Xfce 4.16 released with new visual identity, fractional scaling, and more

[finickyrelic]

Big kudos to the Xfce dev team:
https://www.xfce.org/about/news/?post=1608595200

Changelog:
https://www.xfce.org/download/changelogs/4.16

Personally, I really dislike the "flat/material/modern/vanilla" design trend that has lead to the loss of shadows and subtle visual cues in user interfaces everywhere. The new icons, sadly, are not my cup of tea, but that's just like, my opinion, man.

[Mauser]

I am fine with it as long as they don't break it and I can use my existing theming without issues.

[finickyrelic]

(following the freedesktop.org naming specification and a fixed color palette). We´re aware this will generate some work for icon theme maintainers (if they really want to override our gorgeous icons ) but we believe the longterm benefit outweighs this one-time effort.

Sounds like existing icon themes may need some re-work.

[OKie]

(following the freedesktop.org naming specification and a fixed color palette). We´re aware this will generate some work for icon theme maintainers (if they really want to override our gorgeous icons ) but we believe the longterm benefit outweighs this one-time effort.

Sounds like existing icon themes may need some re-work.

That sounds like a major problem. Can anyone elaborate? Does it break existing themes and icon choices? Should we be running in the opposite direction?

[finickyrelic]

Here are specifications for icon themes from freedesktop.org:
https://specifications.freedesktop.org/ ... atest.html

[dreamer]

Here are specifications for icon themes from freedesktop.org:
https://specifications.freedesktop.org/ ... atest.html

That's an old spec from 2013. Freedesktop (Red Hat) changed it again to keep people busy.

EDIT: The icon theme spec may not have changed, but the icon naming scheme.

[finickyrelic]

Here are specifications for icon themes from freedesktop.org:
https://specifications.freedesktop.org/ ... atest.html

That's an old spec from 2013. Freedesktop (Red Hat) changed it again to keep people busy.

EDIT: The icon theme spec may not have changed, but the icon naming scheme.

I see; not sure if this is the right link for the Red Hat change you mentioned, but I couldn't find anything else for icon naming spec:
https://specifications.freedesktop.org/ ... 01s04.html

[dreamer]

I see; not sure if this is the right link for the Red Hat change you mentioned, but I couldn't find anything else for icon naming spec:
https://specifications.freedesktop.org/ ... 01s04.html

That one seems to be from 2006. I think the community will figure this out. Those who make icon themes might already know what has changed.

[manyroads]

In truth, none of your concerns will make much difference. Xfce is moving along with the rest of the gtk-based Linux Desktop world.

[dreamer]

Should we be running in the opposite direction?

Nah, they broke window themes (xfwm themes) and icon themes, but apart from that it looks usable. After using MATE for some time it doesn't really have the feature set that Xfce has, but MATE has many good utilities that I use in Xfce.

I'm slightly optimistic. I think an old tired statement like "Xfce is dead, long live Xfce" is appropriate for this release. With GTK3 being around another 5 - 10 years, I don't see any immediate threats to Xfce. The core strength of Xfce is modularity, that's why CSDs seemed like an odd choice.

I'm happy with Xfce 4.14 and now there seems to be a future using a newer version of Xfce as well. So thank you to the Xfce devs and I'm sure the Xfce community will have some tricks/mods up their sleeves.