Standalones and Linux

[Richard Gaskin]

Andrew Kluthe wrote:

 > On the system with a fresh 12.04 lts installation the fonts are huge
 > and the colors are very offputting.
 >
 > On linux mint running cinnamon, things seem to be running nicely,
 > but with stock ubuntu 12.04 lts the colors are awful. On windows
 > I recall there is a way to set the style of the theming to something
 > very basic and not use the new windows 7 or eight themes. Is there
 > not something similar on linux that will let me just turn the
 > themeing off without having to in and change so much of my program.
 >
 > Link to a Screenshot is below.
 >
 > http://oi44.tinypic.com/2wq9349.jpg  -- Ubuntu 12.04

That's pretty weird:  on Windows the "Add a Task" buttons are not 
hilited, but in Ubuntu both of them have the orange hilite color as 
their background color.  Do you perhaps have the default property of 
those button set to true?  If so, from an interaction standpoint is that 
what you really want?  Having more than one default button can confuse 
users.

As for fonts, if you never set the textFont of textSize of your controls 
then all your stacks will take on the engine defaults, but you can set 
those at the stack level and all controls in the stack will inherit 
those settings. I've been doing that for Mac and Win apps in a 
preOpenStack handler for years so I can get the appropriate font for 
each OS, and in recent years have added another case to handle Linux as 
well.

Theming can be turned off entirely by changing the lookAndFeel global 
property from its default of "Appearance Manager" (a strange choice of a 
Mac-specific string that actually affects all platforms) to any of the 
emulated appearances the engine supports: "Macintosh" (which emulates 
the Classic gray-scale look from OS 8.5), "Windows 95" (which looks as 
dated as it sounds) or "Motif" (even more dated; relatively few people 
using computers today have ever seen Motif in action).

I'd just set the textSize at the stack level.


Richmond wrote:

 > Stock Ubuntu is fairly awful aesthetically; that's why I run XFCE
 > with the Shiki-Wise theme.

That's one of the perennial mysteries of the Linux community, and also 
one of Linux' greatest strengths:

The mystery is that many people choose distros they don't like, while 
there are literally hundreds to choose from (have you considered simply 
using Mint?).

The strength is that in addition to the hundreds of distros there are 
also dozens of window managers and thousands of other mods, so everyone 
can have exactly what they most prefer.

Personally, count me among the millions who rather like the Ubuntu look 
and feel, but there's no disputing taste so enjoy the unique opportunity 
Linux offers in allowing everyone to set up their system however they like.

--
  Richard Gaskin
  Fourth World
  LiveCode training and consulting: http://www.fourthworld.com
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