Hi all,
I'm trying to do a summary on what has been posted on d...@marketing:
Bernhard Dippold schrieb:
[... collection of comments ...]
You'll find the list in the wiki:
http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/File:ODF_icon_discussion_on_mk-dev.ods
If I'll find the time I'm going to summarize the discussion during the
next days.
There have been comments on several sub-topics with regards to the ODF
icons:
The _general idea to support ODF branding_ from OOo side is seen mainly
positive, but not everybody wants to see it prior to OOo branding.
Strong support by Drew Jensen ("One of the most important steps for OOo
in the moment." "Invest OOo's capital in market share."), skeptic notes
by Peter Junge ("OOo is not equal ODF.") and Lars Nooden ("Project
should focus on OOo instead of ODF branding.").
Using a _unique set of icons for document files_ leads to more
differenciated comments. While some people prefer unmodified icons for
all distros and ODF supporting products (Charles Schulz, Jürgen Schmidt:
"Application independency is one of the main messages.", "Use the icons
as they are."), others feel very uncomfortable if the user can't
recongize the application opening the file (Alexandro Colorado, John
McCreesh: "With many ODF supporting applications on the desktops,
sharing a standard set of icons is not useful. Users need to know what
application will start when they click an icon."). Lars Nooden proposed
a logo or pictogram to identify ODF.
Peter Junge recommends standardized iconsets for any file format ("Clear
file type recognition should be the main priority.").
The _reduced color language_ (grey plus single color for the ODF badge)
was commented quite often - a few positive remarks (Drew Jensen:
"Singularity of colors is a good thing.") stand against several skeptic
ones: "Many icon themes use one or two colors. " (Lars Nooden),
"Monochromatic icons affect OOo look and feel." (Jens Habermann).
There have only been a few comments on the present icons, similarities
between text and spreadsheet icons as well as contrast improvements have
been mentioned by Cor Nouws, while Drew Jensen pointed out that the
blue tone of the ODF badge would work as reference to MS Office's blue
for text documents. He wrote: "The product produced, both the graphics
and the goals attained, [has been] quite impressive to me".
For _Linux distributions integration_ in their color schemes seems to be
more important than unified icons. Michael Meeks ("Include Linux distro
artwork responsibles in the design development."), Martin Hollmichel
("Feedback of the artist teams of Gnome and KDE is necessary.") and
Thorsten Behrens ("Icons will become vetoed, if they make the design
schemes inconsistent") pointed out the necessity to contact the distro
developer. Others commented on an easier adoption by distros and other
products - leading to an improved overall presence of the ODF icons -,
if they were allowed to integrate their symbols and color schemes.
"Acceptance of the icons would be easier, if there were a simple way to
tune them." (Lars Nooden), "Smooth integration in their icon themes with
slight differences would be ok." (Martin Hollmichel). Even Jürgen
Schmidt stated: "Creation of more icons to address different design
principals might be necessary.", while Drew Jensen's position is
different: "As Linux distributions use their own application icons
instead of the standard OOo ones already now, this is no point against
ODF icons."
Using the present ODF icons in the _start center_ doesn't work well,
even if the background would be adapted (Jens Habermann showed an
example [1]). This could be improved by using modified ODF document
icons, present the application icons instead on the start center or to
create a third set of icons with more colors, specially designed for the
start center. An alternative could be a general update to the start
center. "Separating the file type icons from the start center could help
OOo based cross-platform applications to create their own slightly
modified application iconography." (Drew Jensen).
Implications on _OOo branding_ have been mentioned by Volker Merschmann
("We have developed a very straight branding and colour-scheme which
goes through much parts of OOo. Using the ODF-icons would break this
up.") and others (Jens Habermann: "If colors are not used anymore,
recreation of all marketing stuff will be necessary."), most comments
want to keep at least the colors on the application icons.
Proposed _OOo marketing activities_:
Definition of the iconset has to be done by the OASIS ODF Adoption TC,
therefore discussion in the OOo project might be the wrong place (Peter
Junge). But with OpenOffice.org's market share we can take leadership in
ODF icon adoption among other applications (Drew Jensen), while others
(see comments on Linux distro integration) prefer contacting distros and
other products to get a broader market share for ODF icons.
OOo could improve the adoption of ODF icons as default icon set for
Linux distros by marketing means, but "ODF brand recognition needs an
active and orchestrated outreach to other groups and organizations"
(Drew Jensen). He recommends a modification to the OOo marketing
material to combine prominent ODF mime file-type icons along with
maintained (diminished perhaps) OOo specific application icons and color
themes.
I can't include every comment, but I hope, I mentioned the most
important ones (except mine, because you know my position).
It is important to work on closing the open questions, so we can come to
a common ODF support by the OOo project.
As Drew Jensen wrote: "It seems like the wrong time to stop for too long."
Best regards
Bernhard
[1]: http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/w/images/e/ef/Startmenu.png
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