[Usability] Re: GNOME default icons

[Bill Wohler <wohler newt com>]

Rodney Dawes <dobey novell com> writes:

> On Wed, 2006-03-22 at 12:26 -0800, Bill Wohler wrote:

>> By the way, the motivation for my questions is that I'm updating the
>> icons in CVS Emacs and wanted to make them consistent with GNOME.
>> Perhaps, for now, it seems that what I really should be doing is making
>> the icons consistent with GTK. What do you recommend?
>> 
>> If so, am I looking in the right place?
>> 
>>   http://cvs.gnome.org/viewcvs/gtk%2B/gtk/stock-icons/
>> 
>> I've been told that there aren't licensing issues if Emacs packages
>> GNOME icons. Is that also the case with the GTK icons? (Sorry if this
>> should have been posted to legal gnome org  ;-)
>
> The icons within GTK+ itself are LGPL. The ones in gnome-icon-theme are
> GPL.

OK.

> I would personally recommend against just copying the icons
> straight over into the Emacs source, though. I'm not sure what all icons
> you have in Emacs, but if possible, I would recommend using stock system
> icons where possible.

Thanks, I hear you, but since Emacs runs on so many different systems,
the chances that stock system icons are available is pretty small.
Hence, it comes with its own. That said, it would still be worthwhile
to have the GTK wiz do what you suggest so we'd be able to take
advantage of the the current theme in case we are actually running
under GTK.

> If you really need to include copies of icons in the source for some
> reason (hopefully not as XPMs)

;-). They are, but I imagine this is for historical reasons. I'll have
to see if PNGs can be used on all platforms, although it probably
wouldn't be a great idea to change the format just before the release.

> and want to update the icons, I'd
> recommend getting some updated icons drawn in the Tango style, with good
> metaphors for the icons, rather than just trying to mix and match the
> icons with your needs for Emacs.

Why? Is the Tango style expected to be the next GNOME/GTK default?

And yes, the point of this exercise is to avoid mixing and matching. I
was choosing the icons that we use from a single set, which was
gnome-icon-theme until I realized that users were actually seeing the
GTK icons.

-- 
Bill Wohler <wohler newt com>  http://www.newt.com/wohler/  GnuPG ID:610BD9AD
Maintainer of comp.mail.mh FAQ and MH-E. Vote Libertarian!
If you're passed on the right, you're in the wrong lane.