I really like your mockups, they are absolutely beautiful. I particularly like your logos for TW they are gorgeous!
Back to the topic at hand, these designs. I agree with Jeremy that the content should be the focus, and to an extent you have accomplished that by using the shadow over the sidebar. My problem with it is that the shadow is very large and despite that the colours are very bold. When I first look at the image my eyes are immediately drawn to the very vibrant colours rather than the content; I see the logo, the tools, the recent tiddlers; then my eyes are drawn to the river and immediately to the title of the tiddler and the tiddler tools and lastly to the content. Now when I try to read the content my eyes keep wandering towards the bright colours. I really like the colours but I think they should be accents, little flares of colour to brighten the page and draw your eyes to important things but not bright enough to distract. <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-s9x07M9smxs/VS_mWxLrT0I/AAAAAAAAIFo/UtCX88ZJo6I/s1600/dokuwiki.png> As an example here is the homepage of another wiki engine I have used called DokuWiki. You can see they have done the same thing with a drop shadow to make the content stand above the rest of the page but it is subtle and you don't really consciously notice it. If you look at the use of colour it again is very subtle; the logo at the top of the page, the large green download button, the images, and finally the green text that links you to other wiki pages (tiddlers). The rest of the page is a mix of blue and grey; it almost disappears into the background as you read the content and only becomes relevant when it's needed. Anyways, that's an end to my ramblings. I'm really looking forward to seeing new and improved designs; and how they will influence the future of TiddlyWiki! On Wednesday, April 15, 2015 at 7:18:25 PM UTC-7, Duarte Farrajota Ramos wrote: > > My apologies for the delay in replying, I've been a little busy but > finally managed to get back at this. > So keeping the 'origami' theme and thinking about what you said concerning > the separation of content and tools or the sidebar and the tiddler river I > came up with the following concept. > It basically tries to represent the whole sidebar as if in a background > planed behind the tiddler river, like it was tucked beneath it (the shadow > tries to mimic that). The toolbars and elements behave as ribbons of paper > sticking out from behind the tiddler area as bookmarks stick from the side > of a book. > This would emphasize the the importance of the tiddler river as the main > content foreground element above the secondary tools under it, while > hopefully allowing for a more or less colorful sidebar without stealing so > much attention away (or keep the more monochrome tone which I think works > very well currently). Here are a few previews with colored or more muted > sidebars, in lighter or darker themes. > > > > <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-bnXZj73WIPc/VS8Qy5wlErI/AAAAAAAAJTI/CWqdIOWf_8A/s1600/Tiddlywiki_UI_Mockup10.png> > > > <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-1gKpgrCC0dU/VS8QutZhhcI/AAAAAAAAJTA/wx_Yz4O92Zw/s1600/Tiddlywiki_UI_Mockup11.png> > > > <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-zrH_EKSiWpQ/VS8QqVu5fVI/AAAAAAAAJS4/OTF119bgfUQ/s1600/Tiddlywiki_UI_Mockup12.png> > > > <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-xjspYaau3rE/VS8QTNckVWI/AAAAAAAAJSg/I-7_i0W_HQ0/s1600/Tiddlywiki_UI_Mockup15.png> > > > <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-foI1Up2ELqk/VS8QZ_602JI/AAAAAAAAJSo/8aPH90D6Md4/s1600/Tiddlywiki_UI_Mockup14.png> > > > <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Kk3h01a3gIM/VS8Qhr4CkDI/AAAAAAAAJSw/aFZ7e-9K4XY/s1600/Tiddlywiki_UI_Mockup13.png> > > > <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-v__A8yYKQ-U/VS8QPNtDDvI/AAAAAAAAJSY/UlIhoElbhH8/s1600/Tiddlywiki_UI_Mockup16.png> > > This visual cue has the additional advantage that it could be further > extended in a consistent manner for an hypothetical "hide sidebar" > function. When is activated, a small portion of the sidebar could still be > displayed at the edge of the browser window, with perhaps a few select > essential tools still "tucked under" the shadow of the main tiddler view, > keeping some reduced functionality while enlarging the available view area. > > > > > > > > <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-tACY1agMsiU/VS8U479adHI/AAAAAAAAJTU/4AhPQTflfBo/s1600/Tiddlywiki_UI_Mockup17.png> > > Ideally this could be done in conjunction with a default centered view for > the tiddler river, with shadows on both sides, to totally assume it's > importance as central piece, although I understand this would steals a lot > of potential sidebar space. > These elements (like the toolbars sticking out, the search bar or even the > tag pills) could gain a more skeuomorphic form with stronger paper like > visual (like with stylized bent corners and more shadows), if that's what > you are looking for, although I think it might be too much for users who > prefer a simpler look and may spoil the more neutral look. > > Other notes: > > - Reworked the tag display to not imply any relationship between them > - Simplified the icon theme to be less intrusive > - Ideally tiddler headers would be sticky type 'always visible' > - Added those 'bookmarks' on the side of the headers as shortcuts for > tiddler permalink/permaview or as a 'scroll to top' shortcut > > > > Let me know what you think, Jeremy, or please share any other ideas or > expectations you have. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TiddlyWiki" group. 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