Re: On GNOME 3.0 features

[Bastien Nocera <hadess hadess net>]

On Tue, 2010-09-14 at 08:18 -0700, Dylan McCall wrote:
> > I wasn't involved in this decision, but I do agree with it. The logic, I
> > think, is that themeing is only used by a minority of users, and that
> > installing an extra panel isn't a particular hardship for those users.
> > The win is a control center that is a little lighter and which is more
> > tailored to the majority of users. It's up to distros what they want to
> > ship by default, of course.
> >
> > Just to clarify - nobody is proposing that users should not be able to
> > change their theme, and I think everyone realises that themeing is
> > important functionality for some users. Actually, themeing will be
> > enhanced for GNOME 3.0, and there are some exciting ideas about how it
> > could be done.
> >
> 
> I agree that customising metathemes doesn't quite belong there. (I
> never felt it got in the way, either, but then I don't know what it
> looks like underneath). It would be nice if that stuff from Appearance
> Preferences was moved straight into a new, independent tool people can
> install, just to make the switch easier.
> 
> Since this is happening, how about killing those automatically
> generated thumbnails for themes? If they're all going to be
> pre-packaged, expect the packagers to include their own thumbnails.
> That way they can focus on something that really communicates what the
> theme looks like, and we won't end up with a massive grid of
> practically the same icon again and again. (And it would load
> faster!).

Right. This isn't something we're really interested in working on for
the control-center itself, but people are more than welcome building
their own panels for that.

> This does concern me with regards to accessibility, though. I
> understand that there will be a new Universal Access panel, so will
> that provide quick access to the different accessibility-focused
> themes? What about fonts? Being able to choose a specific application
> font size is one of the best things in Gnome and it is _incredibly_
> helpful for accessibility. That specific feature has warmed the hearts
> of many people I have introduced to Gnome. (And, indeed, helped them
> use it).

Settings for font sizes, high contrast themes, and the likes are already
in the new a11y panel.

> Appearance Preferences seems the natural place for font selection to
> go, but then it's also something that could be considered mission
> critical. Maybe both? :)

It shouldn't be called "Appearance" preferences any more, it's supposed
to be called "Personalisation" instead. So you probably wouldn't have
that particular problem there :)

Cheers