Re: [Usability] Rational for icons in button

[Julien Olivier <julo altern org>]

> Let me clarify :)
> 
> If we're going to keep icons in buttons, then to make sure every gtk
> theme has at least one icon theme it can be used with without causing
> any visual clashes[1], we either have to rely on the (_very_ small group
> of) icon designers collectively designing enough sets to cover all gtk
> themes, or we have to rely on every gtk theme designer (relatively
> speaking a larger group) to limit their designs so that they match
> existing icon themes (or they have to become icon designers too).
> Neither of which sounds like a good solution.
> 
> Personally I find it impossible to draw many icons in a consistent
> style, but I'm quite happy designing gtk themes. For my Glacier[2]
> theme, I relied on icons from another theme, but still it's both
> incomplete and inconsistent (it uses icons with buttons in the image,
> which looks good on icon buttons but quite ugly on buttons with icons in
> them).
> 
> Judging by other gtk themes, I'm not the only one feeling like this.
> 
> 
> [1] Typically bad color combinations, or designs that are so similar
> that the differences stand out so much they drown out the overall
> design.
> 
> [2] http://freshmeat.net/projects/glacier-gtk/

OK, that's clear enough now.

But what I still don't understand is: how is it more of a problem to
design icons for buttons than it is to design stock icons (for toolbars)
?

What I mean is that theme developers (currently) also have to design
stock icons. Most of them don't do this (for the reasons you gave) and
we end up having nice GTK themes with clashing/ugly icons.

So if your point is: "it's very difficult for theme designers to create
_button_ icons and so we have to get rid of them", I don't really
understand why it would be more difficult to design _button_ icons than
stock icons.

But if your point is: "it's difficult for theme designers to create any
icons", then I think it's off-topic.

-- 
Julien Olivier <julo altern org>