Constructive criticism: Winstripe

[tmeader]

richardtallent, I think that the new tab button was purposely removed by Ben Goodger (or at least one of the devs) when developing Firefox. You have the option to add it to the Bookmarks bar (which is what I do), thus placing it directly above where it always appears in Mozilla Suite.

My point is just that I don't think that putting the new tab button on the tab bar is something that the theme authors can accomplish on their own. It would require backend code changes as well.

[aaron]

There is an extesion (by me) that does one thing, and one thing only: It puts a new tab button on the tab bar (where it belongs in my opinion). The extension is called Basics, and can be found at http://www.mozthemes.tk

[[Unknown]]

I still hate the title bars and gaudy Start Bar as much as anyone (I believe I coined the phrase "Fisher-Price My First OS" when it came out), but the form elements and toolbars make up for it and the alternate color choices (e.g, silver and puke green) are mere afterthoughts. I don't have the time to screw around with cracked utheme.dll's, buggy Winblinds, and third-rate third-party themes.[/microflame]

This would be the exact reason I opened up my Windows' theme's guts, fixed it so the bad parts didn't bother me, and then put it back together. At first glance you can't tell it's not Luna, but it's just a little different. But, most people - yes - stay with Luna or go to Classic. And if they don't they know enough to pay the price imho as well.

-- These, above any other icons on the page, should look like buttons. This is key for the true "J6P" users. Qute does this via enclosing the arrows in a 3D sphere and it works nicely. Not sure what the best solution is, but it should probably be consistent with Refresh and Stop.

I could not have said it better myself. The single reason I can't stand this theme, personally, (and that's not a flame but just my honest opinion!) is those buttons. A big green triangle does not mean "movement" to me, it means "triangle". And yes, Qute is not immune either - I didn't like its back/forward buttons that much either, but I prefer them over triangles.

-- Personally, I would prefer these to be blue than green, since Green (being "go") is more associated with a server trip (i.e., like Go and Refresh and opposite of Stop), but blue can be interpreted more easily as an action that does not necessarily involve network traffic. I think Qute and Microsoft got this wrong as well, but I understand I have a weak argument here.

Color consistency has its strengths and weaknesses. Americans never want to admit how much a simple color can affect their reaction to something, but it's true that it does. However, the problem is that "blue" might mean "hate" in another country. (well, I dunno, just an example.)

-[Unknown]

[lordmedikit]

...

To get rid of the excess padding on buttons you can use my 'skin' from here: http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?t=55084

If you just want the padding to be less (and not the other changes I have made) I might be able to come up with a little something, but I am busy at the moment. Edit: Someone else has already done it.

[timon]

As you can see on this image: The space above en below the icons are a little to big, but the heights of the tabs are to small.

[richardtallent]

tmeader:

The symbol I have in my head is indeed an arrow like IE6+XP's History icon, but very much different: bigger arrow, going all the way back around to its tail, ending at 4 o'clock vs. 9 o'clock, and obviously without the clock in the middle. If anything, the similarity may mean that this idea is on the right track: if a left arrow for "go back a step in my current session" and an arrow in a circle around a clock means "choose to reload something from my past," it's a small jump to figure out that an arrow in a full 360° circle means "go back where I am right now."

I've created a <b>very</b> rough sketch below:
<img src="http://www.tallent.us/misc/refresh.png" />

Obviously not prime-time material, but should get the point across... hope my little IIS machine doesn't get hammered on posting it

[Imminent]

<b>Back/Forward.</b> The triangles aren't doing it for me. I don't exactly like Qute's icons for these either. A few style suggestions:

-- The arrows here are too "triangle-like", but Qute's are too "pointy". Something in between, such as a block arrow with a short stem and a triangle tip, would be better. Something like the Download icon's arrow, but rotated.

I think this is a brilliant idea.

[laketrout]

I saw this on the latest Slashdot article on the 0.9 release candidate. I changed it slightly to:

.toolbarbutton-1, .toolbarbutton-menubutton-button { padding: 3px; }

.toolbarbutton-1[checked="true"], .toolbarbutton-1[open="true"], .toolbarbutton-menubutton-button[checked="true"], .toolbarbutton-menubutton-button[open="true"] { padding: 4px 4px 4px 4px !important; }

I think it looks much better as I like to place some icons on the bookmark toolbar and with the spacing the way it was it caused the toolbar to be much too high.

Before and after:


Here's a copy of the modified classic.jar file with the spacing changes.

[tmeader]

laketrout.... what a difference :)

Using that modified classic.jar now, it really does give it such a more streamlined feel.

Thanks.

[lordmedikit]

...

Well you've done what I was planning for me. :)

However, the way you have done it in modifying the .jar is overly complicated. Just make a small userChrome.css file with the code you mentioned which people can then put into the 'chrome' folder of their profile. Much more simple. It also prevents a related problem of what you have done as you would need to modify the .jar file every time you install a new build. This way you don't have to.

[laketrout]

I was trying that approach first but I couldn't get it quite right. If you can figure out the right userchrome.css entry I'd gladly use it instead for the reasons you gave.

[lordmedikit]

I was trying that approach first but I couldn't get it quite right. If you can figure out the right userchrome.css entry I'd gladly use it instead for the reasons you gave.

Code: Select all

.toolbarbutton-1,
.toolbarbutton-menubutton-button {
padding: 3px !important;
}
.toolbarbutton-1[checked="true"],
 .toolbarbutton-1[open="true"],
  .toolbarbutton-menubutton-button[checked="true"],
   .toolbarbutton-menubutton-button[open="true"] {
 padding: 4px 4px 4px 4px !important;
}

Does this work?

[laketrout]

Does this work?

Yes it did. Thanks!

Made another small change though.

Code: Select all

.toolbarbutton-1,
.toolbarbutton-menubutton-button {
padding: 3px !important;
}
.toolbarbutton-1[checked="true"],
 .toolbarbutton-1[open="true"],
  .toolbarbutton-menubutton-button[checked="true"],
   .toolbarbutton-menubutton-button[open="true"] {
 padding: 3px 3px 3px 3px !important;
}

At 4px, pressing the history and bookmarks button would cause the toolbar to shift.

[lordmedikit]

Yeah, I also noticed issues with the dropmarker buttons, but I am still using a build with Qute.

[kwanbis]

Vertical icon spacing on Luna is exactly the same with Winstripe as it is with IE (in any permutation of large / small / text). On Windows Classic it looks out of place but I'm pretty sure this is unavoidable at the moment (as there is no way for Gecko to know what theme's being used).

you are wrong, since 2/3 days ago, the height of the toolbar has grown too much ... don't know why but i hate it.