Mailinglist Archive: opensuse-artwork (60 mails)

[Jos Poortvliet <jos@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On 2011-06-24 andi wrote:
> I guess, what we can keep from the mockup is the desktop switching
> arrows as well as the simple weather widget. Also, having the system
> tray and notification area as a tab would be a goo idea, simply to
> separate elements from window, launcher and clock items in the panel.
> I notice that most of the times, the notification section does little
> once the system is up and can be isolated instead of having it take
> up space on the panel.

We could try. However, if you keep the tab open & above panels all the 
time, it will waste a lot of space. If you auto-hide it you confuse the 
heck out of some users and annoy others (you can't have an autohiding 
panel on the right as that's where the scrollbar is; you can't have it 
at the top as that's where you drag windows to/from; you can possibly 
have it on the left but that's where many apps keep tree views and the 
like).

Yes, I've tried to work with autohiding panels but I hate them :D

What I would consider a really great thing is if openSUSE could set 
netbooks (anything with a resolution under say 1024x768) with the Plasma 
Netbook interface. That one is really good...

> On Fri, Jun 24, 2011 at 7:43 AM, Jos Poortvliet <jos@xxxxxxxxxxxx> 
wrote:
> > On Thursday 23 June 2011 06:26:06 andi robert wrote:
> > > On Mon, Jun 20, 2011 at 12:13 PM, Jos Poortvliet <jos@xxxxxxxxxxxx> 
wrote:
> > > > On Monday 20 June 2011 16:35:25 andi robert wrote:
> > > > > On Mon, Jun 20, 2011 at 5:05 AM, Jos Poortvliet 
<jos@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > > > > > On Monday 20 June 2011 02:10:22 andi robert wrote:
> > > > > > > That is good input Jos. I mostly think it a good idea moving
> > > > > > > away from oxygen because of the lack of customization that
> > > > > > > you can do on it. QtCurve has a very detailed interface
> > > > > > > that lets you change just about whatever you want.
> > > > > > > Something that is not available currently on Oxygen. If you
> > > > > > > look into kde-look.org you will see that there are plenty
> > > > > > > more qtcurve configurations for download than Oxygen
> > > > > > > tweaks. This gives me the impression, that at some level,
> > > > > > > KDE users want to be able to customize their window
> > > > > > > styling. But obviously, such is a very personal preference.
> > > > > > > People from the community can vote and see whether they
> > > > > > > would like to change this.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Design by committee - I'm not so sure. I know Oxygen isn't
> > > > > > super customizable but why does it have to be? It has the
> > > > > > most important options (and have you ever seen
> > > > > > oxygen-settings?) and simply looks good by default.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > If people want QtCurve, they can use it. I'd be all for
> > > > > > removing some of the bad default styles from KDE and adding
> > > > > > QtCurve instead, with a few nice default configurations
> > > > > > shipped by us. It is easy to make that happen - fork the
> > > > > > QtCurve package on OBS, add the configurations, submit it
> > > > > > back to Factory.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > But I wouldn't replace Oxygen by default, it's a really good
> > > > > > and modern style. I actually know a few professional
> > > > > > designers (of course Mac users) which tell me it's the first
> > > > > > linux style they like. And quite it's unique, compared to
> > > > > > Mac or Windows or Android.
> > > > >
> > > > > Oxygen works nicely, there is nothing wrong with it except that
> > > > > it is a very blend color set. Maybe we can change that and
> > > > > bring extra contrast to the Oxygen colors on a window style.
> > > >
> > > > You could default to another color scheme but it would need
> > > > extensive testing on a variety of screens to make sure it
> > > > doesn't look bad. I've seen older versions of oxygen (which had
> > > > more contrast in the background gradient) look absolutely
> > > > horrible on cheap LCD screens - which are used a lot at
> > > > companies and in cheap laptops. We don't want to ship something
> > > > which only looks good on a high-end monitor...
> > > >
> > > > > > > On Sun, Jun 19, 2011 at 6:24 PM, Jos Poortvliet
> > > > > > > <jos@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
> >
> > wrote:
> > > > > > > > On Sunday 19 June 2011 23:03:40 andi robert wrote:
> > > > > > > > > I was thinking we could add custom icons, window styles
> > > > > > > > > (qtcurve for max compatibility with gtk apps) a new
> > > > > > > > > color scheme, and custom widgets for the KDE desktop.
> > > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > > This is what I have currently
> > > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > > http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/823/snapshot68.png/
> > > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > > Although, that image has more.
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > I wouldn't deviate too much from the standard KDE look.
> > > > > > > > Especially Oxygen is very good, well maintained and with
> > > > > > > > oxygen-gtk integrates GTK apps perfectly (lots of
> > > > > > > > improvements coming with 4.7). With Oxygen you benefit
> > > > > > > > from the hard work of some incredibly good artists - they
> > > > > > > > for example optimized the colors to not look crappy on
> > > > > > > > many old-and-bad monitors. That was difficult work and
> > > > > > > > something I'd rather not have to re-do. And think about
> > > > > > > > graphics performance, usability, stuff like that. GNOME
> > > > > > > > 3, meanwhile, also focusses heavily on a 'standard' look.
> > > > > > > > And the same there goes for colors etc.
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > We can and should of course have our own wallpaper, GRUB,
> > > > > > > > boot-, login- and app splashes. Moreover, we could do as
> > > > > > > > we did before with the Plasma theme - have a subtle
> > > > > > > > variation, replacing the circles with something more
> > > > > > > > opensuse-y.
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > I like this too. The more clever branding, the better. I was
> > > > > > > thinking also that it could be pretty good to try different
> > > > > > > default widgets, not just the folder one. But something
> > > > > > > like Weather, RSS or something of the sort. Even a small
> > > > > > > plasma tutorial to start using openSUSE.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Agreed, the default panel and applet setup is something we
> > > > > > could change. Why not do a proposal? A plasma tutorial thing
> > > > > > would be awesome but has to be written by someone :D
> > > > >
> > > > > As I think of this, plasmoid ideas that can be useful would be:
> > > > >
> > > > > RSS: (feed, opensuse, and newspapers)
> > > > > Folder: (not on the default desktop folder but on the home
> > > > > folder, I have seen that the desktop icons for folder view
> > > > > repeat themselves on the taskbar)
> > > > > Weather: (a small one)
> > > > > Tutorial: This could be a link to youtube videos showing how to
> > > > > use openSUSE, or a small html writeout on how to get started.
> > > > > Desktop Arrows: for easy desktop change.
> > > > > (http://aseigo.blogspot.com/2010/07/todays-30-minute-hacks.html
> > > > > )
> > > >
> > > > Yeah, these might indeed be useful. The tutorial one needs to be
> > > > created and that would be quite some work - we'll have to find
> > > > someone to do it. That might be something for a hack session at
> > > > the openSUSE conference.
> > > >
> > > > We could also add a microblogging widget, btw.
> > > >
> > > > > > Maybe you can propose a hack session for the openSUSE
> > > > > > conference to write such a plasmoid. With QML it is easy, we
> > > > > > can get Sebas or others to help us with it, teach it or do
> > > > > > it after the Plasma/QML workshop Sebas will surely give and
> > > > > > ask people there to join the hack session and help us out
> > > > > > with their new skills! If we can have a good proposal
> > > > > > beforehand we could write it at oSC.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Such a proposal would be nice to make & blog about to get
> > > > > > feedback...
> > > > >
> > > > > Do you think it would be good to create mockups for these?
> > > >
> > > > Sure.
> > >
> > > I created a mockup for a simple menu idea. I was thinking creating
> > > a few more going from simple to fully featured. Tell me what you
> > > think, and you are welcome to edit or ask what these icons mean.
> > >
> > > https://cacoo.com/diagrams/Qwmnz9CqLnrTya2r
> >
> > I think you really go too ambitious here. I'd focus first on what
> > we can accomplish without development. And Plasma is quite
> > flexible so you can get pretty far... In other words, implement a
> > mockup directly in Plasma and if you can't do something, assume we
> > won't get it. Because it is quite a challenge to get someone to
> > implement a feature in C++...
> >
> > I know it sucks but it's just more realistic to assume we won't get
> > much coding done.
> >
> > I would also stay as close as possible to familiar setups - the
> > traditional panel with menu bottom-right etc. Make incremental
> > improvements or we loose a large share of our users (as GNOME 3,
> > KDE4 and Unity have shown).