As if the super-active development pace wasn’t enough to reel you in, Ubuntu MATE has added more bait to its’ hook.
Ubuntu MATE 16.04 will offer full support for Client Side Decoration (CSD) and GTK Header Bar applications out of the box.
Sharing a screenshot of several well-known CSD apps running on the latest daily build of Ubuntu 16.04 LTS to Google+, MATE developer Martin WImpress says he hopes that the flavor’s second beta release later this month will ship with the CSD additions included.
“You’ll notice that shadows are fully rendered, and the applications that support it, are also resizeable. Pop-overs are also correctly rendered. The CSD support also works without a compositor, naturally there will be no shadows in this case.”
Even Ubuntu proper can’t quite manage some of that!
“To top off this integration the buttons and scrollbars in the GTK2 and GTK3 themes are now much more closely aligned, and from work completed earlier in the 16.04 cycle, Qt4 and Qt5 applications will inherit appearance properties from the GTK widgets. This all helps create a cohesive look and feel for all applications regardless of the toolkit used or design ethos.”
Although client side decorations is not a design trend popular with every Linux user — ‘fession time: we’re a fan — the growing set of GNOME apps that include them make them hard to avoid. Header bars span a range of apps, from the increasingly useful GNOME Photos to the geek-friendly Polari IRC client and by way of the fantastic Corebird desktop Twitter app.
It’s this (somewhat inevitable) onslaught that prompted Ubuntu MATE to prep support for them, as Wimpress explains:
”It would be remiss of the Ubuntu MATE team to not provide first class CSD application support for the upcoming LTS release. With these changes, Ubuntu MATE can finally bridge the gap between traditional and contemporary applications.”
Martin — you’re a legend!