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Better Printing

Summary

Management and handling of printers has been improved in many places.

Owner

  • Name: Tim Waugh, Marek Kasik

Current status

  • Targeted release: Fedora10
  • Last updated: 2008-07-24
  • Percentage of completion: 100%


Detailed Description

The system-config-printer UI has been overhauled to look friendlier and more in line with modern desktop applications. system-config-printer no longer needs to be run as root.

The GTK+ print dialog gives more feedback about the status of printers, e.g. printers which are out of paper show a little warning emblem on their icon. Paused printers also show an emblem, and printers which are rejecting jobs are grayed out.

Benefit to Fedora

Printing has traditionally been one of the more troublesome areas of the free desktop. Small improvements like these make the printing experience better for users.

Scope

Improvements to printer management have been implemented in system-config-printer. Improvements to the printing experience have been implemented in the print dialog in GTK+.

Test Plan

  • Open up system-config-printer as regular user. Notice no root password is asked. Verify that s-c-p asks for the password when necessary (TODO: more detail needed here)
  • Use an application that uses the gtk print dialog, like evince, and open the print dialog. Now change the status of one of the listed printers, e.g. by putting it in paused mode, or by stealing all its paper. Note that the print dialog shows you the status of the printer by using a different icon, and by updating the status message.

User Experience

Here are some screenshots that show the improvements:

  • Printer status feedback in the print dialog:

Print-dialog.png

  • The system-config-printer main window

File:Screenshot-printer-configuration-localhost.jpg

  • The 'New Printer' dialog

Screenshot-new-printer.png

Dependencies

None.

Contingency Plan

Not needed. These are incremental improvements that have already landed in rawhide.

Documentation

None right now, besides the screenshots above (if there were any).

Release Notes