[Bug 80702] Re: Keyboard indicator flags are missing
I suppose I should just learn how to make an Ubuntu package. But you can use the (fairly complete) famfamfam flags icon set from http://www.famfamfam.com/lab/icons/flags/, which is "free for any purpose with no requirement for attribution" to get really nice looking flag icons for the keyboard layout indicator with just a little effort. Unzip the famfamfam icons into ~/.icons/flags as mentioned above. Then open a terminal, 'cd' into ~/.icons/flags, and type the following command (ImageMagick [package: imagemagick] must be installed): mogrify -background none -gravity center -extent 24x24 *.png This command puts the flags on a 24x24 pixel transparent background to prevent them from being scaled (and distorted) to 24x24. Then set the gconf key as described above (/desktop/gnome/peripherals/keyboard/indicator/showFlags) using gconf- editor and you're in business. -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Desktop Bugs, which is subscribed to gnome-applets in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/80702 Title: Keyboard indicator flags are missing -- desktop-bugs mailing list desktop-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/desktop-bugs
[Bug 80702] Re: Keyboard indicator flags are missing
Beni Cherniavsky : Thanks for this information!! Obviously, if upstream decided to put a "Won't fix" on this, I doubt that ubuntu will implement flags (considering all negative sides you mentionned. Since feature requests should now go to http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/, I mark this bug as Won't fix. If you have good ideas about this problem, you can write a new idea in brainstorm so it can be discussed, voted and commented. ** Changed in: gnome-applets (Ubuntu) Status: Confirmed => Won't Fix -- Keyboard indicator flags are missing https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/80702 You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Desktop Bugs, which is subscribed to gnome-applets in ubuntu. -- desktop-bugs mailing list desktop-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/desktop-bugs
[Bug 80702] Re: Keyboard indicator flags are missing
http://community.livejournal.com/xkbconfig/982.html Ouch. Half a day of reading ;-/ Summary: 1. Flags represent sovereignty, and their very presence is politically loaded. Experience proved there is no way to ship flags without offending some users. GNOME removed all flags and their HIG recommends against the use of flags. http://library.gnome.org/devel/hig-book/stable/principles-broad-userbase.html.en#internationalization (KDE ships flags but some distributions censor them. RedHat got burned and removed all flags.) 2. The use of flags to represent languages is imprecise anyway. The use of flags to represent keyboard layout is doubly imprecise and ambiguous. Finally, flags are not always visually distinct - color blindness is obvious, and many are really similar: http://www.jankoatwarpspeed.com/post/2008/10/27/You-should-never-use-flags-for-language-choice.aspx#1 3. For these reasons the keyboard indicator defaults to labels. Flags are still supported because some users (including the indicator's developer) want flags. OK, so shipping flags is a bad idea. (Technically, if this is the conclusion, the original bug is a WontFix. Should I open a new bug to discuss the spinoff?) But we still have sub-optimal usability: - The labels are not precise. The full layout names are a bit better but too long to display in panel. Layout naming is a historically a mess - some are named by country, some by language. - The labels are hard to distinguish visually. I see several improvement directions: - Write layout names in repsective script (and language?). E.g. "USA" / "עבר" / "Рус". - Support: Wikipedia language choice uses this style (with full language names); googling for "language flags" leads to much web design advice suggesting this style over flags. - Choose labels per layout that indicate not just the language but the exact layout. E.g. "Eng" or "QWER" vs. "Dvrk" or "PYFG" is better than "USA" vs. "USA2". - Use Jaunty's shiny new notifications on keyboard change, showing full name (in respective language). The time should probably be made shorter, e.g. 0.5 seconds. - Allow users to select indicator color per layout in the GUI. This provides as much visual distinction as flags or arbitrary images, while not confusing the user with "Where would I now find a good image of dvorak?" and "If they allow images, why don't they ship flags?". Note that these options are non-exclusive. Any subset would help. Notifications + color together are probably an overkill, but I can't guess beforehand which is more usable. -- Keyboard indicator flags are missing https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/80702 You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Desktop Bugs, which is subscribed to gnome-applets in ubuntu. -- desktop-bugs mailing list desktop-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/desktop-bugs
[Bug 80702] Re: Keyboard indicator flags are missing
The flags are not displayed for political reasons. (just search the gnome/debian archives for the long debate) As far as I know, languages have no flags. At least I am not aware how the Romanian language flag looks like. Beside alternate keyboard layouts (qwerty/qwetz/dworak), we can also have the same keyboard layout use in different countries (French is the oficial language of 29 countries). I agree that USA and USA2 is not use friendly but displaying a flag is not the answer for this problem, >From my point of view, an user friendly implementation will have only one oficial keyboard layout for each language... users that need more than 1 layout per language should be considere a special/advance case. -- Keyboard indicator flags are missing https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/80702 You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Desktop Bugs, which is subscribed to gnome-applets in ubuntu. -- desktop-bugs mailing list desktop-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/desktop-bugs
[Bug 80702] Re: Keyboard indicator flags are missing
Note about enabling showFlag by default: Flags only show the language and don't distinguish between variant layouts (e.g. US vs. US Dvorak). So users with more than one layout for same language will experience a usability regression if we just enable showFlags! I see 3 ways to fix it: - Add a mode where the string is shown alongside the flag. - Add a mode where the string is shown over the flag. This saves space on the panel. It might be worse for people with disabilities (but wouldn't they then disable flags anyway?) - Add a way to choose personal images per layout. This allows people to represent layouts however they want, but requires effort to be used. If such flexibility is a goal, it's probably OK if people have to edit some file to change the layout->image mapping. Anyway, this can't be the only (or default) option (unless we provide cute images for each layout, which we probably won't). BTW, the string only differnetiates such layouts as "USA" vs. "USA2". This is quite cryptic and maybe should be replaced with the full name? However some layout names are very long, so showing them would be impracticle. Also, the applet already shows the full name in a tooltip when you hover the mouse over it. -- Keyboard indicator flags are missing https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/80702 You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Desktop Bugs, which is subscribed to gnome-applets in ubuntu. -- desktop-bugs mailing list desktop-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/desktop-bugs
[Bug 80702] Re: Keyboard indicator flags are missing
It's not enough addition to have the files available - we can't expect users to edit gconf manually. Enabling flags by default sounds like a good idea. But ideally there should be a easy way to toggle it from the applet. Also, once we have icons, they could also be used in the Keyboard Properties dialog - Add Layout shows a frighteningly lost dropdown of languages/countries, which could be made friendlier with addition of icons to country/language names. (Also, that menu is too slow to scroll through. It should be split by continent or just by letter ranges.) -- Keyboard indicator flags are missing https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/80702 You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Desktop Bugs, which is subscribed to gnome-applets in ubuntu. -- desktop-bugs mailing list desktop-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/desktop-bugs
[Bug 80702] Re: Keyboard indicator flags are missing
I am marking this bug confirmed as it still displays text with no easy way to display an icon on Ubuntu 8.10. ** Changed in: gnome-applets (Ubuntu) Sourcepackagename: None => gnome-applets Status: New => Confirmed -- Keyboard indicator flags are missing https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/80702 You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Desktop Bugs, which is subscribed to gnome-applets in ubuntu. -- desktop-bugs mailing list desktop-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/desktop-bugs
[Bug 80702] Re: Keyboard indicator flags are missing
** Changed in: human-icon-theme (Ubuntu) Status: Unconfirmed => Confirmed -- Keyboard indicator flags are missing https://launchpad.net/bugs/80702 -- desktop-bugs mailing list desktop-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/desktop-bugs
