[Qgis-developer] Updates and feedback on GIS icon theme

[Mailing Lists]

Dear Robert, Anita and others interested in QGIS Iconography

Since we just finished the hackfest, I promised Anita that I would
write to Robert to discuss the GIS icon theme. I am writing on the dev
mailing list for transparency and so that others may add their input
to the discussion.

Robert we would like to switch over to using GIS icon theme as the
default theme in QGIS 2.0. Let me start by quoting from my blog post
on our recent hackfest:

" The topic of icon usage within QGIS received quite a bit of
attention. The GIS icon theme is great in that it is visually
consistent but the feedback I received from most users was that they
still preferred the ‘old’ default theme. We discussed why this may be
the case, with the concensus being that it was down to:

- people who were already familiar with the old theme had to relearn
to recognise the GIS theme icons so its easier just to not switch
- the contrast in the GIS theme icons is quite low so your brain has
to do more work to figure out the important elements of each icon
- some of the icons contain concepts that are not recognisable – they
dont provide any or enough visual clue as to what their function is
(e.g. spatial bookmarks, add vector)
- Some of the icons break with existing user interface memes for
example using a hand icon for a pan button and a four direction arrow
to indicate that something can be moved.

We would really like to have a consistent icon theme in QGIS 2.0 so
Anita has started a revision of the icons to try to address some of
these issues. We will use this posting as a starting point for a
discussion with Robert Szczepanek (the original authoer of the GIS
theme) and try to work with him to pass our changes upstream where he
is agreeable. You can see an example of the original icon theme from
Robert (first image below) and the updates from Anita (second image
below).


http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2448/4090679952_d355874a67.jpg

http://www.flickr.com/photos/38241992@N06/4090679956/
"

Anita has been doing great work but obviously we would like to avoid a
situation where we create a fork of your icons or duplicate the
effort. At the same time we are sensitive to the fact that you or
other downstream projects may not like the direction we plan to take -
our changes meet our needs but may not meet the needs of other
projects.

Thus this email is really to sound you (Robert) out on whether you
would be willing to accept the updates that Anita will be working on
and if so the best way to go about filtering this work up to you. Also
if you have any other hints or comments on how to make the process of
us (well Anita mainly) updating your icons in such a way that the
changes will be broadly interesting to other projects, we would love
to hear it.

Best regards

Tim

-- 
Tim Sutton - QGIS Project Steering Committee Member (Release  Manager)
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