OT: Theming custom widgets [was Re: xfdesktop patch (new mcs options for icon labels)]

[Andrew Conkling]

On 5/25/06, Nikolas Arend <Nikolas.Arend at gmx.net> wrote:
> Maybe I'm wrong, but I think what he meant is that theme settings
> _should_ not be responsible for label transparency. My knowledge of gtk
> theming policy/good practice does not reach far enough to make a
> judgment on this.

Obviously, this is just my opinion, but I think that when these things
are done correctly, no extra gtkrc customization should be needed.  I
remember that when Benny first added the libexo icon menu thingy (only
place I saw it was in the Terminal preferences and it's been a while
since I looked at this, so it may have changed), some extra libexo
stuff needed to be added to gtkrc to get everything working.

I've subclassed (Python-speak, anyway) GTK+ tooltips in my own program
to add some GTK+ widgets [1], and I've always considered it the onus
of the programmer/designer when things don't work properly out of the
box.  F-Spot is another example: custom stuff that Just Themes(TM
pending).

That said, I'm not really complaining.  I think that this kind of
extra stuff should disappear as soon as our desktops come without
configuration because they work exactly the way we want them to.   I
think the whole Xfce team has done a hell of a job, especially this
time around.  We should all get them beers (and ice cream for Brian).

[1] http://pygmy.berlios.de/misc/tooltips-whee.png (large file)