GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 537128
mouse pointer themes missing
Last modified: 2010-04-22 10:18:03 UTC
Please describe the problem: on mouse preferences window, no pointer options as described in documentation Steps to reproduce: 1. open mouse on system preferences menu 2. 3. Actual results: window opens, no mouse pointer options available Expected results: window opens, mouse pointer options available Does this happen every time? yes Other information: help: 8.4.2.2
This appears to be a result of a change in how one selects mouse pointer. Formerly, the middle tab in the Mouse dialog was for pointer selection. This has been changed to an attribute of the current screen theme. This change is very confusing to the user, and a lot of people are baffled by it, as I have seen in bug reports on Ubuntu 8.04.1. Here is a link to a report I filed on Ubuntu regarding this issue: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-control-center/+bug/259195 I personally think cursor selection should be put back in the mouse attributes dialog - it's what a lot of people are used too, and it is far more obvious than the convoluted themes dialog. Note that I also observed this in recent Fedora releases, using the same Gnome version (2.22.3) - I checked with a friend who works for RedHat about this issue, and he didn't know how to set the mouse pointer - I had to show him.
*** Bug 548714 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
The change is "confusing" because you are used to the option being elsewhere. That is unfortunate, but inevitable if we don't want to stagnate. The mouse cursor theme is now part of the metatheme format, and there are at least as many arguments in favour of the "new" location as there are against it. I also challenge the assumption you made in the other bug that more people change their cursors than their other theme settings. Anyway, this has been discussed at length two cycles ago, and I don't currently see any reason to reconsider the decision. The fact that the documentation is outdated is a completely different matter and should be files against the user-docs component.
(In reply to comment #3) > The change is "confusing" because you are used to the option being elsewhere. > That is unfortunate, but inevitable if we don't want to stagnate. > It's more than confusing, it's misleading. A user wanting or needing to change his cursor should be able to refer to the documentation. Developers should be responsible for ensuring documentation is current before instituting change. This should have been done two cycles ago, and is as important if not more important than the location. Good conscience suggests it be placed in Assistive Technologies
Filed in Documentation: Bug 548901 – Mouse Pointer change documentation wrong
(In reply to comment #4) > Developers should be responsible for ensuring documentation is current before > instituting change. This should have been done two cycles ago, and is as > important if not more important than the location. Absolutely. It's the responsibility of developers to inform the docs team that a change has been made to the UI and file a bug on the docs with the details.
This bug should fixed in the way that there will be, in "Mouse Preferences" dialogue, a blank tab labelled "Pointers" containing a hint describing about "Preferences -> Appearance ->" and/or one button opening at least the "Appearance" dialogue or direct the "Customize -> Pointer" tab. https://bugs.launchpad.net/gnome-control-center/+bug/259195