window controls don't scale up

This issue is worth for making a decision!

See attached screenshot for an example. Controls in the title bar do not scale up with the title font height. This diminishes the operability of the controls especially for impaired users. We won't drive them so easily away from the default theme, will we?

This was a design decision. Metacity cannot currently draw these kinds of buttons (not enough drawing options) or allow for larger sizes.

Can you confirm this is a design decision and not a design flaw?

So the designers have made a specific decision to ignore the needs of
disabled Ubuntu users as of Lucid?

-----Oorspronkelijke bericht-----
Van: Kenneth Wimer <email address hidden>
Reply-to: Bug 532641 <email address hidden>
Aan: <email address hidden>
Onderwerp: [Bug 532641] Re: window controls don't scale up
Datum: Thu, 18 Mar 2010 13:25:49 -0000

This was a design decision. Metacity cannot currently draw these kinds
of buttons (not enough drawing options) or allow for larger sizes.

** Changed in: light-themes (Ubuntu)
       Status: Confirmed => Won't Fix

Seconded. This makes the new theme very awkward to use on a
high-resolution display -- and I'm in my 20s.

On 03/18/2010 11:13 AM, jgv wrote:
> Can you confirm this is a design decision and not a design flaw?
>
> So the designers have made a specific decision to ignore the needs of
> disabled Ubuntu users as of Lucid?
>
>
> -----Oorspronkelijke bericht-----
> Van: Kenneth Wimer <email address hidden>
> Reply-to: Bug 532641 <email address hidden>
> Aan: <email address hidden>
> Onderwerp: [Bug 532641] Re: window controls don't scale up
> Datum: Thu, 18 Mar 2010 13:25:49 -0000
>
>
> This was a design decision. Metacity cannot currently draw these kinds
> of buttons (not enough drawing options) or allow for larger sizes.
>
> ** Changed in: light-themes (Ubuntu)
> Status: Confirmed => Won't Fix

Is this really true? I just replaced object_width/object_height by
width/height in my metacity-theme-1.xml file and then increased
button_width/button_height. The buttons scale up as expected. They are
are a little blurry, of course, but this wouldn't be an issue if they
were .svg files instead of .pngs.

On 03/18/2010 09:25 AM, Kenneth Wimer wrote:
> This was a design decision. Metacity cannot currently draw these kinds
> of buttons (not enough drawing options) or allow for larger sizes.
>
> ** Changed in: light-themes (Ubuntu)
> Status: Confirmed => Won't Fix

Ideally things would be able to scale up but currently this is not possible

Could you elaborate on what the issue is here exactly? I did some
preliminary testing (see above), and the buttons scaled up fine (modulo
blurriness).

On 04/05/2010 05:29 PM, Kenneth Wimer wrote:
> Ideally things would be able to scale up but currently this is not
> possible
>
> ** Changed in: light-themes (Ubuntu)
> Importance: Medium => Wishlist
>

Here's a proof of concept.

On 04/05/2010 05:29 PM, Kenneth Wimer wrote:
> Ideally things would be able to scale up but currently this is not
> possible
>
> ** Changed in: light-themes (Ubuntu)
> Importance: Medium => Wishlist

As long as there is blurriness the bug still exsits. I don't see any way other than using vector graphics which can scale to fix the problem

Metacity/gnome-window-decorator supports .svg, so this is entirely
possible. Besides, having blurry buttons is still better than having
tiny buttons that are next to impossible to click.

On 04/07/2010 08:08 AM, Kenneth Wimer wrote:
> As long as there is blurriness the bug still exsits. I don't see any way
> other than using vector graphics which can scale to fix the problem

As a temporary simple solution you could use a huge (i.e. 40x36
pix) .png button that only needs to scale down

-----Oorspronkelijke bericht-----
Van: Tom Jaeger <email address hidden>
Reply-to: Bug 532641 <email address hidden>
Aan: <email address hidden>
Onderwerp: Re: [Bug 532641] Re: window controls don't scale up
Datum: Wed, 07 Apr 2010 16:54:28 -0000

Metacity/gnome-window-decorator supports .svg, so this is entirely
possible. Besides, having blurry buttons is still better than having
tiny buttons that are next to impossible to click.

On 04/07/2010 08:08 AM, Kenneth Wimer wrote:
> As long as there is blurriness the bug still exsits. I don't see any way
> other than using vector graphics which can scale to fix the problem

Because blur is used in the buttons we cannot use SVG to render them directly. I will test including larger images tomorrow but I am not sure if we will get the same crispness, etc to the buttons when scaling them down.

Hello all,
  i would like to comment on the themes and the issues that have been mentioned here.
I have been with ubuntu from the beginning. other distributions before that.
  One thing has been consistent through the years... theme creators rarely ,, if ever... consider accessibility when creating a theme when in fact this should be the first consideration after deciding on general appearances , ie colours etc!
   Since the advent of Bery/compiz /3D desktops... accessibility features are incorporated into compiz plugins.. as far as themes are concerned...this is where the now nearly extinct Emerald was far superior to any gtk2 theme or qt theme.
   Emerald had options for just about every option one needs to change for appearance and eve accessibility.
At the point Ubuntu is now... any "default" theme that is going to be presented to the users MUST have options to adjust for all reasonable situations and conditions....This includes options to set buttons on the left or right for right or left handed people..resizing of buttons and text and window borders.. as well as colour adjustments..etc .etc... anything less is not up to modern system requirements for accessibility or general theming capabilities. I, and my guess most others , are not going to put up with " what you see is what you get" Apple/ Microsoft approach to ...at least...themes. << reference to buttons on the left !!!
   Changing the look of a theme along with it's colours is NOT enough!
If you need to have several sets of buttons so that you can resize the buttons for those that need it ,,then make the extra sets of buttons and have a tick box to choose sizes...
what surprises me , at this late stage,, is no one is creating a gtk2 theme maker... as difficult as that may be,,
  OPTIONS...in the system and certainly in the themes are absolutely required to the multitude needs and work situations "especially" accessibility!!!
    The developers involved in the creation of Ubuntu are quite brilliant....but with all due respect to them and our benevolent dictator... when it comes to the look ...feel..... i dont want a developer making ANy final decisions,,,,these decisions must be sought out from those that are going to use them.... first order of business...."Does it have all of the accesssibility features requred???"