Hello there,

I'm going to start with a statement that will give raise to misunderstandings, so please read on before getting too worked-up about it. Here goes:

I don't like the Tango icons at all.

Uff, I said it. But don't get me wrong: I think it is essential for such a great application as Inkscape to look "modern" and to blend in with the look we see on current desktop computers. To this end I think Michael has done a great job. When I say that I don't like the Tango icons it's probably more to the point to say that I don't like the way desktop aesthetics are headed in general. I abhor the whole "pastelization" tendency and I'm happier with more "stark-looking" icons. Remember Atari TOS? Those were the days.

Now for some constructive criticism. Neither have I closely followed the icon discussion so far, nor have I contributed anything to it, so please feel free to flame me for jumping in so late. But I've got one or two points to make. My reference is this image: http://www.inkscape.org/images/tango_theme.png , so I may be completely out of touch with current development.

1. The Circle, Box and Polygon tools look very different on account of their different colors, although they are quite similar in functionality (they all create a "flat", optionally filled shape). Also they don't convey the impression of something "drawn", but they look more like finished, plastic objects. In v. 0.45 the black outline suggested more of a "filled, drawn object" look. A red circle with a set-apart red outline just isn't something one would or could draw with the primitive circle tool.

I don't know what the 3D cube is for (my version doesn't have that), but I'd group it apart from the "flat object" category of tools.

2. The double outline in the spiral, pen and pencil line doesn't really make any sense. I know that it probably was added so the icon works on a black background, but I don't know to what extent this requirement should be pampered.

1+2. In combination, I miss the "black outline" and "colored fill" consistency across all drawing tools that the old icons had.

3. The angled pen positions on the old icons looked more dynamic and natural.

But then, of course, it doesn't really matter. Icon aesthetics are primarily to get newbies hooked. Once one gets used to a tool, one wouldn't switch to one with better-looking icons unless it offered a substantially better functionality (and in in the case of Inkscape, which one could?). I must admit that it was the intriguing aesthetics of sodipodi that got me onto the SVG train in the first place, and I still remember them as the best-looking set of all.

Now if only Inkscape offered workaround-free colored arrowheads and a less extravagant pattern generator tool I'd happily embrace the Tango icons.

--D.