Re: Plans for ahead

[Riccardo Mottola]

Hi,

Alessandro Sangiuliano wrote:
> Well, yes and no, I also can say that the default GNUstep theme, is 
> just a NeXT mock, and probably is because many people don’t like it. 
> Rik could appear as a Mac mock, but I and Riccardo Canalicchio 
> implemented it to show what GNUstep can do and can be (NeXT-like with 
> the original theme, modern-like using the concept of theming coming 
> from Cocoa, because GNUstep is following Cocoa now right?), so it is 
> more than a simple Mac mock. I also, with some classes, modify the 
> beavhior of certain GUI elements, like NSPopUpButton, to behave as a 
> modern DE; indeed for e.g, it now tracks the mouse events, when the 
> cursor is inside the cellFrame of the PopUp Button; before this little 
> modification, a person had to click the mouse button, then stay with 
> the button clicked, drag the cursor to the items of the PopUpButton, 
> and finally release the mouse button to choice the item of interest; 
> it was intercepting mouseUp events to select items. I don’t like the 
> original behavior that’s is clearly coming from NeXT… I also know a 
> person that has a little problem on his hand, the one he uses to move 
> the mouse. He can’t stay with the mouse button pushed and, at the same 
> time, drag the mouse to the item of interest; he just can’t; in the 
> world I strongly think that he isn’t the only person with this kind of 
> problem(s); so Rik is also looking to the accessibility, in the 
> concept of “easy to use” to every one, also for people that have a 
> similar and little handicap (now just click on the element of interest 
> inside the menu generated from NSPupUpButton, as you do in Windows, 
> Gnome 3, Os X, KDE, XFCE, Enlightenment, MATE/GNOME 2, Fluxbox and 
> also wmaker’s menus).

I would not like going too much in the Mac direction in terms of feel.
What you mention is, I think an accessibility feature. When using a 
mouse, I still drag and select, I never click and select, because I am a 
long time mac user [1]. However when using different pointing devices, 
e.g. the nice "stick" of a ThinkPad, certain things are different.

I think your feature should be selectable by a preferences, exactly as 
we have different menu styles. Not only a theme should be able to select 
it, but also a (future) accessibility panel of SystemPreferences 
grouping such things. It could apply to different UI elements too.

Sometimes small things make a nice difference! I love NeXT menus, but 
actually always use GNUstep Menus, which are those used by default by 
WindowMaker. Both GS and WM have this setting, but with opposite defaults.

I would like a separate discussion thread to get deeper into this.
> Fortunately GNUstep is flexible in this field and satisfies our need, 
> it supports theming and different interface styles, and this put all 
> together; but if we are saying on the site that we are following 
> Cocoa, then we have to show that we are following Cocoa, and to show 
> that we are following Cocoa, we should do that from the “first 
> impact”, and the first impact it’s ever the look, especially for 
> people that don’t know GNUstep internals (API, features, what is, what 
> does, etc).

That is the reason why I don't like to advertise Cocoa so much on the 
website. I know others disagree. I absolutely do not agree on following 
Cocoa "form the first impact" and precisely not the look. I don't like 
several choies done on Mac, especially in more recent releases since iOS 
exist.
Damn, not only they have the wrong scrollbars, but now they scroll the 
viewport wrong if you use the touchpad. [2]

Riccardo

[1] I still have my Mac II bought used when I was a studen, I have used 
System 6 and seen colors in system 7, I have 800K floppies and rember 
when Laptops were PowerBooks with a Trackball
[2] If you read [1] you can undestand how much I love(d) Mac and how 
hard it is to say this.