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Silver's Weblog - Native Theming on Windows

Native Theming on Windows

This is just to outline my plans for working on native theming for menus and toolbars, and related bugs:

  • First priority is to get the pure-CSS appearance in winstripe right. The target appearance is Windows XP Classic. This is being worked on in bug 313388. This is currently going well, and is nearing completion.
  • One single native bit will be written with the pure-CSS version - -moz-MenuBarHoverText, which will be (at this stage) implemented (on platforms which use winstripe, or maybe all) to work exactly like the CSS colour chosen for the hover text colour.
  • The above work will be checked in to trunk CVS (after reviews, etc.) and will remove the -moz-appearance properties currently there. This will mean everyone will see the pure-CSS appearance, and this is exactly what is intended.
  • Any problems found with the pure-CSS appearance (excluding, obviously, "it's not themed!" which I know a few idiots will file) will be fixed at this point, as once the native code is re-enabled, only odd groups of people will ever see it again (OS/2 users, for example).
  • At this point, there will be an expected regression with the Firefox Bookmarks toolbar, which will be fixed (the exact method is yet to be decided).
  • Work will then begin on the native code necessary to support the theme engine in Windows XP. This may involve some minor tweaks to the CSS, but the ideal result is that only -moz-appearance properties are added. -moz-MenuBarHoverText will be adjusted (on Windows only) to follow the correct rules for menu bar text with themes.
  • This will be reviewed and checked in, and that will be it done.
  • Regressions will be fixed here, of course. :-)

It may seem like a long-winded way of doing things, but it will mean you get a top-quality result, as each key part will be written separately, tested separately, and checked in separately (for regression spotting).

Permalink | Author: Silver | Tags: Mozilla, Theming | Posted: 12:56AM on Wednesday, 02 November, 2005 | Comments: 7

I have heard tell that Firefox 2.0 is likely to be based upon Gecko 1.8 ("Gecko 1.8.1", technically), so that it can have mostly front-end changes and not have to wait for 1.9's ambitious changes.  Keeping this in mind, what do you think of the odds that native menus could get into 2.0?

Permalink | Author: Jweb_Guru | Posted: 03:46AM on Thursday, 03 November, 2005

Unfortunately, anything like that depends entirely on drivers, and not me. I, personally, think the plan as it currently stands is really stupid and will only cause problems for Firefox 2.0 development. My work for the native appearance will be done on trunk, however, and if drivers want it on branch they will have to work to get it there. As such, I would say that Firefox 2.0 has about a 60/40 chance, in favour, of it getting a decent native appearance - though it does depend a great deal on the (currently) unknown timescale for Firefox 2.0.

Permalink | Author: Silver | Posted: 01:18PM on Wednesday, 09 November, 2005

James,

Is this going to make it for 2.0?

Permalink | Author: Bryan | Posted: 08:22PM on Monday, 13 March, 2006

Bryan,

As I mentioned in my previous comment, it's up to drivers, and (as mentioned in the bug) I'm currently stuck waiting on a higher-level decision. As you can see from the plan, until this happens I can't progress beyond the very first item, even though it is otherwise ready to move on.

Permalink | Author: Silver | Posted: 01:34AM on Tuesday, 14 March, 2006

You sure are a whiney little bitch, although it is pretty funny rather than just being annoying.

But regardless of how bitchy you are, I appreciate your hard work. Thank you for all your effort, I'm looking forward to the changes.

And thank you for the comedy relief.

Permalink | Author: anon | Posted: 03:07AM on Monday, 08 May, 2006

I noticed in the bug that you reassigned. Does this mean you are no longer working on it? Could the work-in-progress patch be added so someone else may pick up where you left off? It would be a shame for your work to go to waste.

Permalink | Author: Dan | Posted: 05:43PM on Thursday, 07 September, 2006

Please see my post from a couple of weeks back. The work I have done on the bug since any previous patches is my own and will not be publicly available anywhere. Ever.

Permalink | Author: Silver | Posted: 12:45PM on Friday, 08 September, 2006

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