Re: A plea for some fore thought.... (was Re: calendar questions)

[Gleef <dzol virtual-yellow com>]

On Wed, 24 Mar 1999, James Henstridge wrote:
> You can get the screen res with GDK with the following functions:
>   gint gdk_screen_width  (void);
>   gint gdk_screen_height (void);
> 
> And if the X server has been set up correctly, you should be able to get
> the real world size of the screen with the following two:
>   gint gdk_screen_width_mm  (void);
>   gint gdk_screen_height_mm (void);
> 
> With these it would be possible to work out a suitable size for the apps.
> Part of the problem would be the size of the widgets on such a small
> screen.  Maybe having a `tiny theme' for GTK, which would have reduced
> size widgets and fonts would help.
> 
> So it is possible to take screen size into account, but I am not sure how
> easy it would be to actually make the apps resize.

I don't think it is critical to have the apps resize automatically.
People don't change screen resolutions on the fly very often.

I think what is needed for tiny screen support (I'd define that as a
screen narrower than 640 pixels and/or shorter than 480 pixels,
regardless of physical size), is the following:
  * A tiny theme for GTK+, with a small and clear font, narrow scrollbars,
    and otherwize reduced size widgets;

  * Adding support in the panel for panel widths of less than 48 pixels.
    I think 16 pixels would do as useful size for tiny-screens, smaller
    than that and you can't do much with it;

  * A suite of applets and icons making use of a 16 pixel panel;

  * Programs that are either aware of the screen size, and react
    accordingly, or programs that can be compiled with a tiny-mode
    configuration option.

The way I see it, the following programs are most critical for the PDA
market, probably the biggest of the tiny-screen markets:
  * gmc or some other file manager application
  * gcalendar
  * gtt
  * gcalc
  * GnomeCard
  * gedit (or equivilant notepad type)

Specific users may also find programs like gnome-db, or a web browser
critical, particularly if they are using the PDA for connectivity
with their office.

However, most of this should wait until GNOME picks up the development
tree again.

-Gleef

PS: Do they even have an X server for PDA versions of Linux yet?  That's
    kind of a prerequisite before we even think about PDA support.