[GNC-dev] GTK3 Mnemonics

[Frank H. Ellenberger]

Hi Chris,

Am 20.10.18 um 08:30 schrieb Chris Good:
> Hi Frank,
> 
> In your edit of the gtk3 wiki [1], you added in part:
> 
> === Circumvent Bad GTK3 Design decisions ===
>  ==== Get Visible Mnenomics Back ====
> Since GTK3.10 the underlines of the mnenomics are only visible after you
> hovered the mouse over the element ''and'' pressed <code>alt</code>. 
> 
> In $SCOPE/gtk-3.0/settings.ini, add a line:
> 
> <SyntaxHighlight lang="ini">
> [Settings]
> # Visible Mnenomics
> gtk-menu-images = true
> </SyntaxHighlight>
> 
> which I was glad to see as I had noticed mnemonics seemed to have
> disappeared from GC 3.

while my current working area is testing translations and eventually get
the GUI closer to what I had thought is the HIG, I stumbled in this
changes in GTK. So I started, to write down, what I collected from the
internet. Some notes might be incomplete or outdated. So feel free to
improve them.

> I tested setting ' gtk-menu-images = true' in settings.ini (Windows 10,
> GC3.1) and it doesn't seem to do anything for me.
> 
> https://developer.gnome.org/gtk3/stable/GtkSettings.htm indicates
>   gtk-menu-images
>   gtk-auto-mnemonics
>   gtk-enable-mnemonics
> have been deprecated since version 3.10.
> 
> In Windows the behaviour I see is that the first time the right click
> transaction menu appears, mnemonics are NOT shown, but if you either:
>   Go into a dialog, say Duplicate Transaction, a couple of times (with or
> without using the Alt key (mnemonic activator))
>   Or Go into a dialog, say Duplicate Transaction, and use the Alt key
>   Or Use the Alt key in the right click transaction menu
> mnemonics are shown from then on in the right click transaction menu.
> 
> Note for me, it is not needed to hover the mouse pointer over the element,
> just hold the Alt key for approx. half to 1 second.
> 
> It seems to me that GTK3 wishes to remove any options for using mnemonics
> and just turn it on using the mnemonic activator key.
> Can anyone verify that or provide links that indicate how it should work?

As you noted, the GTK manual is not very helpful. In other, secondary
sources I read the devs think, it is cluttering the appearance. If they
think, a cool look is more important than usability ...

But probably John knows more about this decisions and alternative
approaches.

> [1]
> https://code.gnucash.org/wiki/index.php?title=GTK3&diff=14720&oldid=14717
> 
> Regards, Chris Good

Regards
Frank