Description: A fast and functional menu for the gnome desktop that focuses on speed, efficiency and delivering what you want in the least number of clicks or keystrokes.
HOW TO INSTALL ===================== Adding the ppa to your repositories ensures you get the latest updates all the time!
Supported Languages English, French, Italian, Spanish If you want to translate this application to your language, the translation template is located under /usr/lib/CairoMenu/language dev files You can email the completed po and mo files to me at 89dragon _at_ gmail _dot_ com
Unique and useful features in this application: - Run as administrator in the right-click menu - Large thumbnail previews for recent items - Favorites menu - Fast search engine builtin - Multiple themes and options available - Group recent items by file type
HOW TO ADD CUSTOM PANEL BUTTON ============================== - Put button images in home directory - Name each image as follows: .cairo-menu-button-default.png .cairo-menu-button-highlight.png .cairo-menu-button-depressed.png - Right click on panel, go to 'properties' - Under panel button theme, select custom_image - Hit ok and enjoy!
Known Bugs/To-Do: - Report any bugs you find so I can fix them! - Write add-to-panel context-menu option - Fix hotkey support to open menu - Better preferences dialog - Menu item properties are read-onlyLast changelog:
1.0-0 : Initial release! 1.0-1 : Added eject/unmount/rename context menu options. Recent items can now be pinned to favorites menu. Video thumbnails are now displayed as well as better thumbnail/text layouts in the recent items menu. Gtk bookmarks can now be renamed, and scrolling through the menu is better. 1.0-2 : Adds grouping by file type in recent items menu. 1-0-3 : Speed improvements to menu renderer and recent items parser 1-0-4 : Now automatically built in launchpad. 1-0-5 : Default path is now home directory, instead of filesystem. 1-0-6 : Bugfixes 1-0-7 : Fixed bug that prevented loading 1-0-8 : Fixed bug that lost position of menu when opened. Builds for Maverick now available. 1-0-9 : Adds drag and drop for adding favorites directly from nautilus, resorting of favorites by drag and drop, key navigation (type and hit enter to open, as well as directional key navigation). Fixes lock screen command. 1-0-10 : Fixes settings window apply changes bug. 1-0-11 : Fixes drag and drop of XDG files into menu. Custom images now supported as panel icon. 1-0-12 : Fixes deb packaging issue. 1-0-13 : Fixes drag and drop of files to menu. 1-0-14 : Fixes non XDG objects in menu, fixes rename, numerous other bugs including shutdown menu. Adds new themes, and options in the properties, such as ability to adjust height of menu. 1-0-15 : Changes default panel theme 1-0-16 : Fixes .gtk-bookmarks file parser
The themes are not modifiable.
The lack of customization is part of what helps keep the menu efficient and fast. While things like colors can be changed, you will have to look into the code and learn about how pycairo works. It's open source, your code is in /usr/lib/CairoMenu and the two files you'll be interested in are main.py and graphics.py. good luck!
Also you might want to check out gno-menu which is based off an older menu I wrote called VistaMenu. It is fully customizable and there are many skins and themes on this site for it.
http://gtk-apps.org/content/show.php/GnoMenu+-+consolidated+menu+for+gnome?content=93056
Are you going to update this for lucid, maverick and natty ? dependency issue:
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
cairo-menu : Depends: python-gnome2-desktop but it is not installable
I don't have the time to do any open source stuff. Maybe I'll have a bit of time in December. Let me know if you or anyone you know is interested in developing on this project.
First of all...very nice app with fast response.Two small observations only. Although my panel is on the lower left side of the screen, sometimes when i click the button to open the menu, it opens on the upper left side of the screen !!! and second, when i click properties....nothing happens.
It is a very good, but I have problems when adding a favorite, I always stop and stay blank, for clarification I will say that the problem either since I tried to add wine applications.
Go to
.cairomenufavourites in your home folder (it's a hidden file)
edit the file in gedit and delete each line one at a time and save the file every time, the menu will appear when you've removed the one that is causing the problem.
Hi, I installed this on both ubuntu hardy and arch linux 64bit and both installation gives me an error when I add it to the panel:
The panel encountered a problem while loading "OAFIID:GNOME_CairoMenu".
Any ideas on how to fix it?
The short: Hardy is too old to be supported.
If you hit up a terminal and type /usr/lib/CairoMenu/panel.py run-in-window
and paste the debugging output in here, I can either fix it or tell you why it doesn't work.
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/lib/CairoMenu/panel.py", line 19, in <module>
from main import Menu
File "/usr/lib/CairoMenu/main.py", line 9, in <module>
from graphics import *
File "/usr/lib/CairoMenu/graphics.py", line 6, in <module>
from menuengine import MenuSource
File "/usr/lib/CairoMenu/menuengine.py", line 8, in <module>
import gio
ImportError: No module named gio
Its seems I don't have all the necessary modules. What do I need to install to have the missing module?
As an update I managed to make it work in arch linux by installing gnome-python-desktop package. Many thanks for your reply, it pointed me to the right direction. :)
hello
excuse for my english, but i'm french.
I like it, i prefer it then the gnomenu.
It like than the kde menu.
I constat juste a problem with the name of repertories which have the letters é, è, à...
Should i make you a suggestion :
could make a buttom on menu to activate this option :
when you navigate in the folders, with this option you have the choice to open the folders in a navigator or list the sub folders and files in the same menu like recents documents.
Would I be correct in assuming that a Gnome theme that uses the Gnome colors and icons is way more complicated than the Kde/iPhone themes? 'Cause Cairo Menu is sticking out like a sore thumb over here.
It is snappy, though.
I'd like to make a feature request: after the menu closes and isn't interacted with for 5-10 seconds, I think it should revert to the "Favourites" panel the next time it opens. Not having a consistent starting point is rather jarring.
Maybe it would also be jarring if I pointed out that free software isn't like a ordering food in a restaurant - you can't command its creators at your every whim with your snappy little remarks and blunt requests.
If something is not to your taste, make it better - that's why it's called open source.
To answer your question, one of the reasons the menu is fast is that it does not use GTK widgets and themes, because it consists of multiple pages of items, creating and destroying many gtk objects would slow it down considerably. Making one or two colors match that of a gtk theme is not a problem and will be considered later on if I code more flexible theming into the menu. However at this point there are still a number of bigger things to work on.
To answer your second question. I was thinking of putting an option of a default page into the preferences menu. When creating the menu I decided that it was more functional to keep it on the same page because it's more annoying to click back 10 times to open up 10 recent items than it is to click once to move over to favorites to launch a program.
Man, this is a really awsome app. I've tried many different menu apps for gnome and this is the best by far, congrats!
On another note, have you considered making a ppa for your app, it would make things easier for users.
Anyway, thanks for a great example of good coding.
Wow that works fast =D
Is there coming a possibility for disabling the changing colors too?.. It looks cool, but it doesn't look nice with some colors on my desktop ;)
And how can i add applications to the Favourites? ;)
Ratings & Comments
34 Comments
I would like to adjust the background color and change the font,but I cant find the script!?
The themes are not modifiable. The lack of customization is part of what helps keep the menu efficient and fast. While things like colors can be changed, you will have to look into the code and learn about how pycairo works. It's open source, your code is in /usr/lib/CairoMenu and the two files you'll be interested in are main.py and graphics.py. good luck!
Also you might want to check out gno-menu which is based off an older menu I wrote called VistaMenu. It is fully customizable and there are many skins and themes on this site for it. http://gtk-apps.org/content/show.php/GnoMenu+-+consolidated+menu+for+gnome?content=93056
Thanks for putting the time in to update this for us!works great in my maverick ! Very nice addition!
Glad you like it! If you have any feature ideas or requests, shoot them my way and I'll see what I can do. =)
Are you going to update this for lucid, maverick and natty ? dependency issue: The following packages have unmet dependencies: cairo-menu : Depends: python-gnome2-desktop but it is not installable
I don't have the time to do any open source stuff. Maybe I'll have a bit of time in December. Let me know if you or anyone you know is interested in developing on this project.
First of all...very nice app with fast response.Two small observations only. Although my panel is on the lower left side of the screen, sometimes when i click the button to open the menu, it opens on the upper left side of the screen !!! and second, when i click properties....nothing happens.
Thanks, already been solved http://gtk-apps.org/comments/img/fi9.gif
It is a very good, but I have problems when adding a favorite, I always stop and stay blank, for clarification I will say that the problem either since I tried to add wine applications.
Go to .cairomenufavourites in your home folder (it's a hidden file) edit the file in gedit and delete each line one at a time and save the file every time, the menu will appear when you've removed the one that is causing the problem.
Hi, I installed this on both ubuntu hardy and arch linux 64bit and both installation gives me an error when I add it to the panel: The panel encountered a problem while loading "OAFIID:GNOME_CairoMenu". Any ideas on how to fix it?
The short: Hardy is too old to be supported. If you hit up a terminal and type /usr/lib/CairoMenu/panel.py run-in-window and paste the debugging output in here, I can either fix it or tell you why it doesn't work.
Traceback (most recent call last): File "/usr/lib/CairoMenu/panel.py", line 19, in <module> from main import Menu File "/usr/lib/CairoMenu/main.py", line 9, in <module> from graphics import * File "/usr/lib/CairoMenu/graphics.py", line 6, in <module> from menuengine import MenuSource File "/usr/lib/CairoMenu/menuengine.py", line 8, in <module> import gio ImportError: No module named gio Its seems I don't have all the necessary modules. What do I need to install to have the missing module?
Unfortunately you need to upgrade to at least intrepid. The python gio module was released in intrepid. So you are quite a ways behind by now.
Awwww.. Too bad.. Anyways I'll try it on arch linux when I get home and see the output in terminal.
As an update I managed to make it work in arch linux by installing gnome-python-desktop package. Many thanks for your reply, it pointed me to the right direction. :)
hello excuse for my english, but i'm french. I like it, i prefer it then the gnomenu. It like than the kde menu. I constat juste a problem with the name of repertories which have the letters é, è, à... Should i make you a suggestion : could make a buttom on menu to activate this option : when you navigate in the folders, with this option you have the choice to open the folders in a navigator or list the sub folders and files in the same menu like recents documents.
This is a great application, personally the best menu that I've ever used. I'm eager to see progress on this, since it's already awesome.
Would I be correct in assuming that a Gnome theme that uses the Gnome colors and icons is way more complicated than the Kde/iPhone themes? 'Cause Cairo Menu is sticking out like a sore thumb over here. It is snappy, though. I'd like to make a feature request: after the menu closes and isn't interacted with for 5-10 seconds, I think it should revert to the "Favourites" panel the next time it opens. Not having a consistent starting point is rather jarring.
Maybe it would also be jarring if I pointed out that free software isn't like a ordering food in a restaurant - you can't command its creators at your every whim with your snappy little remarks and blunt requests. If something is not to your taste, make it better - that's why it's called open source. To answer your question, one of the reasons the menu is fast is that it does not use GTK widgets and themes, because it consists of multiple pages of items, creating and destroying many gtk objects would slow it down considerably. Making one or two colors match that of a gtk theme is not a problem and will be considered later on if I code more flexible theming into the menu. However at this point there are still a number of bigger things to work on. To answer your second question. I was thinking of putting an option of a default page into the preferences menu. When creating the menu I decided that it was more functional to keep it on the same page because it's more annoying to click back 10 times to open up 10 recent items than it is to click once to move over to favorites to launch a program.
Man, this is a really awsome app. I've tried many different menu apps for gnome and this is the best by far, congrats! On another note, have you considered making a ppa for your app, it would make things easier for users. Anyway, thanks for a great example of good coding.
Thank you. And yes I will be creating a PPA so this can automatically update itself.
Wow that works fast =D Is there coming a possibility for disabling the changing colors too?.. It looks cool, but it doesn't look nice with some colors on my desktop ;) And how can i add applications to the Favourites? ;)
You right click on an item, and go 'add to favorites'. I will make more button plugins later that have different designs.