File Selector icons

[Derek Simkowiak <dereks kd-dev com>]

     Hello,
	This message is intended for Tim, Owen, and the rest of the
higher-ups, but all opinions are welcome.  We need some guidance.

	We're working on the new file selection widget for Gtk+ 2.0.

	In displaying a list of files (either in a list or a tree), should
all the files have a generic "file" icon?  Or should different file types
(mime types) have different icons?

	MS-Windows uses registered file types (based on extension) to have
different icons for different mime types.  I believe the Mac uses its
"resource fork" to know what icon to present.  According to gnome-vfs/
devel-docs/ gnome-vfs-mime-type-handling.txt in the CVS tree, there is a
Gnome mime file called "gnome.mime" that can specify what pixmap to use
with entries like this:

image/x-xcf:
111             icon-filename=/opt/gimp/share/xcf.png

	(I was unable to find a file called gnome.mime on my system.)

	Finally, the Qt filesel widget only has different icons for
different filesystem file types (regular files vs. symlinks vs. pipes vs.
character files).  Mime types are not accounted for.


	One proposal to deal with the icons is to first look for the
gnome.mime file, and use whatever that says for the icons.  Then, fall
back to a series of built-in pixmaps and mime-types, so that there is no
real dependency on Gnome.  By "built-in pixmaps", I mean tigert's icons
compiled directly into the widget as XPMs.

	Would this be acceptable to the Gtk+ team?

	Would you rather see icons based only on filesytem type, ala the
Qt widget?

	Is there some other method to determine mime type icons?

	We don't want to do a bunch of work getting this to work if you
guys are going to object to compiled-in pixmaps.

	Personally, I think a file list loaded with tigert's icons would
look awesome and make it easier to find different files.  Also, we are
planning on pre-built filters for certain mime types, so the mime-type
icons could appear in the filter combo box, too.

	Please let us know how you feel about his.


Thank You,
Derek Simkowiak
dereks@kd-dev.com