In the latest issue of This Week in GNOME (TWIG), covering the week from May 23 to May 30, the project shared a bunch of updates from its core apps and the wider ecosystem.
First up, GNOME Calendar got some love for keyboard warriors. A significant bug that made the focus vanish when tabbing into the month view has been squashed. The way keyboard focus behaves in the month view has also been refined; users can now only cycle through events with arrow keys, and the focus will not escape the month view using those same keys. Entering and exiting the month view is now strictly a tab affair. These welcome improvements are slated for GNOME 49.
GNOME Web got a solid round of updates. UI files moved to blueprint, and the adblocker now loads locale-specific lists. The URL bar has inline completion and shifts to the bottom in narrow mode, where the action bar auto-hides. Reader mode shows reading time now, and smartcard support was added. Passwords have their own dialog, the old security popover was replaced, and WebApp handling is smarter. Search handles case and full-word matches, there's a mute button for single tabs, and background portal support plus a new bookmark editor round it out.
As always, the community working on third-party projects has been busy. Alexander Vanhee released the first public version of Gradia this past Sunday. Gradia is a neat little tool designed to modify your screenshots for platforms where you do not have much control over presentation, like social media. It allows you to add custom gradient backgrounds, padding, change aspect ratios, and more.
Still on the subject of handy utilities, remember last week when we reported on a new extensible control center, Tuner, from the ALT Linux Team? Well, they have not been resting on their laurels, as Vladimir Vaskov announced Folder Manager. This utility, built with Vala using GTK4 and Libadwaita, is designed to simplify organizing applications into folders by category within the GNOME and Phosh application menus. It allows for easy creation and deletion of folders, autofills them based on categories like "Office" or "Games," and supports manual management, all while fitting in with GNOME's design guidelines.
Packet, the app for wirelessly sending files to and from Android devices using Quick Share, also got an update. It now features a status indicator showing the connection state, has clearer in-app help, and an error page for easier troubleshooting if the app fails to run.
Newelle, the AI assistant for GNOME, was updated to version 0.9.7, bringing improved local document reading performance and thinking support for Gemini models. Pipeline, the app for following video creators, released versions 2.2.3 and 2.3.0; it now hides paywalled videos by default, lets you respawn an external player if it fails, and boasts significantly improved startup times alongside several bug fixes.
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