[Goodies-dev] [Bug 2363] New: XFCE keyboard switcher doesn't show variant label

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           Summary: XFCE keyboard switcher doesn't show variant label
           Product: Xfce Panel Plugins
           Version: unspecified
          Platform: PC (x86)
        OS/Version: Linux
            Status: NEW
          Severity: major
          Priority: Medium
         Component: xkb
        AssignedTo: goodies-dev at xfce.org
        ReportedBy: magicfab at fabianrodriguez.com


User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; fr; rv:1.8.0.7)
Gecko/20060921 Ubuntu/dapper-security Firefox/1.5.0.7
Build Identifier: 

Initially reported at:
https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+source/xfce4-xkb-plugin/+bug/43185

Additional keyboard variants are not shown properly/fully in a descriptive
manner in the keyboard switcher applet in XFCE.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Add an alternat keyboard variant in /etc/X11/xorg.conf :
Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier "Generic Keyboard"
        Driver "kbd"
        Option "CoreKeyboard"
        Option "XkbRules" "xorg"
        Option "XkbModel" "pc104"
        Option "XkbLayout" "us,us"
        Option "XkbVariant" ",alt-intl"
EndSection

2. Logout, then login again
3. Add keyboard applet to XFCE panel
4. switch among keyboards by clicking on the applet
Actual Results:  
XFCE keyboard switcher shows only the keyboard layout text label without the
keyboard layout variant (in this case Alternative International for the 2nd
layout).

Similarly, a hint indicating the variant is changing could be added to the flag
icon display. I think this is what the same applet in Gnome does.



Expected Results:  
XFCE keyboard switcher should show the layout and variant information.

This is a major usability problem for anyone using anything else than a
standard US layout. I understand to even configure an alternate keyboard under
XFCE at this point there is no "friendly" way unless you do it with the gnome
tools first. Regardless, I think the way it's displayed is part of fixing the
overall usability problem for anyone wishing to have keyboard variants. Another
XFCE bug talks about adding layout config options to this applet config dialog:
http://bugzilla.xfce.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1901

The variant *label description* can be very long, but the label itself is at
most 22 characters, most being aroun 7~ 10. I checked this in this file:
/usr/lib/X11/xkb/rules/xfree86.lst

However, even 7~10 characters is too long to show.

Ultimately, this should be as configurable as the date-hour settings which
permit using a variable-based template.

The way variants are used, I think, is mostly as a modification of an existing
keyboard layout. For example, US becomes US - International. This is in effect
the keyboard layout code plus the keyboard variant description.

I suggest to have the keyboard layout plus variant description as a hint
(mouse-over bubble/dialog), which would make it friendly to its panel space.
This, again, should be configurable by variables.

In the panel applet space, I think Gnome uses an asterisk (*) to differentiate
between a variant and its standard layout. So, if I follow my configuration
example, If I had only one variant for US, repeatedly changing the layout would
show US and US(*) only in the applet panel (or a flag with a distinctive mark).
Hovering over it would show the keyboard layout plus variant description (US -
International).

Any other suggestions welcome.


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