[Qgis-developer] Icon theme update

Tue Apr 16 08:27:44 PDT 2013

Hi Gary,

On Tue, Apr 16, 2013 at 7:20 AM, Gary Sherman <gsherman at geoapt.com> wrote:

> On Tue, Apr 16, 2013 at 4:14 AM, Tim Sutton <lists at linfiniti.com> wrote:
>
>> Hi
>>
>> On Tue, Apr 16, 2013 at 6:24 PM, Larry Shaffer <larrys at dakotacarto.com>
>> wrote:
>> > Hi,
>> >
>> > Since adding back the old default as a 'classic' theme choice is fairly
>> > straightforward, only taking about an hour to do, I suggest the
>> following:
>> > It isn't done for a couple of weeks.
>> >
>> > Here's my reasoning. If we are all looking at only the new default
>> theme and
>> > helping develop that into a complete and cohesive look for 2.0, then
>> those
>> > who are working on it will benefit greatly by the entire dev community's
>> > focus.
>> >
>> > I also think Robert's and other's reworking of the default icon set to
>> > address color and useability concerns needs the full focus and support
>> of
>> > the community for it to have a good chance at success. If right before
>> GUI
>> > freeze (~ 2 weeks), the new theme is assessed and there is still a
>> > consensus, or maybe a vote, that there should be a second
>> project-supported
>> > choice, then the 'classic' theme can readily be put back in.
>> >
>> > Please let me know what you think of that approach.
>>
>> My 2c. I was also hesitant about switching to the new GIS theme - I
>> have ~ten years of using the old theme so it was hard to make the
>> switch. However the last few months I have been using exclusively the
>> GIS theme and I must say you will get used to it and start to
>> appreciate it for its visual consistency. I think there are a lot of
>> benefits to having only one theme - some of which Larry had described
>> above. Also we will have less 'stuff' in our source tree, QGIS will be
>> readily identifyable in screenshots, screencasts and publications etc
>> - it will go a long way to creating a unified image and brand for our
>> project.
>>
>> Sure I would like the colours on the icons to be a little brighter and
>> there are probably other things that can be improved, but I think
>> having one officially maintained and supported icon set makes a lot of
>> sense.
>>
>> Regards
>>
>> Tim
>>
>>
> One consequence of eliminating the "classic" theme as an option is a lot
> of otherwise good, general documentation (articles, blog posts,
> stackexchange posts, books) will be crippled.
>

Well that's a very valid point.  :^)  With respects to it, I now think the
'classic' theme should definitely be reinstated as an alternative to the
default.

I looked through the number of screen captures and icons in the current
documentation and training manual repos to see how much work it would be to
migrate to the new icon set (obviously not an option for a book). It looked
like a considerable amount of work; enough so that I noticed there are
still screen snaps from much older versions.

However, there are still the benefits outlined by myself, Tim and others on
why moving to a single, new theme to support is a good idea. Towards that
end I'm thinking that maybe the following might now be a reasonable
approach:

* When developing or updating an icon for a 2.0+ feature, only one icon is
made for the new theme, and then copied to the classic theme, i.e. minimal
development time spent on the old theme.

* After 2.0 is released, remove the classic theme from master branch and
only move forward with the new theme. This assumes that between 2.0 and 2.1
many of the screen captures can be updated. Still not helpful for a book,
however.

Thoughts on those ideas?

Regards,

Larry

-gary
>
>
>>
>> >
>> > Regards,
>> >
>> > Larry
>> >
>> >
>> > On Tue, Apr 16, 2013 at 2:18 AM, Nathan Woodrow <madmanwoo at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>> >>
>> >> Don't be sorry, everyone's opinion should be heard. I have mixed
>> >> feelings, the old theme seems to kidish but the new one is too gray.
>> >> Now is a good time to look at which icons are causing the most issues
>> >> and revamp them.
>> >>
>> >> Sent from some fancy phone looking thingo
>> >> From: Régis Haubourg
>> >> Sent: 16/04/2013 6:06 PM
>> >> To: qgis-developer at lists.osgeo.org
>> >> Subject: Re: [Qgis-developer] Icon theme update
>> >> Larry_S wrote
>> >> > Some time ago, devs voted to move to the 'gis' theme as the default,
>> >> > i.e.
>> >> > not just the one selected by default but also the only theme
>> supported
>> >> > by
>> >> > the project. Even after this update, you may notice the icons are
>> still
>> >> > hodge-podge with inconsistent ones needing work. Due to lack of
>> >> > developers
>> >> > to maintain multiple project-supported themes, it is best to have
>> only
>> >> > one,
>> >> > so that a concerted effort can be made to keep it complete and
>> cohesive.
>> >> >
>> >> > Does mean that we can use themes in QGIS 2.0?
>> >> >>
>> >> >
>> >> > No theme support code was removed, only the gis theme condensed upon
>> the
>> >> > current default (because many default icons are still used) and old
>> >> > project
>> >> > themes removed. However, there has been talk of removing all theme
>> >> > support,
>> >> > but I can't speak to the state of that decision.
>> >> >
>> >> > I like to revive my nkids theme for QGIS 2.0 as option for Mac OS X
>> >> >> QGIS, is this possible?
>> >> >>
>> >> >
>> >> > I'm not entirely sure, but to use a different theme than the default,
>> >> > you
>> >> > will need to add it to the appropriate source directories, edit the
>> .qrc
>> >> > files and compile the source again. For example, nkids has been in
>> the
>> >> > source themes directory for awhile, but not choose-able in the gui
>> >> > because
>> >> > it is not been made part of compiled-in resource system.
>> >> >
>> >> > I did add some code to push any old saved theme choice over to the
>> new
>> >> > default, so if you did add a revamped nkids theme, maybe considering
>> >> > giving
>> >> > it a new name as well.
>> >>
>> >> Hi Larry,
>> >> it's a total surprise to me, since I thought I was following list
>> >> intensivly. I remember voting against gis theme, but majority did
>> choose
>> >> as
>> >> default. That's fine, I'm OK with the vote. But I was thinking having
>> the
>> >> choice to switch back to classic theme !
>> >> I submitted both themes to users and all of them in my corp wanted to
>> keep
>> >> classical one. By myself, I really have visual difficulties with gis
>> theme
>> >> (to much blue-grey, very few pixels to distinguish functions, overly
>> >> complicated icons..)
>> >> Moreover, I must say I've not been able to fund anything for months in
>> >> QGIS
>> >> project due to the lack of visibility. Please think of us and let us
>> see
>> >> more clearly where we can help the projects.
>> >>
>> >> Sorry for that message, but these last minute surprises really starts
>> to
>> >> be
>> >> a problem to me.
>> >>
>> >> Régis
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> --
>> >> View this message in context:
>> >>
>> >>
>> http://osgeo-org.1560.x6.nabble.com/Icon-theme-update-tp5047106p5047184.html
>> >> Sent from the Quantum GIS - Developer mailing list archive at
>> Nabble.com.
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>> >
>> >
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>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Tim Sutton - QGIS Project Steering Committee Member (Release  Manager)
>> ==============================================
>> Please do not email me off-list with technical
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>
>
>
> --
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> Gary Sherman
> Chair, QGIS Project Steering Committee
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