edgy artwork

[jmak]

On 6/27/06, Jani Monoses <jani.monoses at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hi
>
> As seen on the artwork list there are two persons nominated to lead the Ubuntu and Kubuntu
> artwork teams  for edgy. I suppose we also should have someone overlooking Xubuntu artwork and have the
> last say on it. I propose Jozsef Mak if he is interested, as most of the current artwork (which
> is very liked by the people I have talked to)  is his work.
>
> thoughts?
>
> Jani
>
> --
> xubuntu-devel mailing list
> xubuntu-devel at lists.ubuntu.com
> https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/xubuntu-devel
>
>
>

 Hi Jani,

I can help.

In terms of look, here is a few things come to mind right away, we
need focusing on during the edgy development phase.

1) Usplash
2) Login screen
3) Login splash
4) Wallpapers
5) Icons
6) gtk theme

But before going into details let me bring up the issue, I started a
few weeks ago on this list about xubuntu future look and feel.
As indicated then xubuntu needs a unique identity rather than to
develop as an ubuntu lookalike. Some on this mailing list suggested
that xubuntu should resemble to ubuntu. Since a while ago a similar
debate took place on the art-list, I saved some of the pertinent
opinions of Mr Shoutleworth regarding the matter and pasted them here
so that others can also read his stand on the issue.

Here they are;

"We have an official "policy of independence" between the flavours of
Ubuntu. They are basically required to collaborate on bits that
overlap, like kernel, but can be totally independent w.r.t. things
like art and style. My only requirement of consistency is that they
ALL be *consistently*:

 * world class (looking DAMN good)
 * distinctive (if you see a screenshot you should KNOW it's
Kubuntu/Xubuntu/Ubuntu)

Please turn this into an FAQ so that we don't have the same debate
time and time again!

Cheers,
Mark

Gnome and KDE are not just different colours. They have different
philosophies. One of the key ingredients of our success in this
project has been that we respected the difference rather than trying
to shoehorn their vision into a combined platform. Red Hat and SUSE
have done the shoehorning, we have quite deliberately allowed the
Gnome and KDE communities to express their differences.

If you want to be involved in the art in this project, then you really
need to grasp how important that distinction is. While a "consistent
user interface" is a beautiful idea, it should not come at the price
of the feeling that KDE and Gnome have that Ubuntu / Kubuntu are the
best places for THEM to express their ideas. THEY write the software,
we just package it.

This is absolutely essential for everyone to understand.

Now, don't get me wrong. We want the different desktop environments to
learn from one another. We learned a bunch of stuff during Breezy with
Ubuntu, and as a result we tuned the Kubuntu desktop in Dapper. But we
did not try to make them look the same. Just like we have not tried to
make either of them look like Windows (one common request) or like the
Mac (another common request).

I think that Ubuntu and Kubuntu need unique, distinctive, world class,
consistent icon sets and interface themes. And I'm investing my own
time in helping make that happen."

Mark

I think this settles the issue. Now, let's start building a good
looking xubuntu that resembles only to itself.

The list.

1) Usplash.

With all probability, we have to stick with an artwork with 16 colors
with all the limitations of the format. At least, this is what emerged
from the art discussions. But someone is working on a template that
would allow using other than black for the background. As soon as I
learn something definite I indicate.

2) Login screen

I already have some ideas. I post it as soon as ready.

3) Login splash

Suggestion! do away with the mouse animation. Xubuntu boots up so fast
it needs no splash. In fact, without that it boots up faster. Try
this, disable the animation and count the seconds from the login
screen boot up till the desktop comes up; without the animation the
time interval is shorter. The other thing is that the animation is a
bit childish.

4)Wallpapers

I have some ideas. As soon as, I finish up something upload it for evaluation.

5) Icons

I think the Tango icons are good; they are the most complete among all
the available sets. But the blue icon tones doesn't go with the blue
background, it blends too much into it; because of this, I suggest
using the aluminum tango instead. They somehow look more elegant too.
There is another minor thing regarding tango; Mr Shoutleworth doesn't
like it. The other day, he was talking rather disparagingly about the
set invoking a protest from the tango artists. But this shouldn't
concern us, i guess.
I've also learned that there is new gnome icon set in the making. We
can evaluate them when they are out to see they might be used instead
of tango. But this is still some time off.

6) gtk theme

I think we need a better gtk theme as well because the current beige
just doesn't go with our color scheme. In the dapper phase, I already
created some with different colors and I keep working on it. Other
opportunity would be, picking something from the xfce look page.

That is it for now. If you have other suggestions please indicate so
that we can discuss it. And give some feedback.

Thanks,
J. Mak

-- 
http://jozmak.googlepages.com/