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Facelifting the second

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Tim Felgentreff

Facelifting the second

Hello

I have been working on improving the out-of-the-box look a little
more. Here at university, we often have the problem that students who
dabble with Squeak for the first time are, may I say, repulsed by the
look of the image.
I have created a ChangeSet with a proposed new look inspired by
Facelift, but I tried to change as few things as possible.
I tried to make everything configurable, except for the window
buttons, all colors and button positions can be set back the way they
used to be (I think, unless I forgot something).

As 4.1 freeze is approaching, I thought I put it on the list. If there
any chance to get this into the release, I'll try to fix anything
people might find wrong/not configurable enough with it.

-- short list of changes
* The white color scheme was replaced by a light gray one
* New window buttons
* The menu button position is configurable
* The expand button can be hidden
* The "Click on label to Edit" preference no longer prevents dragging
windows by the label
* Some gradients have been reduced
* A double-click on the window label will expand that window
* Iconic buttons now highlight their icons on mouse-over instead of
drawing a border around them
* Corner grip morphs can be hidden
* Button and dialog corners can be set to squared

Regards,
Tim

Facelifting.8.cs (47K) Download Attachment

Andreas.Raab

Re: Facelifting the second

Hi Tim -

Not sure what's up with the change set but I can't load it. I'm getting
an error about ByteString DNU: #! which looks like a wrongly formatted
change set. Can you fix it and resend?

Cheers,
- Andreas

On 3/24/2010 6:57 AM, [hidden email] wrote:

> Hello
>
> I have been working on improving the out-of-the-box look a little more.
> Here at university, we often have the problem that students who dabble
> with Squeak for the first time are, may I say, repulsed by the look of
> the image.
> I have created a ChangeSet with a proposed new look inspired by
> Facelift, but I tried to change as few things as possible.
> I tried to make everything configurable, except for the window buttons,
> all colors and button positions can be set back the way they used to be
> (I think, unless I forgot something).
>
> As 4.1 freeze is approaching, I thought I put it on the list. If there
> any chance to get this into the release, I'll try to fix anything people
> might find wrong/not configurable enough with it.
>
> -- short list of changes
> * The white color scheme was replaced by a light gray one
> * New window buttons
> * The menu button position is configurable
> * The expand button can be hidden
> * The "Click on label to Edit" preference no longer prevents dragging
> windows by the label
> * Some gradients have been reduced
> * A double-click on the window label will expand that window
> * Iconic buttons now highlight their icons on mouse-over instead of
> drawing a border around them
> * Corner grip morphs can be hidden
> * Button and dialog corners can be set to squared
>
> Regards,
> Tim
>
>
>
>
>
>

Philipp Tessenow

Re: Facelifting the second

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Hello,

> I'm getting
> an error about ByteString DNU: #! which looks like a wrongly formatted
> change set. Can you fix it and resend?
>
> Cheers,
> - Andreas

I got that too, seemed to be a formatting error.
Here is the fixed changeset.

Regards,
Philipp
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.9 (MingW32)
Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org/

iQEcBAEBAgAGBQJLqj5wAAoJEOAfEteLmwSNxhkH/31m2kgT20ZQbK7PtDmIawEN
jEcGZ1BHKzAEBmkbVQgmdp3hVN4jHSovVjxTn4lru9BYICXBsl4URtSXtfMcBUcp
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14cJWL7axfjjccpKIHvWo1o+x7OVo6EndppNG4rXKKVBq2A60pDEIq3z3vhuJngp
6TRZ9TsCn4AcGUiTKI8oI9+/OsTgLaXilsmQ0Fd6ZxQTUALJWOnGF5CuBigqVCg7
6ENmw8KiiciNjqgBcPjP/NSQDa9GsYPy6Ig67n0D/6h+nPrn+neE1D9b1SbLcNc=
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Facelifting.8.cs (46K) Download Attachment

Andreas.Raab

Re: Facelifting the second

In reply to this post by Tim Felgentreff

Hi Tim -

Excellent work, thank you very much! I've pushed it into the trunk so
that people can play with it (just update and enjoy). Various notes:

* For people who prefer the colorful windows, go to Extras >> Window
Colors >> Colorful Windows. I think the default should be uniform but
for those of us who like their windows colored, it's trivial to change.
Try it.

* I agree with all the points Michael Davies has made. They are
worthwhile addressing (some of which I already did :-)

* I've reverted the modifications you did to IconicButton since they had
unintended consequences for stay-up menus and in other places. Instead,
I've added a SystemWindowButton as a subclass of IconicButton that has
these changes.

* The menu bar isn't in tone with the other menu preferences - for
example the menu bar doesn't appear to be bordered but submenus are;
instead the menu bar has a raised border.

* The progress bar color is wayyyyy too dark (it's basically black);
this needs to be a bit lighter.

* We need to figure out what we do with the icons in the menu bar for
the tools when using uniform colors. They're all gray and kinda
pointless :-)

That's about it for now. Again, *great* work. This is getting nicer and
nicer and I'm very happy to have these improvements in 4.1.

Cheers,
- Andreas

On 3/24/2010 6:57 AM, [hidden email] wrote:

Chris Muller-3

Re: Facelifting the second

> * For people who prefer the colorful windows, go to Extras >> Window Colors
>>> Colorful Windows. I think the default should be uniform but for those of
> us who like their windows colored, it's trivial to change. Try it.

I, too, like the colored windows. However, I don't use the
main-docking bar (because it covers my ClockMorph and my one-line
TextMorph I use for spawning new browsers via Alt+b, and sometimes as
a calculator or even very short workspace tests. I submitted an
addition of these elements to the docking bar as a contribution in the
inbox.

Now, of course, I have a question about the new icons... At first
look, I really liked them. But as I accumulated quite a few windows
on the desktop, the window icons, particularly the red X close icon,
started to really stand out in my peripheral vision. In particular, I
have several windows minimized, and I therefore have accumulated this
vertical row of red X's running down the left-side of the screen...

The last time I remember this "semi-distracting" sensation coming from
the window buttons was 3.7; when the #alternativeWindowBoxes look was
turned on. It looked good initially at the time, but then I think
people started to dislike the look. I don't think I was the only one
to think of them as "warts".

Has anyone else put a day's work in with these new icons and form any
opinions? I think it would be nice to replace the old 3.7 "warts"
with this updated look,but for those of us who feel that the window
controls should not be standing out over the content, it might be nice
to be able to escape back to the softer or less-distracting look..

Sorry, I don't mean to be a pain, but try turning on
#alternativeWindowBoxes now, see how it is totally pointless, and
therefore we should replace that look with this new one.. ??

laza

Re: Facelifting the second

Chris,

I feel the same distraction, when I have many open windows. It looks like someone has dropped a bag of M&Ms on my screen! ;)
Would it help, as Bert mentioned, to fade out all window buttons of non active windows?
I don't think going back to the old "warts" is desirable.

Alex

On Thu, Mar 25, 2010 at 22:55, Chris Muller <[hidden email]> wrote:

> * For people who prefer the colorful windows, go to Extras >> Window Colors
>>> Colorful Windows. I think the default should be uniform but for those of
> us who like their windows colored, it's trivial to change. Try it.

I, too, like the colored windows. However, I don't use the
main-docking bar (because it covers my ClockMorph and my one-line
TextMorph I use for spawning new browsers via Alt+b, and sometimes as
a calculator or even very short workspace tests. I submitted an
addition of these elements to the docking bar as a contribution in the
inbox.

Now, of course, I have a question about the new icons... At first
look, I really liked them. But as I accumulated quite a few windows
on the desktop, the window icons, particularly the red X close icon,
started to really stand out in my peripheral vision. In particular, I
have several windows minimized, and I therefore have accumulated this
vertical row of red X's running down the left-side of the screen...

The last time I remember this "semi-distracting" sensation coming from
the window buttons was 3.7; when the #alternativeWindowBoxes look was
turned on. It looked good initially at the time, but then I think
people started to dislike the look. I don't think I was the only one
to think of them as "warts".

Has anyone else put a day's work in with these new icons and form any
opinions? I think it would be nice to replace the old 3.7 "warts"
with this updated look,but for those of us who feel that the window
controls should not be standing out over the content, it might be nice
to be able to escape back to the softer or less-distracting look..

Sorry, I don't mean to be a pain, but try turning on
#alternativeWindowBoxes now, see how it is totally pointless, and
therefore we should replace that look with this new one.. ??

laza

Re: Facelifting the second

There is also the effect, that if you click/hold/wiggle the mouse a little inside a window icon you open up a black hole ...

Alex

On Thu, Mar 25, 2010 at 23:19, Alexander Lazarević <[hidden email]> wrote:

Chris,

I feel the same distraction, when I have many open windows. It looks like someone has dropped a bag of M&Ms on my screen! ;)
Would it help, as Bert mentioned, to fade out all window buttons of non active windows?
I don't think going back to the old "warts" is desirable.

Alex

On Thu, Mar 25, 2010 at 22:55, Chris Muller <[hidden email]> wrote:

> * For people who prefer the colorful windows, go to Extras >> Window Colors
>>> Colorful Windows. I think the default should be uniform but for those of
> us who like their windows colored, it's trivial to change. Try it.

I, too, like the colored windows. However, I don't use the
main-docking bar (because it covers my ClockMorph and my one-line
TextMorph I use for spawning new browsers via Alt+b, and sometimes as
a calculator or even very short workspace tests. I submitted an
addition of these elements to the docking bar as a contribution in the
inbox.

Now, of course, I have a question about the new icons... At first
look, I really liked them. But as I accumulated quite a few windows
on the desktop, the window icons, particularly the red X close icon,
started to really stand out in my peripheral vision. In particular, I
have several windows minimized, and I therefore have accumulated this
vertical row of red X's running down the left-side of the screen...

The last time I remember this "semi-distracting" sensation coming from
the window buttons was 3.7; when the #alternativeWindowBoxes look was
turned on. It looked good initially at the time, but then I think
people started to dislike the look. I don't think I was the only one
to think of them as "warts".

Has anyone else put a day's work in with these new icons and form any
opinions? I think it would be nice to replace the old 3.7 "warts"
with this updated look,but for those of us who feel that the window
controls should not be standing out over the content, it might be nice
to be able to escape back to the softer or less-distracting look..

Sorry, I don't mean to be a pain, but try turning on
#alternativeWindowBoxes now, see how it is totally pointless, and
therefore we should replace that look with this new one.. ??