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Good ! :)) 16, 17, 30, 50 - I am not an addict of the rounded part of the arrow... 48, 49, 63 - These icons are much more intuitive And I like the logic for import/export icons I just saw the GUI improvements in M8.0 woooow kindacool !! Great job guys !
In general, I like the new icons. A number of them make the focal point of the image larger, and thus more clear. The new arrow icons: 16, 17, 30, 50, 67, 68 are less clear. Note that this complaint about the arrows icons has also been voiced by others in conjunction with the workbench icon refresh. IMHO, the import / export icons (33,34) are also less clear than the previous icons. Many of our icons have a rectangle as the central element so there many are opportunities for confusion, misclicks, etc. The old import export were both clear and distinctive. The collapse all icon (63) doesn't convey the idea of colapse all to me at all, where as the previous one did.
What is wrong with the graphics artist? It looks like they have just taken every 2.1 icon and washed it out with 50% white. This is terrible. Everything looks faded and washed out. I still don't understand why the wizard wands are being replaced with poorly drawn pluses. IMO, this is the equivalent to a breaking API change. 2.1 plugins will continue to have wands, which will lead to an inconsistent user experience. This imposes unnecessary redesign for 3.0 plugins to try to keep up with changes. Other changes like: - swapping the yellow ! and red X in the error warning tab - changing JAR lids from red to orange - changing import/export icons serve no purpose other than to disorient the user. The GOOD: finally remove (all) is a red X and not a bar.
28. The icon represent more 'export Java' than 'export Javadoc'. The previous icon has the '< >' to show it's not a basic java export. Maybe a '@' could be added to show it's a Javadoc operation. 37. It's hard to see it's a 'F'. The middle bar is hardly visible. 63. I agree with John-Mason, the previous icon was better than the new one.
I like the distinguishing of interface with a square vs. circle. But, the shiny reflection on the circle (70) make the letter C a little harder to see. If the user design center is trying to give toolbars a more subdued look so that colored toolbar icons are not so "in your face", and the user can focus on the content of his documents, then I would suggest an alternative approach. The slight washing out of contrast/color could be done programatically via ActionContributionItem.fill(Toolbar). What Windows Explorer does is to slightly increase saturation and contrast on mouse over. So by using ToolItem.setHotImage() and setImage(), and generating the subdued icon programatically, you end up with the Windows Explorer look and 2.1 applications (or 3.0 apps with limited resources) will get it for free.
3. looks like a blob of colors; especially at higher resolutions 1.-3. & 5. The rounded part of the J does not come up high enough in my opinion. In combination with the "washed" look it looks very similar to an I; this is especially bad in 5. 13. the a within the @ doesn't really look like an a; all in all it resembles like a snail house or paper clip 8. private (40.) has rounded edges now so the red square should also have rounded edges 21. the contrast of the + is almost none existent 23. The "I" looks like an hour glass but not like an I 21, 24. 32. almost no contrast between the icon (yellow) and the + (yellow) 20.-25. the + is too small 33 + 34 both images symbolize minimize and maximize window to me; and not import/export 37. hard to tell that an "F" is struck out ... could also be a P 48. in my opinion there should not be a visual difference between the "delete" and "remove" icons, so make both of the same color (preferably red) 49. the first X could use more contrast; right now it looks like a single fading or fast moving entity rather than 3 distinct 63. does not look like "collapse" at all; the old icon also works well with the corresponding "expand" with the 4 outward pointing arrows 50. is inconsistent with 45 ... the arrow in front of the -> symbolizes that something is happing _before_ the presentation;
At first blush they seem to be undersaturated, just like the Platform UI icons. Use of gray borders instead of black hinders readability. But it's hard to tell without some different backgrounds to compare them on.
First a suggestion: Please do not use the same numbers for both columns; please number them 1-129 instead of 1-73 and 1-56 -- it would make it easier to refer to a single icon. @@@@ Comments on second column: 12. stop ought to be in red; green - go / red - stop is well known convention 18. the bottom part should be in a lighter color so one can clearly see the key hole; the shackle could be a little bit larger; at a high resolution it's hard to tell that i's supposed to be a lock -- could also be a quadratic breifcase 19. doesn't suggest "compare" to me; I do see the intention to differentiate compare and search though 32. + 34. the triangle should be in green instead of blue; other "run" icons use a green triangle 36.-44./45.-53. without the border it looks like someone's building a wall in front of the JU instead of filling the square
The blue square for stop (JUnit icon #12) should be read. Without the red, it doesn't mean stop to me at all.
The lock (JUnit #18) is difficult to make out whereas the previous was pretty clear. I think Randy is right increasing the contrast & saturation on mouse over instead of washing these out. I too wish we could keep the vividness of the previous icons. They were crisp, sharp, clear. I keep scratching my head wondering who thinks that *everything* in the Eclipse UI was so broken as to require change. That said, a fair number of these icons are an improvement on the previous ones.
- JDT/UI model icons .36 .37 this looks like a 'O' instead of a 'C' .54 '@' should be use instead of '< >' ('@' is already use for .34)
Comment on JDT/UI model icons The polished enamel-look wizard icons for class and iterface look gorgous. The small versions just look washed out -- I prefer the old flat-color ones. Having a different shape for class and interface is good though. @@@ 66. I'm not sure what the blue ball is trying to suggest; probably a globe but it's too small to be easily recognizable; I'd prefer "nls" 83. & 84. I'd prefer crisp not blurred versions 112. looks a lot like a small version of 45. and maximum security and error should have different icons in my opinion
Sebastian: 66. I agree the globe is too small, but 'nls' is not good either, in a NLS point of view. Why is it a blue globe anyway ? we don't support extraterrestrial languages ?
We support languages from blue planets in general.
=D
General comment: Looks like these icons are all a little bleached out. 61-63: translate/never translate/skip translate could be better. The visual metaphor in the Externalize Strings dialog has never been clear to begin with. 105: i liked the little running guy on the object overlay. i'll miss him :) 123-127: grouping icons are cool
Created attachment 9311 [details] My versions of some icons (by xdonat@hotmail.com) Instead of adding written comments I decided to post these graphical suggestions... ;-)
Hi, Based on the last icons versions: http://dev.eclipse.org/viewcvs/index.cgi/%7Echeckout%7E/jdt-ui-home/r3_0/proposals/icons/icons.html I added an attachement containing some graphical suggestions in order to try to improve readability of some icons... So you can have a look in the attachements section: "My versions of some icons (by xdonat@hotmail.com)" Xavier
I agree with Comment #3. I think that all Platform/JDT icons look faded and washed out. I like the clear look of the old icons.
I think that the class/interface icons are too shiny. The old icons are much better. icon 29 was quite nice in the old l/f icon 55 is so Huge! the small correction arrow would be much better. icon 66 - why not make the little "x" be in a circle instead of a square? an error is denoted by an "x" in a circle. icon 82 - rename arrow - too big (see icon 55). Regarding the "X" vs "-" notation to remove things - it has to be consistent with other UI elements (console, breakpoints, etc);
I just checked out I 20040409. The new class and interface icons look pretty ugly on the grey coolbar background in my opinion. Especially the white-ish border around the circle.
Created attachment 9457 [details] example of the background problem As was saying Sebastian, some of icons look bad on a not white background.
Is it possible to get some feedback on the feedback ? I noticed that some icons were modified according to the comments. But it's not really easy to check which one were updated. And it would be great also to have an answer to a comment when the corresponding icon was not updated. And is it possible to get the reasons why the new set of icons is fade, pale, washed out ?
Created attachment 9597 [details] Possible source for the "faded" motif??
I agree with most comments who find the new icons 'bleached' and not contrasting enough, compared to the old ones: they are just plain hard to look at! I just spent over 30 minutes making M8 look as non-eye-straining as possible, and that is quite hard because some very dubious design 'features' cannot be turned off. While the rearrangements of the new UI are debatable, reduced ease of 'feature identifiability' and increaed eye-strain (because of overused and unnecessary blending) severely reduce the usability of the new UI. The responsible graphic designers would be well advised to read a book on visual psychology. :-(
I believe that the good test for all icons is to try them on both white and gray backgrounds. Only this way we can ensure that they are contrast enough.
I prefer the "running man" instead of the "play" icon to represent "Run/Running". I am actualy okay with the faded look, but i would rather have an option to switch between the two if needed. Another nice thing to add as an option (not by default) are SVG icons, but keep it bitmaps only on the default theme for speed.
feedback on feedbacks – Thank you for your great feedbacks. As you have noted we are acknowledging your concerns with several changes to the designs. We will continue to improve these designs as we move forward. Eclipse 3.0 – Icon Style Characteristics Color is rich and complementary to the Eclipse UI. Edges and corners of elements are soft and slightly rounded. Light source is coming from the upper center with the addition of an ambient light to illuminate other parts of the icon. The use of gradients provide dimension and give the icon a richer appearance. Defined shapes with color instead of a hard outline. Outlines provide a soft definition and transition to the background. Modernized look to be at par with other current global user interface trends. The general direction for this new treatment is based on the following considerations: Context The new user interface is lighter in color and treatment from the original V1.0. While the V1.0 icons are terrific for the previous UI design, they contained much black, which increases busyness of the interface and perception of weight. Simplicity Some of you commented on the increased clarity. We worked at simplifying the images, by reducing unnecessary information and enlarging the primary function. We added subtle gradients, light and shadow effects to add vividness to the icons. We used light to lift out and push back to provide volume and life to the icons. Saturation We used a different level of saturation for the View/Model Object/Overlay versus the Toolbar/Local Toolbar icons. We have done this deliberately. We opted for a more subtle treatment to Toolbar/local toolbar icons because they are as many distractions to focus and are reliably present on toolbars. We opted for an increase of 20% saturation for View /Model Object/ Overlay icons as they are key indicators of the model and focal points in the work space. We will address the metaphor changes in subsequent posts. Thank you.
Created attachment 9921 [details] 2.1 and 3.0 screenshots on Win XP When I was reading the list of 3.0 icon characteristics I thought I was reading a summary of the complaints about the new icons. The new 3.0 UI is not any lighter than in Eclipse 1.0. System colors are used everywhere. Each toolbar is the same color as before. The attachment shows hte very latest 3.0 integration build. I would have to disagree that there is any richer appearance or vividness to the new icons. The new icons are blurry and washed out.
+1 to Randy's comment about the faded, fuzzy appearance. Please make the colors richer and give the shapes a harder edge.
All in all I like most new icons on *white* background but on the default gray background several look ugly and out of place. So if the default background color for the toolbars will be white or a white-ish gray ... keep the new ones. If the the background stays sytem-default gray ... please increase the saturation and remove the highlights -- making them less intrusive is good ... but you've taken it a little bit too far in my opinion. The new wizard icons on white background are gorgous! Most symbols/icons/shapes are better also.
Another +1 for sharper lines and richer color--unless you are going to revert to 2.1 style rollover.
At first, I couldn't understand the artist's comments; every single person on our team agrees that the new icons appear faded and so fuzzy that they're literally painful to look at. Then I worked on my laptop, which is at a lower resolution and noticed that the icons seem considerably better. Andree, is it possible that the icons are being developed at a relatively low res? If so, I suggest that you try them out with your resolution set to 1600x1200. The old Eclipse icons look fine at this res; the new ones are so fuzzy that it hurts the eyes to look at them.
I am running 1600x1200 CRT and 1400x1050 LCD concurrently. re: system color, we are of course aware of this. Please take a peak at the edge treatment of the toolbars (gone), the shadows on views (gone), the internal edges in the views (gone), dark edge treatments (gone). Overall the UI is lighter.
Created attachment 10277 [details] metaphor changes for eclipse 3.0 This images is a summary of the core metaphor updates for this release.
Created attachment 10278 [details] metaphor changes for eclipse 3.0 This images is a summary of the core metaphor updates for this release.
What is the copyright of the icons? Can they be used and modified freely?
for copyright refer to CPL.
Created attachment 10377 [details] metaphors change for eclipse 3.0 This images is a summary of the core metaphor updates for this release.
The resume icon looks like a combination pause/play button. This suggest that it will do both functions, depending on the current state of the selected thread. It is a little misleading. I've seen this metaphor used on CD-ROMs which have only 2 buttons: eject, and this hybrid play/pause button.
I'm closing this bug now. We now have to transition into the final polish for 3.0. This will include tweaks for increased crispness and addressing critical issues. If you find a critical issue then please open a separate bug report.
