Re: GNOME High Contrast Icon Theme

[Joseph Scheuhammer <clown alum mit edu>]

Hi Meg,

meg ford wrote (14-Jul-2011):
> Hi,
>
> I have one last question about High Contrast.
>
> Jakub Steiner and Lapo Calamandrei have suggested that icons from the 
> Symbolic Icon theme be used in High Contrast (see Figures 8 and 9,HERE 
> <https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B8Rn9opx982NM2ViNmQ5MGEtNzBkMy00YTg4LWFhOTYtZWUxZGQ3ZjdlMjA2&hl=en_US> 
> ). Symbolic icons are drawn in a simple, clear style, and are 
> recolored by a theme engine so that they automatically match the text 
> color on the graphical user interface. Because the text color already 
> contrasts with the background color in the GUI, these icons are not 
> outlined (note the contrasting outlines in Figures 10 and 11, HERE 
> <https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B8Rn9opx982NM2ViNmQ5MGEtNzBkMy00YTg4LWFhOTYtZWUxZGQ3ZjdlMjA2&hl=en_US>).
>
> The question I have is this: is the contrasting color enough for the 
> low-vision user, or do we need to maintain the outlines in the High 
> Contrast theme?
>
> Joseph, I hope it is not abusing your good will to ask if you could 
> run this by your vision OT? Please let me know if this is an issue for 
> you,and thanks so much for your previous response.

Here is her reply:

> Figure 8 looks great. The black image on a white background stands out.
> The other figures don't stand out in the high contrast theme. I would 
> remove the outline, black box around it, so the image stands out more.

meg ford also wrote (19-Jul-2011):

> Bryen asked me to send examples of how the Symbolic and High Contrast 
> Icons will look in GNOME 3. Here are some screenshots from Fedora 15: 
> The first two are of High Contrast and High Contrast Inverse as they 
> are now (see HERE 
> <https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B8Rn9opx982NY2U5ZjdhYzgtNGUzMi00NWRiLTllOTEtYzA5ZGZmM2JjZTBh&hl=en_US> 
> and HERE 
> <https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B8Rn9opx982NMWZjNjNjNmQtODk2Ny00ODY1LWFkMGUtM2YwMzEwODcxODNh&sort=name&layout=list&num=50>). 
> I edited the second two so that they show Symbolic Icons and new High 
> Contrast Icons (seeHERE 
> <https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B8Rn9opx982NY2U5ZjdhYzgtNGUzMi00NWRiLTllOTEtYzA5ZGZmM2JjZTBh&hl=en_US> 
> and HERE 
> <https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B8Rn9opx982NMzBiNmMyMzktYzZkNy00MDE4LWE0N2QtNjRmYmQxYjdlZWZh&hl=en_US> 
> ). Please note that I am still working on some (such as the scanner 
> icon) and so they have not been included. Please let me know if there 
> are any issues with viewing these examples.

Our OT suggests:

> Hi Joseph, all the icons look great, with the exception of the 
> 'Software Update' icon. The overlapping images make it hard to 
> determine what the image represents. When magnified, this image would 
> be difficult to identify. 

Finally, I have question about the high contrast theme:  Where are the 
specs documented? Or, if there are no specs, is there an online resource 
(e.g., wiki) where the work is being tracked?

Thanks.

--
;;;;joseph

'I had some dreams, they were clowns in my coffee. Clowns in my coffee.'
                     - C. Simon (misheard lyric) -