Josh Saddler - Latest comments on Benchmarks: gtk+ engines revisited

In response to: Benchmarks: gtk+ engines revisited

Josh Saddler [Member] — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 21:25:51 +0000

@fresch:

Yeah, I originally based it on Elegant Brit. Actually, only two or three of the original "Brit" scheme is still in there; it just got reworked over a long enough amount of time that I forgot to call it something more descriptive. :)

And yes, it actually does feel snappier than most other themes. The pixmap engine, in my experience, tends to be one of the faster, as long as you're keeping things simple: by not using lots of individual images for corners, buttons, scrollbars, and the like. Simple color values, in hex, in the gtkrc, produce a faster theme than one that requires loading lots of images.

In response to: Benchmarks: gtk+ engines revisited

fresch [Visitor] — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 11:35:17 +0000

@Josh:

Thanks for answering a obtuse question. I seemed to have been in a denser state that day. ;)

Let me try again:
What theme did you base "Elegant Autumn" on? I'm guessing "Elegant Brit"?

I have mostly used very elaborate pixmap themes and they never *felt* fast. Since you mentioned the simplicity of "Elegant Autumn", I am curious if it *feels* snappier than those.

Thanks again!

In response to: Benchmarks: gtk+ engines revisited

Josh Saddler [Member] — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 05:41:36 +0000

@fresch:

As I said earlier in the post, I marked it with an asterisk (*) to show that it's a custom theme that I've created, mostly a color modification of another theme. It's for my own personal use; it's not something I've uploaded anywhere on the 'net.

In response to: Benchmarks: gtk+ engines revisited

fresch [Visitor] — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 12:55:19 +0000

I tried finding the "Elegant Autumn" theme, but google only seems to find it in relation to this article. And it does not seem to be in the open-desktop.org network or at art.gnome.org. Care to share where this theme could be found? Thanks!

In response to: Benchmarks: gtk+ engines revisited

Evaggelos Balaskas [Visitor] — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 07:56:36 +0000

I am using gtk-engines-cleanice
with xfce-light theme for speed

You should take a look on it.

In response to: Benchmarks: gtk+ engines revisited

Josh Saddler [Member] — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 01:36:37 +0000

@RealNC
Heh, I don't plan on testing it, as I don't run KDE or any Qt apps. But yeah, by themselves, Qt and gtk+ styles don't mix very well. I believe there is an engine designed to make Qt apps look native to gtk+ environments such as Gnome or Xfce (so K3B would look like a gtk+ app), but I don't believe this engine is yet in Portage.

@Corsac:

I may do that; six months ago folks were also curious to see how longer run times affected the results. I chose a shorter 100 run time because most apps don't take more than just a few seconds to startup. More runs may make it easier to determine the overall speed of the engines . . .

@ufoman:

No promises, but I may include it in my next testing round. No idea when that might be . . . perhaps if there's a fairly large change in the X/graphics stack soon. I don't particularly care for the Nimbus engine; I did install it a few years ago, but it didn't really impress me. At least it's not as ugly as Murrine. :)

@Wapush:

As I stated in my conclusion from December's benchmarks, the Xfce engine was ideally suited to older, less capable hardware. It seems to be more middle-of-the-road now, though its shortest times do indicate potential for retaining its crown as the fastest engine. I'll have to do some more follow-up testing.

@Mart:

Yeah, HighContrast has a very specific purpose: it's for the folks with special needs. Same for the LowContrast themes -- they're not pretty to the rest of us, but they're essential for some computer users. Good thing for them, too. They get the fastest engine out there. :)

In response to: Benchmarks: gtk+ engines revisited

Mart Raudsepp [Visitor] — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 13:54:06 +0000

I knew the pixmap engine had a reputation of being extremely slow :D

HighContrast is ugly to the typical eye because it serves the role of a theme suitable for certain kind of accessibility needs

In response to: Benchmarks: gtk+ engines revisited

Wapush [Visitor] — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 13:21:11 +0000

For me, the Xfce theme engine under Xfce 4.6.1 is two to three times faster than Candido, Clearlooks, Murine and Aurora. And it is faster than most other theme engines that I tried, apart for Mist(and maybe Smooth) if I remember correctly.

AMD Athlon K7 950Mhz
NVIDIA GeForce FX5200 128MB 1152x864@75Hz
758MB SDRAM
ASUS K7V Rev 1.01

Xfce 4.6.1
Debian Sid
Kernel: Linux 2.6.29 i686
NVIDIA proprietary driver v173.14.18