Re: Changing the no-toolkit scrollbar thumb color. (minor issue)

[Robert J. Chassell]

Using Saturday';s CVS snapshot,  2003 Sep 27 19:56 UTC
GNU Emacs 21.3.50.94 (i686-pc-linux-gnu, GTK+ Version 2.2.1)
started with

    /usr/local/bin/emacs -q --no-site-file --eval '(blink-cursor-mode 0)'

Earlier, I wrote:

         M-x customize-face RET scroll-bar

      This customization function has no effect in an Emacs configured with
      --with-x-toolkit=gtk

      I would like to change the colors both of the foreground (the
      `thumb') and the background (the `trough') of the scroll bars.

      How do I do that?

The response was

   ... is the answer to your question in `(emacs)GTK resources' and
   following sections, especially `(emacs)GTK names in Emacs'?

No -- I just tried several variations on how to create a
~/.emacs.d/gtkrc file and none worked.  (I also tried putting the
variations into ~/.gtkrc-2.0 just in case ~/.emacs.d/gtkrc was the
wrong name for the Emacs-specific file; that also failed.)

This is a problem with the documentation.  It should be clear enough.

But the problem is worse than inadaquate documentation.  The current
message from `customize-face' is *false*.  The `customize-face' method
tells you that it has changed the foreground and background faces of
the scroll bars when it has not.

The `customize-face RET scroll-bar' feature needs to

    * check for the tool kit in use and
      if it is `GTK+' {i.e, if (featurep 'gtk) returns t},

      - either have `customize-face' do the right thing, whatever that
        be, or

      - tell the user that `customize-face' fails with GTK and that
        the user must modify his or her ~/.emacs.d/gtkrc file.  The
        work to be done to the ~/.emacs.d/gtkrc file needs to be
        described in a manner that a novice can understand.

As for the documentation, 

    * if customize is modified to customize GTK scroll bar faces, the
    documentation needs to be rewritten so that a moderate expert can
    follow it;

    * if customize is modified to tell people when it fails, the
    documentation needs to be rewritten so a novice can write a
    ~/.emacs.d/gtkrc file and achieve his or her desired results.

You mention

   I personally use the native scroll-bar, ...

I usually do as well.  However, it is it worth testing Emacs built
with the GTK toolkit every so often.  I fear it is not tested enough.

--
    Robert J. Chassell                         Rattlesnake Enterprises
    http://www.rattlesnake.com                  GnuPG Key ID: 004B4AC8
    http://www.teak.cc                             address@hidden