[ubuntu-art] A random user's interface thoughts.

[Raphael Bosshard]

Hello there!

Being an Ubuntu user since the very first minute, I feel very
comfortable with the default brown of Ubuntu. But since there is a
small but vocal group demanding a change of direction, I guess that
change is inevitable. And maybe that change is for the better, who
knows? Still, there are some issues I'd like to voice my opinion
about. I've been reading the list-archive, but I don't know if I'm
up-to-date on all issues. So please forgive me if I list topics that
are already outdated or were a final conclusion has been reached. :)

Issues:

 == Black/Dark Theme ==
This is something I'm very sceptic about; I've tried dark themes in my
unencumbered youth and also on Medibuntu, but soon found myself
switching back to "normal" themes again. Dark themes tend to strain my
eyes and I need breaks more often. Gray and clear tones go along with
many colours, black is a little bit more selective about its friends.
But this may be personal preference, who knows.

 == Orange and Black ==
While the orange/black design studies in the wiki definitely look
/cool/, I'm not so sure that it would work for a user interface. Black
and orange is a good combination if you want to attract attention, but
that's not necessary the case for a user interface. Orange is a signal
colour, along with yellow and red. I don't reckon it's a good idea to
use those colours as primary colours in a user interface. (At least
that's my opinion)


 == Themes and Styles ==
While browsing through the proposals in the mailing list I have seen
some excellent ideas for a new default theme for Ubuntu. And along the
while I created my own list of things important to me. Those things
are as following:
 - easy on the eyes
 - uncluttered interface / no unnecessary widget distinctions
 - easy to read fg/bg colour combination

Of all the proposals I've seen in the list,
http://guentherbeyer.de/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/ubuntu_804_theme_test_04_2.png
comes closest to what I would Ubuntu to look like in the future; its
clean, elegant, uncluttered and yet informative. It isn't brown, yes,
true.


To be honest; I don't care to much about fancy and bling and glossy
and shiny. I just want a user interface I can work with all day long
and through the night. But then again; Ubuntu has never let me down
and I'm sure it won't do that in the future. :D

So long,
Raphael