[maemo-developers] GtkAction vs. AppMenu

[From: Alberto Garcia]

On Sat, May 23, 2009 at 02:33:05PM +0200, Cornelius Hald wrote:

> > gtk_toggle_button_set_mode (GTK_TOGGLE_BUTTON (radio_button), FALSE);
> 
> To be honest, I also like the _look_ of the toggle button more then
> the look of the radio button. But I think we really should use radio
> buttons where it is semantically correct/needed.

As I've just said in a message to Murray, the fact that they're
commonly used in Desktop applications doesn't mean that it has to be
the same way in other kinds of platforms. Toggle-like radio buttons
are quite common too in many user interfaces.

For Fremantle it has been decided that the way to show radio buttons
it to make them look like toggle buttons, and applications have been
designed with that in mind (and that includes making sure that radio
buttons and toggle buttons are not mixed in a way that can confuse the
user). You can also use other widgets (e.g. HildonTouchSelector) for a
similar functionality.

We cannot really force people to use the widgets that we want, but
we can say how Fremantle apps are designed to look like and give
recommendations and guidelines to make 3rd-party apps look consistent
with the overall style of the platform.

> So why not just change the visual representation of a GtkRadioButton
> to something more pleasing?

Well, I didn't design the Fremantle UI style so I cannot really help
you much :) but my personal opinion is that the current design is not
confusing at all (at least if used correctly).

> I attached a slightly extended version of your example, which
> uses gtk_radio_action_set_current_value() the way I'm using it in
> my code.  Sadly it's not working. So maybe I'm just doing it all
> wrong. Please check my small modifications.

I'll try to take a look when I have a few minutes more :)

Berto