Call for an official Mozilla Sunbird theme

jeffhot · Post by **jeffhot** » July 4th, 2004, 12:36 pm

FlashBanG wrote:Jeffhot:

No offense to you, but i prefer markcarson's logo/icon of sunbird simply because it seems to share Thunderbird/Firefox's look. IMHO, i think that we should try to maintain consistency with those 2 apps, and this would e a good way to indicate that.

That's my rant for the day, ladies and gentlemen :-)

Sharing the look is crucial I agree. Hopefully I can get that style matched on my icons at some point, but I think a modification of the Thunderbird is a little too derivative for Sunbird or whatever Calendar becomes. No offense taken of course.

markcarson · Post by **markcarson** » July 4th, 2004, 4:01 pm

Second draft of the Options dialog. Individual icons (with all 4 states) are on my website: <a href="http://MarkCarson.com/images">http://MarkCarson.com/images</a>

<img src="http://markcarson.com/images/Sunbird-Options.png">

markcarson · Post by **markcarson** » July 4th, 2004, 4:31 pm

Regarding jeffhot's logo (which I know is a work in progress), I took the liberty of making versions at 32x32, 24x24 and 16x16:

<img src="http://markcarson.com/images/icon-jeffhot-32.png">
<img src="http://markcarson.com/images/icon-jeffhot-24.png">
<img src="http://markcarson.com/images/icon-jeffhot-16.png">

At 32x32 the calendar looks like a TV (curved CRT actually) to me. At 24x24 and 16x16 you can't tell what the calendar is. My logo has the same issue at 24x24 and 16x16, so this is a general problem - you don't get much detail at those sizes.

Jeff's logo looks more like a real bird than my logo. Mine was intended to more closely follow Firefox and Thunderbird (especially Thunderbird).

sirchode · Post by **sirchode** » July 4th, 2004, 5:40 pm

I didn't communicate my thoughts properly.

I didn't mean to imply testing a tabbed-style configuration, heavens knows that goes way beyond the realm of a theme. I pasted the screenshot to show how Palm handled the different views at a glance. It's really easy to see that the single dot means Day View, the seven dots is Week View and so on. I was trying to say that the present appearance of the view buttons is starting to seem a little cluttered to me, and it's not quite as clear as how Palm did it.

The tabbed idea is a whole topic on its own, again unfit for this thread.

Chris Cook · Post by **Chris Cook** » July 5th, 2004, 11:34 am

MarkCarson wrote:<img src="http://markcarson.com/images/icon-jeffhot-16.png">

At 32x32 the calendar looks like a TV (curved CRT actually) to me. At 24x24 and 16x16 you can't tell what the calendar is. My logo has the same issue at 24x24 and 16x16, so this is a general problem - you don't get much detail at those sizes.

Jeff's logo looks more like a real bird than my logo. Mine was intended to more closely follow Firefox and Thunderbird (especially Thunderbird).

I think even the FF and TB application icons (ie. 16px size) suffer from this. The FF icon looks like a blue face on an orange globe and the TB icon looks like the face of an anime girl. They both could have been better at the small size. For the 16px icon I would have opted for only the envelope and possibly the globe for these to make them more recognizable. For the logo above I would try to completely lose the calendar and make the bird as recognizable as possible, OR lose the bird.

Chris Cook · Post by **Chris Cook** » July 5th, 2004, 1:41 pm

I've uploaded another jar (for Sunbird, not the calendar extension) which includes the latest icons for the Options dialog and the time/date picker icons.

jar file
screenshot of event dialog

The next step is look at replacing the navigation arrows. This goes hand in hand with updating the style of the calendar area but it is unclear if this area is intended to be updated as well. I am still hoping for a statement from one of the devs on this.

mvl · Post by **mvl** » July 5th, 2004, 1:47 pm

markcarson: your logo fits with the thunderbird icon, because it is the thunderbird logo. I think we need a somewhat different icon. might be the same style, but your is too close imo. So I like jeffs suggestions. creativity is good.

A calendar just needs too much detail to be recognized. I'm still in favour of a clock. I think it scales better.
My attempt to draw what i mean:

I'm no artist, so it migh not look great, but i hope you get the idea. The small 16x16 icon is still recognizable as a clock.
Someone who is better at drawing could try to add a bird, but i'm not sure if we need it.

John_Mall · Post by **John_Mall** » July 5th, 2004, 4:16 pm

I've uploaded another jar (for Sunbird, not the calendar extension) which includes the latest icons for the Options dialog and the time/date picker icons.

jar file
screenshot of event dialog

I install it and Chris Cook this theme looks Good

Good Work !!!

markcarson · Post by **markcarson** » July 5th, 2004, 4:44 pm

Let me state up front - I'm not changing my mind (yet) - the following may be my creation but it does not have my "vote":

<img src="http://markcarson.com/images/SunBirdDial-200x200.png">
<img src="http://markcarson.com/images/SunBirdDial-48x48.png">
<img src="http://markcarson.com/images/SunBirdDial-32x32.png">
<img src="http://markcarson.com/images/SunBirdDial-24x24.png">
<img src="http://markcarson.com/images/SunBirdDial-16x16.png">

I found Corel Draw clipart of a "real" sunbird which I hacked (changed the color from green to yellow, added a wing, and gave it crow's feet) and then added a quick and dirty sundial. My interest in doing this was to see if something other than a circular logo would be discernable at small icon sizes.

UPDATE - 0500 GMT 06-JUL-2004 - Second generation drawing of "real" sunbird replaces above images.

jeffhot · Post by **jeffhot** » July 5th, 2004, 11:18 pm

<img src="http://jeffhottinger.com/Sunbird_style.jpg">

I still have no idea how to get another object in there that looks interesting, but the wing style I had in mind is coming along. Not finished, especially right wind, but how does this look?

markcarson · Post by **markcarson** » July 5th, 2004, 11:49 pm

Jeff - please also post some images at 48x48, 32x32, 24x24 and 16x16 as these are the needed icon sizes and how it looks at these, admittedly small, sizes is a big factor in their suitability.

BTW - your bird looks more like a Firebird to my eye with all the use of orange. That's something the first version of my logo did also (and I changed it to be more yellow/gold)

rP2 · Post by **rP2** » July 6th, 2004, 2:27 am

@jeffhot: from my point of view are the wings of your bird too huge..

Chris Cook · Post by **Chris Cook** » July 6th, 2004, 8:07 am

MarkCarson wrote:BTW - your bird looks more like a Firebird to my eye with all the use of orange. That's something the first version of my logo did also (and I changed it to be more yellow/gold)

For what it's worth, only a long time user of Firefox would note the difference. New users (ie. the unwashed masses of IE users) will likely never have heard of Firebird and therefore not be confused. I think the colors are just as suitable for the "sun" but that's just my 2 cents.

Chris Cook · Post by **Chris Cook** » July 6th, 2004, 8:09 am

MarkCarson wrote:Let me state up front - I'm not changing my mind (yet) - the following may be my creation but it does not have my "vote":

If nothing else, it is pretty distinct even at 16px. Not bad.

sirchode · Post by **sirchode** » July 6th, 2004, 10:14 am

I had a conversation with Mostafa (who is heading the Mozilla Sunbird project) and he mentioned that the person doing the logo has already been chosen and that "we don't have a choice." I don't know how fruitful it would be to continue working on logos when it might not matter in the end. Maybe we should just stick with the theme?