Re: themes for GNOME2 docs

[Pat Costello <Patrick Costello Sun COM>]

Dan et al, 

Personally, I don't think we should be looking at the technicalities of making 
drop-shadows easy to apply to screenshots or not. I think we should be looking 
at the justification for using drop-shadows on screenshots in the first place, 
and then looking at the technicalities. For example, is there a serious 
usability requirement for drop-shadows on screenshots? Does drop-shadow on the 
screenshot impart extra, useful technical information to the end-user reading 
the online or printed documentation? Maybe there is a beneficial usability 
reason for drop-shadows on GNOME screenshots, which someone can tell us about. 

My own view is that: 

- Screenshots should appear as close as possible to what the user really sees 
on-screen. There are no drop-shadows around windows on-screen, so what is the 
justification for adding them to screenshots in documentation? 

- Drop-shadows as pure decoration please some people. Others may see such 
decoration as an attempt to glamorize a dull topic, and therefore suspect. 

- Any non-essential visual or textual information can distract a user, or even 
confuse a user. 

- From my own experience, there is a useful place for drop-shadows in 
line-drawings and logos. For example, block diagrams can benefit greatly from 
the carefully-applied use of drop-shadow to differentiate different categories 
of information block. If we use drop-shadows for screenshots then we dilute the 
effect of drop-shadows in places where there is a genuine usability requirement.

- Many icons in the GNOME UI use drop-shadows. We will want to include 
screenshots of these icons in the documentations. If we add drop-shadows to the 
screenshot, we risk invalidating the real drop-shadow on the UI icon. Could be 
confusing, and in this instance not at all pleasing to the eye. 

To sum up, every component of information design, whether textual or visual, 
should play a role in communicating concepts to the user. If a specific 
component does not convey a concept, or part of a concept, then the presence of 
the component only adds to the processing burden for the user, without bringing 
a piece of understanding. Essentially, decorative components reduce  
communication effectiveness. 

Pat

> 
> If we can make it very simple for people, then we can certainly consider
> adding special effects.  By very simple, I'm thinking of a command-line
> script which people can run: gdp-fancify input.png output.png   I'm
> guessing we could use the GIMP from a script, although I haven't done it.
> Once we have the script, we could even make it into a Nautilus script so
> that people can 'fancify' their screenshots with a click or two in
> Nautilus.  Are we sure we actually want to have special effects?
> 
> Screenshots with callouts will always require more work since you have to
> go into some GUI application to create the lines and labels.  We will have
> to consider what the simplest solution to this is.
> 
> Dan
> 
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