Since some of you have asked for my opinion, here it is. I like the Finder icons. But I also think that the splash screen is way too stark. My initial reaction was that it had and "arctic" theme so maybe it is the white background that gave me the negative feeling.
The more important question that you probably need answered is what needs to be done to get these into NeoOffice Beta. Note that the first EAP Beta is still at least two months away so you have plenty of time to do the following:
1. Create replacement *.icns files for at least the existing 16 *.icns files that are shipped in NeoOffice's Contents/Resources folder.
2. I encourage you to use the same file names as the existing *.icns files. If you decide to change them, you will need to provide an updated or patched Info.plist before I will use the new icons.
3. You need to make these *.icns, the *.bmp for the splash screen, as well as the source files that you used to create these images available under the LGPL or GPL license. If you used anyone else's work in your work, you also need to include their license as well and verify that their license is compatible with the LGPL or GPL license. This licensing stuff is a hassle, but I will not put anything into NeoOffice into it is clear that all copyrights to the work are clearly noted and such work is licensed under the LGPL or GPL license. The last thing that I want to do is infringe on someone's copyright.
4. Make sure that you note that NeoOffice is a registered trademark of Edward H. Peterlin whereever the word NeoOffice is displayed as neither the LGPL and GPL licenses cover trademarks.
5. Post a package with your work and the licenses on a website where people can evaluate it. Then, when we get close to Beta, I'll can pull in the files.
Joined: Jun 11, 2006 Posts: 481 Location: Great Britain
Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2006 1:30 pm Post subject:
Patrick: 1, 2, 3. Can do. Will do.
Icons and templates for the 5 base document types:
I don't know if it's possible to have templates for all these but what the hell. I'll also make a document for formula since it appears in the quickstart menu. But should all the various document formats, and all the spreadsheet gizmos (what is all that stuff?) have different icons? I think HTML should have a unique icon, but for the others I'm inclined to duplicate the Writer or Spreadsheet icon. IMHO the purpose of the icons shouldn't be finegrain identification (e.g. rtf, txt, doc) but to identify the application and what class of file it is (e.g some kind of NeoOffice Writer document).
And it means less work
Splash image:
[zen meditation] Less is more. [/zen meditation]
It was a very concsious effort to mimick the splash style of Apple's Pro applications suite. I'll have to think what I can do that makes it less stark for all you none minimalists without making it look like an explosion in a paint factory...
I think I'll continue with the ship in blue circle, I agree that it helps new users to associate the documents with the application icon. I also agree that it could make the design too busy but I'll see what I can do with it.
Looking forward to it .
djpimley wrote:
If I added a background graphic to the splash screen I don't know what it would be - NeoOffice doesn't have much in the way of graphical branding apart from the ship motif. Maybe an ancient map with "Here be dragons" written on it. I'd have to source that kind of thing from a copyright free resource, maybe Ed or Patrick have something on file related to their ship research.
Well, the existing background for the ship has the sea in it. That might be nice to stick with. Otherwise the ship is separated from its orginal meaning everywhere. The splash screen looks like the only place with enough pixel real estate to include it. Something with water and a horizon, if at all possible. Maybe like the ship version at http://trinity.neooffice.org/.
I think the original map actually had an 'here there be monsters' on it...
Also, I personally like the white area on the right of your first version, and especially the sans font. But then again, I just like minimalist design . Bauhaus forever <EG>.
-Oscar _________________ "What do you think of Western Civilization?"
"I think it would be a good idea!"
- Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
Joined: Apr 25, 2006 Posts: 2315 Location: Montpellier, France
Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2006 2:19 pm Post subject:
It's pretty nice, but I prefer the all-white one.
Like Oscar, I like the white at the right of the splash screen. Maybe you could try the opposite, with the blue part starting on the left and getting white as we move to the right ...
Edit : Also, the original splash is a .bmp, not a JPEG. It might be better to keep it that way.
Last edited by Samwise on Wed Jun 14, 2006 2:22 pm; edited 1 time in total
Ooh, pretty... and gentler on the eye, and draws the attention to the religious icon that the NeoOffice ship rightly is (cue my new proposed tagline):
"Sailing upstream against the alternating current of Mac OOo - not just any port in a storm..."
- padmavyuha
purity is optional in both splash screens and metaphors
...
Um, anyway, as for the latest doc icons above, I tried reducing the jpg size so the icons were the size they are on my desktop, and the blue template icons don't read for me - too much dark blue, not enough background colour for 'type' recognition. If I might suggest an alrternative approach, how about if the 'reverse' of the paper was blue in a template icon, so the folded over tip is the blue and the rest remains as it already is? I like the icons as they stand, they're very readable/recognisable, I wouldn't like to lose that for the template versions.
I could never get the document icons image to load, but I grabbed it with curl (it's a large image and your server seems to be talking to me quite slowly) and then Preview complained it was corrupt I did manage to look at it in GraphicConverter.
FWIW, template icons on the Mac have traditionally been a upside-down document icon on top of (above) the right-side-up icon. The blueprint idea is neat, but I wonder if the blue is too dark?
We don't currently differentiate every document format, but we group them; the existing 15 icons are:
1. Writer documents (OpenDocument, OpenOffice.org 1.x, StarOffice formats, MS Office formats, WordPerfect formats)
2. Writer templates (templates for the above less WP)
3. Calc documents (OpenDocument, OpenOffice.org 1.x, StarOffice formats, MS Office formats, Lotus formats)
4. Calc templates (templates for the above less Lotus)
5. Draw documents (OpenDocument, OpenOffice.org 1.x, StarOffice formats)
6. Draw templates (templates for the above)
7. Impress documents (OpenDocument, OpenOffice.org 1.x, StarOffice formats, MS Office formats)
8. Impress templates (templates for the above)
9. Math documents (OpenDocument, OpenOffice.org 1.x, StarOffice formats, MathML)
10. Chart documents (OpenDocument, OpenOffice.org 1.x)
14. Database documents (OOo2 Base, DIF, DBF)
11. Plain text documents
12. RTF documents
13. HTML documents
15. Generic (catch-all for things like .csv, .svg, Master documents, Galleries, etc.)
To this you'd "need" to add HTML template (since such a monster exists in OOo2) and a database template, if Base can create templates.
I think plain/rtf/html are very specific formats of text document that need differentiation from the rest of the Writer office-type documents.
Smokey _________________ "[...] whether the duck drinks hot chocolate or coffee is irrelevant." -- ovvldc and sardisson in the NeoWiki
I could never get the document icons image to load, but I grabbed it with curl (it's a large image and your server seems to be talking to me quite slowly) and then Preview complained it was corrupt I did manage to look at it in GraphicConverter.
The problem is that although it ends in .jpg, the file contents are not .jpg. Here's what I get when I try to view the file in GNOME's Image Viewer:
Quote:
The filename "image.jpg" indicates that this file is of type "JPEG image". The contents of the file indicate that the file is of type "Photoshop image".
I don't think my Linux Firefox has a plugin able to dispaly it. But GIMP opened it no problem (I did the same curl trick as sardisson)...
W
PS-- I love the new graphics. I like the standalone ship more than the blue shipball, but I was clearly outvoted on that one...
Oh, and I like the blue splash much more than the plainer white one, although doesn't NO need a trademark "TM" (and is the blue shipball trademarked too?)
Joined: Nov 21, 2005 Posts: 1285 Location: Witless Protection Program
Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2006 6:05 pm Post subject:
djpimley wrote:
Blue sky? Blue ocean? Blue ice?
+10 Splash Screen - VERY Nice. I like the less bright color, and it's clean and simple.
It's going to be small (on most systems! ) and seen for a short time. Clean, simple, and clearly NeoOffice!
I can't see the Icons. I tried several was and just got the URL address.
+1 - Icons with Blue Ship Logo. As these will normally fairly small. The Blue background could be a pale / light blue to set the Ship off, and not be to dark as a tiny logo.
Joined: Jun 11, 2006 Posts: 481 Location: Great Britain
Posted: Thu Jun 15, 2006 2:14 am Post subject:
Quote:
The filename "image.jpg" indicates that this file is of type "JPEG image". The contents of the file indicate that the file is of type "Photoshop image".
My bad. I hate that Photoshop lets me do that. I'll fix it tonight.
The new blue splash image is a JPEG because I'm trying to stop my server from melting. There's a lot of other crap on there getting a lot of hits and all these images might be the last straw. ® will be added to the splash.
If the blueprint is too small I'll rethink it. Maybe a full size blueprint but then in the bottom left corner it fades into the identifying colour so you can still tell the document type. I prefer the blueprint, the upside down document idea is not obvious and equally indistinguishable at smaller sizes.
Joined: Apr 25, 2006 Posts: 2315 Location: Montpellier, France
Posted: Thu Jun 15, 2006 6:22 am Post subject:
I actually changed my mind. I quite like the new "blue" splash, better than the old one. I actually looks better now that daylight has come back.
Quote:
The new blue splash image is a JPEG because I'm trying to stop my server from melting. There's a lot of other crap on there getting a lot of hits and all these images might be the last straw.
Why not use a dedicated hosting service such as ImageShack ?
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I did manage to look at it in GraphicConverter.
) and seen for a short time. Clean, simple, and clearly NeoOffice!
I hate that Photoshop lets me do that. I'll fix it tonight.