Re: [Ayatana] Oneiric customization

[Paul Sladen <ubuntu@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Fri, 15 Jul 2011, Roth Robert wrote:

Hello Robert,

You've clearly done your research!  Some of the links you dug up I
hadn't even seen, so you might be in a better position to answer this
than I, but I also don't want you to think that you're in an empty
room and not getting a reply just because you've done the research!

Two weeks ago in Dublin a bunch of the people working on Gtk3, GNOME,
LightDM certainly were having some discussions that covered these two
specific topics (wallpapers and screensavers).  Those directly
involved may be able to provide some better input, for /my/
memory of those discussions…

> what customization options will Oneiric have
>    average users will have the default background

…my understanding is that yes, the user will be able to change the
wallpaper.  It would be boring otherwise!  I believe that the primary
method will be via the Control Centre (sorry, I haven't upgraded to
Oneiric on this laptop yet to check easily), but I had a feeling that
it was the first option offered in the GNOME3 Settings/Control Centre.

There are likely to be other contextual methods too, such as the Image
Viewer option you mention.  Indeed, some of the recent user-testing
written up by mpt and Charline has highlighted that tested route via
Settings/Control Centre is not easily found (people had to be
explicitly asked to /not/ right-click on the Desktop to change the
wallpaper!), see:

  https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel/2011-April/032988.html

Changing the wallpaper (which is ever-present from boot-up to
shutdown) is an important customisation and personalisation
opportunity so is likely to be retained for the forseable future.

>    - changing the screensaver is not possible

The major driver here has been people demanding more battery life.  
Sadly screensavers weren't designed to save power, but instead to save
phosphor from burning in CRTs.

I believe at the moment that the screensaver runs for just a few
minutes before vanishing and allowing the screen to turn off anyway.

How this pans out, we'll have to see.  But it's fairly likely that
even with a switch to LightDM for the login manager in Ubuntu 11.10,
that Ubuntu will follow the upstream GNOME3 choice and not enable
screensavers by default.

Of course, there are many choices: Xubuntu, Lubuntu, Kubuntu...  in
order to ship a stable LightDM/Unity/Ubuntu within the power curves
expected, and within the fixed timeline the priorisations will
probably be elsewhere.

That's not to say that you couldn't work on it, or write a howto and
propose both/either; just that for the main designers/developers
working on something extra that is also known to introduce power-
envelope regressions is unlikely to be a main priority (time is more
valuably spent on other parts of the stack that /need/ to be done or 
stablised during the Ubuntu 11.10 release cycle).

> affecting the general look of the system (selecting one of the two official
> Ubuntu themes, ambiance or radiance, selecting another font/font size, maybe
> icon theme).

I think these should all be fine and accessible in the GNOME3 Control
Centre.

> we ... don't have a fully functional app for personalizing ubuntu

I wouldn't worry.  Similiar to the 'gnome-tweak-tool' that you
mentioned, an Unity tweak tool popped in within about 24 hours!

  http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2011/04/ubuntu-unity-2d-tweaking-tool-lets-you-adjust-the-launcher-dash-enable-compositing/
  http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2011/03/unity-personalization-how-much-can-you-really-do/

Perhaps you'll even be one of the author(s) of it!  :-)

	-Paul