[ubuntu-art] Hardy GTK Theme

[Dylan McCall]

That screenshot with Aurora is definitely nice, Corey (I was looking for
that one, actually!). I particular like the slightly darker handle widgets.
Something about dark themes strikes me as uncommon and maybe a bit of a
niche, though. I could be mistaken, but lighter colours seem to me to give
natural reading, with a more paper-like feel. With that in mind, the very
orange orange that we use at the moment would feel much more natural with a
lighter, browner colour. Yes, I just suggested brown. Light brown, mind;
there's a very particular colour I am thinking...
Darker elements could be an interesting thing to ponder, though. I am not
sure where they would fit, but some variety could help to give other widgets
more prominence.
The darker colours bring out images, definitely, and I think that's where
they fit in well. That is why it works really well in Ubuntu Studio, and why
I was playing with dark themes while toying with F-Spot, then back to a
light theme as soon as I started doing my usual stuff. Worth considering
that IDEs tend to have white backgrounds, and so do text editors. That
reflects my own experiences quite well: it is definitely easier to see black
on white than tiny white writing on black (or dark grey).
I am willing to bet that the majority of users do texty stuff as opposed to
graphical, artistic stuff. (Which is why we have Ubuntu Studio for the
others!)

Another thing I have against black / orange was also something that bothered
me with OpenMoko's earlier interface. (You will notice at this point, with
the 2007.2 interface, that it has a prevalence of white in the main
interface details, with dark colours just on the edges. Very attractive).
Orange is a harsh colour, and one which begs for attention against a dark
background like that. However, in this case and the case of OpenMoko's
earlier interface, it becomes a regular colour! The only particularly
intense colours we have left are white (used for text, maybe artsy icons)
and varying shades of red. Orange is pretty red already, so red's prominence
is not going to be very prominent; it blends in with the rest, feeling more
normal. As well as being a potential issue with immediately recognizing UI
elements, it also means less variety in the theme. Most of these colours are
dwarfed by the dark backgrounds, so they have less impact and less meaning.

Okay, I'm exaggerating a bit (a lot), orange isn't overused or anything.
However, there is method to my madness: A black background requires harsh
colours to stand out against, whereas a white one is gentle, leaving more
room for the other colours. The grey background is a neat in-between zone,
but as we've seen (*cough*Windows95), lighter greys look very bad in large
quantities.

Still, I like the darker handles in your screenshot. Feels like
high-friction rubber pads, which is quite intuitive. A good reflection of
what the widget means...


Bye,
-Dylan McCall


On 11/1/07, Corey Woodworth <coreywoodworth at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I think a dark theme with orange highlights would be a great new direction
> to go in. A dark theme is working out great for Ubuntu studio. If we do
> decide to go that route, I think we should definitely consider the Aurora
> GTK engine. It looks great with dark color schemes, and is currently the
> highest rated GTK engine on www.gnome-look.org . I whipped up a quick
> screenshot of aurora-looks with colors from the proposed Hardy palette here:
> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Artwork/Incoming/HardyDesign
>
> Here is my screenshot:
> http://www.milkstreetmedia.com/misc/aurora.png
>
> It certainly still needs some work, but I'd be willing to pursue it if
> there is interest.
>
> Corey
>
> --
> ubuntu-art mailing list
> ubuntu-art at lists.ubuntu.com
> https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-art
>
>
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