GNOME Icon Status Report #15 -- "Making Headway"

[mawarkus t-online de (Matthias Warkus)]

GNOME Icon Status Report
as of February 26th, 2000
by mawa

WHAT'S GOING ON?

The GNOME Documentation Project have finally announced their doctable. This
table contains an "Icon" column, too. Thus, be sure to add your
applications to this table if you want to see them sport an icon shortly
after, and check the table regularly to see what kind of work needs to be
done.

An important remark: When you send icons to me you haven't made yourselves,
give exact attributions. I don't want to have anything snuck in without
consent of the artwork creators, and I want to give credit to everyone who
contributes.

WHAT HAS BEEN DONE

Icons have been added for:
   
  * bug_applet
  * GDict
  * MemProf
  * QuickLaunch applet
  * Settings menu

Updated icons:
   
  * Debian package
  * GTop
  * Status monitor menu

MISSING ICONS IN THE FOOT MENU

Submenu icons
   
  * Administration

Applications
   
  * GNOME DB
  * GNOME DB SQL front end

Games
   
  * gTuring (candidates available)
  * Gnotski

Settings Submenus
   
  * Session
  * User Interface Options (candidates available)

Settings
   
  * Gnome Edit Properties
  * Session Manager Properties

Session
   
  * Save Current Session (candidates available)

User Interface Options
   
  * Application Defaults
  * MDI (there was supposed to be a candidate in the making)

Utilities
   
  * Text File Viewer (gless; candidate in the making)

MISSING ICONS IN THE PANEL CONTEXT MENU

"Add" submenu
   
  * Status dock

Amusements
   
  * Sixty Four Bits

Clocks
   
  * Clock
  * AfterStep Clock

Monitors
   
  * SwapLoad
  * NetLoad (candidate in the making)

Network
   
  * WebControl
  * URL Collector

Utility
   
  * Mini Commander
  * GDict (candidate in the making)
  * Where am I?
  * QuickLaunch (candidates available)
  * bug-applet

OTHER APPLICATIONS THAT NEED ICONS
   
  * memprof (memory profiler/debugger)
  * Gaby (personal database thingy)
  * gLife (ALife program)
  * GMath (mathematics system)
  * Gnome Transfer Manager (download thingy)
  * Pybliographer (bibliographer program)
  * XMMS Applet (XMMS multimedia player remote control)

FILETYPES THAT NEED ICONS

NB: this is a big and bold list. It contains nearly all the suffixes from
the suffixes(7) man page and more.
   
  * Assembly source (.s, .S)
  * Automake template (.am)
  * Awk source (.awk)
  * Backup file (maybe this should be done by laying something over the
    backed-up file type's icon)
  * ChangeLog
  * Common Lisp source (.lsp, .lisp)
  * C++ header (.H, .hh, .hpp)
  * Data file (.dat)
  * lib*db* simple database (.db)
  * Diff output (.diff)
  * DVI (.dvi)
  * Eiffel source (.e)
  * Emacs Lisp source (.el)
  * Emacs Lisp bytecode (.elc)
  * Fortran header (.fi) (try punched cards)
  * Fortran source (.f, .F) (dito)
  * FTP URL (.ftpurl?)
  * generic TeX font (*gf)
  * Ghostscript font (.gsf)
  * incomplete file (template) (.in)
  * .info file
  * .it audio file (ImpulseTracker module)
  * Java class (.class) (candidates available)
  * LaTeX class (.cls)
  * LaTeX style (.sty)
  * lex/flex source
  * Linux kernel (vmlinuz etc.; there should be icons for other OSes'
    kernels, too) (candidates available)
  * log files (.log?)
  * LyX files (.lyx)
  * M4 source (.m4)
  * Metafont source (.mf)
  * MIDI sequence (.mid)
  * NEWS
  * Nroff source for me package (.me)
  * Original file (.orig)
  * Pascal source (.p)
  * packed TeX font (*pk)
  * Patch (.patch) (candidates available)
  * Perl header (.ph)
  * Perl method (.pm)
  * Perl source (.pl, .perl)
  * Process ID file (.pid)
  * PGP armoured text (.asc)
  * PostScript font, ASCII (.pfa)
  * PostScript font, compiled (.pfb)
  * Python source (.py) (candidates available)
  * Python bytecode (.pyc) (candidates available)
  * RC (configuration) file (*rc, no suffix)
  * Rich Text Format (.rtf)
  * SGML (.sgml)
  * Shell script (.sh; the question is whether this makes sense, since most
    scripts have not got a particular suffix)
  * Stampede package (.slp) (candidate available)
  * Sun audio (.au)
  * Tcl source (.tcl; the same as for .sh goes for this)
  * TeX font metric (.tfm)
  * TeX virtual font file (.vf)
  * TeX virtual property list file (.vpl)
  * Texinfo source (.texi)
  * TODO
  * uuencoded file (.uu, .uue)
  * yacc/bison source (.y)

CONFLICTS
   
  * Balsa and TkRat using same icon
  * Gnome PPP, Internet Submenu, XSiteCopy using same icon
  * Main menu, Programs menu using same icon
  * Printer applet, GULP using same icon

SUBOPTIMAL ICONS

    Bitgrazer
has text, is not shaped
    Enlightenment theme
icon: E is hard to discern
    Glines
could use transparency
    GQview
a logo, not shaped, illegible, too massive
    Logview icon
metaphor is not international
    X-Chat
the new icon is better, but still a logo and not shaped
    Screem
is a logo
    TeX
file type icon: does not use correct TeX logo (capitalised, subscript E)
    Utilities menus
Swiss Army knife could do with more contrast

Feel free to comment.

THANKS

Thanks to all who have contributed.

If you, too, want to contribute, be sure to check the small GNOME Artwork
HOWTO.

mawa (mawa@iname.com)
-- 
> Your best form of "antigravy" in space stations is centrifugal
> pseudoforce.
I'm sorry, Dave, I'm afraid you can't eat that...
           -- Eric Max Francis and Paul Guertin on rec.arts.sf.science