[haiku] Re: Proposals for the LocaleKit

  • From: Ryan Leavengood <leavengood@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: haiku@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Mon, 8 Feb 2010 23:39:42 -0500

On Mon, Feb 8, 2010 at 9:52 PM, Kevin Ar18 <kevinar18@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> For, example, if you resize a dialog, will the buttons and text readjust
> themselves dynamically to fit the size?  In other words, they are not layed
> out with pixel precision?

Yes, that is what the layout system does. But the application in
question has to actively use the layout system, and many of the
included Haiku applications and preferences still do not. On that note
this is a great area for new developers to make a valuable
contribution to Haiku. My layout article that Rene linked provides
some guidelines and an example of converting the MidiPlayer from not
using the layout system to using it.

> Along those same lines, does this system use containers and relative
> positioning for layout instead of fixed location and size (fixed location
> and size being bad/inflexible)?

Yes.

> If an area of the window (text, text in a button, text in a menu, text as a
> container label etc...) is suddenly much, much longer due to translation,
> will the text re-size the layout of the window to fit the new long text,
> with buttons and content re-flowing correctly and not look out of place?

Yes.

> What if translation requires right to left text flow?  Can the window and
> all it's contents (buttons) change its layout to be right to left instead of
> left to right?  (I'm referring to changing the justification to the right
> side for both text, buttons, layout containers, menus, and whatever else is
> part of the UI).

Right to left text flow and laying out based on that is still an area
that needs work, or that is mostly unimplemented.

> As far as I know, this is something XUL does.  I suspect it is also
> something that takes considerable design to get right.  I remember these
> translations issues being complained about for YellowTab and the Haiku
> developers talking about how it would take time for them to "do it right"
> instead of copying YellowTab's flawed design, which makes me curious as to
> whether the automated layout you are referring is this solution to it all?

I'm not sure what the YellowTab solution was, but the fact that Haiku
has a built in layout system API is certainly an improvement over
BeOS. Without that you really can't build a properly translatable GUI,
due to these sizing issues you mention.

> Sorry, I don't know what it was called, but it's not that one.  It was that
> project that someone from a university did as an experimental layout of
> windows that he tried out on Haiku and Haiku implemented as far as I know.
> I don't think the visual refresh was related to that.  Sorry, I don't know
> what the project was called.  Maybe someone else remembers?

It is probably ALM that Rene mentioned, but the Auckland guys also did
the Stack and Tile work for window management, but that doesn't have
much to do with the GUI layout inside windows and the translation of
said layout.

-- 
Regards,
Ryan

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