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Hello, |
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I wanted to bring up some discussion about a point that struck me |
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recently as needing attention. Our themes, or the themes included with |
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applications. |
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|
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Things to think about when doing a "Gentoo" theme for inclusion, or |
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*shudder* default : |
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Usability. |
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This means both in the motoric sense, all widgets should be obvious |
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(Good contrast value) and shouldn't be too tightly spaced (preventing |
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misclicks by motorically impaiered people.. Just about any person who |
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hasn't been sitting at a computer for a year ;) |
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|
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This also includes things like a good sized font (relatively chosen) |
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-without- any dropshadow or other obscuring (blotching) additions that |
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make it harder to read. |
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|
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|
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|
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Backgrounds: |
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Make sure to not use a high contrast background, details |
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are ok, but they shouldn't go in White against a Black background for |
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example, and try to avoid large areas of (again) intense |
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white/yellow/lightblue colours. Mainly because CRT monitors are |
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lightemitting, and highlighted sharp contrast values will hurt the eyes |
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of a user after a few hours. |
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|
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Backgrounds: |
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In cases where the background "shines through" (GDM launchers for |
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example) its important that no details in the background are placed so |
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they obscure the transparent things in the foreground. Big changes |
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(like the ede of an object or suchlike) should not be placed so that the |
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things in the foreground can be affected by them. |
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|
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Neither should patterned areas be used as backgrounds for textlabels. |
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Widgets: |
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Things like close/maximize/minimize icons on windows should be distinct |
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in some way (visible) and the icon representation in them should |
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preferrably span as much of the "hot" area as possible, as a user will |
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try to click the icon whenever possible, and will find small |
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representations difficult, even if the "hot" area is larger. |
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|
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it's also important to try and have some spacing here, lest you'll end |
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up with people closing windows instead of maximizing them, and so on. |
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|
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Togglestates: |
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For things like gtk+ and Qt, its also important that other widgets are |
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usable, that means trying to avoid the classic gtk+ toggle areas (small |
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grey thing thats either up or down, and pretty hard to notice which |
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state they are in) which were only saved by having a larger area around |
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the widget clickable. |
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|
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-- |
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|
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okay, I'm by no means more than an armchair expert on this area, except |
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for having both motorical problems and some eyeproblems myself, so I've |
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been "bitten" by this in the past. hopefully this will prove enough |
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materials to make developers think a bit on how the themes they add look |
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:-) |
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|
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|
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Other than that, I'd really like it if all windowmanagers and Desktops |
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would include a "usable" theme per default. Most do so already, but for |
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those with more sensational looks, it could be something that we could |
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provide as an add-on so its avaiable. |
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|
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|
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|
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.... let the flames erupt ;) |
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|
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|
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//Spider |
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-- |
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begin .signature |
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This is a .signature virus! Please copy me into your .signature! |
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See Microsoft KB Article Q265230 for more information. |
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end |