Custom widgets for lxde applications

[Stephen Smally]

Il 24/08/2012 21:05, Julien Lavergne ha scritto:
> Le 08/24/2012 07:37 PM, Stephen Smally a écrit :
>>
>> So my question (and proposal) is: Is a standard lxde widgets library a
>> good thing?
>> I personally don't like when a gtk app require another library for
>> widgets (such as libxfce4ui), because it looks to me like an added
>> weight. However, i started appreciating this with the granite library
>> (used for elementary os widgets), and i started thinking about a lxde
>> library seriously (i called it liblxui, but i don't like the name a lot).
>> In my plan, the library should be:
>> * Written with Vala (simple development + C and vala api) and Gtk3
>> * Themed within Box (or whatever) via css, using another Gtk theme the
>> widgets won't look strange.
>> * Lightweight, of course, just few widgets (about 5 or 6), no Services
>> or patches as in granite
> IMO, one of the main advantage of LXDE is that it's gtk + glib only,
> using stock features of those libraries. Starting by introducing a
> strong dependency on a specific library, and it will end like Xfce or
> Gnome, an integrated desktop, with a lot of common and specific
> components. So, what's the point to create yet another integrated
> desktop ? LXDE will loose one of it main advantages.
>
> Regards,
> Julien Lavergne
>

Yep, this is the main cons.
Actually, XFCE apps are bound not only by libxfceui, but also because 
they store information with xfconf, rather than use gsettings or 
individual config files.
Also liblxui wouldn't probably be used by every lxde app, some of them 
don't need particular widgets (lxpanel for instance). Instead of have 
same widgets reincluded in each app, we have a set of common widgets.
Let me clarify it with an "equation":
full project (core + widgets) <=> core project + widgets (liblxui)

If a user want to build its own desktop environment, *he will obviously 
encounter apps which follow different guidelines and are designed 
differently, so the point of liblxui is to have a consistent experience 
across lxde.

Stephen Smally