On 10/29/07, jiho <jo.irisson@...400...> wrote:
The biggest default of the Tango icons (apparently) is that they are less contrasted than the current set... which some could view as a quality of being less disturbing but that's a whole other story ;) Anyway, contrast could be improved in the Tango ones. They need to be tweaked anyway to fit Inkscape's pixel size requirements so tweaking them a bit more should not be a problem in itself.
Any tweaking is work. A lot of work. With 750+ unclosed bugs, I really think we have more important things to do right now than improving some proposed poor icon set when our current one is already better.
Actually, I have always found the gradient handles in the gradient tool's icon to be confusing, especially with the connector tool's icon, given that it is just above.
Yes, with this I agree. I would consider a redesign of our Gradient icon. But using the Tango one will make it too similar with the Rectangle. Maybe just rotating the gradient line horizontal will remove its clash with the Connector icon.
I think the unification of UI is not so much a matter of comparing Inskcape with Gimp and Scribus but rather Inkscape with the rest of GTK (and even QT) apps out there.
The more apps you compare, the less meaningful is the comparison. We have a number of tools that are similar with Gimp, less so with Scribus, and still less for other apps. In the end, it's just the standard Save and Open icons that are truly common to all apps; everything else is very different in purpose and scope.
The second argument about using Tango-like icons is that they are designed to look well in many environments:
- on both dark and light background
- in Gnome but also in Windows (XP at least) and OS X
The current set does not do very good on a dark background since most icons have a black outline which blends or disappears in the background. Bulia even proved this point himself in designing the new Tweak tool icon in a way that completely matches Tango recommendations.
Actually, this icon first of all matches most other icons on the toolbar - they too have both black and white outlines. And by the way, I was just planning to tweak this icon some more (pun intended) - it's currently not very crisp and lacks expression.
My last point is probably just a matter of taste (and I may well have bad taste ;)) but I find the Tango theme more pleasant visually than the current set. Even if I agree that the current set does its job well, I find it very flashy and cartoonesque with its bunch of colors and black outlines. Working with icons that are less catchy, more subtle in their colors and gradients, makes it easier to focus on the canvas, where the real stuff happens, than on the rest of the interface.
I agree, but Tango does not achieve this goal IMHO. It's too half-way, too inconsistent in itself, too clunky and plain boring. Instead, what I always dreamed of (maybe one day when I don't have anything better to do in Inkscape...) is an alternative set with purely B/W icons. Not even grayscale, but B/W, with everything expressed via pure shape and outline. If well done, it can look very stylish and unique. But Tango seems to me like a watered-down milk: why drink that if you can have pure milk or pure water instead?