Update on what happened across the GNOME project in the week from March 17 to March 24.
This week we released GNOME 44!
This new major version of GNOME is full of exciting changes, such as major improvements to the Settings app, a better quick settings menu, a streamlined Software app - and of course much more. More information can be found in the GNOME 44 release notes.
Readers who have been following this site for a few weeks will already know some of the new features. If you want to follow the development of GNOME 45 (Fall 2023), keep an eye on this page - we’ll be posting exciting news every week!
Loupe now supports showing animated GIFs, PNGs, and WebPs. The HEIC image format (x265 codec) can now be separated into an extension that is automatically loaded if available. This is primarily due to pending software patents that might apply in some countries. Last but not least, the image format detection has been unified. Loupe will now, in many situations, be able to load images with the wrong extension and show the actual image format in the properties.
I released Identity v0.5. In this version I implemented the long-awaited side-by-side comparison mode! Images and videos can be arranged in a row or a column, and their position and zoom remain fully synchronized.
I also reworked mouse gestures for zooming, panning, and drag-and-drop, taking heavy inspiration from Loupe. They make Identity much more pleasant to use.
This week we merged some new things on Dialect. The preferences window has been redesigned a bit. Now you can choose from multiple text-to-speech providers, currently Google and Lingva. We also added new translation providers for Bing and Yandex.
After a few months, I finally got the time to do a release of the various design tools! The releases mostly contain bug fixes, translations updates & code cleanups for:
This week I released version 0.4.2 of my simple mediaplayer HBud. As the version number indicates, it hasn’t reached its final form yet, but with this version many problems have been ironed out. HBud is not intended to compete with any of the “big ones” (this being a one-man show, wouldn’t even be possible), the goal is to provide a simple and convenient alternative for those with similar preferences to me. Check it out on Flathub.
Geopard has finally received a new release!
Take a look at the changes:
Updated to latest libadwaita and GTK to improve performance and compatibility, including the use of the new Adw.TabOverview widget for improved tab management on small screens.
Added support for opening files and gemini mime types from the command line.
Added tab history menu on right click over arrows for easier navigation.
Fixed issue with links without whitespace not working properly.
Moved scrollbar to the edge of the window for a cleaner UI.
Added tooltips for items in header bar to provide more information to users.
Added more information to the About window to give users a better idea of the project’s.
With Libadwaita 1.3 officially released, GNOME’s Human Interface Guidelines were updated to include guidance on the new banner widget. This replaces the guidance on info bars, which have been deprecated.
Work at the Foundation is humming along. For me, this week was a paperwork week. This involved:
Filing some paperwork with the state of California to keep us in good standing
Checking on the status of staff health insurance policy
Updating payroll
Working with our 401k accountants on some tax forms
Updating the employee handbook
Reimbursing some travel expenses
Forwarding some paperwork to the bank
Updating the accounting books
Invoicing some corporate sponsors
etc.
These are the types of things required to do on a regular basis to keep our foundation running.
In addition, some of the staff got together this week to start compiling a document on all the programming we currently do to address diversity. We hope of getting a better idea of where we currently stand and what we can do to improve.
