I'm Active
From my last blog eatery and a lot of user feedback talking to several people I arrived to a new proposal.
Notice that I'm not using shadows or anything like that and the active window is in the back.
What have I done?
Increased the contrast of the double outline for the active window. Removed part of a gradient on inactive and placed a new darker gradient on inactive, also made the butons in outline mode in inactive.
Notice that I'm not using shadows or anything like that and the active window is in the back.
What have I done?
Increased the contrast of the double outline for the active window. Removed part of a gradient on inactive and placed a new darker gradient on inactive, also made the butons in outline mode in inactive.
Click on image for context.So give me your opinions on this subject and if I'm in the right path or not.
On a side note I decided to enter the akonadi logo contest with this entry,
the 2D Monochrome Version looks a lot like Nvidia logo so i will have to remake it :P (Miss that some how).
On a side note I decided to enter the akonadi logo contest with this entry,
the 2D Monochrome Version looks a lot like Nvidia logo so i will have to remake it :P (Miss that some how).
Comments
I am just hoping it is not.
Nuno's "I [..] made the butons in outline mode in inactive" seems to mean that they don't have content and are not elevated. But as you can see on the screenshot, they are there (and thus functional).
@Nuno:
I think this looks very good and I find the windows to be distinctively different. For me it is sufficiently usable, even given that my vision is quite bad.
However, it needs to be kept in mind that some people have even worse vision and may indeed still have difficulties. Maybe the idea of having an option in System Settings to add even more hints (but not one as ugly as Ozone's colorization) would be very helpful to those. It could be clearly marked as "against the design concepts of Oxygen" or as "for the visually impaired" to make clear it is _not_ Oxygen.
In any case, I love Oxygen and would really like it to be the default in KDE4.
Keep up your wonderful work!
-1 IMHO.
I think this is obviously better than current oxygen, but IMO it is still a bit hard to recognize active and inactive. And also doesn't white title color on top of gray background makes it harder to read the inactive titlebar text?
Anyway, thanks for your great work, unifying "beauty" and "usability" :)
I very much preferred the ideas from your former post, specially, #3 or #5 vs. #6 (back to front):
http://bp1.blogger.com/__JNFVYfijS4/R-47cZmYByI/AAAAAAAAALc/Vi1AKkLmRZI/s400/nocoloringmoreoptions8.png
However, what I quite like are those outlined, "embedded" buttons, not just for the background, but also for the foreground. With just one or two light color touches, thouse would look very oxygen-ish and very pleasant to the eye, IMO.
Now, if you could *just* make them square.... {:-/
Overall, excellent stuff. Kudos to the oxygen man!
> Increased the contrast of the double outline for the active window.
In my opinion too much contrast, destroys the whole Oxygen look.
The line between titlebar and window content seems to be darker too. Makes my eyes hurt; it doesn't seem to blend with the background at all.
The new inactive window looks even worse: the white text is hard to read (easy to fix) and the buttons don't look clickable which I think is a problem.
I did, however, really like the smooth look of number 5 here. Just miss the buttons.
Talking about the buttons, I heard that you were trying to come up with a new design for them, right? Have you ever considered having colorized buttons?
I hope I didn't sound too harsh, you've done a fantastic job so far. I didn't think I would abandon Plastik, but now I really wonder. The Oxygen style has improved very much.
One of the reasons I don't like the changes could be that I don't really have trouble finding the active window. It is, however, nice to see that you're trying to find a solution as many have complained about this issue.
Wishing you good luck solving this problem. :)
Daniel.
Would some color in the buttons harm the theme?
I like:
- Flat buttons
- Less gradients on the inactive window
I don't like:
- Symbols missing from the buttons (...and think about how you'll get usability complaints there again)
- White title text (unreadable, and doesn't look very nice)
- thick black lines (they totally destroy the smoothness)
Suggestion:
Try using the "active titlebar" color for the added outline, and instead of adding it on the outside, put it just on the inside of the white border, with 1px width. That "active titlebar" colored line would then span the whole titlebar and go down on the window frame a bit, and eventually fades out after about 1/3 of the vertical window size.
That way, there's one more contrast in the titlebar ("active titlebar" colored line -> white line -> gray outside line) and the contrast is reduced for inactive windows by just taking away the "active titlebar" line on the inside. Plus, nobody can say anymore that Oxygen ignores the color scheme :)
Other than that, white font on the inactive window kinda hurting my eyes. I prefer the the grey color in the previous post.
Other than that, I have to say that I really love Oxygen =). Keep up the good work!
Still these little changes might not be enough to help me with finding windows. And finding inactive windows should be able, too. So making the titles unreadable is not preferred ;)
Perhaps you need to design a completly need head?
Please make also the side borders visibly different regarding focus, not just the title bar.
Could you also add some white area to an inactive window? The white area cheats me to quickly into finding the active window.
.contrast between active & inactive windows coul be cool like on os x grey for active active white for inactive
(http://img.clubic.com/photo/00656132.jpg / http://img.clubic.com/photo/00656142.jpg )
Renoving the buttons seems dangerous as some user will interpret this as a dead window (as already stated in the comments) but removing some contrast (leaving the button function visible) seam the way to go for me.
Anyway, I was using Domino (kde 3.5) and i love it, and I would love getting it back. Forthe time being, it's oxygen for me :P thanks a lots for your work.
++
Seb
Black outside border line and dark title-to-window separator ruins the design. This is not beautiful nor elegant.
The whine about inactive blending with active is unjustified, because they have the patch by now to colorize the active window. Yes the colorize patch needs improvement, but that's not the point.
Please don't make this happen :-(
The white text messed up with my eyes a bit though.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this blog, so that we are able to give some feedback. One image, 30 replies, 100 opinions ;-)
.contrast between active & inactive windows coul be cool like on os x grey for active active white for inactive
Apple has done it like that for a good reason. The human eye perceives light-shaded, less textured objects as being far away, not the other way around (BTW, this is not just my personal taste: there's a whole lot of cognitive research on this matter).
Mi point is: make the ACTIVE window slightly DARKER, and the BACKGROUND windows LIGHTER, with less sharp features and desaturated colors. If done right, that alone could be a powerful cue of depth.
I could cite a few books on the field, if you'd like to investigate further.
you cannot see, what's inside the inactive windows
That's why we have the "present windows" (AKA. Expose) effect in Kwin, alongside with the desktop wall, coverswitch, taskbar thumbnails, etc.
The downside is that all of the above effects rely on compositing, but hey, we cannot have everything for everyone!
I agreed with Jakob Petsovits mostly, but I find that a hard line around the windows is great design... It defines, gives that edgy feeling of something with strength!
To use the color I would use it colorfy the border you have now softly (yes 10% ahaahaha)
My 3000 euros!!!!
Um abraço...
Note that one thing I like the most at Oxygen style is having that gap between the close button and the other two buttons (minimize and maximize).
It's handy because there is a less chance you will close your application instead of maximizing it... so keep that in mind, that is good design. :)
I agreed with Jakob Petsovits mostly, but I find that a hard line around the windows is great design... It defines, gives that edgy feeling of something with strength!
To use the color I would use it colorfy the border you have now softly (yes 10% ahaahaha)
My 3000 euros!!!!
Um abraço...
As a KDE-fan I'm really grateful for your contributions Nuno. Oxygen is shaping up rather nicely... You guys are fantastic.
//allix
The double outline is something we have now couse we cant depend on hardware acel..
Ivan coments are quite good and I agrea, Reached the same conclusions myself wile mocking.
so expect some more work in the next days, I will keep you posted.
Somthing that seeams to have setled in this cicle is the line under to be inverted and dimed.
No complaints meens good :P
Somthing that seeams to have setled in this cicle is the line under to be inverted and dimed
I disagree. I don't like the inverted line, sorry. Somehow it makes windows look "bent", as if they were bulging inwards.
Perhaps it's just an effect of my displays (an ancient Mac Pismo and a somewhat newer Lenovo laptop.)
Sorry again, guys, but I'm with Nuno in that he was on the right track from the very beginnings. All that's needed are a few *really* succint touches to make it perfect (and did I mention square buttons? :).
I'll see If I can come up with some mock-ups this weekend. No promises here.
The new inactive buttons are really good-looking.
From my point of view :
What's good :
- Inverted line gradient on inactive
- Less gradients on inactive
- Flat buttons
- The IDEA of outline without composite for Inactive
What is not perfect :
- The outline is too dark, a softer grey (but still visible!) may be better
- The symbols should still be on the buttons of inactive windows (maybe less noticeable than on active)
- White text... Maybe grey (darker than the background of course) might be better ? (but the background is already dark :/)
Suggestions :
- I prefer the inactive version without outline
- Maybe would it be better if the inactive window was less dark than the active one instead of being darker ? (then you could use grey as title text color)
Anyway, these are minor complaints from me, it's still pretty awesome :)
Actually the only thing that I don't find to look good is the
>> Window Buttons <<
They just look too roundish (and not enough noticeable), due to their form but although the gradients inside and outside + the grey-black gradient of the symbols...
If I had to change one thing, it would be the window buttons :p
http://www.nuno-icons.com/images/estilo/newstyletestsonflatgrpoupboxanddolphin.png
Please make it like this =D
Too bad, it seems I'll have to continue using other styles for a while because I really do not like active/inactive being too similar (I loose myself),
http://www.kde-look.org/content/show.php/Konqueror+4.0?content=39993
Just download the package and look after pic named: 7_konqueror4(translucency).jpg
It wold be realy great to see this in KDE4
also much better idea will be menu in windec
TOtally effacing the buttons will hinder and confuse many users .. especially when they open many windows together and drag and drop in between.
Also say goodbye to one clicking on a button (or an X button) on an inactive window to dispose of it!!
just a dim will be OK but complete effacement is radical and uncalled for (except of course that this given will be offered as an option and not as a premise)
Oxygen is a very elegant and clean style and the dark outline destroys it. I can live with the stronger gradients inside the box if it has to be but the black outline is a no-go.
In my opinion a drop shadow would be more elegant and help destinguish the active window from the inactive ones...
Maybe try it with stronger gradients inside active, inactive as it is now and just without the ugly black outline... it might work :)
Youre doing a great job by the way... keep up the good stuff ;)