Black icons in LC 8 DP 14

[RM]

On 8.02.2016 17:11, Richard Gaskin wrote:
> RM wrote:
>
> > ?????
> >
> > Are these to become the standard revMenuBar button icons, or is this
> > a blip?
>
> I'm glad it's happened, and v8 is the right time for this to happen.
>
> The shift to monochrome icons has been a pervasive trend across the UI 
> world for some years now, and I rather like how it simplifies the 
> gestalt of the palette's appearance.
>
> In fact, I'd been keeping a mental wish list of low-hanging fruit that 
> can help improve the overall look of the product for some time now, 
> and moving to monochrome icons in revMenuBar was on my list.

'low-hanging fruit'; the metaphor escapes me, although it doers conjure 
unfortunate imagery.

>
> Coupled with the engine enhancements for appearance, v8 is shaping up 
> well as the version that can attract newcomers better than any version 
> before it.
>
>
> > If they are to become the standard revMenuBar button icons can there
> > be a community vote as to whether they are preferable over the
> > previous coloured ones?
>
> More useful would be to poll people who *aren't* in our community yet,
>
> We need the number of LC developers to grow a multiple beyond our 
> current audience, so the opinions of people with long historic 
> familiarity with LC are in some ways less important than those who've 
> not yet been introduced to it.
>
> Democracy is useful for many things, but I'm not sure UI is among 
> them.  In fact, I'd argue squarely against it for several reasons:
>
> How many in our audience are specialists in UI design?

Now why should we worry about specialists in UI design?

Surely we have to fuss about people who are not necessarily specialists 
in UI design, but
use LiveCode on a daily basis?

Personally I think the new, black icons are super [although part of me 
wants a black revMenuBar stack
with pale grey icons], but although I do seem to end up doing something 
with LiveCode about 6 days out of 7 [this may tell you something faintly 
worrying about me], I don't, honestly, depend on it for my livelihood 
[and give my level of skill that is a good thing]. However an awful lot 
of folk depend to a lesser or greater extent on it for their livelihood, 
and it might seem a good idea to take soundings
re icon colours rather than plonk the black ones on them without 
consultation.

Almost inevitably, I shall be spending a spot of time working on a "hack 
stack" so that end-users can
change the revMenuBar icons to a variety of possibilities ;-)

>
> One of the complaints I hear from architects is that because all of 
> their clients live in homes and know how to use a pencil, they all 
> fancy themselves fully qualified to do the work of an architect. :)

Indeed, I'm sure that's true. But an awful lot of LiveCode programmers 
have been designing their own GUIs for donkey's years, so they might be 
rather well qualified to comment.

>
> Using a computer, or even developing software, by itself is not the 
> same as spending decades studying UI and UX.  We wouldn't put 
> diagnosis and prescription for coronary conditions to vote, we'd hire 
> a doctor. IMNSHO the same goes for UI.
>
> This is one of those areas where meritocracy trumps democracy, and we 
> see meritocracy as the favored model for participation in a great many 
> open source projects.  In the well run FOSS projects all views are 
> solicited and welcome, but those ultimately entrusted to see a vision 
> through are those who've demonstrated accomplishment in the area in 
> question.
>
> Besides, the beauty of open source is that anyone who really wants 
> just about anything can always have exactly what they want.
>
> For example, I've grown very fond of Ubuntu's Unity desktop 
> environment, but I don't imagine for a minute that folks using 
> anything else will have the same preference.
>
> So rather than require other people to design the LC menu bar to look 
> how I personally prefer it, I just made a short script that does it on 
> startup and now I have something much closer to my personal 
> preferences while everyone else is still free to enjoy anything they 
> like:
> <http://fourthworld.net/lc/revmenubar.png>
>
> If you really want full-color icons it's not hard to make a plugin 
> that delivers that.

Just so :-)

Richmond.