Re: 1.2 theme properties / 2.0 default theme

[Calum Benson <calum benson ireland sun com>]

Joel Becker wrote:

>         I have a personal bias against the win9x-style radio/check
> buttons, so I'm gonna have to prefer the ones proposed by Arlo.

Me too; Windows-style checkboxes share more visual style with a text box
than a button, for no particular reason other than a poor design
decision when Microsoft moved from the flat style of 3.1 to the 3D style
of Win95, I suspect.

> Maybe the gradient is a bit much, but it has a 'prettier' look with 
> the raised grey, and is as easy, if not easier, to hit. 

I'm not mad on the gradient either, but it would be interesting to see
what a selected radio button would look like if its gradient was
reversed-- i.e. to make it look as though it was pushed-in.  (Yes, I
know I could just try it myself in GIMP, but I don't have the energy
right now!)

I guess you could try the same effect with selected check buttons,too,
but of course you can still press an already-selected check button to
deselect it again, so you really still want it to offer the "push me"
affordance...

You'd end up with a little inconsistency if the selected appearance of
radio buttons and check buttons was different, I suppose (one pushed-in
and the other not), but maybe it's warranted in this case, given their
different behaviour...

Cheeri,
Calum.

-- 
CALUM BENSON, Usability Engineer       Sun Microsystems Ireland
mailto:calum benson ireland sun com    Desktop Engineering Group
http://www.sun.ie                      +353 1 819 9771

Any opinions are personal and not necessarily those of Sun Microsystems