Dear All, following some remarks I appended to bug #758 (http://www.sogo.nu/bugs/view.php?id=758), I decided to try some CSS modifications in order to fix some user interface annoyances and to take advantage of some features of modern browsers (like text-shadow).
I'd like to share the results of my work with both SOGo users and developers, in the hope that they can be incorporated in next releases of SOGo. == HOW DOES IT LOOK? == A screenshot of this modified UI is available here: http://www.corradofiore.it/files/sogo_alternate_theme_20110213.jpg while the WebServerResources replacement folder can be downloaded here: http://www.corradofiore.it/files/WebServerResources_1.3.5a_20110213.zip You will need to unpack it and upload its contents to /usr/GNUstep/System/Library/SOGo/WebServerResources (assuming you're on CentOS, don't know if that's the same on Debian / Ubuntu) == WHAT ARE THE CHANGES / ENHANCEMENTS? == * Bigger font in the login panel * Top menu is taller and easier to click (following Fitt's Law). The default height is really too low to be easily targeted by the mouse pointer. * Top menu and command bar fonts use text-shadow for better contrast with the background and easier readability * Reworked left column: 1) Lighter background for better contrast 2) Accounts' names are presented with a different font and no icon to make it easier for the user to spot them among other lines 3) New icons without dotted lines = less clutter on the screen. This mimics the appearance of all mail clients on Mac OS X and of RoundCube webmail. 4) Selected folder is more visible (darker background, text-shadow) 5) Used quota indicator is cleaner * Search input field has rounded corners (on Webkit / Gecko), to make it easier to spot it. * Drag handlers have gradient background with a slight 3D appearance, to make them "stick out" and hence afford dragging. To be fair, the 3D appearance is probably not yet enough, but it's a start. * The selected message row features now a much more bright blue background, to make it easier to find (the benchmark for legibility was iTunes application). The background color is actually a CSS3 gradient. * Both HTML and text-only messages now are rendered in 16px Helvetica / Calibri / Arial font. This is perhaps the most outstanding change from the original version and I think it deserves a bit of explanation. As far as I'm concerned, email is my primary tool when I'm at work. I must be able to read it with good speed even at 7 PM, after I've been in front of my monitors for ten hours, or in a train under far-from-optimal lighting. Font-size is the primary tool to achieve easy and FAST reading under those conditions, and that's precisely why I bumped it up so much. A bit of tuning will be needed under Windows XP, so your comments are welcome. * I changed also the default "enter mode" in CKeditor (http://docs.cksource.com/ckeditor_api/symbols/CKEDITOR.config.html#.enterMode) to make it use <BR>. A one-line break is the expected result of hitting Enter in any email applications, that's it. Any thoughts, suggestions or comments are welcome! -- Corrado Fiore _______________________________ Via Gramsci 16/M 20060 Cassina de' Pecchi MI - Italy [email protected] http://it.linkedin.com/in/corradofiore -- [email protected] https://inverse.ca/sogo/lists
