 04:27 +0200, Selairi wrote:
> I'd like manipulating the interface of Gedit too. I have been studing the gedit plugin interface and I can't find how to modify it.

Yes, at the moment the plugin interface doesn't allow full access to the
gedit gui, afaik you can only manipulate the menu and the output window.

> I have read the following mail in gedit-list:
> 
> -From: Paolo Maggi <paolo po   >
> - Re: Future of gedit ?   
> -2004-07-19 05:31 
> - Hi,
> - > > 
> - > > Which features do you miss from Kate?
> - > - lateral file selection panel
> - > - lateral buffer selection panel
> - They could be included as plugins.
> 
> This message doesn't show if the panel is inside of gedit window or in a extra-window.

Of course Paolo Maggi has the last word, but I think that adding a side
pane is a reasonable addition to the interface.

On a longer term I think it would be cool to use a docking widget (like
gdl or the one included in libegg) and use it for instance for the
output window, the side pane etc, so that you could dock these UI
elements on any side of the main window or even detach them in a
separate dialog.

> 
> In my opinion it'd be useful have a "vertical" and "horizontal" GtkNotebooks inside of gedit and a easy plugin interface to put widgets inside.

Sorry but I do not agree. I know there are advanced editors that use
this gui, but IMHO it is fairly ugly and difficult to use.

While I'm more than happy to see interest in developing plugins to make
gedit powerful for the advanced user, gedit is and will remain a
*simple* and *general purpose* text editor, following the UI philosophy
of GNOME, of which gedit is part.
So powerful plugins are more than appreciated, but they do not have to
affect the simplicity and ease of use for the normal user who doesn't
enable them.

> 
> I'm thinking in write a library which build a window, with a GtkNotebook inside. My plugins,  using this library, will use the same window to show widgets. It will be another simple solution in a few lines of code.

As a said above I think that the best solution is a docking widget.
Also note that the current mdi widget used by gedit (bonobo-mdi, for
those familiar with the sources) is showing it's age - see bugzilla for
some of its shortcomings - and should eventually be replaced by
something using the GtkUIManager introduced in gtk 2.4 etc.


ciao
	paolo