[kde-guidelines] Visual Design Guidelines + HIG

[Andrew Lake]

Thanks much for the response Heiko.

I'll be sure update the guide with the formatting as you suggested. A minor
clarification is that the proposal was to replace the entirety of
Presentation section with the Visual Design Guide since it is intended to
provide not just Style guidance, but Layout and Text guidance as well.

No worries though, we can workout the ideal structure and content over
time. For now, we'll just integrate under the existing Style and Layout
sections based on your very helpful suggestions. We would just like to get
something out there as a first release to support the visual design work
already underway. We can always work together to improve it over time. :-)

I hope to have this integration in place by the end of the day.

Thanks so much for your help,
Andrew



On Fri, Mar 21, 2014 at 4:03 AM, Heiko Tietze
<heiko.tietze at user-prompt.com>wrote:

> On Wednesday 19 March 2014, 16:51:35 Andrew Lake wrote:
> > Heiko,
> >
> > I put the first proposal for the Visual Design Guidelines on my userbase
> > wiki here:
> > http://userbase.kde.org/User:Andrew/VisualDesignGuide
> Looks very promising already! Especially your wording matches with the
> existing guidelines. About formatting: All guidelines have a h2 (==)
> purpose
> section, h2 guidelines with * bullets, or ** if necessary, and a h2 best
> practice or implementation. Guidelines are split into h3 (===) right
> control,
> behavior, and appearance sections. I used italic font ('') in purpose but
> never bold. All pages are tagged with [[Category:Usability]] and others.
>
> > To integrate with the HIG, we'd like to propose the following:
> > 1. The definition of the HIG Presentation section on
> > http://techbase.kde.org/Projects/Usability/HIG/About is the definiition
> of
> > a visual design guide. Would it be ok if we replaced the Presentation
> > section and its structure with the proposed VIsual Design Guide?
> The about page presents the underlying model. We shouldn't change it. But
> why
> don't you add your page directly to the presentation > style section? For
> example:
> * When discussing visual aspects follow the [visual vision].
> * Make sure all [design principles] are met.
> * Follow our [design patterns].
> * Make use of the [mockup toolkit].
>
> * Use the default [color set]. (I recommend to call it color set to keep
> the
> color guideline. It contains of some important advice that are not actually
> based on visual design.)
> * Have a paper look on [background and edges].
> * Use Oxygen as reference [typography|typeface].
> * Provide a consistent look and feel by using on [icon set]. (It would be
> pity
> to remove the existing guideline, but maybe it is just consequent. But I'd
> vote to keep the part on metaphors.)
>
> (Alignment and Spacing could be merged with the existing pages.
>
> > 2. We received some early feedback from Thomas Pfeiffer that the Overview
> > section of the proposed Visual Design Guide might be appropriate at a
> > higher level in HIG. That's ok with us if it's ok here. Would it be ok to
> > put a link to the Overview section or its contents (Design Goals, Design
> > Principles) under the Introduction section?
> I don't think it's a higher level that doesn't fit into the HIG at all,
> which
> would be the fact if you link it from the introduction or the about page.
> On
> the other hand, if you think about the Structure > Conceptual Model
> section it
> makes sense. You should take care that all information get interlinked
> well.
>
> > 3. Thomas also mentioned that the Mockup Toolkit section might be
> > appropriate at a higher level. Would it be ok to add a Mockup Toolkit
> > section at a higher level?
> I would add it to the layout section (as discussed above). In general,
> there
> are a lot of good reasons to use a toolkit for any project. And this
> guideline
> makes perfect sense.
>
> > This is proposed for just an initial release of the guide. We intend over
> > time to continuously participate in updating this guide (and other areas
> of
> > the HIG) as time permits. :-)
> Some of my cents:
> * Color: In the last time, the Plasma Next calendar is often shown. Due to
> its
> transparency it is colored in light purple. It looks different to your
> color
> schema.
> * Backgrounds: I like my dark Wonton soup theme. Does it match with your
> ideas? Perhaps it make sense to consider both light and dark themes.
> * Spacing: Reading this guidelines, I wonder if different resolutions need
> to
> be considered. 4px is a lot in case of XGA but perhaps nothing in the
> future
> with kilo- or mega-ppi :-).
> * Icons: "Avoid using text in icon designs; it may not scale well to
> smaller
> sizes"..., and does not localize, confuses with other controls, and
> interferes
> with label, etc. I would escalate it to "Never use text..."
> * BuildingBlocks: "Note: Each element listed here will point to the
> existing
> HIG page for each UI element. We can update the visuals on those pages over
> time" This is the right way. Expand the pages by an appearance section, add
> mockups etc. Awesome!
>
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