[ubuntu-art] Intrepid Ibex (Wallpaper Slideshow)

[Sumit Agarwal]

I strongly disagree. That is perfectly fine for the broader 'grown'  
Linux community, but Ubuntu seeks to set itself apart by presenting  
itself as a *planned* unified product for the non-enthusiast community.

The Linux tradition of individual freedom and creativity is a great  
strength. But sometimes a project just calls out for more of a BSD- 
like structure. Ubuntu is such a project. Its not surprising that the  
open-source end-user applications to garner the greatest mainstream  
user-base, Firefox and OpenOffice, follow the same ethos. They  
identify issues, brainstorm solutions, and then pursue improvements in  
a highly-structured method. With Firefox 3 they did not simply decide  
to make it 'prettier'. They decided the browser must more-cleanly  
integrate into its host OS. They identified key solutions to this  
(skin the buttons to reflect the in-built browsers on Windows, Vista,  
and OS X, allow a 'unified' titlebar/application button area on OS X,  
etc), and then they went ahead and did it.

There are innumerable Linux distributions that are essentially a  
collection of cool programs/hacks put together by a freeform  
community. And that's great! But if Ubuntu is just going to be another  
one of those, then there isn't a real *point* to Ubuntu.

Ubuntu is meant for everyone. Such a lofty goal requires some serious  
planning.

-Sumit


On Apr 28, 2008, at 11:38 AM, Cory K. wrote:

> Sumit Agarwal wrote:
>> To 'rephrase' and add some of my own thoughts:
>>
>> -ISSUE - theme not eye-pleasing enough
>> 	-IDEA - create aeshetically-pleasing theme
>> 		-CON - idea too vague
>> 	-IDEA - large-area UI elements should be color-neutral. This would
>> put greater visual importance and weight on application *content*
>> rather than the application/desktop UI
>> 		-ISSUE - UI controls such as scrollbars, max/min/close/etc can get
>> visually 'lost'
>> 			IDEA - keep main theme elements such as dialogue/application
>> backgrounds, menubars, and possibly titlebars color-neutral, but give
>> scrollbars and buttons strong colors (Ubuntu colors? Orange?) so that
>> they visually stand-out.
>> -IDEA - theme must clearly represent Ubuntu spirit
>> 	-ISSUE - we need to better define 'Ubuntu spirit' visually. First,
>> what does 'Ubuntu spirit' even mean? A sense of compassion? A sense  
>> of
>> ease? What are generally-accepted techniques for visually  
>> representing
>> these ideas? Does it mean warm colors? Does it mean a satin-look?
>>
>> Is anyone up for building up an Ubuntu-art wiki around this type of
>> ISSUE/IDEA/PRO/CON organization? Should be easy to use in the  
>> existing
>> wiki.
>>
>> -Sumit
>
> Honestly, best thing is to start the idea yourself and pull in like
> minded people once your idea is framed up.
>
> -Cory \m/
>
> -- 
> ubuntu-art mailing list
> ubuntu-art at lists.ubuntu.com
> https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-art