Re: GTK+-2.x planning

[Gregory Merchan <merchan phys lsu edu>]

On Tue, Mar 12, 2002 at 04:49:24PM -0500, Owen Taylor wrote:
> This mail is intended to get discussion going on a 2.x roadmap for
> GTK+.
> 
> As a strawman, I've taken 20 or so more or less major items (out of
> 450+ bugs open in bugzilla for GTK+ alone), and distributed them among
> version numbers.
> 
> The schedule below would be shooting for a quick 2.2 release with
> multihead and official win32 in a couple of months, a followup 2.4
> fixing the most remaining major missing pieces (GtkFileSel, GtkCombo
> replacements) next fall, and then a 2.6 sometime in 2003.
> 
> Questions:
> 
>  * What's missing? What do we need to do, that we _can_ do in 
>    2.x that isn't below? Feel free to be blue-sky, but blue
>    sky stuff is at least 2.6, maybe 2.8 :-)

Some of the things put for 2.6 below seem like they could be done by 2.2
because there's already some existing code. Actually, it looks to me like
the 2.4 and 2.6 lists are almost reversed. *shrug*

Missing: A widget like SmallTalk's Browser widget. This is the multi-column
thing seen in NeXT and ruined in MacOS X.  Mathematica uses one for it's
help browser. I've been floundering on making one for 2.x. Here're some
shots that I've made while working on one:
  http://www.phys.lsu.edu/students/merchan/shots/multi-column-shots/

(I'm not sure it's originally a SmallTalk widget, but that's what I've read.)


>  * Are people generally comfortable with the idea of a quick
>    multihead + win32 release?

multihead, yes. I'd rather not think about that other thing. :-)


> Regards,
>                                         Owen
> 
> 
> GTK+-2.0.x:
> 
> * Bug fixes
> * Robustify gdk-pixbuf loaders
> 
> GTK+-2.2:
> 
> * Multihead support

Just a note for Xlib-happy people like me. This is not just multiple Screen's
as in Xinerama, but also multiple Display's. IOW, one program that is more
than one client.


> * Official Win32 port
> * Fully usable RTL editing  (#73307, #70451, #50770)
> * Xft2 support for Pango
> * OpenType Indic shapers for Pango
> 
> GTK+-2.4:
> 
> * File selection widget

Just for kicks, here's my most recent idea of what it should look like:
  http://www.phys.lsu.edu/students/merchan/shots/file-selector.png [6k]
This is based on these notes:
  http://www.phys.lsu.edu/students/merchan/shots/filesel.png [38k]


> * Replacement combo/option-menu widget
> * Action based menu API

Having an action API would be a prerequesite of this, IMO.
I recently filed #74329 which is a duplicate of #55393.


> * New toolbar widget (#70606, #6112, #50367, #55393)
> * Height-for-width geometry management
> * Real standardization of XSETTINGS/XEMBED

The XSETTINGS protocol can be seen on freedesktop.org, but I can't find any
docs for the XEMBED protocol.


> GTK+-2.6:
> 
> * Icon list widget

Please see also #74332, which is a duplicate of #69819.


> * Sheet widget
> * Reworked tooltips (#50619, #56291, #62174, #65490)

I think this needs to be looked at with the action API.
For unavailable actions, the insensitive widget's tooltip should probably
indicate why the action is unavailable.


> * Autocompletion and history for GtkEntry (#69613)
> * Disclosure triangle widget

I wrote one parallel to GtkCheckButton. I passed the code off to Anders.


> * GnomeColorPicker style color selection button
> * TreeView enhancements (filter model 60219, finish dnd) 
> 
> When it's ready:
> 
> * Official GTK+ FB port
> 
> 


Cheers,
Greg Merchan