#224 Reduced Motion

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Update on what happened across the GNOME project in the week from October 31 to November 07.

GNOME Core Apps and Libraries

GTK ↗

Cross-platform widget toolkit for creating graphical user interfaces.

Emmanuele Bassi says

A new accessibility setting is now available for GTK applications: reduced motion. This setting can be used to provide alternative animations that do not induce discomfort or distraction, without disabling them altogether. The setting can be changed in the Settings application, and will be available across desktops through the settings portal. If you have animations defined in CSS, you can use the (prefers-reduced-motion: reduce) media query selector, available in the GTK 4.21 development cycle leading to the 4.22 stable release next year.

Mutter ↗

A Wayland display server and X11 window manager and compositor library.

Bilal Elmoussaoui reports

The X11 backend has been dropped from Mutter/GNOME Shell, removing approximately 27k lines of code from Mutter. The Xwayland support is still there.

Third Party Projects

Alexander Vanhee announces

Bazaar’s search got a major upgrade this week. We moved away from the sidebar to a “rich card” based system. Each app card show it’s most important information, making it easier to quickly find and install the right application without the need to switch between subpages. We also made sure to keep the quick install flow for power users intact. You can still search and install without ever having to touch the mouse or tab keys, just type your query and press Enter to install the top result. I’m also happy that the apps core navigation got a rework. This means the header bars now finally follow with the page transitions and have more relevant titles.

Get Bazaar on Flathub

Alain announces

Planify 4.15.2 — Smarter Quick Add, Spell Check, and Better Backups

This update focuses on making your daily workflow smoother and more intuitive.

With improved keyboard navigation for project selection, a smarter Quick Add that keeps task attributes when adding multiple tasks, and optional spell check for titles and descriptions — Planify continues to refine how you organize your work.

Backups are now even easier to manage: Planify shows you the location of your backup files and automatically restarts after a restore. You’ll also find new, clearer selection widgets in Preferences for completion modes and reminders, plus a host of UI polish and bug fixes.

Update to Planify 4.15.2 and enjoy a faster, cleaner experience when managing your tasks.

Get it on Flathub: https://flathub.org/en/apps/io.github.alainm23.planify

Gir.Core ↗

Gir.Core is a project which aims to provide C# bindings for different GObject based libraries.

Marcel Tiede announces

GirCore 0.7.0-preview.3 got released. This release features support for the GNOME 49 SDK including GTK 4.20 and libadwaita 1.8. Additionally there is improved support for GLib.List, new API for Cairo.ImageSurface and more.

Shell Extensions

amritashan says

Hello! I’d like to share my new extension, Automatic Theme Switcher, which was just accepted.

It was born from the need to switch themes based on actual daylight, not a fixed time. It lets users trigger their light/dark theme using real solar events like sunrise, sunset, golden hour, dawn, first light, last light or dusk.

For privacy and flexibility, users have full control:

  • Use optional, approximate IP-based location detection.
  • Enter manual coordinates (ideal for VPN users).
  • Set a fixed time for a simple, offline mode.

It also features a comfort setting to gradually dim or brighten the screen over a set period, making the theme transition very smooth.

Link on GNOME Extensions page: https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/8675/automatic-theme-switcher/

erzicky announces

I have too many favorite wallpapers and can’t never choose one. But at the same time I also find live slideshows distracting. I just wanted a different wallpaper from my collection every time I start my PC, Since I couldn’t find a setting or extension for this specific need, I created my extension to do it: BootPaper, a simple extension that sets a new, random wallpaper from your local folder every time you boot up.

you can find it here: https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/8749/bootpaper/

Caue reports

Quick Lofi is a GNOME Shell extension that lets you play lofi music and other sounds, locally or online, on your desktop with just one click. It works on GNOME 46 and newer versions.

Get it from the GNOME Extensions page or see the source on GitHub. It’s simple, fast, and made to keep you focused while enjoying your favorite sounds.

Arnis (kem-a) reports

Switchcraft is a small GNOME 40+ utility that watches your desktop’s light/dark preference and runs your shell commands the moment the theme flips. That means you can finally keep GTK 4/libadwaita in sync and tell older apps, icon themes, extensions or even dotfiles to follow along.

Highlights

  • Listens to org.gnome.desktop.interface color-scheme and reacts instantly

  • Per-theme command lists (light/dark) with enable/disable

  • Reusable constants (store paths, schemas, colors once, use in many commands)

  • Import/Export functionality for backup or portability

  • Built for GNOME 40+ / GTK 4 / libadwaita

Why it’s nice for GNOME users Many theme-switch tools only toggle GNOME or only GTK; Switchcraft is the “glue” for everything else - you can poke gsettings in extensions, refresh dock backgrounds, swap icon sets or run custom scripts so all UI elements move together. This is similar in spirit to tools like Night Theme Switcher, but with more emphasis on running your own commands.

Get it on Github: https://github.com/kem-a/switchcraft

Dmytro announces

Auto Power Profile Extension

Brings smart, automatic power management to GNOME Shell. Now with GNOME 49 support, it switches power profiles for you based on whether you’re plugged in, your battery level, and what apps you’re running—so you don’t have to think about it.

What it does:

  • Configure your preferred power profiles for AC and battery once, then let the extension handle switching automatically
  • Performance app tracking: Optionally add performance-hungry apps (games, video editors, etc.) to a list, and the extension will boost performance when they’re running—even on battery if you want
  • Remembers when you manually change profiles and uses your choice as the new default (configurable)
  • Respects UPower’s low-battery power-saver mode

Perfect for laptop users who want better battery life without sacrificing performance when it matters.

Compatible with GNOME 45-49. Available on GNOME Extensions and GitHub.

GNOME Foundation

Allan Day reports

A new GNOME Foundation update is available, covering what’s been happening over the past week. Highlights this week include GNOME.Asia preparations, internal transition arrangements, and a look behind the scenes at the more routine work that goes on each week at the Foundation.

That’s all for this week!

See you next week, and be sure to stop by #thisweek:gnome.org with updates on your own projects!

This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://thisweek.gnome.org/posts/2025/11/twig-224/
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