[ubuntu-art] Impression Alpha 5

[John Baer]

On Thu, 2009-03-05 at 14:38 +0000, Joseph wrote:
> Message: 1
> Date: Thu, 5 Mar 2009 08:41:05 -0500
> From: Joseph <yharrow at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [ubuntu-art] Impression Alpha 5
> To: Discussion on Ubuntu artwork <ubuntu-art at lists.ubuntu.com>
> Message-ID:
>         <e0587bcb0903050541r873662ax937da6111baf51d2 at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
> 
> On Thu, Mar 5, 2009 at 8:22 AM, Joseph <yharrow at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> > On Thu, Mar 5, 2009 at 7:01 AM, Joseph <yharrow at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> >> On Sun, Mar 1, 2009 at 9:44 PM, John Baer <baerjj at gmail.com> wrote:
> >>
> >>> On Sun, 2009-03-01 at 06:54 +0000, Jonathan Blackhall wrote:
> >>>
> >>> > Pardon my ignorance, but I don't quite "get" the circles.  What
> do
> >>> > they tell
> >>> > me about their purpose?  If I didn't already know what the 3
> buttons
> >>> > at the
> >>> > top right of the screen did, I wouldn't know what these buttons
> do.
> >>> > Isn't
> >>> > the purpose of the buttons to be at least loosely descriptive of
> what
> >>> > the
> >>> > user can expect when they press them?  I'm also not familiar
> with OS
> >>> > X, so I
> >>> > have the same trouble with their red, yellow and green.
> >>> >
> >>> > I'm not normally a fan of the "Ubuntu should not try to be like
> OS X"
> >>> > argument, but I think in this case it's relevant.  Why are you
> trying
> >>> > to
> >>> > mimic what I'd consider to be a poor design choice?
> >>>
> >>> Jonathan,
> >>>
> >>> Thank you for the question. The desire to use circles for frame
> control
> >>> widgets is not from OSX. The symbolism comes from the Ubuntu logo.
> As
> >>> the Impression theme design is based on Ubuntu, IMO it makes
> sense.
> >>>
> >>> As the widgets are small it is difficult to craft icons which
> display
> >>> detail. However, if you hover your mouse over the widget a
> description
> >>> is display which should novice users.
> >>>
> >>> John
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> --
> >>> ubuntu-art mailing list
> >>> ubuntu-art at lists.ubuntu.com
> >>> https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-art
> >>>
> >>
> >> Hi, I'd like to chime in here. I understand both sides of the
> "don't be
> >> like like OSX" argument and say that I beleive that we should at
> least to
> >> some extent attempt to differentiate ourselves from OSX and other
> OS'es as
> >> well, to create a unique branding, rather than come off as
> "copycats".
> >> Although, if we are able to take the 3 circle theme and "make it
> ours" then
> >> we are just as well off. My only question is whether we will be
> able to pull
> >> that off or whether people will always associate the 3 circles with
> OSX,
> >> rather than Ubuntu.
> >>
> >> As far as usability goes, I beleive that the colors themselves
> convey the
> >> use. Which unfortunately means that it will not be very accessible
> to color
> >> blind people. For Macintosh, who's market is mainly artists, this
> is not a
> >> huge problem. But for Ubuntu, who prides itself on "accessibility
> to all",
> >> this could pose a significant issue. I'm not sure that "hovering to
> find the
> >> use" is a very convenient idea. Since color blind folks may not
> remember it
> >> anyways if they can't tell the diffrenece between yellow and
> orange.
> >>
> >> Just my 2?
> >
> >
> > Ok, I presented a problem. Now here is my solution. There are 2 ways
> to
> > make visual components accessible to everyone: through use of color
> > profiles, or use of shapes. Implementing color profiles for our
> purposes,
> > will most likely be rather complicated. So the easiest idea seems to
> be
> > changing the shapes of the buttons.
> >
> > Before we decide which shapes to use, let us consider the anatomy of
> window
> > manager buttons. What do I mean by this? I mean that IMHO each of
> the 3
> > window manager buttons have their own visual cue words which may be
> > associated with them.
> >
> > Maximize = exanding, increasing, moving
> > Minimize = shrinking, decreasing, slowing
> > Close = closing, bold/strong, stopping
> >
> > So how can we express these visual cues, without sacrificing our
> idea of
> > colored circles? Well, the first way is by placing shapes within
> circles,
> > which many will automatically people will shake their heads at, due
> to the
> > complexity of such a design. So my solution is as follows: change
> the
> > *outline thickness* of the circles to reflect the action that it
> represents.
> > For example:
> >
> > Maximize = bold outline
> > Minimize = thin outline
> > Close = filled cirlce or very thick outline
> > (see attached picture for details)
> >
> > I beleive that this solution will allow us to retain our original
> color
> > cues and basic shapes, as well as create a unique branding that may
> only be
> > associated with Ubuntu.
> >
> > Please let me hear your feedback! :)
> >
> >

Thanks for the feed back! I will give it a try this weekend.

John