It's been a busy week in GNOME ecosystem, with updates across core apps and libraries, exciting new releases in GNOME Circle, and advancements in third-party projects. Let's discuss some of the highlights from This Week in GNOME (September 20 to September 27).
Table of Contents
Libadwaita Enhances Navigation and App Discovery
Libadwaita, the building blocks for modern GNOME apps using GTK4, has received some notable updates:
- Improved Navigation Split Views: The
AdwNavigationSplitView
now mirrors the functionality ofAdwOverlaySplitView
with the addition of the:sidebar-position:
property. This allows for inverted navigation when collapsed, making content the root page and the sidebar the subpage. - Enhanced Page Display in Navigation Views: The
AdwNavigationView
gains horizontal and vertical homogeneous properties. This means the navigation view will now pre-allocate space for all added pages and pages within the navigation stack, ensuring smoother transitions and a more consistent layout. - Seamless App Discovery within Dialogs:
AdwAboutDialog
now includes API support for directly linking to your other apps from within the dialog. This simplifies app discovery and promotes cross-promotion within your GNOME applications.
GLib
GLib, the low-level core library underpinning projects like GTK and GNOME, also sees significant performance improvements.
Christian Hergert's profiling work on GVariant
has substantially reduced memory allocations when handling smaller variants, a common occurrence, resulting in a leaner and more efficient GLib.
GNOME Circle Expands with Mousai's Latest Release
Mousai, the GNOME Circle app for song identification, releases version 0.7.8 on Flathub with user experience enhancements and optimizations:
- Dedicated Lyrics View: Enjoy a dedicated space for lyrics, improving readability and navigation within the app.
- Improved Navigation: Page names within the app have been standardized for a more intuitive and user-friendly experience.
- Adaptive Song Bar: The song bar dynamically adjusts to smaller screens, ensuring optimal viewing on devices of all sizes.
- Reduced Footprint: Thanks to cargo vendor filterer, Mousai now boasts a smaller overall package size.
- Modernized Buttons: Loading buttons have been updated to embrace the latest Adwaita widgets, bringing a fresh look to the app.
Third-Party Projects
Aurea, the tool for managing AppData, welcomes version 1.5 with a number of new features, including GNOME 47 support, a dynamic hot reload banner for metainfo edits, direct file opening with Aurea, and the convenience of reloading with F5. Norwegian translations further expand accessibility, and the update incorporates Blueprint 0.14.0 for enhanced development.
Cambalache, the GNOME application for crafting GTK user interfaces, achieves a major milestone with version 0.92.0. This stable release introduces a foundational port to Adwaita, embraces the Casilda compositor for workspace management, updates widget catalogs for SDK 47, refines drag-and-drop support, and boosts workspace performance.
Other noteworthy additions include workspace animations, compatibility with GNOME's dark style preference, support for third-party libraries, a streamlined header bar, and numerous bug fixes and enhancements for a polished user experience.
Delineate, formerly known as Dagger, makes its debut. This elegant new application, designed for the DOT Language, allows users to effortlessly edit and visualize graphs, simplifying complex data representation and analysis.
Parabolic, the go-to application for downloading web video and audio, gears up for a stable release with version 2024.10.0-rc1. This release candidate introduces a "Preferred Video Codec" option for customized downloads, refines the format selection backend, offers a new interface for selecting subtitles on individual downloads, and provides the ability to copy download commands for easier troubleshooting and automation.
Fractal, the Matrix messaging app built on Rust, returns with version 9.beta, bringing several improvements and new features:
- Enhanced Image Handling: Integration with the glycin library (used by GNOME Image Viewer) improves image loading, expands support for animated formats and SVGs, and ensures proper EXIF orientation handling.
- Refined Read Status: The persistent issue of unread rooms remaining marked as unread even after being opened has been addressed.
- Optimized Media Cache: A dedicated database for the media cache enables users to manage storage space effectively. The upcoming ability to purge unused media files will further streamline cache control.
- Accurate Day Separators: The bug causing day separators to display incorrect dates is resolved.
- Modernized UI: Fractal embraces the latest GTK 4.16 and libadwaita 1.6 APIs, incorporating CSS variables,
AdwButtonRow
, andAdwSpinner
for a more modern and responsive interface.
Shell Extensions
Auto Activities, the extension that intelligently manages the activities overview based on window presence, now extends its support to GNOME Shell 47.
And, that's all for this week! For more details, check official blog post in the following link: