Re: [Usability] Gnome Wallpaper Properties

[Rodney Dawes <dobey free fr>]

On Mar , 2003-12-09 at 11:53, Calum Benson wrote:
> On Mon, 2003-12-08 at 18:17, Rodney Dawes wrote:
> 
> > If you could review this capplet so I can put in CVS for gnome 2.6, that
> > would be great. Jody, JRB, and all the people that have given me
> > feedback so far seem very enthusiastic about having this in 2.6.
> 
> Here's a few first impressions then (well, second I guess, as I saw your
> original mockups a while back, too):
> 
> - I like the simpler appearance, and the better consistency with the
> Theme Preferences window (although that could be improved even further).

Suggestions for improvement are welcome. I am going to be patching the
gnome-thumbnail code and such so that the displayed meta-data can be
greatly improved. 

> - The GDSG defines the term for what we're changing here: "Desktop
> Background".  We shouldn't call it 'wallpaper', IMHO.

I don't have time to write a big long explanation of why I am using
"wallpaper" and intend to press the issue right now, but I will send
another reply with all the appropriate bits.

> - "No Wallpaper" should perhaps be "No Image"... as far as I'm concerned
> I do still have 'wallpaper' when this option is selected, it just
> happens to be a solid colour rather than a picture :)

This goes along with the Wallpaper vs. Desktop Background argument. I'll
explain more in another reply when I have time to pull all of the
discussions, and rationalizations into a more singular e-mail form.

> - Again according to the GDSG, this is a "Preferences" window, not a
> "Properties" window.

OK. Easily changeable to "Preferences". I was basing it on the binary
names, which are not consistent with that.

> - When I run it, the only option I have is "No Wallpaper", which seems
> slightly odd default behaviour.  Where is it looking for images, or do I
> really have to add some myself?

It currently only uses what you have the wallpaper set to when you first
run it, to create the list of wallpapers. And if you change the
wallpaper selection outside of the capplet, it will update the list when
you run it. I still have yet to write the migration code from the XD2
capplet, and to finish up the importing code of default wallpapers. The
default list will be "No Wallpaper", whatever wallpaper you currently
have selected, if not "No Wallpaper", and any backgrounds that people
ship, with appropriate metadata. This is being designed so that if you
install a wallpapers package, and have already run the capplet, it will
pull in the new wallpapers automatically, and if the user deletes an
image from the list, it will remember that. If the user adds the same
image back to the list, it will see that it was deleted before, and just
remove that flag from the image.

> - A simple schematic icon beside each item on the Style option menu
> showing what 'tile', 'center', 'fill' and 'scale' mean could be useful. 
> Although it's instant apply, it could still help an unsure user to pick
> the right option first time, rather than having to try each option in
> turn.  It would perhaps also allow you to remove the "on/to Screen"
> wording from every menu item, which I think is a bit repetitive and
> distracting.

The icons are planned and there is code to support it. I just don't have
the icons to put there, and I am not an artist. I just mailed a request
for the icons, and once I get those, I will add them in and update the
strings.

> - I'd maybe be more inclined to put the "Add" and "Remove" buttons down
> the right-hand side of the list, to separate them from the "Style"
> controls and for consistency with the Theme Preferences dialog.

I'll do that and see what it looks like. I believe that we originally
avoided this in the design because it creates a bunch of extra dead
space in the dialog.

> A more general concern would be that themes can theoretically specify
> backgrounds-- how is this dialog going to interact with that?

A more general design goal was to have the wallpaper selection be part
of a greater Appearance dialog, that I have made mock-ups for, but glade
doesn't seem to want to open that file anymore. I also think that the
wallpaper suggestion should be in the icon theme, not the "Desktop
Theme", as the wallpaper more appropriately is affected by the icons on
top of it. I also think the splash screen themeability should just be a
part of the icon theme as well, but not be a suggestion. It's primary
task is an image with icons on it anyway.

-- dobey