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NeoOffice :: View topic - GUI Icon Redesign
GUI Icon Redesign
 
   NeoOffice Forum Index -> NeoOffice Development
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LemonAid
The Anomaly


Joined: Nov 21, 2005
Posts: 1285
Location: Witless Protection Program

PostPosted: Tue Jan 03, 2006 11:04 pm    Post subject:

<topic shift>
I really like these new Icons but don't want to mess about trying all the different "partial" sets.
If there were several complete sets I would jump at the chance to update my Icons.
<end shift>

Many thanks to all for their hard work on these Icons sets and NeoIconer and I look forward to using these tools in the near future.

Please know that there are more than one person closely watching these developments and waiting to try the excellent results. THANK YOU All for your efforts!!!!! Very Happy Laughing Wink Smile

Philip (ohhh look at the pretty ... shinny things! )

Edit: Oh and I vote for 24x24 size. Philip (smaller is hard on these ... mature(?) eyes )
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aussie149
The Merovingian


Joined: Feb 12, 2005
Posts: 607
Location: Australia

PostPosted: Wed Jan 11, 2006 3:54 am    Post subject: New Icons

If you like experimenting, I've added two new sets of icons to the site at

http://au.geocities.com/aussie_149/page0/page0.html

They are Silk, a free set from Mark James, and Tango, from the open source Tango Project.

The Silk set contains 316 NeoIconer replacements, but some are "cheats" - where I've grabbed the nearest-like icon to fill a need. The Silk set are quite nice icons in png format. Mark did them in 16x16. I've been in touch with him about the size, and he said "Sorry Peter, the Silk icon set is 16x16 only. I'm afraid they were drawn at scale, so I can't easily resize them, and I don't have the time to do 900 icons in a scalable format." Understandable! Smile I have thanked Mark, and have directed him to the page above to see that his hard work on these icons is appreciated.

I tried upsizing them myself to 20x20 and 21x21 [I suspect they would be too jagged at 24x24], but the resultant icons, while looking fine, would not work with NeoIconer. If someone could help out there, please email me the upsized file and I'll stick it up on the site.

The Tango set looks good, but is a long way from being usable. There is only a fraction of the icons needed so far. However, you can get an idea of how it will look, if we can ever get close to an OpenOffice.org set of Tango icons.

A reminder that Sebsatian's set of very nice Mail-like icons is on the first page at that site above. I posted them there on Year's Eve, if you've been away. Just click on the button on the left hand side.

Peter
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Apfelsurfer
Red Pill


Joined: Dec 04, 2005
Posts: 8

PostPosted: Wed Jan 18, 2006 1:10 am    Post subject:

Hi Forum,

sorry for the long time since my last reply, but I had quite some stuff on m plate Confused
Anyway.
Now I have the time again to dig depper into the field of NeoIcons Smile but before doing so, I am a little bit confused about the desired icon size. Up until now, I'm working with 22x22 pixels. Someone said that 24x24 would be better. I could also go bigger, say, 48x48, and then shrink them later.
Photoshop does an excellent job in shrinking later and keeping the details, the results the other way round are not so nice Cool

So please, help me out with this one: Which size would be best to work on?

Best regards
Sebastian
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Apfelsurfer
Red Pill


Joined: Dec 04, 2005
Posts: 8

PostPosted: Wed Jan 18, 2006 1:15 am    Post subject: and another thing ...

... that came to my mind:

The round icons seem to attract some fans Laughing but are quite some work to do. The Aqua-esque icons seem to be alright for everyone, as noone expresses any concerns about usint them.

My suggestion now is: I put together a "solo" version of the iconography without the rounded background, and if everyone agrees with the icons, I put them on the round buttons. Therefore, I also can change the appearance of the background buttons, make it a bit lighter or something.

Alright?

Best regards
Seb.
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ovvldc
Captain Naiobi


Joined: Sep 13, 2004
Posts: 2352
Location: Zürich, CH

PostPosted: Wed Jan 18, 2006 3:52 am    Post subject: Re: and another thing ...

Apfelsurfer wrote:
My suggestion now is: I put together a "solo" version of the iconography without the rounded background, and if everyone agrees with the icons, I put them on the round buttons. Therefore, I also can change the appearance of the background buttons, make it a bit lighter or something.


Sounds very nice. And I suggest going for 24x24. That is the maximum size for NeoOffice 1.x (i don't know about 2.0) and downsizing bigger ones is just an extra step, given that limitation (though feel free to to draw and design at any resolution you like to work with).

Best wishes and good luck,
Oscar

_________________
"What do you think of Western Civilization?"
"I think it would be a good idea!"
- Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
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LemonAid
The Anomaly


Joined: Nov 21, 2005
Posts: 1285
Location: Witless Protection Program

PostPosted: Fri Jan 20, 2006 10:32 pm    Post subject: Re: and another thing ...

ovvldc wrote:
Apfelsurfer wrote:
My suggestion now is: I put together a "solo" version of the iconography without the rounded background, and if everyone agrees with the icons, I put them on the round buttons. Therefore, I also can change the appearance of the background buttons, make it a bit lighter or something.


Sounds very nice. And I suggest going for 24x24. That is the maximum size for NeoOffice 1.x (i don't know about 2.0) and downsizing bigger ones is just an extra step, given that limitation (though feel free to to draw and design at any resolution you like to work with).

Best wishes and good luck,
Oscar

My THANKS to all. I just installed and played with NeoIconer 0.8.3 and a couple of the Icon sets. This is GREAT!
The Readme instructions were clear and simple to do. This a wonderful addition to NeoOffice. Sorry I'm just so excited!! Laughing Very Happy Cool Cool Cool
I like the suggestions above and add my vote.

Philip (Ohhhh Look at the Pretty Shiney buttons! Wink )
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berchca
Councilperson


Joined: Jan 15, 2005
Posts: 111

PostPosted: Sat Jan 21, 2006 6:28 am    Post subject: Re: and another thing ...

LemonAid wrote:
My THANKS to all. I just installed and played with NeoIconer 0.8.3 and a couple of the Icon sets. This is GREAT!


Very glad you like it. I've got a week or so in front of me now, and would like to pound out the issues with 0.8.3. Did anyone else encounter problems with it besides Yoxi?
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joe bloggs
Guest





PostPosted: Mon Mar 13, 2006 12:37 pm    Post subject:

I am sorry if I am a newbe at mac and more generally I have no clue about programming and typing lines.
Small question though: I have no idea how to install any of the icon pack and I have tried to use this Imagemagick and NeoIconer which, I am sure, work a treat.
But here I am, joe bloggs, thinking that I want neooffice with an apple look but can't get it because I don't know computing. Do you think a icon pack for idiots would work? Or maybe a ready-made neooffice with apple-like icons?
Sorry to lower the tone, it is rather frustrating if you're not a computer expert and just want something like click and install.....
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berchca
Councilperson


Joined: Jan 15, 2005
Posts: 111

PostPosted: Mon Mar 13, 2006 8:41 pm    Post subject:

joe bloggs wrote:
Sorry to lower the tone, it is rather frustrating if you're not a computer expert and just want something like click and install.....


No problem, happy to have you check in. The whole point of NeoIconer is to lower the bar and make it easier for people to create custom icons sets without being computer experts. There's a new version in the works that will be a lot easier to use, but it's a fairly large project and still a little ways off. Hopefully something useable in the next couple of months.

So check back.

_brett
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joe bloggs
Guest





PostPosted: Tue Mar 14, 2006 11:26 am    Post subject:

Thx berchca! Brilliant and I look forward to the new version. It seems that I used the installation package of Imagemagick 6 and that it does not work with Neoiconer! And now, I don't know how to uninstall Imagemagick... I am completely useless...
I managed to change the icons by going into the content directory though... I am not that hopeless!
Small question if I may: why is a version of NeoOffice not built with cool mac-like icons? Too complicated?
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berchca
Councilperson


Joined: Jan 15, 2005
Posts: 111

PostPosted: Tue Mar 14, 2006 12:56 pm    Post subject:

joe bloggs wrote:
Thx berchca! Brilliant and I look forward to the new version. It seems that I used the installation package of Imagemagick 6 and that it does not work with Neoiconer! And now, I don't know how to uninstall Imagemagick... I am completely useless...

The new version will cure all these ills, I promise you that. It ships with all dependent software built in, runs by clicking on the icon, and you will never see the Terminal window at all. Hang on, it's coming soon.
joe bloggs wrote:

Small question if I may: why is a version of NeoOffice not built with cool mac-like icons? Too complicated?

Not really for me to answer, but I suspect a lot of it is: No one has truly taken up the mantle, and with all the other work to do, it hasn't been a big priority.

But I like to think I'm building the tool that will pave the path. Only time will tell.

_brett
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LemonAid
The Anomaly


Joined: Nov 21, 2005
Posts: 1285
Location: Witless Protection Program

PostPosted: Tue Mar 14, 2006 2:37 pm    Post subject:

berchca wrote:

joe bloggs wrote:

Small question if I may: why is a version of NeoOffice not built with cool mac-like icons? Too complicated?

Not really for me to answer, but I suspect a lot of it is: No one has truly taken up the mantle, and with all the other work to do, it hasn't been a big priority.

But I like to think I'm building the tool that will pave the path. Only time will tell.

_brett

I believe that _brett is correct. With so many other tasks that need to be done - icons have a low priority. The purpose of NeoOffice is to port OpenOffice.org (OOo) to run directly on the Mac, NOT to change program code, menus, or other changes.
Because of _brett's, and others, work we have the honor of updating the icons to create a better Mac expereience. OOo version 2.0+ has changes that allow more customization of the visual interface - including Icons. How well will these changes port to the Mac? Only time will tell.

In any case - _bretts icons sets should be very heplful in the future.

Stay tuned and Thanks to all for their efforts!

Philip (no quote of the day available Wink )
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aussie149
The Merovingian


Joined: Feb 12, 2005
Posts: 607
Location: Australia

PostPosted: Wed Mar 15, 2006 8:06 am    Post subject: mac Icons

joe bloggs wrote:

Small question if I may: why is a version of NeoOffice not built with cool mac-like icons? Too complicated?


Hi Joe

Small question with a very long answer - sorry.

Having collected together a couple of sets of icons, I think the answer to your question is not that it's too complicated, but that it's too hard! Very Happy There are something like 500 icons needed to make a set [there will be more when NeoOffice catches up to OpenOffice.org 2.0, which has lots of icons for things not in the current version of NeoOffice]. Even if you were to snaffle icons from lots of commercial OS X programs, and from Apple programs and the OS X itself, that gives you about 100-150 icons only that would be meaningful in NeoOffice [believe me, I've tried!]

So, to have a NeoOffice/ OpenOffice.org set of Apple-type icons would require someone to develop from scratch about 300-500 icons. Not that people aren't trying: we have at least one member who is going down that path at the moment.

One problem is that very few icon designers tend to design sets that are bigger than about 100 icons [partly because it's such hard work, I suspect, and they get inspired for another set with a new idea and go off in that direction]. Check out the icon sets on KDE-look.org or gnome-look.org and you'll quickly see what I mean. Apart from the official OpenOffice.org sets [4 in OpenOffice.org 2.0], there has been one other set developed, which was really a variation on the Crystal [KDE style] by Pinheiro and Wadley. I think they're great, but others are more mixed. See this website I set up for info, icons and some pics on this topic:
http://au.geocities.com/aussie_149/

The next version of KDE will use Oxygen icons , which are an evolution of the Crystal style. I will love them, but I know I will be in a minority here, where there is a preference for more subtle sets Wink Check them out at
http://www.oxygen-icons.org/

OpenOffice.org is the most demanding of the open source programs in its need for icons: it seems that a program like say Abiword can get by with a mere fraction of the icons that OpenOffice.org needs. So what we need are icon developers who want to develop sets for OpenOffice.org, and then we need one of them who likes OS X icons [most don't it seems, they are either KDE [Crystal] fans or GNOME fans, so their designs follow those trends].

There is a promising move with the Tango set currently beign developed. http://tango-project.org/Tango_Icon_Library OS X icon fans might like them, then again they might not. I think they're pretty good, but again they look like they will stop well short of the needs of OpenOffice.org - and therefore of NeoOffice. I may be wrong, but I think I detect a drift towards GNOME icons [which I personally don't like] in the development of some icons, and a drift towards KDE icons in others. They are supposed to be a "third way", but they seem to me to occasionally betray the preferences of their designers.

Back to your orig. Q. I keep hoping that out there is a keen young icon designer, seeking to make his mark by producing a beautiful and complete set of icons for OpenOffice.org 2.0, who is influenced by neither GNOME nor KDE, but perhaps a bit by OS X icons. Or perhaps there is a jaded OS X icon designer, looking for the freedom of a self-driven goal of developing the definitive set of OpenOffice.org icons, which will lead to people who've never heard of open-source queueing up to get OpenOffice.org and NeoOffice, because they look so good!

Sorry, end of sermon. Oh, and none of this would make much sense without the work of berchca [Brett], and the efforts of Oscar and various others who have gone before, including Rohit Kaul, on whose work Brett built. I would be so bold as to surmise that the story of this is a nice little microcosm of the story of open source software, or of any healthy volunteer activity.

Fred Nerk Very Happy
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joe bloggs
Guest





PostPosted: Wed Mar 15, 2006 5:18 pm    Post subject:

Wow, thank you very much for all the time you have spent answering my question Razz
I will be patient and wait for the improvements. In the meantime thanks to all the developpers and contributors for creating this awesome project.
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sardisson
Town Crier
Town Crier


Joined: Feb 01, 2004
Posts: 4588

PostPosted: Fri Mar 17, 2006 5:47 pm    Post subject:

One thing I just noticed (having lauched Neo in French to re-enable my French dictionaries) is that some languages (e.g. French) have different Bold/Italic/Underline buttons that use the right letters for the language. FYI Wink

Smokey

_________________
"[...] whether the duck drinks hot chocolate or coffee is irrelevant." -- ovvldc and sardisson in the NeoWiki
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