The Gnome project has released the latest version of its library, libadwaita 1.3. The library comes with a set of components that support the style of the user interface in line with the Gnome Human Interface Guidelines (HIG). It also includes ready-made objects and widgets for building applications based on the general Gnome style. The enhanced user interface is adaptable to different screen sizes, making it an ideal solution for various devices.
The libadwaita library is meant to be used in combination with GTK4 and comes with components of AdWaita designed by GNOME. The elements of GNOME visual design have been removed from GTK to be present in a separate library. This separation means it is possible to develop changes necessary for GNOME without impacting the GTK, thus allowing GTK developers to focus on basic elements. Meanwhile, GNOME developers can promote changes in style design quickly and flexibly.
The library offers typical widgets covering a range of interface elements such as lists, panels, editing blocks, buttons, tabs, search forms, and dialogs. The widgets allow for universal interfaces that are particularly suitable for small sensory screens like smartphones, thanks to the adaptive interface that changes dynamically in response to screen size and input devices. The library also includes a set of Adwaita styles that align with GNOME recommendations, eliminating the need for manual adaptation.
The latest version of libadwaita 1.3 has made some significant changes by adding a new widget, adwtaboveview, which is designed specifically for visual reviews of contributions or pages shown in the adwtabview class. This new widget can be useful in working with tabs on mobile devices without creating a separate installer implementation. Additionally, a new widget banner, adwbanner, has been incorporated to replace the existing GTKINFOBAR for displaying window banners and can dynamically transform depending on its size, with the added animation effects.
The library code is written in SI and is distributed under the license lgpl 2.1+. For further information on the release and its features, please head to the libadwaita 1.3 release publication and the Adwaita style guide.
- For more information on libadwaita 1.3 release, please refer to the publication.
- For further information on Adwaita style guide, please follow this link https://developer.gnome.org/hig/