On 06/11/2007, Günther Beyer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Hey all. > > This is my first atempt to activly join an open source project, although > I'm using Ubuntu for about two years by now. > > Short intro: My Name is Günther Beyer, I'm an interface-designer from > Germany, using Gimp and Inkscape, doing icons, illustrations and mockups > of all kinds. > > Here are my thoughts on the Hardy theme: > > First of all I followed the discussion between the two main approches - > The Mac like interface from Neil J Patel and the darker theme derived > from Ubuntustudio. I wonder, why we should at any time imitate Vista or > Leopard. Why not use the best of both worlds and add a little extra > Ubuntu-linux flavour? If we want Ubuntu to look like Leopard, why not > just wait for Kubuntu featuring KDE 4 - compare: > > > http://pinheiro-kde.blogspot.com/2007/11/decisionsdecisionsdecisions-so-many.html > > http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=382776013&size=o > > http://cache.gizmodo.com/assets/resources/2006/07/02%20Peek.jpg > > I think we should go down the other way and try a darker theme with the > style and astetics of Neils mockups. There were many of my friends, who > went from Windows to Ubuntu, just because of thouse fancy 3D effects. > Why not try to repeat this again? As somebody truly pointet out, that > new users are drawn to a desktop because of its looks, not if the > usability is much better than the competitors ones, see Vista. The > transparencies are horrible concerning interaction, but still today > people tell me how great Vista looks and how much they love it. > > Anybody who's doing office work on Ubuntu can change the theme to a > lighter one with an handfull of clicks. All the other ones will be drawn > to that darker, unique one. > > Imho Open Moko has a good start on an orange-black interface, but it > looks a little cheap. Maybe we could start here and try to merge this > with Neils stuff. The only problem I see is the fact, that I don't know, > how to get black and orange into an theme, tha looks both extraodynary > and business-style. > > Here's a first test: > > > http://guentherbeyer.de/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/ubuntu_804_theme_test_02b.png
I was actually just looking at some OpenMoko screenshots and thinking that they contained some of the stuff we need for Hardy. Maybe we read the same blogs? ;-P Anyway - I think that the black widget background is a bit over the edge. I'm a big fan of black/dark themes normally, but no matter how much I like them I always end up resorting to a lighter theme. They are just not nice for my eyes. Another problem with dark themes is a purely technical one. I've done a handful dark themes myself, but they always end up with small glitches here and there because not all apps are designed to respect the theme 100% This makes for a bit of an amateurish feel in the long run. That is not acceptable for Hardy. Ofcourse broken app theming is a shame for us, but there is simply no way we can fix this for all known apps. Prominent ones like Firefox has problems among others (or atleast it used to - have not checked Gutsy with dark themes). But the OpenMoko inspiration is a good thing IMHO. Cheers, Mikkel
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