Re: New icons for nm-applet

[Karl Lattimer <karl qdh org uk>]

On Tue, 2008-10-28 at 18:47 +0100, Björn Martensen wrote:
> On Tue, 2008-10-28 at 17:22 +0000, Karl Lattimer wrote:
> > On Tue, 2008-10-28 at 17:11 +0000, Karl Lattimer wrote:
> > > On Tue, 2008-10-28 at 12:50 -0400, Dan Williams wrote:
> > > > On Tue, 2008-10-28 at 16:11 +0000, Karl Lattimer wrote:
> > > > > On Tue, 2008-10-28 at 16:07 +0000, Karl Lattimer wrote:
> > > > > > > > > So match the size of the nm-vpn-connecting-* set to the same overall
> > > > > > > > > size as the applet icon area, but just offset the vpn lock itself so
> > > > > > > > > it's positioned in the lower-right corner.  The progress twirlie can
> > > > > > > > > probably stay where it is.
> > > > > > > > > 
> > > > > > > > > Existing connection with VPN active:
> > > > > > > > > http://bigw.org/~dan/Screenshot.png
> > > > > > > > 
> > > > > > > > Now I get what you mean... Let me ponder this, I'll get back to you as
> > > > > > > > soon as I can see a good solution.
> > > > > > > 
> > > > > > > Great, hope it's soon :)  I'd think just moving the padlock down and to
> > > > > > > the right in the existing images would be just fine.
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > Probably, but I'd rather do some sketches of some other ideas, I mean
> > > > > > it's only one image which is used as an overlay, so that one could be
> > > > > > fixed easily, but I'm thinking now in terms of the progress meter for
> > > > > > vpn.
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > Maybe if we are moving the padlock down, then I could use icons which
> > > > > > are similar to the standard connecting animation but instead of a dot a
> > > > > > keyhole or something instead.
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > I'm mulling it, there's some space for flexibility. 
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > Hopefully i can knock up some updated icons today, and while i'm at it
> > > > > > classify them into sizes for 16,22 and 24
> > > > > 
> > > > > Actually as the padlock is composited we could probably benefit from
> > > > > compositing the icons for gsm/gprs, edge, umts, hsdpa and anything else
> > > > > that comes along, maybe the recently submitted patch should be updated
> > > > > to work in these terms?
> > > > 
> > > > Yes, that's what I replied to it with.  The code has "layers", and there
> > > > are currently two layers: device and VPN.  We can certainly add a mobile
> > > > broadband layer in which the mobile broadband badge goes.  Just need to
> > > > figure out where in the icon area that should go so it doesn't conflict
> > > > with the VPN lock.  Because you certainly can have an active VPN over
> > > > cellular.
> > > 
> > > Urgh, now we're starting to have problems... Colours are obviously going
> > > to be better as long as there is detailed explanation somewhere of what
> > > they mean. Mockups attached for discussion. 
> > > 
> > > vpn-umts.svg - My first impression of this is that it's starting to get
> > > crowded, and I can make the padlock smaller but loose detail which I
> > > feel is critical. 
> > > 
> > > vpn-umts2.svg - Slightly less crowded and more appealing I feel, only
> > > 3px tall to denote the technology, so we'll have to use vibrant colours
> > > which aren't in the tango palette :/
> > 
> > Thinking in these terms now, and maybe the signal strength bars can be
> > altered too...
> 
> this is just my own opinion, but i kinda like the icon style that looks
> a bit more like radio waves [1] better as they are symmetrical and look
> more like something is transmitted over the air than the current bars
> that stand next to each other, aligned at the bottom.
> i'd like to see such icons in NM and would like to know your opinion on
> this.

This is a good design, but I wonder about the apple-esque appearance...
It wouldn't be difficult for me to make up some new icons with that
design, and the padlock placement could end up being a little better, we
could also look at having the bars different colours to specify
different network types wifi, gprs etc... Of course this wouldn't be
ideal in code, but we could work around that i believe.

BR,
 K