Re: Deprecation of GtkImageMenuItem

[Emmanuele Bassi <ebassi gmail com>]

hi;

at some point this should go in a FAQ — or people should start reading
the archives — because I replied the exact same thing over and over
again on three different mailing lists. clearly, I'm doomed to repeat
this forever, so let's get another round. maybe I'll keep a link to
the archives, and just reply with it, next time.

a GtkImageMenuItem is just a GtkMenuItem with a GtkImage packed into
it — plus code to handle the global hammer setting to toggle image
visibility. you can use the GtkContainer API to pack basically
anything inside a GtkMenuItem, though you'll have to be mindful of
grabs if you pack something that handles input.

as to the GNOME HIG: the recommendation is to use icons *sparingly*,
and mostly for "objects" (or "nouns") — e.g. bookmarks, links to
files, or similar concepts. using icons for "actions" (or "verbs")
leads to overloading of images, and does nothing to increase the
recognisability of those actions. it puts unduly pressure on icon
artists to create unique icons for lots of actions, and put cognitive
pressure on the users to remember what those icons mean. positional
memory ("this item is the 5th from the top of the 2nd menu") and a
proper label are better suited than icons.

another recommendation is to *not* use GtkMenu and friends directly,
but to use GtkBuilder, GAction, and GMenu — follow the "How Do I"
document here: https://developer.gnome.org/GMenu/ — to describe your
menus with XML, which also lets you specify icons for specific menu
items.

ciao,
 Emmanuele.

On 23 October 2014 06:24, Daniel Kasak <d j kasak dk gmail com> wrote:
> I've read various threads about the deprecation of GtkImageMenuItem. From
> what I gather, it's "not recommended" from a HIG perspective to put icons in
> menus, and this is the reasoning behind deprecating them.
>
> Personally I disagree with this recommendation, and quite strongly. Icons
> are instantly recognisable - in particular when you're familiar with the
> application and context. It takes a lot more time to read some text and
> figure out what a menu item is. I think this is fairly universal. What's
> more, having a icons *looks* more polished - but I concede this is more a
> matter of personal taste than the 1st point.
>
> If I were writing 'official' Gnome apps or whatever, I would abide by the
> HIG recommendations, while simultaneously lobbying for a change in this
> policy :P But since I'm *not* writing official Gnome apps, and I'm writing
> commerical apps where we *do* want things like icons in menus, I think this
> deprecation is of concern. I realise that until 4.0, I can continue to use
> GtkImageMenuItem. But what happens after that? Will there be *any* way to
> achieve icons in menus? If there will be, and it just involves ( a bit )
> more work, then fine, I can deal with that. If not ... can I register my
> protest against this?
>
> Thanks :)
>
> Dan
>
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