Re: default theme consensus

[Shaun McCance <shaunm gnome org>]

On Thu, 2004-08-12 at 15:13, Shaun McCance wrote:
> Many, many, many thanks to Mark for getting the ball rolling on the well
> overdue new modules decision.
> 
> The documentation team really needs a decision on the default theme for
> 2.8.  We're already past the UI freeze, which exists in part to allow us
> to finalize screenshots.
> 
> The candidates seem to be "Glider" and "Indubstrial".  I don't know if
> Glider became the actual name, and Indubstrial certainly needs a better
> name.  Glider (SmoothGNOME) seemed to be getting a lot of traction.
> 
> Let's have a *quick* discussion, then get somebody with an iron fist to
> deliver the verdict from on-high.  And I mean quick.  I'm going to start
> screenshooting Real Soon Now.  Once I do, I will vehemently attempt to
> block any change to the default theme.  Like pounding the ground with my
> powerful arms, frothing at the mouth, screaming at the top of my lungs. 
> It won't be pretty.  Please don't make me do it.

And now my take.  We should recognize that lots and lots of people will
never see the GNOME default theme as their default theme.  Fedora Core
will use Bluecurve, Ximian Desktop will use Industrial, Java Desktop
System will use whatever they call that theme that they use.

So where does a default theme matter?  Well, it matters in the more pure
distributions, like Debian.  And it matters a lot for the documentation.
As it stands right now, we're stuck with static screenshots (there have
been some way cool ideas on way cool things that could be done instead).
So we use the default theme for screenshots for documentation.

We should realize that people are going to see these screenshots, using
whatever our default theme is, while their desktop is using Bluecurve or
Industrial or something else.  So I think a more neutral theme would be
considerably better for that purpose.

"I hate these filthy Neutrals, Kif.  With enemies you know where they
stand but with Neutrals, who knows?  It sickens me."

And from that standpoint, I'm all over Indubstrial.  It looks really
good in screenshots, and it's neutral enough that it won't make users'
heads spin if they see it in the documentation and not on their desktop.

But I still like the GNOME icon theme better than Industrial's, with the
exception of the slick Gorilla-esque Trash icon in Industrial.

But then there's the menu background color problem, which really sucks. 
Perhaps we should punt to 2.10, given how late in the game this is.

--
Shaun