[ubuntu-art] Dust menubar evolution

[Rico Sta. Cruz]

Here's a concept of the "nicer way" I'm considering. Comments and criticisms
are very, very, much welcome.

http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/5490/dustmetalcz4.png


Rico Sta. Cruz wrote:
> 
> Yes, there has been quite a number of 'evolutions' since the first mockup.
> They weren't done "just because," all of them were compromises on issues
> that came up while testing the theme. Let me try to explain some of them
> here:
> 
> Re: glossiness:
> Most of what makes it appear glossy is the addition of the active titlebar
> gradient. The version derived from the mockup had titlebars that were hard
> to distinguish between active and inactive, and IMHO the subtle gradient
> was the "dustiest" way to get to that goal given our limitations.
> (Ideally, the whole window should change on inactive vs. active, but
> murrine/aurora GTK doesn't give us that ability just yet.)
> 
> Re: lightness of the theme:
> This, again, is a compromise to add more contrast to the look. The
> darkness of the theme didn't quite bring out the brown tones on certain
> monitors. Moreover, on displays that have low brightness (such as laptops
> with the brightness down to it's minimum), all the (title/tool/menu)bars
> of all the open windows mud up together and makes people "squint" just to
> see things. The lighting up of the toolbar was in the name of usability of
> the theme for a broader range of monitors.
> 
> Re: min/max/close buttons:
> The original mockup had very small buttons. These looked fine, but again
> wasn't quite a hit in the usability area. The new min/max/close button
> style are there to increase their sizes without making things feel too
> bloated.
> 
> Anyway, as the creator of the Dust concept I feel it myself, too, that the
> theme is slowly veering away from it's vision. I'm currently considering a
> nicer way to integrate the title/menu/toolbars while reducing the overall
> "heavy" feeling.
> 
> 
> Manuel Mas-2 wrote:
>> 
>> *Hi all.
>> 
>> I've been testing Dust theme since its first release, very kind of it,
>> but I
>> think we're getting away from the original mockup, sometimes it's good,
>> but
>> sometimes it's bad : looking at the menubars, the original mockup is very
>> clean. It's dark, compact, and the gradient is very soft, quite clean in
>> fact. Looking back at the actual version of Dust, there are gradients
>> everywhere in the top of a window :). Three of them in a Nautilus window,
>> which is a little confusing I must say. Plus, the colors have gone
>> lighter
>> and lighter, and we now have a dark _grey_ theme, instead of the original
>> dark one. Now Dust feels much glossier, I think, and less usable IMHO.
>> 
>> 
>> Screenshot : http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/8178/dustmenubargv6.png .
>> 
>> And keep up the great work !
>> 
>> Steph.*
>> 
>> Totally agree.  Dust had me in the beginning but it has gone way off
>> the first released mockup.  I think the 3 different gradient areas in
>> Nautilus should be worked into one unison color gradient.
>> Here is where I prefer New Wave, however Dust has a great metacity
>> theme and the black is better than the gray at times in my opinion.
>> Keep up the good work.
>> 
>> 
>> -- 
>> Manuel Mas
>> 
>> -- 
>> ubuntu-art mailing list
>> ubuntu-art at lists.ubuntu.com
>> https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-art
>> 
>> 
> 
> 

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