gtk2 theme version improvements for high-dpi screens

[Andreas E.]

GTK2 applications are still widespread and the lack of resolution independence poses significant usability problems, for example for clicking radio buttons or checkboxes.

By editing the gtkrc file one can at least mitigate a majority of issues. By doubling dimensions (like widths, heights, not border-widths), the following controls can be made usable: radio buttons, checkboxes, scrollbars, expand/collapse triangles in trees. While this is nothing like complete high-dpi support, still a significant partial improvement can be achieved.

Users of high-dpi screens should not have to suffer under the current default, or have to patch the theme manually. It would be good to implement a way that when the scaling factor is >= 2.0, as many GTK 2 widgets as possible are rendered with larger dimensions, be it by theme engine or by switching the theme.

[Adolfo Jayme Barrientos (fitojb)]

> By editing the gtkrc file one can at least mitigate a majority of issues.

Then do it and submit a patch.

[Andreas E. (andreas-e)]

Not being a developer I don't have enough knowledge to do a patch that can be integrated and packaged.
These modified files reduce the problem significantly, but only:
 • for the Ambiance theme, if another theme is applied the benefits are lost
 • for a UI scaling factor of 2
There would be a switch needed which files to use depending on the integer value of the UI scaling factor. Ideally it would be patched in the software that reads these gtkrc files, and apply integer scaling to these dimensions (size, width, height, length).

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Now being worked on as bug 1687246

[Alister Hood (alister-hood)]

I think the duplicate is assigned incorrectly as this ticket is specifically about gtk2, and that one is gtk3.

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

If the above patches are from January 2015 then they likely need refreshing for a more current release. They would need to work in 17.10, and also need to be designed so as to not affect low DPI users.

Please review/update your patches for Ubuntu 17.10, and when done set the status here back to confirmed.

[Andreas E. (andreas-e)]

The attached files were not submitted as a full patch that solves the problem how to switch between non-hidpi and hidpi systems, but just pointing to the spots where the problematic gtk2 widgets can be multiplied in size.

If it is possible to have a switch in gtkrc, someone with gtk2 theming experience (design team?) would need to take a look.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for ubuntu-themes (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]