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Mandrakelinux Default Desktop Discussion


mousematt
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To mousematt: excellent effort!

 

I still think though that:

- 'desktop' folder should be hidden (is there really anything useful in there you need easy access to?); same for /tmp folder ; if that is possible of course

 

- Productivity menu is a great idea... however, shouldn't Kontact be in there as well? Or other programs? I like it like it is now though, but what if I use more productivity applications, like Scribus, where would that go? The names you gave for it are great though.

 

But: "open in terminal" and "open in file manager".. I am missing WHAT to open in them. Or do they just mean "open terminal/file manager"?

 

- show desktop button is now at a logical, intuitive place to use (right next to Virtual Desktops), but maybe it would be a nice idea to group the 2 together? I mean as a part of the virtuel desktop menu?

 

- the window decoration isn't bad, but could still improve...

 

- the light blue wallpaper arctic pointed to is a great compromise between too dark and too light... only I agree, loose the "Explore the..." text

 

- Yes, I would definitely add K Control Center to the desktop somehow... called 'configure desktop' or 'desktop settings' or something like that

 

- I would not use 'agenda', indeed...

 

 

I think Mandrake will makes sure it looks enough "Mandrake"... eventually it's them doing the decisions. That being said, I think one thing that can leave a lasting positive impression, is an original, Mandrake-styled, Window Decoration (and possibly Style)... SUPERB ones this time... good is NOT enough ;)

 

But that is a really AWESOME effort, mousematt, I mean it. I don't think this needs too much changing. :)

 

 

To arctic:

 

- nice wallpaper and you are right, ditch the "Welcome" text.

- Your folders names in your screenshot don't make 100% sense to me; in my book, 'Audio' is a subcategory of "Multimedia", same for "Pictures" I think. Either put them all under "Multimedia" or drop the "Multimedia" folder

 

---

 

I must admit: when nobody replied to this thread for 2 days, I was disappointed... I'm getting addicted to this :D

Edited by Darkelve
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- nice wallpaper and you are right, ditch the "Welcome" text.

- Your folders names in your screenshot don't make 100% sense to me; in my book, 'Audio' is a subcategory of "Multimedia", same for "Pictures" I think. Either put them all under "Multimedia" or drop the "Multimedia" folder

okay, maybe something was a bit unhappy from my part. the picture added above does NOT show the wallpaper that is available from the link above. i used this picture only for showing an icon theme that does NOT have blue folders and is a bit more flat thus being easy to recognize and navigate.

 

okay, here comes my improved version of what i think could be a nice galaxy windeco. let us call it galaxy3 if we discuss it later. it has a 2 pixel window-border, as requested, buttons are a bit polished and some minor stuff here and there. :)

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galaxy3 reminds you of gonx for gnome? hmm... never used this theme, so no idea how it looks like. (gotta download it, eh? :lol:)

How does it look with the Galaxy widget set alongside it?

 

here it is. galaxy3 on kscd. i chose kscd because this app shows exactly what i mean. lots of space wasted on the buttons. a little bit more compact and they would do fine. with respect to the windeco: should it be smaller? should there be a "small black border" in the app, seperating the windeco (galaxy3) from the apps theme (thememdk) or should no separation be visible? i can't really get to a conclusion on this one.

comments are welcomed. :)

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The fact that the buttons look large is because the fonts are small :) (see attachment)

 

I wouldn't have the black line seperating the windeco from the app. Just have a slight chnge of colour between te 2. Best is to stick to a clean look and not have to many features. The theme itself is very 'strong' and if and it will look cluttered if you add to many 'extras'.

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The fact that the buttons look large is because the fonts are smal

not exactly. look at the compact plastic windeco and how much space is wasted e.g. between the buttons. nothing at all, you can't even put a finger between the buttons. this reduces way you ahve to go with a mouse.

 

now look at thememdk: you can place an elephant between two buttons. wasted space. also... the more i look at it, the less do i like the rather "hard" shadow-effect. it is not smooth at all. better beveling would be nice here.

 

hmm... a strong theme... less features... should galaxy3 have only one color in the top-bar? only blue? only grey(silver)? or a gradient from left to right?

 

i will remove the black border for the next screenie for comparision. :)

 

edit: here comes the next version.

Edited by arctic
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No the 2 colours of the windeco are fine. I particular like the extra blue stripe on the right. It looks energetic. Maybe the menubutton on the left should be the same for all apps. That would reduce some clutter (make it the a little yellow mandrake star)

 

I agree the shadow under the buttons is to pronounced. They should be smaller and be the same size top and bottom (and left and right, More a 12 o'clock shadow :) )

 

For more honest comparison I have added a thememdk attachment

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This grey windeco is not my taste at all. It looks boring and dull. And I don't like a black windowborder. It should be in the colour of the windowbar not black.

 

I can understand why some people like a minimalistic look (I tried it myself a few times) but in the end it just doesn't work. I think people loose concentration (just the reason why curves are put in a straight road to keep drivers from loosing attention) when they have to use something like that for hours an end (since the default theme woill be used by companies and schools etc etc). Keep the colours. The theme needs it.

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yes, a too minimalistic desktop might be a somewhat unfriendly working environment. but adding to much distracting stuff won't help either, so we need a good balance. we certainly have the problem of personal tastes, so what we have to keep in mind is that there are hundreds of different views on what will be considered a "nice default desktop". if we want to find the right balance, thus a dekstop that can be used every day, we need to make sure that the windeco is not filled with too much eyecandy, nor should it be that reduced that its functionality (that is easy navigation, reading of text on window-borders, etc.) gets lost. same goes for the future version of thememdk. taking out all gradients and shadows would not be useful. especially since todays desktops are expected to be functional, but eye-friendly at the same time. since the coming of winxp and apple, who wants to have a "new, stylish" desktop that still has flat buttons? hmmm... surely, they do not have to look like baghira-buttons (aka osx-panther), but a plain, gnome-default style is not welcomed either, i guess..

 

devries, i have taken into account your suggestions and now, i have come up with three versions. i personally prefer the first and the second version, the third one reminds me too much of winxp default.

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I like the first one. Very nice. Though the star on the menubutton shouldn't be encased in a white cirkle. Just the yellow star on the blue background would, look in my opinion, much better.

 

And there is something worng with the windowborder. It makes it look too flat. (Though the same border looks good on the second and third version). I think it will look better if the sides had a different colour (grey I think, look at mousematts version).

 

Finding a balance is always hard and sometimes a 'dictator' should take charge and decide how it should be but on the whole we are making good process and some of the mockups look really nice.

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I like the second and then the 1st example. I think the second one has better contrast, thanks to the purple gradient. To tell the truth, I *want* that windeco! :D

 

The 'star' is less distracting than I would have thought, but for me I would immediately replace it with another windeco (see my remark about 'advertising' on the desktop; yeah, I know it is nice to 'brand' a product, but *that* star would appear on every freaking new window I'd open!).

 

I liked the 'dot' much better because it is more 'neutral'.

 

 

Just had a thought: maybe it would be interesting to have one (or more) poll(s) on this board about which existing window decorations, iconsets and 'styles' are the most used ones over here?

Edited by Darkelve
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