Checkmark and radio items in menus have ugly frames

Bug #546263 reported by Matthew Paul Thomas
46
This bug affects 6 people
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
Ayatana Ubuntu
Fix Released
Undecided
Cody Russell
gtk2-engines-murrine (Ubuntu)
Fix Released
Wishlist
Unassigned
light-themes (Ubuntu)
Invalid
Undecided
Kenneth Wimer

Bug Description

Binary package hint: light-themes

1. In a Nautilus window, open the "View" menu.

What you see:
* The "Show Hidden Files" item has a checkbox like those found outside menus.
* The "Icons", "List", and "Compact" items have radio buttons like those found outside menus.

What you should see:
* The "Show Hidden Files" item has just a checkmark if turned on, or an empty space if not.
* There is a dot next to the selected view mode, and nothing next to the other two.

This bug makes the Me menu extremely ugly, because it shows a radio button next to every IM status. It should show just a dot next to the current status.

Problem occurs with: Ubuntu Lucid, all updates installed
Does not occur with: Windows (any version ever), Mac OS (any version ever)

Tags: gloam lucid
tags: added: gloam
Changed in light-themes (Ubuntu):
assignee: nobody → Kenneth Wimer (kwwii)
Revision history for this message
Kenneth Wimer (kwwii) wrote :

There is currently no way to change this appearance as desired without patching the theme engine.

Revision history for this message
Ed Hewitt (edhewitt-deactivatedaccount) wrote :

Something does need doing about the awful decision with the radio buttons in the me menu.

tags: added: lucid
Revision history for this message
David Barth (dbarth) wrote :

Cody: how difficult / invasive a code change is that?

Changed in ayatana-ubuntu:
assignee: nobody → Cody Russell (bratsche)
Revision history for this message
David Barth (dbarth) wrote :

Putting that under the radar

Changed in ayatana-ubuntu:
milestone: none → ubuntu-10.04-beta-2
Revision history for this message
David Barth (dbarth) wrote :
Revision history for this message
David Barth (dbarth) wrote :
Revision history for this message
Dylan McCall (dylanmccall) wrote :

I would be DELIGHTED if this theme change landed.

I should point out one reason against, though, just to be fair: it's a tad better for accessibility that we specify which menu items are radio / check items and which are regular actions. I expect that's one of the reasons they are how they are.
On the other hand, though, toggle _buttons_ are indecipherable from regular buttons, it's not always clear that two groups of radio items side by side are separate groups, and the labels on check mark items should explain themselves (that they enable something), not the picture of a check box.

To solve the unsolved issues there, it's important to keep groups of radio items visually connected using separators. That is the case on the message indicators, but we should make sure this doesn't break any other supported apps and patch them appropriately :)
(And - though don't quote me on it - I think the GNOME HIG supports us here, so it shouldn't be a big problem).

Probably the best route to that is a Planet Ubuntu post asking for bug reports if the theme is changed.

Revision history for this message
Cody Russell (bratsche) wrote :
Revision history for this message
Cody Russell (bratsche) wrote :
Revision history for this message
Cody Russell (bratsche) wrote :

I forgot to fix check boxes in this patch, so expect another one in a few minutes.

Revision history for this message
Cody Russell (bratsche) wrote :

Also should note that the radio knob is using text[NORMAL] for its color, so this should "just work" for any theme out there.

Revision history for this message
Cody Russell (bratsche) wrote :
Changed in ayatana-ubuntu:
status: New → In Progress
Changed in light-themes (Ubuntu):
status: New → Invalid
Changed in gtk2-engines-murrine (Ubuntu):
importance: Undecided → Wishlist
status: New → Fix Committed
Revision history for this message
Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote :

This bug was fixed in the package gtk2-engines-murrine - 0.90.3+git20100323-0ubuntu2

---------------
gtk2-engines-murrine (0.90.3+git20100323-0ubuntu2) lucid; urgency=low

  * debian/patches/01_display_only_selected_menu_items.patch:
    - change by Cody Russell to display the menu entry widgets only next to
      the selected entries (lp: #546263)
 -- Sebastien Bacher <email address hidden> Mon, 29 Mar 2010 22:44:28 +0200

Changed in gtk2-engines-murrine (Ubuntu):
status: Fix Committed → Fix Released
Cody Russell (bratsche)
Changed in ayatana-ubuntu:
status: In Progress → Fix Released
Revision history for this message
Dylan McCall (dylanmccall) wrote :

Okay, with the current version there is one bit of inconsistency: When the current menu item is hovered (thus getting a lighter background), checkmarks turn black (inconsistent with the text!) while radio buttons stay the same.

Want me to file a new bug report?

Revision history for this message
Cody Russell (bratsche) wrote :

Hey Dylan, can you ensure that you've restarted your desktop session (sometimes things can get confused otherwise). If the problem still continues, just reopen the part of this bug that's assigned to me and post a screenshot of the problem please. If there's a problem I'll fix it first thing in the morning.

Revision history for this message
Kenneth Wimer (kwwii) wrote :

w00t, this looks excellent in my latest install! Nicely done Cody!

Revision history for this message
Dylan McCall (dylanmccall) wrote :

Hi Cody,

Just to follow up, I don't have that issue any more with up to date Lucid after restarting. It was either my imagination, or it fixed itself.

Yay! :)

Revision history for this message
Mark Shuttleworth (sabdfl) wrote : Re: [Bug 546263] Re: Checkmark and radio items in menus have ugly frames

Yes, these are looking goooood now. Thanks and nicely done.

To post a comment you must log in.
This report contains Public information  
Everyone can see this information.

Duplicates of this bug

Other bug subscribers

Remote bug watches

Bug watches keep track of this bug in other bug trackers.