Re: [Usability]Re: A "cheat" to full window manager integration

[Christopher Warner <zanee kernelcode com>]

James Ramsey wrote:

> --- Christopher Warner <zanee kernelcode com> wrote:
>  
>
> > What exactly are you saying? I'm lost, are you
> > saying that it's hard to 
> > be a designer? Yes I agree; it's hard to provide
> > something thats 
> > aesthetic to the human eye. Thats why there are
> > people dedicated to the 
> > job and do it well. I'm not one of those people.
> > What does this have to 
> > do with anything that I said about file formats and
> > the combination of 
> > the themes into one theme format?
> >    
>
> What I'm saying is that it is harder to design some
> things than others, and more specifically, it is
> harder to design a widget theme than a window frame
> theme. It is possible to design an insectoid or
> psychedelic or flashy or space-agey window frame
> theme, and still have it be functional. It is far more
> difficult to design a widget theme that looks exciting
> and still is easy on the eyes.
>
> For example, I can get away with having a white window
> frame title on a mottled emerald background. Why?
> Because people glance at titlebars rather than look at
> them for hours on a stretch. White widget text on an
> emerald background is harder to deal with, especially
> if it frames, say a WYSIWYG rich text which by
> necessity has black text on a white background. For
> some, that kind of color contrast is either borderline
> harsh or too harsh, fit for a screenshot but not for
> work.
>
> For another example, I can design a window border
> theme with a close button that can look like almost
> anything. If the button is in the position that a
> close button on a Windows(TM) toolbar would be, I can
> even dispense with the little "X" in the center of the
> button, and it will likely still be understood as a
> close button. See the Aqua and Esco Metacity themes as
> examples of this. On the other hand, designing a
> confusing checkbox or radiobutton is trivial. I've
> seen checkboxes where the only difference between the
> on and off state was a color difference, and I'd have
> to check to make sure which state belonged to which
> color.
>
> In short, making an exciting, attractive, yet usable
> window manager theme is fairly trivial. Making an
> exciting, attractive, yet usable widget theme requires
> a balance of functional design and aesthetics that is
> far more difficult to master. If the only way to theme
> the window frames is to theme the widgets as well,
> then you will likely get nice window frames paired
> with hard-to-read widget themes, because most theme
> designers are not skilled enough to handle both frames
> and widgets well.
>
> Therefore, it is better not to pursue a combined theme
> format.
>  
So what you're infact saying is that; because James Ramsey thinks that 
"most theme designers are not skilled enough to handle both frames and 
widgets  well" that "it is better not to pursue a combined theme format"?

Lets just agree to disagree and talk about something else.

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