[lsb-discuss] Desktop APIs

Robert Schweikert Robert.Schweikert at abaqus.com
Wed Aug 2 13:45:13 PDT 2006


On Wed, 2006-08-02 at 22:29 +0200, Olaf Jan Schmidt wrote:
> [ Robert Schweikert ]
> > Although GNOME and Qt are part of the LSB other toolkits are viable
> > options for applications. LSB compliance can still be achieved when the
> > toolkit itself is shipped with the application. For better integration
> > in such cases it would be nice if there were an API which allows the
> > retrieval of some basic look and feel parameters such as background
> > color and default font. This would allow an application using a
> > different tool kit to blend in better.
> > 
> > This might be a Portland Group issue and then become part of the LSB
> > once the Portland Group project API is stable and ready for inclusion.
> > 
> > Targeting 4.0 with this request.
> > 
> > Thanks, 
> > Robert
> 
> Hi Robert!
> 
> This is a very good idea.
> 
> KDE can already generate a Gtk+ theme that fits to the current KDE colour 
> configuration and makes Gtk applications blend in, but generated Gtk 
> configuration is incomplete, and I had trouble finding a useful documentation 
> of the Gtk colour settings on the web. Also, I am not aware of any support in 
> GNOME to allow Qt applications to blend in.
> 
> Defining a general standard for colour and font settings would solve this, but 
> it is also very difficult to do this right. How do we make sure that 
> additional colours used by the application fit to the chosen background?

The background color and font were meant as examples. There are
obviously a lot more parameters such as highlight color, font size etc.
that would have to be available in such an API. However, I believe it
should be possible to get a set of general setting which all toolkits
can share. What they do with it is of course the implementers business
but at least we would get away from the off color background problem.

> 
> Some people with limited vision need light text on a dark background and very 
> large font and icon sizes. Setting only the background colour and the font 
> would not be enough (e.g. a black frame on a black background is invisible).
> Both KDE and GNOME provide themes for some groups of partially sighted users, 
> but usability tests have shown them all to be very buggy.
> 
> We are currently working on a complete solution for this for KDE4 and it would 
> make a lot of sense to cooperate with other toolkits here. Unfortunately 
> GNOME and KDE use completely different approaches for colour configuration. 
> In KDE the user can select colours. In GNOME this is coded into the themes, 
> which makes it imposssible for the majority of partially sighted users to 
> select the exact colours they are comfortable with.
> 
> It requires some thought to find a good solution. I am cc'ing this to the FSG 
> Accessibility workgroup so that we can work on it. If other people wish to 
> forward it to the Portland list as well, then this is fine by me, as long as 
> all suggested solutions are reviewed by FSG Accessiiblity.
> 
> Olaf
> 
-- 
Robert Schweikert                   MAY THE SOURCE BE WITH YOU
(Robert.Schweikert at abaqus.com)                 LINUX
ABAQUS Inc.
Phone : 401-276-7190
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