The recent AIT discussion just further made me realize how useless it is to not bundle all icons.
Tuba uses the icon spec whenever possible, but it's so limited that it's impossible to use for everything. That leads to icon inconsistencies.
Here's what it looks like with adwaita:
Here's what it looks like with yaru:
You see how the different icon styles just look bad next to each other.
Someone on fedi tagged me some ages ago about an issue and I noticed how terrible their icon theme was with matching the spec as well:
See the 'Conversations' entry, the icon was supposed to be an envelope. The theme changed it into a circle, making it lose its meaning completely.
Ultimately, I don't think the icon spec will ever work, no matter how much you extend it. Here's some cases that will probably never make it in:
The boost button uses the 'media repeat' icon. If it wasn't bundled, themes would assume it's meant for audio players and might change the meaning it has in Tuba.
Tuba also uses 'mini' icons for the post kinds. These are not just 'icons but smaller size', they use the same pixel grid but are drawn smaller.
This just leads to a bad experience for everyone using custom icon themes
Describe the request
The recent AIT discussion just further made me realize how useless it is to not bundle all icons.
Tuba uses the icon spec whenever possible, but it's so limited that it's impossible to use for everything. That leads to icon inconsistencies.
Here's what it looks like with adwaita:
Here's what it looks like with yaru:
You see how the different icon styles just look bad next to each other.
Someone on fedi tagged me some ages ago about an issue and I noticed how terrible their icon theme was with matching the spec as well:
See the 'Conversations' entry, the icon was supposed to be an envelope. The theme changed it into a circle, making it lose its meaning completely.
Ultimately, I don't think the icon spec will ever work, no matter how much you extend it. Here's some cases that will probably never make it in:
This just leads to a bad experience for everyone using custom icon themes
Implementation Details