Buttons, was: About Amarok's interface design (follow up)

[Leo Franchi]

On Fri, Oct 23, 2009 at 3:43 AM, Lee Olson <leetolson at gmail.com> wrote:

> Attached is a different approach for buttons. The first mockup shows the
> regular buttons, while the second shows a hover effect in progress.


The problem I have with these buttons is that we're not a spaceship. Even in
that mockup, which is already pretty far out there in terms of visual
branding, the control buttons stick out  when i'm looking at even a small
screenshot. The harsh corners/ends of the buttons look much more "stylized"
than the rest of the interface---more of a fun toy than a desktop
application.


 I guess this criticism kinda goes for the whole screenshot--with the custom
painted background---but it somehow looks more subtle and appealing to me
than the in-your-face buttons. Not sure if I can pinpoint exactly why.

leo


>
> On Thu, Oct 22, 2009 at 3:56 PM, Thomas Pfeiffer <colomar at autistici.org>wrote:
>
>> > i think they are nifty on their own. but what role do they have in
>> amarok?
>> > seriously, this looks like a completely different visual style from
>> >  anything else in the app. I don't understand how they could fit in the
>> >  toolbar. furthermore, i still can't see how the <> actually means pause
>> >  (like ||). and what's with the pentagon? :P
>> >
>> I agree with leo. These buttons do have a very distinct style, yet they
>> don't
>> seem to fit with either amarok or kde in general. Things like that are
>> great
>> for stylish application themes like in winamp, but not for a default look.
>> If
>> the user can't chage the look of an application, the default look should
>> not
>> be too stylized in order not to put off to many users. Probably many users
>> would like these buttons but also many users would not like them at all.
>> The
>> current buttons are not really pretty but they are unobtrusive enough to
>> not
>> annoy anyone too much. I know quite some users who don't like them for
>> being
>> too "special", what would those users think about Thomas' buttons?
>>
>> So: If we allow users to change theyr overall Amarok theme and ship these
>> buttons with a fitting theme, all is great, but forcing all users to use
>> these... no.
>>
>> Regards,
>> Thomas
>>
>> > leo
>> >
>> > On Thu, Oct 22, 2009 at 3:47 PM, Thomas Lübking
>> <thomas.luebking at web.de>wrote:
>> > > buttons6.png - pause compromise and - as i'm not really happy with the
>> > > rect -
>> > > a pentagon...
>> > >
>> > > Am Thursday 22 October 2009 schrieb Kevin Funk:
>> > > > I appreciate the work you're doing for you, Thomas.
>> > > > Buttons4.png is my favorite at the moment, although the pause button
>> > >
>> > > doesnt
>> > >
>> > > > really look like a pause button. I think the version from
>> buttons3.png
>> > >
>> > > fits
>> > >
>> > > > better (less rounded).
>> > > >
>> > > > Again, great work!
>> > >
>> > > _______________________________________________
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>> > > Amarok-devel at kde.org
>> > > https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/amarok-devel
>> >
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>
>
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-- 
______________________________________________________
lfranchi at kde.org                       Tufts  University 2010
leonardo.franchi at tufts.edu         The KDE Project
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