Some thoughts about xubuntu hardy

[jmak]

On 11/6/07, Radomir Dopieralski <xubuntu at sheep.art.pl> wrote:
> Tue, Nov 06, 2007 at 05:05:44PM -0500:
> > Here is a mockup; it shows the way, I envision the visual appearance
> > of our next release .
> > https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Xubuntu/Artwork/Gutsy/Incoming
>
> There is no process list. Personally I'm doing perfectly fine navigating
> using a large pager plugin, and maybe iconbox for minimized applications,
> but I'm afraid users used to the windows/gnome/kde/icewm/default xubuntu
> settings could be confused and pretty helpless. If you plan to have the
> iconbox show all the aplications all the time, then think about resizing
> the panel every time you start/close an application/window and how this
> will affect slow computers. This needs testing on real users.
>
> > Notice the themed panel. It is medium gray, from the usability point
> > of view make more sense than using the contrasty white. It provides a
> > more appropriate background for the application launchers.
>
> Excuse me, but I'm getting chills down my spine when someone is talking
> about "usability point of view" like this. Could you please explain how
> medium gray panel makes more sense? How the background is more apropriate?
> I always thought we are conditioned to read and watch pictures on white
> background, mostly because the omnipresent books and other paper.

Did you notice that when reading a black text on a white monitor after
a while you start seeing double? Contrasting and complementary colors
cause afterimage, which strains the eye. Not a very pleasant feeling.
I wrote an article about afterimage in my blog some time ago.
Also it is a psychological fact that white has a tendency to wash out
colors while neutrals make them appear more saturated.
>
> > As the ubuntu people said, Hardy would be all about polish and usability.
>
> That's good, I'm Polish! :)
>
> > 4) Take out the icon label backgrounds. They are distracting and are
> > usability anomalies. And ugly too.
>
> How? Can you explain this in more detail? I never noticed any problems
> with them.

What I meant was that the background is redundant. It is the icon (the
image) what is the center of interest where I get the clues and the
messages from. In the visual hierarchy the label is secondary
component. Competing elements causes confusion because they are
distracting.
>
> By the way, please don't take this as criticism, I think you are really
> doing an excellent job and are improving from release to release
> considerably. I hope to help at least by playing the devil's advocate.
>
> --
> Radomir `The Sheep' Dopieralski <http://sheep.art.pl>
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>
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