XFCE - look-and-feel configuration.

[Jasper Huijsmans]

Jannis Pohlmann schreef:
> On Tue, 14 Mar 2006 12:08:25 -0800
> "Brian J. Tarricone" <bjt23 at cornell.edu> wrote:
> 
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>> SJM Arts wrote:
>>> I know development for 4.4 is now (slowly) entering a new stage,
>>> one of bug-fixing and stabilizing.
>>>
>>> But, i would like to brainstorm with you about some possible
>>> post-4.4 configuration stuff.
>>>
>>> At the moment, the configuration of the xfce-look-and-feel is done
>>> in multiple mcs-plugins, one for gtk, one (or two, if you count the
>>> wm-tweaks plugin in. ) for xfwm4, one for xfdesktop and one for the
>>> splash-screen.
>>>
>>> Can it be integrated in one look-and-feel configuration utility?
>>>
>>> I understand that the current setting is clear. But 4 different
>>> locations to change the appearance of xfce i find a bit weird.
>> I agree with you on principle: it's definitely much more usable to
>> have all the look and feel stuff in one dialog box.  It's another
>> case of thinking like a programmer: gtk, xfwm4, xfdesktop, etc., are
>> all their own entities, and so have their own separate stuff.
>> Whereas from the user perspective, you might want to look at it from
>> a task-oriented model: "I want to change how my environment looks;
>> how do I do that?"
>>
>> However, xfce is intended to be modular, and can work with components
>> swapped out.  So this wouldn't really work, I don't think.
> 
> What, if the MCS manager would have an API for the plugins to register
> to a certain "category" (like "user-interface", "devices", "printing"
> etc.)? I'm not sure how MCS works, but I could imagine something
> like .desktop files (as they are used in the panel) with a
> X-XFCE-MCS-CATEGORY key or something like that.
> 
> If plugins would define this, the MCS manager could group them more
> easily.

Yes, this is probably the easiest way to allow grouping without giving 
up the modularity. An extra entry in the plugin struct would probably be 
enough.

There would still be separate dialogs, but they will perhaps be easier 
to find.

If we want to combine settings from different modules in a single 
dialog, the changes required will be a lot more drastic, and 
consequently take a lot more effort.

	Jasper