Re: Look and Feel

[MJ Ray]

Jesse wrote:
> > Jesse wrote:
> >> [...] If using Camaelon
> >> would slow the system or create extra overhead, than I would prefer it
> >> was made the "native" look. [...]
> >
> > Huh? If this "new look" is slow, you want to make everyone suffer it?
> > That's a pretty severe way to force people to optimise it. I hope I
> > misunderstood.
> 
> Yeah -- sorry, not what I meant :)
> 
> I meant, if Camaelon _itself_ made things run more slowly, then the theme
> should be implemented in the system, where it will run faster.

Ah, you're talking about speed of execution, while I'm talking about
speed of use. I see the following speed worries about
http://jesseross.com/clients/gnustep/ui/concepts/01/ui.png

1. Menu not on edge of screen, so there's little chance of bumping
the edge as a way of finding it.

2. Suspect that menu items aren't full-width in the menu, but that's
an implementation issue.

3. Duplicated scroll bar controls.

4. Top file viewer navigation not lining up with columns.
What's what?  Also, where's its scroll bar?

5. Taskbar not as efficient as an appicon stack along a window
corner, similar to points 1 and 2.

6. Not sure what the unmarked tic-tac-toe grid is for. I suspect
this and the calendar would be better as dock apps.

7. Not clear how to resize windows... is it those little corner dots?
Yes, I know other window managers need work on that too.

In general, I think does look like an attempt to make GNUstep a KDE
or GNOME clone rather than just a modernisation of the NeXT style.
I'm pretty concerned about the overuse of rounded corners leaving
dead space, sometimes in the worst locations.

The brighter bluer colour scheme seems quite good, though, as does
the smooth window style. With some narrow line to show where the
"grab" areas begin and some indication of which window has input
focus, I think those could be used very well with GNUstep. I'll
try mocking them Real Soon Now if that's OK with you.

By the way, do you have permission to use the copyrighted firefox
trademark artwork to promote gnustep? It's not GPL, IIRC ;-)

-- 
MJR/slef
http://mjr.towers.org.uk/