Xfce 4.16 Released!

ToZ · 2020-12-23 00:36:03

Xfce 4.16 has been released!

Announcement

Compositoron · 2020-12-23 10:30:32

These new additions are amazing. Great work!

Jerry3904 · 2020-12-23 11:49:38

Great work! We're all very excited over here.

alcornoqui · 2020-12-23 16:11:50

The release has been on Hacker News top page today, and the most voted comment is a shoutout to ToZ and the forum!

Check it out.

Congratulations!

Last edited by alcornoqui (2020-12-23 16:12:43)

PaperNick · 2020-12-23 18:23:44

It keeps getting better and better! Kudos to the whole team and everybody on this forum!

cyberghost · 2020-12-24 21:08:33

Great news! Thanks to the devs and everyone involved! Merry Christmas from East Texas!

keepitsimpleengineer · 2020-12-26 21:14:24

What happened to Orage clock?

ToZ · 2020-12-27 11:19:11

keepitsimpleengineer wrote:

What happened to Orage clock?

orage hasn't had an active developer for years. With Xfce panel 4.16 dropping support for GTK2 panel plugins, it was archived and is no longer part of active Xfce.

keepitsimpleengineer · 2020-12-27 19:25:50

ToZ wrote:

keepitsimpleengineer wrote:
What happened to Orage clock?
orage hasn't had an active developer for years. With Xfce panel 4.16 dropping support for GTK2 panel plugins, it was archived and is no longer part of active Xfce.

Sad.... ... .. .

pedherall · 2020-12-27 21:40:04

keepitsimpleengineer wrote:

Sad.... ... .. .

I use genmon with the following script:

#!/bin/bash

echo "<txt>`date "+%a  %d %B, %H:%M"`</txt>"
echo "<txtclick>orage -t</txtclick>"
echo "<tool></tool>"

Last edited by pedherall (2020-12-27 21:43:19)

geekland · 2020-12-27 22:06:25

Sorry to say that XFCE 4.16 is an step back. Thanks for your time and effort but I really dislike the result. So time to change desktop. I hate gnome shell and XFCE desktop version by version reminds me more Gnome Shell.

Last edited by geekland (2020-12-27 22:08:26)

bernd_b · 2020-12-30 15:21:30

Orage is still working here on my xfce-4.16 panel. It wasn't removed while updating and seems to do no harm. Still the questions remains for me: Is there a recommended replacement?
Since I want to use the automated timer based task functions, I can only think of kalarm so far (I don't understand the suggestion of using genmon in the 2nd last previous post).

Last edited by bernd_b (2020-12-30 15:31:27)

Ferdinand · 2021-01-02 11:03:18

The new release has lobotomized me; my two brain halves have separated and are no longer on speaking terms.

The right half really love 4.16 and all the excellent new and improved features:
Xfce has always been my favourite desktop, and I really appreciate the continued focus on usability and low overhead - Xfce is beautiful simplicity in a full featured desktop, and I really do love it.

The left half, though, absolutely loathe the Client Side Decorations or GTK Header Bar or whatever it is called:
It is ugly beyond description and, catastrophically, it doesn't even obey the window manager theme. The beauty has gone, and I weep while I work.

I am sure I'm not alone in having this head-splitting agony, and so, while thankful for the effort and the many improvements, I also must ask, humbly, not only for myself, but for all the hapless lobotomized mouse-lovers out there; please make CSD optional. Pretty please... with sugar on?

ToZ · 2021-01-02 13:26:08

Ferdinand wrote:

please make CSD optional.

Let the core developers know at https://gitlab.xfce.org/xfce/libxfce4ui/-/issues/14.

There is also libxfce4ui-nocsd which is a forked version of libxfce4ui that removes the CSD patches.

Last edited by ToZ (2021-01-02 13:26:27)

bernd_b · 2021-01-02 15:16:47

Well, the one who does the code does the decisions.

At least I got an answer why some xfce4-tools don't follow their own appearance-settings anymore.

libxfce4ui-nocsd is on AUR with archlinux, so I gave it a quick try. Since xfce isn't updated that often, this is a very welcomed option to last the love some time longer and see how things will develop.

Did I understood this right: the themes used by csd-styling apps like some xfce4 apps updated with Xfce-4.16 aren't supposed to be able to be customized by users?

ToZ · 2021-01-02 17:02:06

bernd_b wrote:

Did I understood this right: the themes used by csd-styling apps like some xfce4 apps updated with Xfce-4.16 aren't supposed to be able to be customized by users?

Not sure I fully understand your question, but you should be able to theme CSD-based apps as well as non-CSD apps (just different theming directives). It is possible to get a similar base look (see the greybird git build), but the xfwm4 theme will need to be increased in height to match the thinnest CSD window decoration.

Where a problem exists is in the window manager themes - the existing xfwm4 themes no longer apply to CSD-based apps (which draw their own window decorations). You can make some tweaks, but things like titlebar text position, window roll-up, decoration styling, & behaviour (to name a few) will be different/inconsistent.

One of the benefits of CSD is that you will get wider window resize grip areas.

bernd_b · 2021-01-02 17:47:41

ToZ wrote:

the existing xfwm4 themes no longer apply to CSD-based apps (which draw their own window decorations).

This is exactly what I wanted to be confirmed.

ToZ wrote:

but you should be able to theme CSD-based apps

I don't mind some differences, but where can I change the look of CSD-bases apps since the theming of xfce itself won't apply?

Last edited by bernd_b (2021-01-02 17:56:50)

ToZ · 2021-01-02 17:56:01

bernd_b wrote:

I don't mind some differences, but where can I change the look of CSD-bases apps since the theming of xfce itself won't apply?

The same way as other CSS theme directives. The node to target would be .csd and the elements underneath. For example:

.csd .title { font-size: 7.5pt; }
.csd .titlebar>image { -gtk-icon-transform: scale(0.8); padding-left: 7px; }
.csd entry { font-size: 7pt; min-height: 20px;  }
.csd entry image { padding-top: 1px; padding-bottom: 1px; -gtk-icon-transform: scale(0.8); min-height: 0px; }
.csd .titlebar .right { margin-right: 8px; }
.csd .titlebar .titlebutton  {background-color: rgba(255,0,0,0); } 
.csd .titlebar .right button { padding: 0px; }
.csd .titlebar .image-button   { margin-top: 4px; margin-bottom: 2px; }

But you can only do so much this way.

bernd_b · 2021-01-02 18:03:28

Ok., to fully understand it:
But I cannot change the buttons itself or colors of the window margin/ title bar? I think this is the crucial part one got used to.

ToZ · 2021-01-02 18:47:24

Yes, you can change the colours of the titlebar:
Before:

After:

Tweak:

.csd .titlebar { background: red; }

As for the buttons, here is a proof of concept:
Before:

After:

button.titlebutton.minimize { color: transparent; background-image: -gtk-scaled(url("/tmp/down.png")); }

(needs some work)

bernd_b · 2021-01-02 19:43:10

I see, so there are some possibilities for those whose eyes are hurted. Do you have a recommendation for a tutorial for these css settings or is there a even a gui? A quick look in my search engine leads me to web design things. This is surely related, but I "hope" not what we are talking about here?

Last edited by bernd_b (2021-01-02 19:43:59)

ToZ · 2021-01-02 20:20:48

Start with this post. Its a brief tutorial with links to resources.

bernd_b · 2021-01-03 13:06:54

Thank you very much. But unfortunately this seems to be too much stuff for me at the moment.

I assume an average mouse-mover-guy like me has to stick to themes available to download for each theming-system and hope that they fit and apply at all.

Trying to roll back to standard libxfce4ui (from libxfce4ui-nocsd) csd style apps still look like the others. I am a bit lost but at least I got here:

current_look_of_my_desktop

Last edited by bernd_b (2021-01-03 22:22:47)

Ferdinand · 2021-01-05 08:26:48

I made a script that adds Faenza icons to the new icon resource names - meaning you must either install Faenza, or change the script according to your preferred theme.

It's done in Arch, but should work with other distros too - just check that the source and target paths are correct
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php … 7#p1947857

As for the CSD, I must say I recommend installing the libxfce4ui-nocsd.

My Xfce is beautiful again and I am un-lobotomized

Thank's to ToZ for all the helpful information!

Last edited by Ferdinand (2021-01-05 08:28:41)

dlu2020 · 2021-01-07 21:53:53

FYI, 4.16, just transitioned into Debian testing, so it looks like it will make it into Bullseye!!

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#1 2020-12-23 00:36:03

Xfce 4.16 Released!

#2 2020-12-23 10:30:32

Re: Xfce 4.16 Released!

#3 2020-12-23 11:49:38

Re: Xfce 4.16 Released!

#4 2020-12-23 16:11:50

Re: Xfce 4.16 Released!

#5 2020-12-23 18:23:44

Re: Xfce 4.16 Released!

#6 2020-12-24 21:08:33

Re: Xfce 4.16 Released!

#7 2020-12-26 21:14:24

Re: Xfce 4.16 Released!

#8 2020-12-27 11:19:11

Re: Xfce 4.16 Released!

#9 2020-12-27 19:25:50

Re: Xfce 4.16 Released!

#10 2020-12-27 21:40:04

Re: Xfce 4.16 Released!

#11 2020-12-27 22:06:25

Re: Xfce 4.16 Released!

#12 2020-12-30 15:21:30

Re: Xfce 4.16 Released!

#13 2021-01-02 11:03:18

Re: Xfce 4.16 Released!

#14 2021-01-02 13:26:08

Re: Xfce 4.16 Released!

#15 2021-01-02 15:16:47

Re: Xfce 4.16 Released!

#16 2021-01-02 17:02:06

Re: Xfce 4.16 Released!

#17 2021-01-02 17:47:41

Re: Xfce 4.16 Released!

#18 2021-01-02 17:56:01

Re: Xfce 4.16 Released!

#19 2021-01-02 18:03:28

Re: Xfce 4.16 Released!

#20 2021-01-02 18:47:24

Re: Xfce 4.16 Released!

#21 2021-01-02 19:43:10

Re: Xfce 4.16 Released!

#22 2021-01-02 20:20:48

Re: Xfce 4.16 Released!

#23 2021-01-03 13:06:54

Re: Xfce 4.16 Released!

#24 2021-01-05 08:26:48

Re: Xfce 4.16 Released!

#25 2021-01-07 21:53:53

Re: Xfce 4.16 Released!

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