Re: Possible UI Freeze Break in Clearlooks

[Matthew Paul Thomas <mpt myrealbox com>]

On Feb 15, 2007, at 1:04 PM, Andrea Cimitan wrote:
> ...
> before: http://img243.imageshack.us/img243/3184/schermata4ec8.png
> after: http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/7032/schermata3sd1.png (here
> we are showing an added style, btw the checkboxes and arrows are the
> same accross all those styles).
>
> Using clearlooks-cairo 2.8.x versions I've noticed i got few
> difficulties reading checkboxes/radiobuttons, while with other engines
> and previous version of clearlooks those widgets looked nicer and more
> visible. The light color of the tick (taken from bg[SELECTED], and the
> design of it was causing few usability problems with a lot of themes.

The color change is an improvement, because it increases the contrast 
between checked and unchecked states.

> That's why i've proposed those new checkbuttons, more visible, with a
> clean style, and that are using text[NORMAL] which is the correct /
> logical color since the background of those widgets is taken from a
> base[NORMAL] (in the past clearlooks was not supporting text[colors]
> and just bg and base ones, that's why it wasn't implemented in 2.8.x
> branch, but this was an _error_, not an improvement).
> For usability point of view, error fixed (base[normal] and text[normal]
> and not base with bg[selected]), better style I really think that's
> there's no reason in remove those improvements.

Except for the good reason Calum already mentioned, that a cross can be 
confused with off state.

Throwing around vague words like "clean" and "better" doesn't help. In 
what way, precisely, is a cross better than a tick? If the concern is 
with the number of different pixels between checked and unchecked 
state, there are less confusing ways to increase that -- such as 
extending the checkmark beyond the box, and/or changing the background 
color of checked checkboxes. (Yes, I know, Aqua does both of those, but 
there are only so many ways to draw a checkbox.)

> Gnome users are expecting nice improvements in 2.18 release, they will
> use that release for 6 months, we _really_ should provide our new cool
> stuff (remember kde4 is coming... :D)
> ...

Your enthusiasm is appreciated, but that's a series of non-sequiturs. 
How long people use 2.18 for has nothing to do with the ideal shape for 
Clearlooks checkmarks. The proximity of KDE 4 has nothing to do with 
the ideal shape for Clearlooks checkmarks. And changing the shape of 
checkmarks in checkboxes is not "new cool stuff", not even slightly.

(At the theme level, "new cool stuff" would be things like a rounded 
button option so that media players could be both theme-compliant and 
non-ugly while making Play larger than Rewind; sliders that looked like 
sliders instead of like sticking plasters; animated feedback on which 
item had been selected from a menu; and subtler control outlines that 
made the theme in general look less like a cartoon.)

Cheers
--
Matthew Paul Thomas
http://mpt.net.nz/