Call for an official Mozilla Sunbird theme

Discuss application theming and theme development.
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aaron
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Post by aaron »

I don't know that the icon authors would. At any rate, authors wishing to create icons for the Sunbird theme can use them as examples of what other themes use in the Calendar window...
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Lazlo Woodbine
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Post by Lazlo Woodbine »

I just like to add my voice to those saying that the default theme should be based on Winstripe. New users and users who are never going to go installing new themes or extensions etc would, imho, expect the consistency of a similar theme.
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Post by Sailfish »

While it would be nice to have the base theme for all the Moz clients being the same, I'm not sure it makes all that much sense to desire it.

For example, Pheonix/Firebird/Firefox has already undergone several default theme changes (one just recently.) Nothing I've seen shows that there's even a commitment to keep the current theme as the default. Under these conditions, I think it would be foolhardy for a Moz client to hold his/her product hostage to the decision making of the Moz Firebird team.
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Post by FlashBanG »

Sailfish:

Im not sure i'd call it "holding it hostage". The point is to maintain a similar look and feel between all three (currently 3) standalone products, namely: firefox, thunderbird, sunbird. There will not be many users that use sunbird and dont use firefox, simply because firefox currently has all the momentum, and all the marketing hype is surrounding firefox. While this may change in the future, i'm kind of skeptical it will (IMHO), since a browser is simply more prominent.

Even now, Sunbird is looking to integrate with Thunderbird. Kevin and Stephen mentioned that once Firefox has been properly themed, they will move onto thunderbird. I expect both will have a decent pinstripe theme by 1.0. Since Sunbird will integrate into both those products (or atleast Tb), it would be better to have a similar look and feel.

Anyway, just an opinion :-)
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Sailfish
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Post by Sailfish »

I'm not sure we're in too much of a disagreement. Certainly, a consistent look would be best for the family of Moz products but my guess is that a new theme designer may not want to put in all that effort simply to have people believe that it was designed by the same folks who did the "Firefox" theme.

I guess all I'm saying is that if I had a Moz client and was in the market for a theme designer (on the cheap) then my primary consideration would be on which theme submittal best showcased my client rather than consistency with another.

As you say ... just an opinion.
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Chris Cook
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Post by Chris Cook »

Consistancy between mozilla projects would be nice if possible and appropriate. For an application suite it is almost mandatory. However, stand alone applications have different requirements and this is often reflected in the UI design differences. Take a look at some of Microsoft's applications (Outlook, IE, Media Player) for an example of this. All of these apps are dramatically different tools and have an interface design appropriate for their purpose (at least one would hope).

That being said, it would be nice if all the apps shared the same global skin components so that they could have identical widget behavior and appearance and make each theme more easily maintainable. Beyond that, I see no reason why the graphics could not have a unique flavor but I leave that up to the graphic artists out there.
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markcarson
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Post by markcarson »

Logo aside for a moment, is there still a need for toolbar icons? I whipped up a quick set for New Event, Edit Event, Delete Event, Day View, Week View, Multi-Week View, and Month View. The last 4 icons in the sample are lifted from Firefox (Print, Cut, Copy, Paste). I would think that using default Firefox icons (or new icons with a complimentary look and size) might make a default themed Sunbird look like a companion to Firefox/Thunderbird.

<img src="http://markcarson.com/images/sunbird-icons.png">

The icons I made are 27 wide by 22 tall (without surrounding white/gray space). Originals for the 7 icons I created were made in Corel Draw so vector art is available if anyone wants/needs.
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mvl
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Post by mvl »

markcarson wrote:<img src="http://markcarson.com/images/sunbird-icons.png">


What if you remove the 'window' around the icons? i'm not sure why it is there. Without it, you have more space for the icons itself. And the icons won't be squara anymore, which is supposed to be good. Easier to recoginize, because the shape is different.

On the general style of icons: i think they should be neutral. Some of the other icons posted aren't. (too playfull or whatever. hard to describe). pinstripe icons are neutral. Matching that would be good.
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Post by Sipaq »

Chris Cook wrote:That being said, it would be nice if all the apps shared the same global skin components so that they could have identical widget behavior and appearance and make each theme more easily maintainable. Beyond that, I see no reason why the graphics could not have a unique flavor but I leave that up to the graphic artists out there.

One of the requirements for the theme is, that it should be based on the new toolkit (used by Firefox and Thunderbird) and therefore it will share the same global skin components and widget behaviour.
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markcarson
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Post by markcarson »

MVL, I assume this is what you had in mind. Better?

<img src="http://markcarson.com/images/sunbird-icons-2.png">

The Firefox icons typically have a darker gray bar beneath them (drop shadow) which I did not add at this point. The more I look at these, I think then need a darker border on the New Event and Edit Event icons. The red X in the Delete is a bit overpowering also.
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markcarson
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Post by markcarson »

Another variation on the previous toolbar set of icons:

<img src="http://markcarson.com/images/CALENDARicons-4.png">
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FlashBanG
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Post by FlashBanG »

markcarson:

looking good! Since the Fx and Tb themes have not been finalized yet, we dont know exactly what they'll look like.. I suspect they'll go through another pretty major makeover, atleast for windows.. Right now though, they do resemble Winstripe, especially the last variation.

You may want to get in touch with Kevin Gerich, as he said he would be willing to consult/advice anyone interested in making a default sunbird theme.

http://www.kmgerich.com or pm Kevin on the forum.

Keep up the good work.. I can see this evolving into a very nice consistent theme.. And the icon as well!

:)
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FlashBanG
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Post by FlashBanG »

Whoops.. forgot to mention.. Winstripe has those little green circles with plus sign inside for "Add".. you may want to incorporate those for add event.. I'm sure they have a little icon for delete as well.. and edit..

Take a look at the icons in the bookmark manager to give you more ideas :-)

Image
Last edited by FlashBanG on June 22nd, 2004, 6:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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aaron
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Post by aaron »

Mark, out of the three, I like the 2nd the best. On #1, the border is distracting, and on #2, it looks too outdated, like Windows 95 or something. I don't know, maybe it's just me...
Sailfish
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Post by Sailfish »

markcarson, I like this set much better, much sharper (doesn't look muted.)

Also, it looks like you are using the "Day View" icon for the backdrop of the Event icons. I did a similar thing for my Calendar icons for the Modern Mozillium and Venerable Modern themes and have grown to believe that they were so similar that they don't distinguish Event icons from View icons enough. One day I'll re-do them but not soon :_)

Of course, it's just my opinion...
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