194542 - Proposal for easily-changeable cross-platform splash screens

Status: VERIFIED WONTFIX

(SeaMonkey :: General, enhancement)

Description

[JonStipe]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.3b) Gecko/20030210
Build Identifier: 

Sometime during the discussion in bug 32218, somebody brought up the idea of
making it possible to change the splash screen with a preference panel, maybe
tying it into themes. I know that the themes idea isn't workable, since the
splash screen is shown too early, but I thought of another way to do this.

One issue is that splash screens cannot be changed on OS's other than Windows,
AFAIK. Bug 116375 has a patch to implement it on Unix, but using XPMs instead of
BMPs. I assume the resaon for this is because you need to use the OS's native
format. Fine, but most artists aren't going to bother making several versions of
their splash screens in the different formats. Using one format and converting
on startup will take too long, and some users might not know how to convert.

So here's the proposal: first, implement a mechanism for converting splash
screens to the OS-native format on installation. Artists could save their splash
screens in PNG format, and put them into an XPI which calls some kind of
installSplashScreen() function, which converts the PNG to the native format,
(BMP on Windows, XPM on Unix, PICT for Mac [or whatever Mac uses]) and then
saves it as mozilla.bmp (or whatever) to the program folder. If such a file is
already there, it gets moved to a "splashes/" subfolder and renamed something
like splash01.bmp.

Second, create a pref panel which lists all the splash screens in this
"splashes/" subfolder and gives you the option of selecting one, which it does
by simply swapping it into the program folder and putting the current one in the
"splashes" folder. Perhaps it could display title and author information and
such, which would be obtained from the XPIs.

Advantages:
- Easy and consistent way of installing and changing splash screens across
platforms.
- Artists only have to make one copy of their splash screens.
- PNGs download quicker than BMPs.
- Conversion doesn't have to be done at startup.
- Doesn't depend on themes.
- Works with the mechanism already there in Windows.

Of course, this is just a suggestion....

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:

Comment 1

[Matthias Versen [:Matti]]

sorry but we will not add a pref for the splash and/or add a splash-Manager

yes, we use the native OS format but where is the problem if you convert a bmp
to a xpm with an image application like gimp ?


-> wontfix

Comment 2

[JonStipe]

Well, some people might not know how to convert it, and this would be easier anyway.

Comment 3

[Frank Wein [:mcsmurf]]

V.

Comment 4

[Robert Kaiser]

verified.

If you really want this, you can still come up and code an extension for
yourself. Make it a mozdev project, and everybody interested might use it. All
other won't want to change the splash screen and bloat their browser with this
functionality anyway.

Comment 5

[Ryan Safaeian [:rsafaeian]]

Attachment: Bug 1945420 - [contextual-password-manager] Focus "Close Without Saving?" notification after tabbing on the last button in login-form. r=mtigley!

Comment 6

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/7564f45d1f14
[contextual-password-manager] Focus "Close Without Saving?" notification after tabbing on the last button in login-form. r=mtigley,credential-management-reviewers

Comment 7

[Stefan Fleiter (:sfleiter)]

I guess the last 2 comments are for the wrong bug, can you confirm, Ryan?
Probably worth a backout to check in with right bug number.

Comment 8

[Ryan Safaeian [:rsafaeian]]

(In reply to Stefan Fleiter (:sfleiter) from comment #7)

I guess the last 2 comments are for the wrong bug, can you confirm, Ryan?
Probably worth a backout to check in with right bug number.

Yep, this is the wrong bug id! Oops! I agree with backing it out and changing the bug id.

Comment 9

[Cristian Tuns]

https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/7564f45d1f14

Comment 10

[Micah [:mtigley] (she/her)]

Hey Ryan, is it possible to backout the patch that was just landed? See Comment 7

Comment 11

[Pulsebot]

Backout by [e-mail]:
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/7b507a6b56d7
Backed out changeset 7564f45d1f14 as requested by Ryan. CLOSED TREE

Comment 12

[Cosmin Sabou [:CosminS]]

Backout merged to central: https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/7b507a6b56d7

Comment 13

[Phabricator Automation]

Comment on attachment 9468696 [details]
Bug 1945420 - [contextual-password-manager] Focus "Close Without Saving?" notification after tabbing on the last button in login-form. r=mtigley!

Revision D239779 was moved to bug 1945420. Setting attachment 9468696 [details] to obsolete.