Comment 108 for bug 407621

"So, Gnome is now shifting to a model where dynamic objects -- applications, bookmarks, documents, folders, user accounts, wireless networks, and so on -- have icons by default, while all other items do not."

What? This is completely backwards. Dynamic objects should not have items, while actions and dialogs should.

When you have "dynamic objects" in a menu, 90% of the time all will have the same icon. This is the case for example with Recent Documents menu, disks, folders, wireless networks, and bookmarks pointing to the same site. The usefulness of icons in such cases is minimal, because most of the time you have to read the text. Moreover, clicking on any of the icons usually represents the same action (e.g. opening a recent document).

On the other hand, each action or operation in an app (like any of the path boolean operations in Inkscape) is very different. By giving them icons, the user can associate an image with a specific action being performed on the document. This gives a large and very noticeable speed boost.

At the minimum, the Interface tab should be brought back. Forcing users to drop their productivity in e.g. Inkscape and GIMP by several percent in the name of some rather abstract "UI consistency" and not giving them an option to revert to pre-Lucid behavior is unacceptable.

BTW, I also do not see what is the problem with "gaps" created by iconless menu items. The gaps will be present even if no menu item has an icon, because some of them have checkboxes and radio buttons. Taking away icons doesn't solve anything in this regard.