Freeciv

Currently, the Gtk client defaults to "Arrange widgets for small displays" at first run, unless (on Gtk3+) it can positively determine that the screen is 'large' (height 1024 pixels or greater).

I propose to flip this so that the default "Arrange widgets for small displays" to disabled, unless the screen is positively determined to be 'small' (height smaller than 1024 pixels). (And, for Gtk2, just change the default.)

Existing users of a given client would see no change. Users migrating from Gtk2 to a newer Gtk client would probably see the new default once the issues in #765941 are addressed.

Since this is a defaults change, it could be controversial, so I'm seeking opinions.

The 'small_display_layout' option was added by Madeline Book in gna bug #13524 (2009, 2.2.0). It initially defaulted to false.

The default was changed to true (small by default) by pepeto in gna bug #16063 (2010, 2.2.3). This was triggered by a complaint from a 1024x600 user and followed a lot of work to improve the option's behaviour. Commit comment "Screen size issues reported many times by lot of users."

It became nominally dependent on the height of screen on first run for Gtk3 only (not Gtk2) in gna bug #23988 (2.6.0).

However, #765941 summarises a number of reasons why the screen-height-dependent behaviour doesn't take effect. So, many new users will still get the 'small' default, even on large screens.

I suspect that these days most users of desktop Freeciv clients will have screens that count as 'large' and will find that layout more comfortable; netbooks are much less of a thing these days. But I have no evidence for this -- it's just a guess -- so am happy to be corrected; it won't take much to talk me out of this.

I'd like to wrap this up for 2.6.2, so that new users going straight to Gtk3.22 get the right answer.