[Qgis-developer] icons

[Robert Szczepanek]

Hi Tim,

> - add vector layer icon - the previous edition way of representing a
> vector with little nodes on it was for me nicer than this version

The goal was to shape 'vector' in 'v' letter, to make it recognizable at 
once. But you are right - with nodes it can look better.

> - add wms layer icon - it looks good but I'm not sure if its intuitive
> as users may mistake it for being something to do with pie charts
> - add sfw icon (from plugin) - not themed
There is problem with this group of icons. They are not standarized, or 
at least I couldn't find them. This set will increase in future, so 
symbols should be 'scalable'.
The most interesting framework I found here:
http://www.analygis.com/Services/index.htm
Earth as basic shape, and 1/4 of shape for details/services:
- paper (map) for WMS
- gear wheel(settings) for WFS 
(http://icons.iconarchive.com/icons/iconica/pastel/settings-icon.jpg)
This way we will have consistent WxS set with space in the center of 
layer for other details.

 > - add gps layer icon (from plugin) - not themed

Both WFS and GPS icons are ready, but I decided not to include at this 
stage any plugin icon.

> - core plugin icons - not themed
Could you please specify them.

> - show and add bookmark icons - they look nice but I'm not sure if the
> functionality they represent is easily recognisable
My first idea was to use sort of bookmark from Firefox - star sign
http://www.brothersoft.com/icon/turbo_favorites_checker-110499.png
But this is very similar to create/new action sign and has no spatial 
context. I left only yellow color and added bookmark to 'region'.

> - pan / zoom icons - much better. The previous icon set's  navigation
> icons you did I found quite innovative to represent zoom using distorted
> vectors, but they require more work to recognise. This version is more
> conservative in its representation but instantly recognisable. The
> contrast is much better too. My only suggestion is to use for the
> magnifying glass handles the more orangy colour from (around about
> #c2a524 rather than the more dirty yellow colour a4a413)
Will try it.

> - editing icons - all great. My only suggestion is for the move vertex
> icon to use a 4-way arrow subicon rather.
Don't agree.
1. There is no space in action part of icon.
2. It will look the same as pan.
But I will prepare also this version and we will decide. Who knows ...

> - copy and paste icons - for me these icons were the weakest. 

You are right. It was the last point done late night :)

> In summary though I must say wow! Its a great set of icons and with your
> permission I will add them as a 4th theme in the shipping QGIS 1.0. I
> will also look at resolving the issues of them not loading properly when
> not used as the default theme.

In next versions of QGIS I hope to help you with naming specification.
http://standards.freedesktop.org/icon-naming-spec/icon-naming-spec-latest.html
Both from icons side and coding part.

> If others agree, I will propose that we move completely to your icon
> theme in QGIS 2.0 (or some 1.x version). I was planning to move to svg
> icons only for 2.0 but if I recall correctly you already did them in svg
> and just rendered out to png right? 

This is one day to split it into separate files, as all icons I have in 
layers in one svg file.

> If we are planning ahead to get qgis
> 2.0 (or even some 1.x version) using your icons as default, it would be
> great to have the core plugins and other miscellanious icons themed too.
Sure, I'm ready for that.

> Lastly it would be nice to have some kind of guide available to
> developers so that their 3rd party plugins can appear in QGIS in a way
> that is consistent with the existing icons.
I will prepare icon design tutorial for Inkscape, but let me first 
complete similar icon set for GRASS. As GRASS was source of my idea, and 
QGIS his younger brother definitely easier to equipe with icons :].

Thank you Tim for time you spent on very detailed description of every icon.
I will prepare better(?) version within next few days, so if any of you 
have more comments please let us/me know.

best regards,
-- 
Robert Szczepanek