Re: [libreoffice-design] [VI] Consistent theme for screenshots

On Sun, 2011-06-26 at 02:15 +0200, Bernhard Dippold wrote:
> Hi Jean, Sigrid, all,
>
> Jean Hollis Weber schrieb:
> > Jean wrote:
> > > [...] My first thought is that a variation on
> > > Clearlooks (colour and perhaps font) should work very well. But I want
> > > to do some printing tests on a b/w printer before saying more. I'll get
> > > back to this list with more comments later today (it's 07:00 here).
> > >
> > > --Jean
> >
> > My tests suggest that for printing in grayscale, the best choice from
> > Sigrid's collection uses Clearlooks modified to use the Green 1 colour
> > for highlighting and title bar backgrounds; it has very good contrast
> > with the white text in title bars and highlighted menu selections. I
> > used Liberation Sans at font size 11.
>
> You probably used the bold version of Liberation Sans for title bars?
>
> In direct comparison to the standard here on my Ubuntu 11.04 (Ubuntu 
> bold) it looks a bit less clean and calm.
> But as Liberation Sans is part of our binaries (IIRC) - if it has not 
> been stripped off by the distributions already containing it - I'd go 
> for it too.
>
> I created a screenshot of a LibO window using these settings:
> http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/File:Clearlooks_-_Green1_-_Liberation_Sans_11pt_bold_.png
>
> It's quite similar to Sigrid's one, but I don't know the size of her 
> "larger font", so I tried Jean's description.
>
> Compared to the standard Clearlooks theme the headings and selected 
> items (look at my LibO shortcut on the desktop) are not as calm as with 
> the lighter blue - the darker green with it's increased contrast looks a 
> bit aggressive in my eyes.
>
> While this might be an optimum for greylevel printing, I don't think 
> that this high contrast helps us to spread the idea of a friendly, free 
> and open office suite when people look at the color version.
>
> Marketing is much more about feelings than facts. And if I want to 
> convince possible users to try LibreOffice showing them a screenshot 
> that looks less friendly than the desktop they know, it might become 
> unnecessary hard.
>
> Even for printed documentation with colored screenshots I would suggest 
> to use a different theme.
>
> Jean, you wrote, that this theme has "very good" contrast in the windows 
> headings and highlighted text, while the other areas have "good" 
> contrast. Do you think it would be reasonable to find a color with still 
> "good" contrast for headings in greylevel, but harmonizes better with 
> the positive attitude of our branding?
>
> I don't know if Green 2 would serve such a compromise best - perhaps we 
> should think about keeping headings blue (staying more consistent with 
> the view Windows users are used to), if this improves the contrast in 
> greylevel while staying more friendly in color. LibOBlue 2 could be 
> worth a try.
>
> > The other parts of Clearlooks (grays and whites in dialog boxes) print
> > clearly with good contrast. I would be very happy to see the Green 1
> > variation selected to be the standard LibreOffice theme.
>
> Sorry for not being convinced - perhaps we will not even be able to find 
> a solution that fits all our needs.
>
> If you think Green 1 is the best solution not only for greylevel 
> printing but for colored versions too, it's just my personal opinion 
> that differs.
>
> (And I'm not the target group - neither for documentation nor for our 
> website...)


I agree with you that any colour chosen should harmonize with the
positive attitude of our branding.

I also agree that Green 1 is a bit aggressive. Green 2 will do; it
prints well enough. Blue 2 seems a bit too bright when viewed in colour,
but it prints fine. Blue 3 looks better to me, but the contrast with
white text isn't so good; using Blue 3 with black text is much better in
print. However, I haven't found a way to change the text in dialog box
title bars from white to black.

I still am not convinced that there is any real marketing or other
advantage to having coloured title bars and highlighting *in the user
guide illustrations* -- I don't see why they need to be the same, as the
purpose and use of the two are different, and the screenshots themselves
will be different (so no reuse advantage to us). 

To me having the user guide screenshots in gray DOES have advantages FOR
THE USERS: they are less likely to be distracted by the difference
beween whatever colours they see on their screen and the gray in the
screenshots; and the gray looks less "foreign" to Mac users.

But it's not my decision, and I'm not a marketing expert, and the vocal
people all seem to want the user guides and the marketing material
(website etc) to match... so I'm just looking for a good compromise
solution.

--Jean


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