[News]

GTK+ 2.16.0 is now available for download at:

http://download.gnome.org/sources/gtk+/2.16/
ftp://ftp.gtk.org/pub/gtk/2.16/

gtk+-2.16.0.tar.bz2 md5sum: 139528802794287427fd4d18875b5cf5
gtk+-2.16.0.tar.gz md5sum: 2e926e526850d9cf62883c6d909b4351

Release notes are available at:

http://www.gtk.org/notes/gtk-2.16.0-notes.txt


What is GTK+
============

GTK+ is a multi-platform toolkit for creating graphical user
interfaces. Offering a complete set of widgets, GTK+ is
suitable for projects ranging from small one-off tools to
complete application suites.

GTK+ has been designed from the ground up to support a range
of languages, not only C/C++. Using GTK+ from languages such
as Perl and Python (especially in combination with the Glade
GUI builder) provides an effective method of rapid application
development.

GTK+ is free software and part of the GNU Project. However,
the licensing terms for GTK+, the GNU LGPL, allow it to be
used by all developers, including those developing proprietary
software, without any license fees or royalties. GTK+ is the
only 100% free-of-cost open source industrial-strength GUI
toolkit available today.

Since its origins as the toolkit for the GNU Image
Manipulation Program (GIMP), GTK+ has been used in a wide
range of software. Notably, GTK+ is the foundation of the
GNOME desktop; GTK+ 2.14 will be incorporated into version
2.24 of the GNOME desktop.


What's new in GTK+ 2.16
=======================

GTK+ 2.16 adds new functionality while maintaining source and binary
compatibility with GTK+ 2.14. Highlights of new features and
improvements in GTK+ 2.16 are:

Noteworthy new APIs

- GtkOrientable is a new interface implemented by all widgets that have
horizontal and vertical variants

- GtkActivatable is a new interface that must be implemented by widgets
that are used as action proxies

Changes in GtkEntry

- GtkEntry can show icons at either side of the entry, which can be
made
clickable, drag sources, etc.

- GtkEntry can show progress information behind the text.

- GTK+ picks the best available placeholder character for password
entries
unless one is explicitly set.

- GTK+ displays a Caps Lock warning in password entries.

- Input methods can now be selected per-widget with the "im-module"
property.

Changes in GtkScale

- GtkScale can now display annotated marks for certain values.

Changes in GtkStatusIcon

- GTK+ uses an extension of the tray icon specification to negotiate
RGBA support. This is also supported by the GNOME panel.

- GtkStatusIcon now supports scroll events, middle clicks and rich
tooltips
if the platform allows it.

Changes in file chooser

- The file chooser can optionally show file sizes.

- Volumes are mounted when necessary.

- GTK+ remembers the file chooser's window size across invocations.

- Non-local uris can be entered in the location entry.

Changes in printing support

- Page rendering can be deferred to a thread.

Internationalization support

- Keyboard shortcut handling has been changed, to help with a
longstanding
complaint about the way in which GTK+ handles multiple keyboard
layouts.
GTK+ now only uses keys from groups other than the current group if
they
are not present in the current group.

GDK changes

- GdkKeymap emits a state-changed signal when the Caps Lock state
changes.

- There is a predefined type for blank cursors, GDK_BLANK_CURSOR.


For more details and lists of fixed bugs, see the
announcements for the 2.15.x development releases:

http://mail.gnome.org/archives/gtk-devel-list/2009-January/msg00000.html
http://mail.gnome.org/archives/gtk-devel-list/2009-January/msg00115.html
http://mail.gnome.org/archives/gtk-devel-list/2009-January/msg00151.html
http://mail.gnome.org/archives/gtk-devel-list/2009-February/msg00008.html
http://mail.gnome.org/archives/gtk-devel-list/2009-February/msg00073.html


Where to get more information about GTK+
========================================

Information about GTK+ including links to documentation can be
found at:

http://www.gtk.org/

An installation guide for GTK+ 2.x is found at:

http://developer.gnome.org/doc/API/2.0/gtk/gtk-building.html

Common questions:

http://developer.gnome.org/doc/API/2.0/gtk/gtk-question-index.html
http://www.gtk.org/faq/


Contributing
============

GTK+ is a large project and relies on voluntary contributions.
We are actively searching for new contributors in various areas
and invite everyone to help project development.
If you are willing to participate, please subscribe to the project